In the first of several segments in my new series on photographers entitled "Eye On Photographers", I will be introducing to you photographer Vincent Versace.
Vincent Versace is a passionate portrait, celebrity and landscape photographer, Nikon sponsored "Legend Behind the Lens". For you gear nuts, he is one of the first to test new upcoming Nikon DSLRs like the D300 in a trip he had to Vietnam. He is also the founding member of the Epson Stylus Pros. His list of credentials and bio sees no bound; you can see it detailed here.
I first heard about Vincent Versace when I was listening to a podcast from 'Inside Digital Photo Radio' (available for free on iTunes). It was part of Epson's Passion of Photography. In the podcast, he talks a bit about being given the Nikon D300 to test in Vietnam and later talks about what makes a good photographer and photographing the moment and people.
One of the first things that I stress to people when wanting to take better pictures, and subsequently what Vincent goes on to mention, is to know your gear! If you are in the field and or at an event and you see a moment you want to capture, if you don't know your camera and have to tell the person "oh wait just a sec. I have to set my aperature, wait the wb is not right, the focus point..." you'll probably lose that moment! Knowing you gear and equipment is like driving a high performance car in a race. You may have to make a split second decision and if you hesitate, you may lose the race. Be comfortable and enjoy using your equipment. A camera should never impeded your ability to take the pictures you want.
One of the questions posed to Vincent is what makes a good photographer. He states that people are searching for that magical formula that will give them great pictures. Of course this would be naive to think in such mathematical terms for art. One of the most important and last of concerns to people is not the equipment used or the technical understanding but to live the moment. Many people say "I want a camera that takes great pictures". As I've mentioned before, that would be like pots and pans that cook great food.
On vacations, many get so caught up with "living the vacation through the lens" that they often miss some key moments by fiddling with their camera or more often that they will miss out on the experience of that vacation because they were so busy taking pictures. Don't live your vacation through what the camera sees. Instead let the camera see what you see; live and seize the moment. If you feel the moment, then take a picture and that emotional experience will then translate to the image. If the person looking at the picture can feel what you felt at the time, then it will have that much more of an impact.
Next time I'll continue on Vincent and more of his thoughts on photography and people.
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