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By Kadambari Khaire-Ghate
02 February 2010
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 Tan Ngiap Heng is among the most celebrated names in Singapore. His creative work has left a strong imprint in the world of wedding, portrait, and dramatic arts photography. His love for dance got him to appreciate the human form and his growing interest in the human body has produced some of the most captivating nudes and stunning portraits. Apart from professional photography, Heng also shares his knowledge on studio portrait lighting through his individual workshops.
Having spent years studying engineering, how did you turn to photography as a career? 
Even as I was studying engineering, I was spending a lot of time dancing. After engineering, I spent a year in the London Contemporary Dance School training to be a dancer but I could not handle the physical stress. So I ended up going back to Singapore and started working as an arts administrator. But I could not get dance out of my system and started taking photographs of dance at the LaSalle School of the Arts. The editor of the Arts Magazine saw my photographs and asked me to shoot for the magazine. After shooting for various arts groups in Singapore for the magazine, I left arts administration and became a photographer for the arts.
When was your first encounter with a camera?
My first encounter with a camera was at the age of twenty-one. I bought a compact camera to go on an adventure trip to Northern India. I travelled with some avid photographic enthusiasts and came back to Singapore with some wonderful photographs. I was bitten by the photography bug and bought my first DSLR, a Nikon 401.
I think that my interest in nudes started as an extension of my love for dance and the dancer's body.
Your love for dance made you take up Performing Arts Photography. You have also studied dance for a year. How big a part does this play when it comes to capturing the emotions of a performer?
I think this is critical. I actually wanted to be a dancer much more than I wanted to be a photographer, at least in the beginning of my photographic career. When I danced, there was a sense of being completely alive, it was a very joyful feeling. I really love dancing. So in my dance photography, not only do I understand the technicality of dance, I am also driven to express this sense of being alive in my images. And since the dancers I shoot also have similar experiences, it is easy to collaborate with them.
Your portfolio covers everything from wedding to portrait photography. Which genre do you enjoy the most? Why? 
The human being is the common factor in the scope of my photography. In that sense, all my work is portraiture and that is something I enjoy the most. Even in my dance photographs, I don’t force a dancer to work under my concept. When I take a photograph of the dancer, I try to show some physical or emotional aspect of the individual which is again portraiture.
What interests me now is the common humanity that we all share. I am interested in finding a connection with my subjects, something real which teaches me more about life. Through my portraits, I hope to unveil some understanding of what it means to be human.
 You are known for your beautiful nudes and you have also won an award in the Fine Art Nudes’ category at the International Photography Awards competition. How did you step into this genre?
I think that my interest in nudes started as an extension of my love for dance and the dancer's body. It is obvious to take a dancer in a dance pose, but I believe that the dancer's body also has its own characteristics. The dancer's body is both strong as well as supple. So even if it is not in a dance pose, a dancer's body is still beautiful and different from an office worker's body or an athlete's body. So I began taking photographs of dancers’ bodies which eventually got me interested in the human form in general.
We are aware of your love for photographing human subjects. But have you ever tried your hand at Nature Photography?
I think that I am an urban person. I do appreciate Nature photography by other people, but I have never pursued it myself.
You have won numerous awards in your highly successful career. Which one of those means the most to you? Why?
I photographed dancers from the Singapore Dance Theatre for a calendar and that got me into the PDN photography Annual in 2008. That meant the most to me because it was my dance photography.
 Tell us more about your book, ‘Dance me through the Dark ‘?
After being a wedding photographer for about four years, I stopped and decided to become a corporate portrait photographer. The problem at this point of time was that I had been caught up in 'commercial' photography and was artistically dry. Then one of the dancers from Singapore Dance Theatre, Robert Mills, asked me to take some dance photographs for him. And that got me excited about photography again.
As I was shooting publicity photographs for Singapore Dance Theatre, I knew most of the dancers well and I started asking them to collaborate with me. So based on who the dancers were, I would think of a way that I could best photograph them. For example, I was the one who shot the wedding of the couple on the cover of my book, Hai Ying and Jacek. So I could take the most romantic pictures of them because I knew who they were. After two years of shooting, I had an exhibition of my work called 'Dance me through the Dark'. And the book is from that exhibition.
The title 'Dance me through the Dark', is actually from the lyrics of the song Dance Me Love sung by Silje Nergaard. Dance has been the thing that has helped me through many difficult periods of my life and the title captured this idea beautifully.
Post production is important if it helps communicate the idea or concept of the photographer.
How did you come up with the name ‘Pond’ for your studio? Is the name of any particular significance?
I have a politically correct answer for this, but the truth is that it started all the way back in school. My nickname was Froggy. When I bought computer programmes, I would enter 'Froggy' as my name and 'The Pond' as the company. When I actually started my business, I could not come up with a better name. I just knew that I did not want a photography related name.
 You also conduct workshops on studio portrait lighting. Do you enjoy teaching as much as you love photography?
It is strange because I do not consider myself as a very patient person. So I never thought that I would enjoy teaching. But I enjoy sharing my love for photography. So although I would prefer to take a photograph than teach, it makes me happy to share my love and experience of photography with other people.
What are your thoughts on post production in photography?
Post production is important if it helps communicate the idea or concept of the photographer. We all know that back in the days of black and white film, Ansel Adams burned and dodged his images to create his vision. But a lot of other photographers did terrible prints of their work. Likewise, a well crafted image with post production is a well crafted image. The problem is that we see so many bad examples of post production that it has influenced us to believe that it is a bad thing.
What or who have been the most telling influences on your work through your career?
Well, obviously dance is what got me started as a photographer. I tell people that I am an accidental photographer. The photographer that taught me the craft of photography was Paul Elledge. His work inspired me. So I did a workshop with him and I finally interned with him in Chicago for three months. He helped ground my photographic foundation.
The next most important influence is the Swedish photographer, Anders Peterson. He taught me that living and interacting with my subjects beyond a superficial level was the most important thing, and photography is only a by product. Anders tells people to stop hiding behind the camera. So that is what inspired me to let go of my studio staff and work as a freelancer again. Now I am looking for opportunities to live more and keep my photography simple.
Photos by Tan Ngiap Heng | Fotoflock Gallery |
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By Sagar Sheldekar
30 December 2009
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 New York based photographer Michael David Adams took to painting as a creative outlet at a young age. As he grew up and further developed his art, he felt drawn towards photography which would later become his primary medium to share his vision with the world. And it wasn’t long before he had carved his way in the colourful world of fashion photography thanks to his artistic prowess and his ability to elicit emotions through his pictures. His work has been published in numerous international publications like Vogue (Nippon), Cosmopolitan (Croatia) and Vision (China) among others.
You started your creative journey as a painter. What led you to turn to photography for artistic expression?
Painting was a creative outlet for me to express my emotions, thoughts and the questions I had about the world, life and myself in general. It helped me to come to terms with a lot of issues in my life (and still does). When I was young, I found that I enjoyed working with friends. I would position them to do certain things and created scenarios to photograph them. I suppose this is where it all started, although I didn't know it at the time. Later in life, while working with a friend who had just finished her makeup school, I was taking pictures for her portfolio and that is when it all came together for me. Beauty and Fashion photography was my destiny.
Are you a self-learnt photographer or have you had formal education in photography?
Back when I began thinking of photography as a career, I was mostly shooting for fine art purposes. I enrolled in a six month ‘Intro to Photography’ course to better learn the mechanics of the camera and to get some experience in the dark room. Everything else has been self-taught or learned while assisting.
Was it difficult as a young photographer to find your niche or were you always interested in fashion photography?
After helping my friend with her portfolio, it was very clear what I wanted to do. It felt incredibly natural to be shooting fashion and beauty images and I knew this is where my life needed to go. I experimented with different styles and concepts after that but I am very happy with where I am heading.
Beauty and Fashion photography was my destiny.
Actually, I don't. It depends what you define as "professional". A lot of my work was published right away when I began shooting and I was making an income shooting models very early on [in my career].
 Your website says that you try to “create images that transcend the sum of their elements”. Can you elaborate some more on that statement?
Well I believe that considering a photograph pertains to what the viewer sees and what they take away from it. If the viewer looks at a picture and the only thing the individual sees is a person standing there looking back at them, or doing something odd, then that is all that the picture is to them and maybe to others. But if someone looks at a photograph and is moved, if the person feels emotions due to the picture itself and/or can visualise a story-line pertaining to that photo in his/her mind, then the photographer has captured or created a moment in time that transcends the elements of that picture.
When shooting accessories, is it essential to match the models’ personalities with the products?
If you mean matching the product to how the model looks then yes. The products have to look natural or be appropriate for the model. On shoots, the stylist always brings plenty of accessories to match with the model. Or if you are shooting a particular accessory for a job, you would look at many different models to pick one that fits the vision for that piece.
 Your photography has been widely appreciated for its aggressive yet sensual characteristics. How does one get these distinct elements together in their photographs?
I don’t think you could actively try to make these things happen if they are not a part of who you are. It comes out of my direction and the emotions I try to elicit from my models while shooting. It's about how I ask them to interact with each other and what I tell them to think about while shooting. When it comes to clothing, if a piece has motion to it, it is again how I direct the stylist to work with the clothing or place the fans to give lift and action and more importantly know/feel when to press the button to catch that moment.
What inspires you as a photographer?
I get inspired by many things like classic and modern art, culture, nature and even religion and politics. It really depends on what I'm shooting and the mood I'm in. On this one shoot I did for SOMA magazine (Zero Gravity), I was inspired by colour combinations/ratios of black and white, like the ones on space shuttles and the architecture of certain buildings. So sometimes my inspiration has nothing to do with what I'm shooting. In such cases, it is only the emotion which is important.
If someone looks at a photograph and is moved... then the photographer has captured or created a moment in time that transcends the elements of that picture.
How much of your photography is spontaneous and how much of it is planned?
I try to plan for spontaneity. I know what I want to see in the end and I try to structure each shot such that the spontaneity is within a certain range. But after I get the shot I want, I'm usually open to other ideas and interpretations of what we are doing. Collaboration is very important as well.
 Do you prefer colour photography over Black and White? If yes, tell us why.
Coming from a fine arts background and having worked in the darkroom with B/W, I think I have a special connection with the physical process of actually developing the film and making the prints. Someone once told me a quote that was something like “If the colour is not the important part of the photograph, the photo should be black and white.” I have always had that at the back of my mind although it's hard to always follow it. I love B/W just as much as colour, maybe more and I always tell myself that I need to shoot more of it.
You have mentioned that you love “the process of photography”, right from conceptualization to printing. So in your opinion how big a role does printing play in photography?
It is always important to keep the final output in mind, more so now than ever before. For some magazine work, the art directors may know the characteristics of the paper they print on and you may have to adjust the lighting accordingly because their white point is not that bright or they use a porous paper that has a little bleed to it. But it’s a little easier to compensate for these changes now than during the age of film because of the digital age and the flexibility it offers. Also, an advertising client may be looking to make huge prints in high resolution. So you need to know that before the job starts to be sure you have the correct equipment to be able to give them the file size and resolution that they need.
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Quick 5:
- Your Favourite Camera: Holga
- Your Favourite Printer: Epson in general - I've honestly never bought anything else.
- Your Favourite Shoot: The next one...
- Your Preferred Location: As I love nature, I've always wanted to shoot on exotic locations like islands, and volcanoes.
- Current photographers you like: I've always had a great deal of respect for Erwin Olaf, Joel Peter Witkin, Gottfried Helnwein and Joyce Tenneson (who I'm very happy to see has been featured and interviewed on Fotoflock).
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Photos by Michael Adams | Fotoflock Gallery |
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By Sagar Sheldekar
15 December 2009
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 As a kid Tina Dehal wanted to be a Marine Biologist. As a teenager she studied International Finance. But her heart led her to take up photography as a profession. She chose fashion to announce her arrival in the world of photography and has also mastered Advertising, Film Publicity, Lifestyle, Jewellery and Portfolios over the years. We spoke to the ace photographer to learn more about her love for fashion, the success of I-95, her restaurant in Goa and more.
What tempted you to enter fashion photography at a time when the genre was generally frowned upon in India?
I wasn’t aware fashion photography was ever frowned upon. I grew up flicking through Vogue, Glamour from the time I was four or five years old as I have elder sisters. In my early teens, I thought I would become a fashion designer but when I decided to become a photographer instead, I knew without a doubt what genre I wanted to specialize in. Initially, I even styled a lot of my shoots. I wanted to be a part of the industry in some way or the other and I am happy it turned out as a photographer.
How difficult was it as a woman photographer to change people’s perception about shooting fashion?
This is a question that I’ve had to answer time and again over the past 15 years. It wasn’t difficult! I never looked at it from the point of view that I was a female. I think the fact that I studied photography abroad and that my work had a very distinct look, at that time, helped me a lot. But honestly, the only way I saw it, was that my work should speak for itself.
As a woman photographer, do you think you have a different (perhaps better) perspective when shooting?
No, but I am sure I have a different perspective from not just female but also male photographers. One has to have their own distinct style irrespective of whether their contemporaries are male or female. And honestly this whole “female” photographer thing just doesn’t make sense to me. Let’s stop differentiating, especially in today’s day and age.
Your portraits have to look natural, whether there are conceptualized or not.
How do you manage to shoot your subjects in such natural poses?
The only time one can experiment with posing is fashion. Your portraits have to look natural, whether there are conceptualized or not. And since my work has a distinct look of fashion with portraiture and portraiture with fashion, I suppose the two spill into each other quite seamlessly.
How do you get the most out of your models?
I have a lot of interaction with them before and while shooting to gauge their comfort level. I am constantly talking to them. I let them show me what they can do for me and then I guide them. I never interrupt their natural flow because then they start holding back and that breaks their flow.
Women take centre stage in most of your work. Is this intentional or a coincidence?
Surprising! Women don’t take centre stage in my work; I work a lot with men too.
Is technical proficiency a must to develop your own distinct style?
I definitely believe so. I started out as a graphics designer at the age of 19. By 1995, I had already done publicity layouts for two major Indian films. I was trained in Photoshop and CorelDraw before I became a photographer. But my technical understanding of how film, film speeds, f stops, and shutter speeds work helped me understand how to create moods and manipulate lighting to create my images. As I have a very strong base in digital, I know how to shoot my images before they go into post production. Also being a trained printer helped a lot. While studying photography, I spent most of my spare time in the darkroom, experimenting with various kinds of printing methods.
 Your personal work boasts of some beautiful nudes. What do you find so interesting about the human body?
Ha-ha…. now which human being does not find the human anatomy interesting? I see beauty in ugliness (which isn’t a nice term). I love shooting nudes. It is challenging to shoot a nude in the manner that it doesn’t look derogatory. I like to add a hint of sensuality in my images but in a way that they don’t shout cheap erotica! In my images you get a sense of the concept, setting, lighting, mood and art. I would love to exhibit these images sometime in the future.
Now that your portfolio also covers Advertising, Film Publicity, Lifestyle, Jewellery and Portfolios, how much time do you still spend on fashion photography?
I haven’t been shooting as much as I did two years ago. It was a conscious decision as I wanted to take out some more time for my personal life. But this winter I plan on doing some personal work with some artistic fashion designers to create images for my personal database. Next year I plan to go back to photography full time again.
It is challenging to shoot a nude in the manner that it doesn’t look derogatory.
Well, that’s a question I ask myself all the time. I guess it was a time in my life when I needed to get away from the city and spend some personal time with my family. I felt I needed to sit back and breathe a bit. It was very challenging at first. The first two years, I was constantly shuttling between the two cities every 10 days. It was only towards the end of the third year that I took a break [from running the restaurant]. This is my 4th year with I-95 and it is doing very well. Now as it is completely self run, I feel the need to return to Bombay. I guess I need another challenge like re-settling back into Bombay. Even if I am always shuttling between the two cities, Bombay will always be my home.
 Can you tell us some more about the two books you are working on?
Well I’m working on a book on yoga. Goa has an ever expanding yoga culture. I was introduced to Ashtanga by a dear friend 9 years ago and I have been practicing it ever since. After moving to Goa, I have met a lot of Yoga students and teachers and it is their lifestyle and practice which makes the base of my book. The other one is a being produced by a friend of mine and it’s still in conceptual stage.
Who are some of your female peers you admire and respect?
In India, there are a lot of new photographers who are doing great work. Anoushka Menon is one of them. I personally get inspired by a lot of young talent coming out Japan and Europe. Photographers from places like Poland and Estonia. They are a new breed talent in their late teens/early twenties who have a brilliant sense of digital photography and visual conceptual.
Who are the photographers you looked up to when you started off?
Annie Leibovitz has been a great influence. She too mixes portraits with fashion. Her Vanity Fair shoots are always a delight. Aside from here, there is Herb Ritts, Ellen Von Unworth, Indira Cesarine, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, Peter Lindberg, Mario Testino, Steven Miesel and many many more. The list is endless...
Photos by Tina Dehal | Fotoflock Gallery |
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By Sagar Sheldekar
01 December 2009
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 David Leslie Anthony started his career as a fashion hairdresser and achieved international acclaim at the tender age of 21. Having accomplished all that he could in the beauty industry he embarked on a new career in fashion photography at 30. A self taught photographer, he learned photography the hard way, sleeping in parks, bathing in restrooms while assisting top fashion photographers in Paris. And today he is among the most celebrated names in this highly competitive field. Fotoflock got the opportunity to speak to master photographer and learn more about his inspiring fashion career.
You started your career as a fashion hairdresser. What made you switch to photography when you were at the peak of your career?
I moved up the ranks quite quickly to become International Creative Director at the age of 21 with a major hairdressing company. There, my job was to not only create hair designs for the company, but to also oversee the hair fashion photo shoots and advertising. I also travelled worldwide performing on stage at the major hair shows. My work was published in numerous magazines, and eventually I began teaching myself photography. This was something I always felt drawn to.
Five years later, I then assumed this same position with another company and also began photographing all the press release photos and designing the staging for our shows. I was 30 at the time. I felt I had achieved all that I could in the beauty industry and wanted to “retire” before I had nothing more to offer. That and because I had always loved art, fashion, film and photography, in the October of 1989 I embarked on a new career…that of a fashion photographer.
Today, you have ‘digital technicians’ who take a ‘five minute’ photo and spend ten hours in Photoshop using the same filters and plug-ins that anyone can purchase and use in the same manner as anyone else.
How difficult is it for a self- taught photographer to make inroads in the highly competitive photography industry?
I think it is more difficult now than when I started. Back then, we were shooting film and you had to learn photography before you could call yourself a photographer. We constantly tried various films and filters, learned lighting and printing, retouched our own work and experimented in the darkroom. We were forced to develop our own style or viewpoint and we often referenced the past to learn the various “cycles” in photography and fashion. Today, you have “digital technicians” who take a “five minute” photo and spend ten hours in Photoshop using the same filters and plug-ins that anyone can purchase and use in the same manner as anyone else. So what “identity” are they creating for themselves?
If you look at the photographers in the major magazines today, 90% are in their late 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond. They all come from film backgrounds. What does this really mean? It means that though we may shoot with a digital camera, we are doing so from a film photographer’s background of knowledge. As we are well aware of the past, we can take that knowledge and create a future. When I started, I was hungry for knowledge and experimentation. Today, I’ll hear people say on set “Oh! Just fix it in Photoshop”. Why should I spend ten hours fixing something [on a computer] that I can fix in 5 minutes on the set?
Can you tell us more on your training years in Paris? 
Let me ask your readers this. How many are truly willing to make sacrifices for their career, and I mean real sacrifices? I had saved money to relocate to Paris to become an assistant. Unfortunately, I didn’t check the exchange rate and when I got there, I realized that my money was not going to last even five months with what I needed to live. So, I found a remote area in a large park with a huge hedge grove and burrowed in to live in the park for the first few months, bathing in the park restroom. But I learned so many new things! At night, I saw the city in “eyes” that many don’t see. I saw “photographs” in nearly every situation I came across.
As an assistant, I learned many things that people in schools don’t learn. I learned how to work with fashion editors, clients, models, and art directors. I learned how to be a “Director” and to get what I needed out of the model, how to put together shoot budgets and assemble the right crew for the right job. I learned that having talent was only a small part of the “big picture”, that when it came to an advertising or editorial assignment, you had to understand that client’s or magazine’s demographics and give as much creativity as their demographics could handle. Cosmopolitan is not Italian Vogue and vice-versa. At the end of the day, your job is to come up with the best photographs for that particular client’s needs.
How big an influence was Javier Vallhonrat in the early years of your photography career?
I became aware of his work back when I first started, through his work for Yohji Yamamoto and Sybine. It had a purity and brilliance of colour that I had not seen before. I would sit and study his work looking at the light sources and use of gels and other manipulations.
 How important is a distinctive style in photography?
I teach my assistants that with “accidents” comes a world of knowledge if you are open to it. I always (and still do) kept notebooks of the work I did/do, and I have my assistants do the same. Back in 1990 I was selected by the fashion company Z.Cavaricci to shoot their fall campaign which ran in Vogue, GQ, Glamour, Rolling Stone, etc. They selected me based upon a visual look I came upon by accident and which I “pushed and developed” to make it my own look. This was the technique called “Cross-Processing”. Back at that time, only a handful were doing this (Javier being one of them).
Since I am self-taught, I went to the film store to buy colour developers. I came home with the wrong stuff and proceeded to develop my E6 film in a developer made for C41. I came up with these strange, wonderful colours. My friends who worked at a colour lab then told me I had developed the film in the wrong developer but I went ahead and bought every type of film I could and experimented with filters, developing times and more. That is how I began building my “name”. The next step was to figure out how to take this and adapt it for commercial assignments. I think back then with people like Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, Peter Lindbergh, Paolo Roversi, Steven Meisel, and many many others, it was very important that your work has a “look”.
I think what is most important is that you have a distinct viewpoint towards your work. The visual “look” of your work (the way a photo looks) will constantly change as the fashion seasons change. For example if you are only shooting things “dark and moody”, then you won’t be working much in spring time when everything is brighter, more colourful.
I’ve found that it is always the people at the bottom level of this industry who have the biggest egos and the biggest opinions about those in the top tiers.
How do you deal with criticism of your work? Did being a leading professional previously make it easier?
I always looked at it this way and still do. The only person’s opinion that matters is the person paying me. People will always have “opinions” about someone else’s work. That is inevitable in this business. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here: You will always have people who think Terry Richardson is a “bad photographer”. Terry is a great photographer! He creates a tremendous amount of feeling “at the moment” in his work. If you have any technical knowledge at all, you’ll see that the lighting with his photos do not come from an on-camera flash alone. He uses multiple lights and light sources, and he knows how to use them quite well.
People place too much importance on what equipment one uses, when the most important thing is the person behind it. I shot the entire 2005 Von Dutch Clothing Campaign using just “throw-away” cameras. I was shooting denims and T-shirts and the look was “perfectly imperfect”. The models treated the cameras “loosely” and became less serious thus creating the “perfect” look we wanted. I’ve found that it is always the people at the bottom level of this industry who have the biggest egos and the biggest opinions about those in the top tiers.
 You have travelled all across the world for your shoots. Which destinations have stayed with you the most? Why?
Paris, New York, Chicago, and London. I just love the energy and excitement I feel in these cities. Every morning I wake up there I feel as if something exciting will happen. Presently I live in Chicago though I make the bulk of my living in NYC from New York and European clients. What I like about Chicago is that I can make and/or find places that look like Scotland, London, Paris and other places that I have travelled to.
Would you consider yourself a puritan who stands on the other side when most turn to Photoshop and other photo editing software?
I consider myself a “purist” when it comes to photography itself. Though I came from a film background, I shoot both, digital and film. I also use the computer and Photoshop for editing. But I do 95% of the work on-set, like lighting, filtering, metering, light gels, fog machines and multiple exposures. I create my photographs on-set with a vision and a direction of where I want to go. I know at the time of shooting what I am going to do in post-production. I don’t shoot a picture and then sit on a computer to figure how/what I want to do with the photo. That is what I disagree with. Because if you do that then I cannot help but wonder if you are a photographer or a “digital technician”?
I also don’t let anyone retouch my work. I’m the one who shot it and so I’m the one with the vision in my head as to how it should look and “feel”. How can a person claim the work as theirs if they pressed the shutter and someone else did the post-production work and applied the various plug-ins? When I see a photo that has obviously been Photoshop-ed to death, my first question is, “Where are the raw files?” because I am sure that the original does not come even close to the finished product. And then I can see my thoughts drifting towards, “The person who snapped this photo does not know photography”.
In the major fashion markets now they say there are “two schools of thought”. There are the Photographers and a new group they refer to as “Digital illustrators”. Notice how they don’t even call them photographers? No I am not against digital nor the use of it. Like I said, I also do shoot digital but I’m against digital technicians who don’t know photography.
We know that you carry a different playlist for every shoot. How much does music inspire your photography?
How do you know this? Yes, I rotate the music in my ipod shuffle (given to me by the Elite Agency as a Christmas present), for every shoot. I programme music as per the “feel” and direction of that particular shoot. It is very important to me that the music “tells me and the others” what the shoot is about, that it is like one big movie, filled with emotions and feelings. Some get it, some don’t. When I’m on location, I have the music playing in my ears through ear phones and my own movements “fall and rise” with the music.
If not a fashion photographer, what other stream of photography would you follow?
Wow, good question. I’ve been shooting fashion since 1990, but I do enjoy going to the florist to find unique flowers and photographing them (with film) against a simple white seamless ala Avedon. I think I enjoy this because it is just me, light, film and the singular floral.
If you ever got the opportunity to shoot The Rolling Stones for a magazine, where and how would you like to shoot them?
I can’t answer that because I really don’t know. I’ve always loved the Stones, especially Mick and Keith. Keith always played “Keith Richards guitar” and didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought!
Who are the photographers you have worked with till date that you drew inspiration from when shooting?
Many of these people I’ve come to know personally and some I’ve only met. Others are photographers who are always challenging and pushing themselves and there is something about their work that I love. They are the ones creating what others copy. These include Nick Knight, Javier Vallhonrat, Mario Testino, David Sims, Mario Sorrenti, Steven Meisel, Steven Klein, Albert Watson, Stan Malinowski, Craig McDean, Paolo Roversi, Tim Walker, David Bailey, Melvin Sokolsky, Christopher Mcaub, Terry Richardson, Bruce Webber, Brigitte Lacombe, Ellen Von Unworth, Tom Munro, Pamela Hanson, Greg Lotus, Greg Kadel, Satoshi, Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort, and I’m sure there are more, but this is what immediately comes to mind.
What these people have in common is that they all came from a film background even though most are shooting digital now.
Photos by David Leslie Anthony | Fotoflock Gallery |
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tography as a full time career? 
I was a sponge and learned more in those short months than I had in my previous college years. I was treated as a real staff photographer as I was issued daily assignments and responded to breaking news stories. Being able to execute all the skills I learned in college put all the pieces together for me. 
Sporting events and spot news would challenge my skills and taught me how to be versatile. The versatility taught me to think quick, stay on my feet, what lens to use, what film speed, shutter speed and aperture to shoot at and how to deal with weather and lighting conditions that even the most seasoned portrait photographers would walk away from.
Do you think being a mom of three kids, helps you capture kids in their natural poses? 
How long can you go without shooting? 
