Los Angeles Firm Inc. Magazine September/October 2015 | Page 24

LOS ANGELES FIRM INC MAGAZINE

Have you had any formal training in
this and if so where?
My education was in art with a focus of
graphic design. The art education does
provide a foundation of understanding
things like composition, color theory,
lighting, negative space etc. My graphic
design background laid a foundation for
retouching and image manipulation.
As far as training and education in photography goes. Besides taking a elective
class in school on the history of photography, I’ve had no formal education or
training besides trial and error on my
own. As a designer I did often handle
art directing photo shoots for clients.
Can’t say I didn’t learn a few things
from observations and the relationships
I had with the photographers I worked
with.

Model Brianne Schodowski

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2015

What do you think photographers in
general focus on too much?
Their gear. So much emphasis seems to be
on gear, what brand, how many mega pixels, blah, blah, blah. Open up a American
photography magazine and what is 90% of
the content about? Gear. It doesn’t make
you a better photographer or artist, it’s just
a tool. A bad photo is a bad photo wether
it’s shot with a 12 mp camera or a 36 mp
camera.
I’ve had my own gear obsession period.
With age and more experience I’ve simplified my tool set more.
In your opinion what do you
think photographers and graphic
designers should focus on more
within the fashion communities?
It’s difficult to say what others
should focus on besides the end
result. How they choose to go about
that though may be the difference
between success and failure.
In my own work, I rely on the good
will of fashion designers, makeup
artist and stylist wanting to collaborate and contribute on shoots.
I work towards creating a team
environment. Micro managing is not
a concept that works very well in
creative industries. Creative people
don’t want someone telling them
how to do their work. My focus is
not only my own personal satisfaction with a shoot, but I want each
person involved in contributing to be
personally satisfied. I try to create a
shoot environment of fun and where
each contributor is wanting to do
their best work.

Andy Silvers