Photography 24/7 » Interviews

Interview with Ibarionex R. Perello

Thomas — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:30:42 +0000

Ibarionex is a photographer, writer and educator with nearly 20 years of experience in the photo industry. His images and articles have been published in magazines such as Digital Photo Pro, Shutterbug and Outdoor Photographer. He currently teaches at The Art Center College of Design and BetterPhoto.com. He is the host and producer of the popular podcast, The Candid Frame. Ibarionex lives in Los Angeles, California.

Ibarionex and I live on the opposite sides of the world, so I have never met Ibarionex in person, yet I feel like I know him. He comes across as a kind and generous man.

I do know for certain that he is deeply passionate about photography and sharing his knowledge about photography with others.

You only have to listen to one of his podcasts at The Candid Frame to realise that this is a kind and generous man behind the microphone. His voice is soft and velvety, and it somehow transcends kindness and generosity. It’s the kind of voice that belongs to a gentleman, the kind of man who holds the door for a lady.

Ibarionex’ passion for photography – and his generosity – is very much reflected in his work on The Candid Frame podcast (and in this interview as I’m sure you’ll notice). The Candid Frame spans three years now and it’s a completely free resource for photographers who want to listen to top quality photography content. The show features a wide variety of individual photographers and focuses on the creative side of photography rather than on the equipment and technical side of photography.

The Candid Frame makes Ibarionex a master contributor to the international photo community and thanks to the internet he is reaching out to photographers all over the world with a listenership that has grown into the thousands.

If you don’t already know The Candid Frame I’d highly recommend that you go and check it out. It’s an awesome and hugely inspiring photography podcast.

Of course Ibarionex is not all about The Candid Frame only. He is a tremendously talented photographer in his own right and you can view some his beautiful work on his website and blog referred to with links in this interview.

It’s time to make yourself a good cup of coffee and just sit back and relax while you enjoy this interview with Ibarionex R. Perello.

1. Ibarionex, first of all thank you for taking the time for this interview! You’re slowly closing in on 100 really interesting photographer interviews at The Candid Frame after close to three years of doing this. It’s my understanding that The Candid Frame is a labour of love project for you for which many of us are very grateful. How did you get the idea to The Candid Frame and what has kept you going with it for the past three years?

At the time I was the associate editor for Outdoor Photographer, PC Photo and Digital Photo Pro magazines and one of the things that I really enjoyed writing were the profile articles on photographers. These were the most interesting to write and I always enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to great photographers about their craft. I had also started listening to podcasts and began to listening to any and all revolving around photography.

However, I quickly grew frustrated that the shows I was listening to seemed to focus more on equipment and photography. I realized that I knew how to interview people and I had access to photographers and had the passion to make it happen and so I did.

It took me a short time to learn the basics of recording and editing audio and uploading them for distribution as a podcast. I’m still a work in progress when it comes to audio production, but I think the content of the show, particularly the emphasis on why and how photographers make their images, provides a great source of inspiration to the thousands of people who listen to the podcast.

2. You have interviewed a diverse group of photographers over the years and each photographer has of course had their own interesting stories to tell. However, are there any particularly fascinating stories or anecdotes that have stuck with you from your interviews over the years that you can share with us here?

I take away so much from every photographer that I have the opportunity I interview. I’m often very selfish in terms of why I choose someone. It’s often spurred by what I feel I myself want to learn, which will help my own work or career. Thankfully, it seems to be something that really resonates with everyone who listens to the show.

But I think my favorite interview has to be with Joel Meyerowitz, a legendary photographer and one of my favorites. That interview came about by chance while I was visiting a photographer friend of mine who mentioned he was attending a signing by Joel that night. I changed my plans for the evening and went and after the event approached Joel about appearing on the show. His time was limited but he said I could come by his hotel the next morning.

By grace and luck, he was less than 10 minutes from my office near Santa Monica and we sat pool side and had one of the most enlightening and inspiring conversations I’ve ever had about photography. The man opens his mouth and gems come out. If people only listen to one show, I think it’s the episode with Joel Meyerowitz. It’s one I’m very proud of.

3. Have you got any future plans for The Candid Frame that you can share here? New directions, new format? Are you likely to be able to continue the podcasts in the years ahead?

I celebrate three years in February and I have no intention of slowing down. The opportunity to interview and speaking with both legendary and emerging photographers really feed my soul and my passion for photography. I can’t imagine not doing the show. So, I’ll likely be buried with a mic in one hand and a camera in another.

This year, the focus of the show was “living a photographic life”, which was meant to reveal how different photographers define that for themselves. It’s been an interesting focus. Next year, I’m dedicating the year to personal projects, primarily long term projects that the photographers have chosen dedicate themselves to. Some will be published work, but others will likely be work that is extremely personal as well.

It will provide me an opportunity to delve a little more into individual photographs and the stories behind them, something that the show hasn’t done a lot to date.

Besides that I’m looking into making some changes to the site and further improve the audio.

4. Shooting with Alas is another relatively new project of yours – can you tell us a little bit about what that’s about as well as your involvement with Alas Media?

Alas Media is a multi-media company which I started with several friends. We produce a variety of content for numerous companies in the form of videos, websites, graphics and photography. We also have a division which is dedicated to education and regularly speaks on conferences around the world about the role of technology (computers, video, and photography) in the classroom.

As I had access to a top-notching video production crew, I came up with the idea of producing a video podcast. As with The Candid Frame, I looked at most of the video podcasts about photography and wasn’t impressed by what I saw. So, I came up with the idea for Shooting with Alas, which would be an instructional podcast about photography. The difference was that I would focus on telling the story of an interesting subject. So, each episode focusing on a particularly technique or product and how I use it to resolve a particularly photographic challenge. I think the last two episodes are representative and where we want to go with show. Video is much more of a challenge though because there is so much more to do to produce a show, but I’m hoping that beginning in November, we’ll be able to produce a show once a month.

5. You have interviewed many fine photographers, but you’re obviously a very fine and accomplished photographer in your own right as well as a great writer and educator. How do share your time and passion between photography, writing and educating today?

I teach photography through BetterPhoto, an online photography school which it’s been my pleasure to be associated with. I teach several classes there including a class called “Portrait Photography Using Available Light” and a new course, I call the “Pursuit of Light” which allows me to share how I see and use light for many of my images.

I am also an adjunct professor at the Art Center College of Design. I periodically still write freelance articles for magazines and do some photographic workshops such as the one that I was doing recently in New York City, this past Halloween weekend.

I love sharing what I know about photography. There is something that is very special about sharing my passion and knowledge of image-making. Besides the magic that happens when I make what I know to be a great photograph, there is something very unique about seeing the look in a photographer’s eye when they’ve realized that they’ve learned something that will really change not only the way they shoot, but the way they see. That’s what I like to emphasize. If I can help you refine the way you see, I can help you to become a better photographer. There’s no greater gift that one photographer can give another.

6. In ‘Shooting with Alas’ you show us examples of how to photograph using both natural light and flash with stunning results. Are you taking on commissioned portraits and commercial work as part of your photography business?

It’s where I want to take my business. Most of my work has not revolved around portraiture and people photography, though most of my personal work certainly has. In the last few months, I’ve been promoting my approach to photographing people to my clients and hope to make it a larger portion of my business. I recently produced a pro-bono project for the Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood, which is where I learned photography. I produced these images of the children and staff, which emphasized the relationships that are developed and nurtured there. It’s was my way of giving back and provided me the opportunity to shoot in the way that I love. I had full creative control and the results were something that both I and they were thrilled with. It was portraiture mixed in with sort of documentary style, which I want to do more of.

I’m not much of a studio photographer and see myself more of a street-shooter. I love just being thrown out there and seeing what I can make happen with the camera. Creating opportunities where I can get paid well for that, well, that’s the challenge, but I’m hopeful that given time and a good dose of persistence, I can make it happen.

7. On your website www.ibarionex.com you have a very beautiful portfolio of ‘Writers & Poets’. How did this project come into being?

I had always wanted to photograph people in a more formal portrait setting, but was incredibly shy about doing so. I had a lot of anxiety about it. I was in a writing fellowship and eventually got up the nerve to ask some of my fellow writers whether I could make their photographs. I made them and at the end of the program, I shared these 13×19 prints with them.

One of the writer’s husbands was a gallery owner who offered to exhibit me in his new gallery. I told him that I had only those few images and he said, “Well, shoot some more.” He told me the gallery was opening the next month. My first reaction was to say no, but then I thought better of it and agreed. So within a span of 30 days, I produced over 25 portraits of established writers and poets based in Southern California including legendary writers such as Hubert Selby.

It was crazy. I was shooting every weekend, sometimes as many as five different subjects on a single day. I had no crew and no assistants. It was just me, a camera and a reflector. It was exhausting for gratifying. I printed the images on an Epson inkjet printer that Epson was kind enough to lend to me for the project. It was my first one-person show and it was a real thrill to see people in the gallery admiring work that I had created in a very short time span. It was hectic and crazy to produce that many portraits in such a finite time, but I’m so glad I did. I got me over my fear of photographing people.

8. Looking through your ’Writers & Poets’ portfolio is strikes me that in many of the images your subjects are very closely connected to the setting from a design point of view. It makes these images very complete, and gives them both depth and mood but also adds to the story about your subject. Do you plan these settings prior to a shoot, or do you work out the setting on the spot depending on weather, the colours of your subject’s clothing etc? Can you share some tips on selecting a setting for portrait work?

There was no planning involved beyond my scheduling a time to meet the photographers in their homes. Often times, it was the first time I had met them. As soon as I would arrive, I would begin talking to my subject explaining what I was doing and why. But at the same time, I was looking around the house trying to find both a great source of light and setting for the image. I was multi-tasking like a fiend. Once I found the location, I would position my subject but continue my dialog with them. So, as I began shooting, it became a natural progression of our conversation. I would keep them focused on me and our talk rather than the camera. It allowed me to capture them in a pretty natural state, without the stiffness and formality of a lot of other portraiture. I often shot them as I found them, rarely asking them to change their clothes or outfit. It was always a little nerve wrecking not knowing what I was going to do before hand, but once I found what would work, I just got into the groove and made my images. I was often in and out within 45 minutes.

In terms of a tip, that’s easy. Pay attention first to the light and then your background. Those two things alone can and will transform your portraits.

9. You also have a very striking portfolio titled ‘Commute LA’ which is very documentary in nature and in black and white. How did you get the idea to this project and can you tell us a little bit about what sort of equipment you used for this series as well as how you went about shooting these photos?

I live in Altadena, California which is just north of Pasadena, home of the Rose Bowl. At the time, I was working in Brentwood which is about 30 miles away. In a car, the commute was brutal. It could take anywhere between 2.5 – 3 hours round-trip to go to and from work. I finally burned out on driving and chose to take public transportation for a while. It added more time to my commute, but I was grateful to not have to be behind the wheel. I could read, listen to music, even nap on occasion.

After a few weeks, I decided to start making images of my commute. It was more something else for me to do rather than a project that I intended anything with. So, I began shooting using an Olympus Camedia 5050, but I would also use other cameras that I might have been testing for review for a magazine article, but I think the great majority were with the Olympus.

The social dynamic on a bus or a subway is an interesting one. People are in much closer physical proximity to each other than they would ever be in a normal situation, but there is a mental distance that’s appreciably greater that is happening. Everyone is in their own world, despite the fact that they may be in direct physical contact with another human being. It’s a strange dynamic and I found it fascinating to try and document. I was often shooting when the bus was at stop, because getting a sharp picture while in motion could be pretty difficult.

10. Your website www.ibarionex.com features mostly your portrait work and documentary work, but you obviously shoot a large variety of images which can be seen on your blog www.lafotoboy.blogspot.com including a large number of simplistic or minimalistic type images with a very strong sense of design and excellent use of colour, lines, light and shadow. Can you talk a little bit about the work shown on your blog?

My blog is more representative of my personal work, which is the street photography that I have focused on. I always have my camera with me. I never leave my house without it. So, the images on my blog demonstrate the way I see the world with my camera. I began the blog as a “shoot an image a day” project about four years ago. It really helped get my past a “shooting block” I had when I wasn’t making as many personal photographs as I would have liked. But the work on my blog has kind of captured my progression as a photographer particularly when it comes to my approach to using light, gesture and color (an expression made famous by photographer, Jay Maisel).

Shooting every day really opened my eyes to what was “photo-worthy”. Sometimes, I only had 15 minutes to make an image and I would find myself considering photographing things I would ignored before. It really helped to teach me that if I allow myself to be led by the light, rather than making judgments about the worthiness of a photographic subject, I could discover an amazing world that otherwise would have been invisible to me. Suddenly, anything and everything could become a remarkable photograph.

11. We all have ups and downs in photography and I know the creative process of photography interest you a lot. What advice can you give to someone who is lacking photographic inspiration and needs to get their creative juices flowing again?

Just get out of the house and be willing to make bad photographs. If you give yourself permission to do that, the pressure is off to be perfect every time you raise the camera to your eye. What’s important is the process, the processing of seeing and making the photographs. It’s called an “artistic practice” for a reason. You have to do it over and over and over again to get any good at it. Remember, all photographers, even the greatest among us, make mostly bad photographs. The key is they became great only by showing the good ones. But you have to make tens of thousands, hundred of thousands of images in order to learn to become a better photographer. Books and videos and even podcasts are great inspiration, but it’s only when you out there doing it which will make any difference whatsoever on your skills as a photographer.

12. Finally, I haven’t quite yet developed a traditional ending question for my interviews, but in YOUR case I would like to ask you this, if you were to recommend ONE photographer for other people to explore and discover, who would that be for you and why?

Hmmm, I wonder where you got that question from? I would suggest discovering Harry Callahan, a photographer who is often more known among photographers, but not the general public. He documented both his family and was also a great street photographer. He was a great influence on photographers who were to become more famous for similar work in the sixties and seventies. It’s a great reminder that great photographs are a result of the way you see rather than the equipment you are using. He didn’t have the benefit of today’s digital technologies, but rather slower speed films and manual cameras, but the images, by any measure are remarkable and inspiring, even 50 years later.

[Note by Thomas: I personally own the book Harry Callahan: The Photographer at Work which is a truly beautiful photography book featuring many of Callahan's stunningly beautiful images. A great recommendation.]

If you have been inspired by Ibarionex please note that he has also produced a DVD titled “Digital Photography – Available Light and Flash” which is available for purchase through the Alas Media website.

In this DVD Ibarionex teaches you how to use simply techniques of seeing and controlling light to transform your digital photographs.

For more details simply follow the title link above or click on the image on the left which will take you to Alas Media where you can also view a trailer from the DVD.

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Interview with Tony Sweet

Thomas — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:55:38 +0000

Tony Sweet is one of my all time personal favourite photographers and he has been a huge inspiration for me when it comes to image design. When you view his images you will notice that each one of them are meticulously composed with careful attention to detail.

I have been fortunate enough to be able attend two of Tony’s online photography classes a couple of years ago: Image Design: Revealing Your Personal Vision and Fine Art Flower Photography which he still teaches over at BetterPhoto.com and I can highly recommend both of these two courses. Tony’s teaching style is straight to the point, yet very caring and encouraging all while he shares a wealth of knowledge with his students.

I’m very grateful that Tony was kind enough to take the time for this interview in between conducting on location workshops, teaching online photography classes, writing magazine articles and running his general nature photography business!

So, get yourself a good cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy this in depth interview with Master Photographer Tony Sweet.

After 20 years as a professional jazz artist, Tony Sweet changed careers and directed his creative juices towards nature photography. Tony is a ‘Nikon Legend Behind the Lens’, a member of ‘Team Nik’ (NikSoftware) and a ‘Lensbaby Guru’. His fine art prints are exhibited in private and corporate collections throughout the United States, and he is represented by The Getty Picture Agency. Today, Tony’s work is published on greeting cards, calendars, post cards, posters, annual reports, catalogs and various electronic mediums.

1. Tony, first of all thank you very much for taking the time for this interview! For those who might not know you, could you describe your style of photography and perhaps also briefly touch on the moment when you first realised you would make photography a career path?

It’s very difficult for one to describe ones own style of photography. In general, I look for color and graphic interest in most cases, however I’ve recently began looking for more sparse subjects for black and white renderings. We are all in a constant state of flux in any creative endeavor. Despite how people love to pigeon hole photographers styles, there really is only two kinds of photography: good and bad. Initially, I began photographing musicians in night clubs and portraits in my house in Cincinnati. When my first mentor, Tony Gayhart, showed me a nature slide, I decided immediately to pursue this as a career path. I also immediately swapped all of my fast, low light glass for lenses better suited for nature photography (20mm, 35-70mm, 80-200mm, and 105mm macro).

2. You have referred to Pat O’Hara and Tony Gayhart as your mentors and influence, but if you look back in the history of photography what other photographer’s work do you admire and why?

When getting started, I read all the books by John Shaw, Galen Rowell, Rod Planck, Larry West, John Netherton, Jim Zuckerman, Freeman Patterson, and Pat O’hara. I just read everything that I could get my hands on. The styles that appealed to my innate sense of design and photographic viscera were Freeman’s and Pat’s. After years of learning from reading the aforementioned authors to get a firm foundation, I began gravitating to the more impressionist, non representational photography, exemplified by Freeman, Pat and others.

3. A photographer’s day and week can be long! I know that you are often up extremely early, work through the day and often also shoot again around sunset. How do you manage your shooting time, admin work and personal life and get some rest at the same time?

Fortunately, I love every aspect of this business now. Interestingly, digital photography and software expertise has grown together and have inextricably merged to where some software expertise is essential in modern photography. Time management is more a function of how facile one is on the computer and in various software. The faster one can get through image editing and optimization, the better. I know what and where I like to photograph, so I’m not guessing as much and, therefore more effectively managing my shooting time, especially before and after workshops. I also can get by with little sleep, which has it’s drawbacks, but does enable me to get a lot done. Personal life?? Sure, I try to play music once a week with friends when home. I also try to get in a few poker games a year with old friends. Sue and I work and travel together. [Note: Tony's better half Sue aka Susan Milestone is an equally amazing nature photographer with some incredible work as well].

4. As a teacher and instructor you are known to be ‘positive, enthusiastic, generous, encouraging, approachable and energetic’. What motivates you to teach photography as passionately as you do?

Quite simply, I love sharing information and like working with people. As I think back on my life, I’ve always been a teacher, regardless of profession (musician, magician, photographer).

5. Can you talk a little bit about how you challenge yourself creatively and how you choose your subjects (or do they choose you)?

Without getting too abstract, I don’t really challenge myself, per se, but function in the moment, not unlike playing jazz music. I rely on my subconscious to perceive a subject area. Once that happens, I look a bit closer for specific subjects. My challenge is keeping up on creative software use by practicing as often as I can.

6. A great deal of your work is made on the East Coast of the US and is often somewhat more intimate nature and landscape images. However you have recently also been shooting more grand landscapes in areas like the Badlands and I know you have also recently completed another long road trip. How do you feel about photographing in new locations versus much more familiar locations to you like the Smokies for example? And do you approach the grand landscapes differently than the more intimate landscapes?

It takes a while to get past the snap shot stage at new locations and to be able to move to the more personal and more abstract stage. This is why I love revisiting the same locations year after year, not to get the same shots, but to shoot deeper and deeper, getting images that were unattainable on initial visits. When first visiting a new site, I go to the visitor’s center to look at books and post cards to see what’s there and get to locations at pre dawn and/or late afternoon for the after glow, like everyone else. The more we return to an area, the more and deeper we “see.”

7. You have embraced HDR photography and even produced an instructional DVD on the subject. You tend to lean up against the more ‘super real’ images. What captivates you about HDR and do you see a commercial market for it?

HDR is not new, being around since about 1937, but it’s new to the general photographic world. And the world has been flooded with a lot of HDR images, good and bad. I find that HDR is essential to get some scenes to work and can be another way to interpret a scene in a new, fresh way. Commercial market? Many video games have HDR style backdrops, architectural photographers use HDR (paying careful attention to processing the scene to record it as it is), stock photography (although the super real look is not a favorite, yet), and of course for book and article illustrations.

8. We all get stuck in a creative rut sometimes. What advice can you give to someone who is lacking inspiration and needs to get their creative juices flowing again?

Go to a new place
Use a Lensbaby
Try HDR, even on a single image!
Try camera movement / multiple exposures
Use a fisheye lens

9. I think it’s fair to say you have been successful in the stock photography market. How important is stock photography to your business today and what’s your thoughts on the emerging microstock photography market?

For snap shot life style photography, stock will remain viable for a time, but it’s on the way to a whole new paradigm. The younger generation are populating the stock agencies and with that comes the younger approach. The Getty stock agency is trolling for images and may have purchased at least a part of Flickr! So, anyone who adequately key words their images on Flickr has a chance of being approached for an image sale by Getty. However, I wouldn’t get my hopes up as stock prices have plummeted in recent years to the point of no longer being a substantial part of our income, dwindling more each year.

10. How about fine art prints? I know you have recently purchased an Epson 7900 printer, do you produce a lot of fine art prints? Are fine art prints an important part of your business? Are you represented by any art galleries? Do you work with interior designers?

Our business plan is to enter the print market in the coming year. We have a couple of print agents and interior designers we have worked with and will be taking portfolios around to galleries looking for representation during our winter break, in addition to limited web sales.

11. To me some of your stock photography images could as well be fine art prints. How do you make the distinction between a stock image and a fine art image, or do you also offer fine art prints of your stock images? Is any of your fine art prints offered in limited editions?

I’m not sure what fine art is, but I do a little research for stock and noticed the more abstract, movement / blur images and extreme macros / conceptual images are viable. These types of images can be seen as being “fine art.” In general, I just send in what I like and let the agency pick what they like. But, please remember that for a great many photographers, stock is no longer a viable source of income.

12. Finally, what was the most recent photography book you bought for yourself?

I buy photography books all the time, the most recent being, “Badlands of the High Plains” by Chuck Haney.

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Tony Sweet teaches several online classes at BetterPhoto.com and conducts his “Visual Artistry” photography and digital printing workshops from March through October throughout the continental United States and Canada.

Tony has also produced several really excellent books and DVDs which can be purchased from the store on his website or at Amazon.com.

I’m also very excited to announce here on Photography 24/7 that Tony Sweet has just released a new DVD titled “Visual Artistry: The Art of Pre-Visualizing in Modern Digital Photography” (it’s literally being pressed as this interview goes live).

Shot in the springtime, Tony works in a variety of locations from historic downtown Charleston and Drayton Hall, to the magical landscapes of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. Visual Artistry is filled with compositional techniques, tips and tricks from Tony s many years as a professional photographer and workshop leader.

You can purchase the new DVD directly from Tony Sweet’s website or at Amazon.com.

I own all of Tony’s DVDs and have watched them several times and find them a good source of photographic inspiration each time, so check them out if they are not already in your DVD library.

You can watch a small video in clip from Tony’s Visual Literacy DVD in this previous post: Tony Sweet Nature Portfolio.