Digitalab Featured Photographer: Lisa Devlin
At Digitalab, we know that you can’t underestimate the power of a truly exceptional image. The beauty of photography as an art form is in its diversity – with so many wonderful genres and so many utterly unique photographers out there, photography means many different things to many different people. That’s why we asked Lisa Devlin for one of her images and asked her a couple of questions to find out exactly how she fell in love with photography and what she’d say to any aspiring 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.
I shoot a lot of couples and I also teach a fair few other photographers how I shoot couples.. my philosophy is that you can quickly build trust and a relationship to that couple’s relationship anywhere at any time. Although this was shot on a workshop, I believe it shows how I can make the best of an environment and help couples to focus in on their emotions for each other rather than the process of being photographed.
This was shot in a busy media centre in Belfast with the reception desk on one side and a cafe on the other.. yet the couple feel perfectly at ease and connected to each other. They are concentrating not on what is going on around them but on each other and how they can be still in a busy world and be connected to each other in that busy world – then I am connected to them through my camera. There are no fancy tricks or clever post production to this image.. I shot through an installation in the space that looked like an indoor rainbow and I love the added dynamic that gives. I go into all the spaces that I shoot in with my mind wide open as to what the shapes and shadows allow.
Which styles of photography most interest/inspire you?
Oh God.. I’m obsessed! I get a lot of inspiration from classic and contemporary fashion images.. I look at photographs by Norman Parkinson through to Corinne Day or Glen Luchford and love how an editorial image presents a particular narrative. I read a lot of magazines like Love magazine and iD. I also love music photography and that was what I was shooting before weddings.. so I am really into Anton Corbijn’s music work.
I’ve recently been shooting food and love the way that that genre is suddenly super creative, so I’m obsessing over more lifestyle magazines like Kinfolk and Cereal. I also think there are some incredible forces working in weddings right now.. it has never been a more creative time in the industry. The work of US photographers Jeff Newsom and Brooke Davis get me all fired up, as does The Kitcheners in Scotland and Claudia Carter in England.
What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?
Just get out there and shoot, shoot, shoot. It is the only way to learn. We are so lucky now with digital cameras.. there is no cost to experimenting so the universe is at our fingertips. The technology now in cameras like the Canon 5D Mark III with the ability to do in camera double exposures or the Samsung NX System that has great little interchangeable lenses and instant connection to the internet or Instagram just blows my mind. Can you imagine if someone like Andy Warhol had one of these? His Instagram account would be insane! It’s by approaching image making with a truly open mind that the industry progresses and once you have shot those remarkable images, make sure people see them. Shoot and share!