~ An interview of a talented artist in our General Photography Community
Tell us a bit about yourself, kimerajam! How did you get into photography and why?
My name is H.Hiep, born and raised in Hanoi, VietNam .I was around 20 when I bought my very first digital camera,and now I'm 22 years old (in the past, I had never liked photography).At first , I intended to use the camera to save the normal moments and serve my study in architecture speciality which needs to save the documentation images. The indulgence with photography came with me quickly, then I found some forums specializing in photography, they took me to a wide world of photography and since then, I changed my way of taking photographs and acknowledging everything through the lens.
Why are you on deviantART?
I love art and I've always wanted to share mine,and also to find inspirations to improve it deviantART is a great way to document your evolution as an artist. There's so much awesome stuff and people here.What type of photography do you most like to do and why?
Honestly I think I have not found my style yet,I have tried myself in fashion, conceptual, macro, portraits... before that I usually shoot macros then I'm explore the art of conceptual and combine it with the macro, create images that tell stories and have meanings, the world in my photos, it feels a bit weird, dreaming,mystery... sometimes I deny the laws of physics,in the future I want to combine it with fashion and portraits .The music is huge inspiration like The Animals, lana del rey, lyrier, Cherry Glazerr... Some are influenced by films I watch, gives me new ideas for photo shoots.What is your favourite and least favourite type of photography and why?
I love conceptual photography, I would like to bring my imagination into the photograph, love pictures with stories to tell. I love macro as well..love the detail you can achieve that the naked eye can not.
What are some key things you always bear in mind when shooting?
Remember always shoot in RAW,pay attention to the different way that light falls on different parts of the scene,try to compose more and to hit the shutter less.And finally,enjoy what you are shooting.Do you use a specific technique when shooting? What setting on your camera do you most like to use?
I do not have a special technique with the camera, something special is created outside the frame, in real life and and I use the basic techniques of photography to capture it .At the very beginning, I tried to read up on how to use my camera and the elements of photography such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO,white balance... However, It's hard in the beginning to understand ,I just found it all too confusing . So I figured that I should just put the camera on M mode and and started shooting a lot with the different aperture, speed, iso... settings.
You receive a lot of feedback on deviantART on your pieces. Do you know how this came to be?
I honestly have no idea,maybe they're...good enough?
at first I used to browse through the galleries for inspiration, or just to look at pretty pictures Hopefully there's somebody using my gallery for the same things. And today I know there are some people have used my art as inspiration and received a lot of positive feedback, That's just awesome.
Do you post-process a lot and why?
Formerly,I usually only use lightroom to edit the colors, contrast, sharpness...then I started to get used to photoshop, just slightly post-process in macro, nature and more than a little with fine art, conceptual, I want to set-up to create all the weird things in real life, makes the things I see in my head a reality.I usually have a specific plan for each photo, when i have an idea, I always think about it for a long time before making , I might have to take a few days to make(depending on the difficult and complexity in the photo) , method to transform ideas into reality, search for raw materials and components will appear in the photo, change some details in the testing process. I'm a bit of a beginner but I'd love to do this as a professional .Do you prefer Lightroom or Photoshop when post-processing your photographs?
I love experimenting with Photoshop , it's more professional in many cases that need special editing.What do you usually adjust in your photographs?
Mainly in color, sharpness in macro, nature. In fine art maybe a little cloudy, a little dirt, a little smoke ....
What is your equipment list? What made you choose your equipment there?
My first camera was an olympus pen pl-1.With macro I use a 50 1.4 lens a lot, very often with a macro extension tube and a slave flash to light the background.I'm currently using a Sony A99, a77 (24-70, 50mm lens) with perfect noise reduction and many valuable features.What made you decide to go with Sony and not Canon or Nikon?
There was alot of people telling me canon and nikon were the professional standard Actually, for me, one of the reasons of having it is to have something different. I also love the EVF( electronic viewfinder) in the Sony camera , In an EVF I can see before taking the shot how my settings affect exposure. And uses the excellent Zeiss lenses.What is your favourite photograph and why?
This photograph looks surreal but most of the main components in the photograph were like an umbrella to be thrown to turn upside down and the hair was blown splashingly, the book pages in the air were implemented from the camera. It took me some days to find the location in conformity with the background, outlined the idea through drawing, searched and prepared the materials which would appear in the photograph, changed some details in order to be more suitable with the initial draft
Are you doing any projects at the moment?
I have some big plans for the future, soon,let's wait and see).What advice would you give to aspiring photographers?
Keep producing work ,always be yourself. Be passionate about what you're shooting.Thank you kimerajam!
3wyl, posting on behalf of CRPhotography
