How big of a role did photography play in your life before you bought a mirrorless camera?
Growing up, my primary artistic pursuit was writing, and later, electronic music production. However, prior to attending university, my interest in photography began to develop. I found cameras to be one of the few things, besides stereo equipment, that could hold my attention. My father had an old Minolta SLR film camera which he had used for nearly 15 years before stopping. He allowed me to use it, which was an expensive privilege. However, I did not understand photography enough to operate a full manual camera. As a result, my parents bought me a Polaroid camera, which provided instant gratification and was a lot of fun to use. It is not surprising to see Polaroid cameras making a comeback in this era.
Throughout public school and high school, I took hundreds of photos with various instant, disposable, and rangefinder film cameras. When I started university, I bought a Kodak digital camera. While the photos were grainy, removing the cost and volume constraints of film made me more interested in documenting the people and places around me. During the 2000s, I got into camcorders, capturing life events for those around me such as birthdays and weddings. Although these were very amateur videos, I realized that regular people obsess over technical details a lot less than photographers do. They just want to capture a moment.
What inspires your photography?
As a photographer, there are three primary inspirations that drive me: landscapes, movie cinematography, and perfection. The beauty of a wide-open field or a sunset on a beach can be so poignant that trying to capture the moment forever is only natural. Similarly, certain camera angles and scenes in movies can create strong feelings of enchantment, tension, or dread, and I often try to recreate these emotions in my photographs. Movies such as The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pi, and Baraka have inspired me in this way.
The third inspiration, perfection, is a challenge that many photographers face. Comparing oneself to others is common, but the goal of trying to capture a photo that evokes the same emotion felt in the actual location is unrealistic. Memories consist of more than just visuals; they include sounds, smells, and circumstances. Even the best photographs can only capture one of these elements. However, this unattainable goal drives many photographers to improve their skills and buy more equipment. But this quest for perfection can also become toxic and prevent the photographer from appreciating their work and progress.
Therefore, I try to be mindful that the process of taking photographs should be the main reward. Non-commercial photography should primarily be a source of exercise, fresh air, travel to new places, and creative license. Perfection-driven dissatisfaction led me to quit writing and music โ to continue with photography, I focus on the joy of the experience rather than solely on the outcome.
How did you initially learn photography?
When I first started learning about photography, I turned to YouTube for guidance. I watched long-form tutorials from prominent channels like Tony Northrup and Jared Polin, along with others. These tutorials provided me with a foundation of knowledge to build upon as I continued to develop my skills.
Additionally, I found that many photographers on Instagram are willing to share their techniques for specific photographs. By trying to recreate these photos, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of the techniques being used. This allowed me to apply what I had learned to my own photography and improve my skills even further.
How would you describe your photography?
In 2018, I was a newcomer to cameras with detachable lenses and had no genre preference. I tried every lens in every possible situation to learn what worked and what did not. The belief at the time was that a photo had to be completely โsharpโ. The kit lens for the Panasonic G85 was not very sharp, but it got sharper when I closed the aperture to around f/8. The crop factor of the Micro 4/3 sensor effectively made these photos f/16.
In contrast to many YouTubers who praised lenses with a narrow depth of field, I didn’t see the value of intentionally making most of a photo blurry. However, this mindset changed, which eventually made me look at the micro 4/3 camera system more critically.
The final output of my photos was more colorful than in subsequent years. Rawtherapee was initially used to edit photos, and boosting the color was extremely easy. Conversely, the primary colors were so saturated that printing them accurately was impossible.
How did you feel about working with a Micro 4/3 camera? Did you want to use a larger sensor?
Throughout 2018 and the first part of 2019, I was happy with the Micro 4/3 camera system. At the time, it was all I knew, and the Panasonic G85 I was using was an excellent camera with a solid build and great ergonomics.
However, after just a few months, I began to realize that the Panasonic autofocus was not as good as I had initially thought. It was then that I discovered that I was often better off just manually focusing. This realization was the first step towards the practice of shooting entirely or mostly manually.