Interview

I did an interview with Wildlife photographer Mark Stadsklev. He is actually an inspiring person because he says that he just shoots when hes in spirits or when he needs a dose of nature away from humanity. He also never went to college for photography, he had taken a course later on in life and is a self taught photographer. He says that he doesnt reccomend being self taught though, i guess he just wants the best for young photographers to go and learn as much as they can in school. He became a photographer because hes been an Alaskan pilot for 25 years and he couldnt resist the beauty of Alaska. I enjoyed the advise he had given me which is "to be a better photographer, first be a better person”. He also uses Canon cameras only because he figured he can get many different lens that fit. He uses a 17-35 mm for landscape, for macro a Sigma 180, and for aerials a 70-200. 

Winter

For photo 1 I'm doing the winter landscape for my final project. I really want to focus on wooded areas to show the beauty in this time of year even though everything is dead. I chose to do this because most people view this time of year as depressing and ugly, meanwhile I view it as beautiful. It is beautiful because when fall goes into winter all the leaves die and fall off. Its a metaphor for life that its good to let dead things go and make room for something new to grow, like winter going into spring.
 

Close Up

      I have kind of just noticed that when I take photographs I really like getting up close and personal with my subjects, whether thats people, plants, animals, etc. I would really love to get a zoom lens so that I can really explore more up close without my lens going crazy because its too close. Recently I went upstate to visit family and I was driving and seen a ton of cows just chilling in a giant field and knew I had to take photos. These cows instantly got up and came to me and were intrigued by the camera, especially this all black cow, which was the only one there that had that coloring. These cows were super friendly too and were sniffing me and even posing for the camera, which made it even more fun. It was already super fun to begin with because on Long Island we don't have random cows in the middle of nowhere and upstate they do so it was nice getting something that I don't see everyday. I really want to pursuit wildlife photography so its fun that lately I've been seeing animals and they have been coming to me and it makes me even more passionate about these animals.

Comfort Zone

      For one of the photo classes the students have to email or some how contact a professional photographer and ask questions for a final project. This is uncomfortable for me personally because I dont usually introduce myself to people first especially complete strangers. I have already messaged some photographers on Instagram and they all do wildlife photography. I am really interested in wildlife photography especially for National Geographic. The people that I had messaged have worked for or currently work for National Geo. I am a bit paranoid that no one will get back to me with anything. I am intruiged as to how they got where they are and how they started. I also am wondering if wildlife was their first choice, or if they had wanted or tried a different area of photography. Emailing other photographers who are so good at what they do intimidates me a bit because they are so good I want them to like my work and to be impressed. It is also intimidating because they are professional and have worked with important people or companies.

Gallery

      At the college there was an art gallery for the staff and another photo major and I went. It was interesting to see what our professors and other professors do outside of teaching classes. I was really impressed with one of my professors photography. He had taken a photo of an old car and printed it on metal which was interesting because I had never seen that before. I did not even know that you could print photos on metal and it makes me wonder what else could be printed on. We were not allowed to touch the work but it was tempting because this image with the car looked like it had texture. Because it looked like it had texture I really wanted to touch it and I think that is also what makes it interesting is that one it is on metal and that it looks visually satisfying because of the texture look.
      There was also another professors work that I was impressed with. This professor had taken pieces of newspaper and incorperated it into her work as a form of symbolism. One painting had an ocean with a boat and the boat looked like it was destryed and there were newspaper clippings of garbage. I believe the symbolism there was about how we pollute our earth and waters with trash. I just liked that she took newspaper clippings and put it into many of the works that were at the gallery

Future Goals

      I have been thinking of some long term goals I would like to accomplish when it comes to my photography. I know that I want to do wildlife and nature photography, but when I think about me working in the future it kind of freaks me out. It freaks me out because I know I would LOVE to work for national geographic or something along those lines, but my mind bugs out when I think of how to get to that point. You have to be extremely good to work for things like nat geo and I am confident in my photos, but it is scary to think of years down the line. I guess it is good that I start thinking now of how do I get to that point I want to be one day. I just do not know how or kind of where to start. Getting your work out there is good but that wouldn't get me a job just posting my photos on my social media. I think one of the first steps I need to take is getting a telephoto lens so I can experiment with that, since those lens' are used for wildlife. I have already started coming out of my comfort zone, like taking images of snakes. I am terrified of snakes, but because I want a career taking photos of animals it is good for me to branch out and do it.
      So I guess I have in a way started slowly going toward my goal. The photo seminar class is a good tool because we talk a lot about the different photo career paths and that soon we're going to email some photographers, which I have a couple in mind. It can just be hard to think of what I want for dinner sometimes let alone 5 years down the road. When it comes to photography though I know what I want, it is just scary to think of how to get there because there are so many different ways and not everyone does things the same way. I think I should just reach out maybe to different wildlife and nature photographers and do some more research on how to get where I want to be one day.

The Studio

   In one of the photo classes we went to a professional photography studio. The man who owns it is named Jim Lennon. I was actually excited to see a professional studio because I had never seen one before. It was quite big inside and he has a lot of room to play with when it comes to his photos. He told the class he does mainly studio work but sometimes he experiments outside of studio work. He talked about some business strategies and it was interesting, but I was more intrigued by his cameras and wanted to see him actually use it. The last five minutes though he did show us a little bit of one of his cameras, but I wish it was not the last five minutes that he decided to show us, I sort of hoped he would have maybe used it sometime in the middle of him speaking. He just did a lot of speaking and it was hard to stand still, so maybe breaking it up and showing us his camera things in between would have made it easier.
    Either way Jim seems like he worked hard and still works hard to get where he's gotten and seems passionate about his job. I hope to one day be successful like that, but I don't know about having my own studio though. I would love to do nature and wildlife photography because I want to travel and I just love nature and being out there. I do not think I could take photos of things like people or products in a studio, it isn't really my thing. The trip to the studio was a nice learning experience and I would go again, maybe learn more about the camera's he used and ask questions.