Andre is a 38 year old professional photographer from Sao Paulo. He moved to London 3 years ago with his wife in order to pursue his career. For him the photography here is much more exciting than in Brazil.He started to get into photography when he was about 18. His dad took good photos which inspired him to do the same. When he went to university he bought a Pentax and was always the one at parties taking photos. When he left university he decided to pursue a career in photography and subsequently changed cameras to Nikon and until recently he has had Nikon cameras all his life. He now has a Canon 5D. The switch was because of the better technology. He goes on to say that if Nikon had the D700 two and a half years ago he would have bought that instead because he thinks the Nikon lenses are better and he always preferred the grip and feel of their cameras.
He begins to talk about all the technology and I am soon lost. He laughs and makes his point that when choosing a camera, “It’s so complicated to know which lens, sensor etc is better. Everything moves so fast. There’s a pressure to keep up.” At the end of the day he would prefer just to shoot on his Panasonic LX3 because he likes the convenience of a small camera. He chose the Panasonic above other compacts because of the superior lens.
He tells me about his career as a portrait photographer working free lance with several magazines. However, to pay the bills he also does wedding photography. He shows me some of his wedding photos and I expect to see the usual posed shots. However, what I see is something more like a shoot from LIFE. He says, “When I go to a wedding I’m going to take photos that excite me. I want images that survive after the day. Shooting at a wedding doesn’t have to look like a wedding. My philosophy is beauty and fun – I want people to look beautiful and I want the photos to be fun.”
I am intrigued to learn if he feels that the digital revolution has cheapened his job. He looks shocked, “Photography is not something that belongs to photographers. Everyone is a photographer now. No one says they want to be a designer, or an artist, or a sculptor because those things you have to be good with your hands. But with photography it’s in your head.”
Insights:
• Choosing which camera to buy can be overwhelming even for a professional photographer.
• Professional photographers like to use compact cameras too – DSLRs are simply too big.
• Everyone is a photographer. It is more accessible than any other art form because the main skill you need is an imagination.
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