Yanik's Photo School » Interviews

Chatting with Joey Lawrence

Yanik — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:37:32 +0000

As you know, I recently participated in a photography workshop in Calgary and had a blast! I drank a little too much met up with photographers that I hadn’t hooked up with in over a year which was a great catch up time. One of those photographers is a young buddy of mine, professional photographer Joey Lawrence. Last time we chatted was last summer in Germany at a workshop there and then we spent some time shooting in Paris with a few models.

After a few cold beverages, he summed up the last year and I was just blown away! A few things you need to know is that just a few years back, Joey was 16 years old (not a typo), owned a basic point & shoot camera, had never taken a plane and was learning the photography ropes. Now all grown up at 18 (still not a typo), Joey spent most of last year out of a suitcase traveling the globe shooting some top celebs like 50 Cent and the Jonas Brothers. With roughly a whopping 2 years experience in the field, he has a client list that most professional photographers would sell their souls for like Vibe Magazine and Kawazaki, just to name a few.

After picking up my jaw from the floor, we got into creative stuff. I was intrigued by his creative process so I shot a few questions to see how he ticked.

So Joey, when a client gives you ‘carte blanche’ on a project, what is your creative process?

Well Yanik, I always try to keep things simple, but it always ends up that I think of something that I have no idea how to shoot… so when they give me an “okay” I scratch my head for a few days then figure out a way how. It’s a blessing and a curse. It certainly keeps me on my toes and I never get bored. I seem to need to be out of my comfort zone to excel.

What is your favorite subject to shoot?

Anything to do with a portrait, when you have a responsibility of capturing something about someone else in one frame of time. My images are mostly serious, but that doesn’t mean creating them wasn’t fun. I like to keep my work serious, but in any other aspect I just want to be humble and simple.

Has traveling around the world change your perspective on how you take photos?

Absolutely! It’s changed my perspective on everything in my life. The best decision I ever made in my life up to this point was to skip college/university and travel. It made me realize what I wanted to do was attainable, and there for me to grab all along.
The traveling I’ve done in the past is just a warm up for what I want to do next.

So, what do you want to do next?

Well, Yanik, I’m gunna ride a motorcycle around the entire world of course! … No kidding!

WOW! I can’t wait for an update on that (and some photos!) What’s the best tip you can give an passionate amateur that would like to make a living as a photographer?

Use the Internet as a tool. It’s a great outlet to get people looking at your work. It’s also a great place to learn. Exploit it like crazy and try to look like a douchebag in the process.

So there you have it. I invite you to check out Joey’s Website for more facinating images. See you next year in Iceland Joey!

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Darren Rowse and Digital-Photography-School.com

Yanik — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:45:48 +0000

If you were curious enough to check out my Useful Links section you would notice a link to the Digital Photography School created by Darren Rowse. I find this blog/forum to be a treasure chest full of fantastic information for both amateur and professional photographers. When I have a few minutes, I like to browse the forums and soak up information. Maybe even post a comment or two if I feel that I can contribute useful information. Here are the details….

Website: Digital-Photography-School.com

Owner: Darren Rowse

Main subject: Photography Education

Target Audience: Beginner and intermediate photographers

Content Theme: Education

About DPS

DPS is all about learning and sharing what you know about photography. It’s forum-based with clear categories like: “Share your Shots”, “How I took it” and “Macro Photography” just to name a few. It’s not a formal school of photography as it’s focused on members sharing information with other members.

Darren took a few minutes from his busy schedule to answer a few questions for you…

1- What can a amateur photographer expect from DPS?

DPS has always been designed with the amateur photographer in mind. While we have a few Pros using the site too it is the normal person with a digital camera who wants to go to the next level in their use of it that we have in mind as we write our tutorials and tips.Really what we’re about is helping people to get out of Auto mode and grab a little more creative control of their camera. We do this in three main ways:

1. The Blog (digital-photogrpahy-school.com/blog) which has daily tips and tutorials on a range of types of photography
2. The Forum (digital-photography-school.com/forum) which is much more reader driven and is all about sharing photos, community and helping one another improve through Q&A, critique and reader written reviews and tutorials.
3. The Newsletter – which is a weekly summary of the blog and forum activity and a great way to keep in touch with the latest digital camera gear coming onto the market.

2- How do you see the future of DPS?

The site has gone through wonderful growth since being launched two years ago. We have hundreds of thousands of readers each week and as a result the community just keeps growing.In the coming year I’m hoping to do a complete redesign of the blog and forum and also hope to start a second blog with a ‘cameras and gear’ focus. Other than that we’re purely focusing upon producing the most helpful content on digital photography that we can.

3- How can new members contribute to DPS?

There are numerous ways to connect with DPS. You can subscribe to the blog, become a member of our forum or signup for our newsletter for starters.

However if you want to actually contribute something to the community we’re always on the lookout for guest writers on the blog and people to kick of great discussions in our forums. I’d welcome your email via our contact form if you feel like you have something to contribute.

DPS is a great site that perfectly compliments Yanik’s Photo Blog. I invite you to read some of the useful article and check out the forums. You might be surprised to see how quickly time flies when you’re learning!

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My interview at MicrostockDiaries.com

Yanik — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:15:18 +0000

I was approached last week by Lee Torrens, the owner of the popular blog MicrostockDiaries.com, to give my perspective to the microstock evolution over the last 4 years. As some of you might know, I’ve been a microstock contributor since May 2004 when only IstockPhoto existed at the time. As new, promising agencies took off like ShutterStock, Fotolia and Dreamstime, I expanded my portfolio to them.

I was honored to be asked about my perspective and I thank Lee for giving me this opportunity. You can read my complete interview here.