Friday, April 08, 2011

Feature Interview - Imagination Land: Aaron Feaver

New interview with Aaron Feaver from Los Angeles, yup, he's pretty friggin amazing!!!



1. Fill me in on your background, where are you from and how did you get in to photography?

I've been into photography as a hobby for a few years, but only started taking it seriously about a year ago when I began taking photos of people.



2. Who has influenced you the most in terms of photography?

Dusdin Condren (http://dusdincondren.com/) was the photographer who first got me interested in shooting people, and his style is what's influenced me the most, I'd say.



3. What is your favourite style of photography (Self portraiture? Fashion? Documentary)?

I guess you'd say fashion photography is my favorite style, though there's that side of fashion photography that's more just model tests, and I like that too.



4. What is your process when taking photo's, from getting ideas to editing?

Lately I've been collaborating with my girlfriend, who's a stylist and model. One of both of us will come up with the idea for a shoot, I'll work on storyboarding it or at least planning out some of the shots, and she'll work on styling it. We both look at a lot of photographs online, and save everything we like as a reference. We get clothes either new from shops, or lent to us from designers, or just at the thrift store or flea market. When we're ready we'll either get a model from an agency or my girlfriend will model for it herself, we get hair and makeup and do the shoot, usually on location somewhere. After the shoot I'll drop the film off at the lab, scan the negatives when they come back, and edit the scans in Photoshop.



5. What are your tools of the trade?

It depends on the look I'm going for, but I usually have a Pentax 67 for medium format stuff, and either a Canon A-1 or Nikon FM2 for 35mm, and a Polaroid 250 for instant stuff. But, like, I'm doing a beach shoot in a week or so and I'll be using a Nikon L35AW from the '80s for the underwater stuff. For films I really like Kodak Portra. Oh and I use a cheapish Canon digital SLR sometimes, too.



6. Where do you hope to go with your photography?

I'd love to be able to do photography full time.



7. Why do you think people are drawn to fashion photography?

Pretty clothes, pretty people, fun concepts and styling. It's creative but accessible.



8. What draws you to a particular model? What do you look for in a model?

I like models who can show a lot of emotional range during a shoot, and also move around a lot.



9. Who are some other photographers you admire?

Paolo Roversi is my hero, plus Dusdin Condren, David Bellemere, way too many to list. I started a blog just to keep track of some of them (http://feaverishphotography.com/blog/).



10. What is your best tip to taking a striking photo?

Gosh, it really depends on the photo. I'd pay attention to the light, try to make it hit the subject in an interesting way, and also make sure the background isn't too cluttered. Nothing you wouldn't read in an intro-to-photography book.



11. Your photos seem to incorporate your surroundings and the elements, is this a big part of your style?

I'm definitely inspired by new and interesting locations, so I suppose it is a big part of my style.



12. What is your favourite photo taken by another photographer? (Link and describe why)

I know I should have something more fashion-y, but honestly this photo by Corey Arnold is my favorite:
coreyfishes.com/#/human-animals/22

13. What is your favourite photo you have taken?



I tend to start disliking my photos immediately after they're taken, so it's really hard to answer this one, but I do like this photo of my girlfriend.

14. What are some of your favourite films, books and musicians?

I'm really into all those things, so this is pretty much impossible to answer.



15. What has been your biggest achievement so far with your photography?

It's only been in the last few months that I've started to get any real print work, so I guess my highest achievement so far is a couple of photos in Foam magazine.



16. Do you think it’s hard to be original in photography? How do you keep your ideas original and fresh?

I do think it's hard, but I don't focus too much on being original.



17. Which photographer do you think I should interview next and why?

How about Lou Noble? www.flickr.com/photos/louobedlam

18. Do you often change a lot of the original photo in Photoshop?

Not too much, I don't think. I clean up dust, get the color how I want it, stuff like that. I'd do more but I'm pretty impatient and don't really like editing very much.



19. Do you think you have an original style that is you own?

I don't think I'm doing anything that hasn't been done a million times before, but it's fun for me and I'm often happy with the results.



20. Do you prefer studio or location?

Location, definitely.



21. If you could photograph any person alive or dead who would it be and why?

Hmm either Penelope Cruz or David Lynch.



22. Give us the skinny, what's the next big project you've got coming up?

I'm working on a surf shoot right now.



23. Which actor would play you in the film of your life?

Hah, um…probably Seth Rogen, unfortunately.



24. What did you want to grow up to be when you were a kid?

My dad was a pilot and I always wanted to be one too.




Thank you Aaron :)

See more here


xx

1 comment:

  1. love your interview!

    your newest follower :)

    http://pinklemonincrystal.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete