Digitalab Featured Photographer: Andy Gray
At Digitalab, we appreciate the power of photography, whether it’s personal or professional. We asked Andy Gray for one of his images and posed a couple of questions to find out exactly what it is he loves about photography and what he’d say to any enthusiastic photographer hoping to make a career out of their passion.
Tell us a bit about this image and why you chose it to be featured.
Grandeur I:
For me the important part of photography is the vision you impart on the captured data in post processing, only requiring to get “enough” right in camera to allow the art to be created, realism isn’t too important to me. This image represents how much post processing is sometimes required to achieve the intended vision, approximately 20 hours in Photoshop in the case of this image of Bamburgh Castle.
Which styles of photography most interest/inspire you?
The long exposure style, especially the work of Joel Tjintjelaar made me go out and buy a 10 stop filter allowing me to find my calling and begin the satisfaction of experimenting in different styles and techniques of photography. I’ve recently begun experimenting with intentional camera movement, which is allowing me to leave the constraints of “normal” landscape photography even further behind.
What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?
Experiment, experiment, experiment! Experiment with capture techniques, experiment with software, pour yourself into your images. Remember that the camera is soulless tool, nothing more, treat it as such, don’t trust its interpretation – put your own stamp on the finished images.