Digitalab Featured Photographer: Duncan Blakemore
At Digitalab, we appreciate the power of photography, whether it’s personal or professional. We asked Duncan Blakemore 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.
So, I’ve chosen this image because personally it’s one of my favourite urban exploration shots I’ve taken so far. I feel it really depicts the building as having a personality of its own.
Knowing this old priests seminary used to be an extremely busy environment, full of young priests in training yet now it stands empty, the only living beings that regularly roam the corridors being the resident pigeons. The wheelchair looks lost in the empty corridor, surrounded only by peeling paint and pigeon droppings.
Which styles of photography most interest/inspire you?
My main interests in photography are architecture, with urban exploration being one of my main hobbies. The life and death of buildings, especially old historical buildings fascinates me immensely as well as the buzz of being somewhere you shouldn’t while documenting a building that is possible in its final stages of life.
Another area that really interests me is cityscape and industrial landscapes, especially at night. I find that shooting at night, on a long exposure gives so much more depth and dynamic range to images. City lights against a dark sky, industry working away into the night under a clear moonlit and star filled sky.
Reflections of bridges and lights on water, light pollution illuminating low lever cloud, it all fascinates and inspires me.
What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?
The one piece of advice I could give to any aspiring photographer is to just do what you love, enjoy it.
Do it for you, don’t feel pressured to become something you don’t want to be. If you want to be a wedding photographer and you enjoy it then do it! But don’t feel that’s what you HAVE to do. Take time to find what you want to specialise in, find out what you are best at then work out how to take it further.
Don’t go out and spend thousands of pounds on gear for something you don’t need, it’s not always about the equipment but more about the passion of the person behind it.