Interview: Tiffany Buckley

A- How long have you been a photographer?
T- I started using a camera about a little over three years and I’ve been a professional for about a year and a half, or two.

A- How did you start?
T- I knew someone who hooked me up to clean a photography studio and soon after that, a couple of people that worked there got fired or quit so I pretty much told the owner that I could do whatever they did and do it better and I did, so here I am. Sounds cocky, but it is true.

A- Are you talking about a job as a re-toucher or as a photographer?
T- I did little things like putting together proof books, and then I did some editing and then someone gave me a camera.
 

A- I find this interesting: You worked there, but you had never done the job. You just faced the owner and said “I can do this editing”. How did you figure out that you could do it, if you’ve never done it?
T- I took a Photoshop class in high school and I liked it, so I had the basics.

A- What photographers do you admire and or emulate?
T- I don’t necessarily emulate anyone. I don’t have the lighting means to do so, but I do admire a handful of photographers here in Kansas City. The first one that got me into it, Mike Freeland, I admire his wedding photography. He’s the one who taught me how to use the camera so I feel like I have a little bit of his style going on in my work, a lot to do with available light. A couple of photographers I worked with here in Kansas City; Ken Claypool for Bare Light Photography. He’s pretty phenomenal in the studio.
You, Adrian Vega. You have a dark, edgy style at the studio. Your lighting is different. I like it. It reminds me of Tim Burton. I like Steven Melvin; he’s available light as well. He shot me and we worked together a couple of times. I like his edginess and his “I don’t take crap attitude” and his willingness to push the model to get some great stuff. That’s my handful.

A- What’s your specialty?
T- I am a professional wedding photographer. I have shot 100 weddings even so far and I have 30 to 40 booked for this year.

A- How do you define your style?
T- I stumble upon it. I just keep shooting. I get some models who want to hang out, grab some clothes and stumble upon great things. Out on location, driving around and just jump out of the car.
 

A- If you were describing your portfolio to me, how would you describe the feeling, the mood, of the images?
T- I’ve heard people describe it as ‘stealing the soul of a person’ through the eyes. Maybe eventually I’ll be able to describe it, but right now I’m winging it.

A- Who do you market to?
T- So far, my page shows women between 18 and 30, but I try to make images that everyone likes. I don’t have a particular style, per se. Might be the available light factor, because I haven’t come up with a theme. It’s all jumbled and spotty. I’m experimenting with filters and angles and compositions and what not.

A- Do you have a marketing strategy?
T- I don’t. I’m not a business person. Maybe when I’m legit.

A- Are you not legit now?
T- I’m a contract worker. I’m a hired gun.

A- What do you want to be as an artist?
T-I want to be somebody that people appreciate. I want to photograph everything and anything. I want to travel, shoot for different markets, and maybe one day I’ll find out what I want to do. But so far, I haven’t experimented with everything yet.

A- Where do you think photography in the Midwest is going?
T- I think is going to follow the trends of the east and west coast, just like everything else. I think it’s going to be edgy, I think we’re finally bringing some fashion aspects to the Midwest, such as KC fashion. But as far as photography goes, we’re pretty big in wedding photography here; it’s one of the best ways to make money. And I feel like money starts trends. It’s either hate it or love it, and those who hate it, there’s a lot more. But those who love it make a good amount of money. Jason Domingues, Mike Freeland, Isaac Alongi, those are all big names in KC.

A- Can you name your five all time favorite photographers, dead or alive?
T- I don’t really embark on defining which photographers I like, names don’t stick with me. I’m not going to say Ansell Adams, or anybody. I just don’t know yet.

A- What are the top five items on your wish list?
T-A 5DMark II, a couple L series lenses, some lighting, a studio, merchandise like mugs and pens. I want to make a brand.

A- Can you describe your work flow?
T- Clients book and get a consultation. Can be months or years in advance. The day of the wedding, I usually shoot 8 hrs. It can be 2 or can be 14. It varies. From the time of the make up to after the bouquet gets tossed or when people are drunk on their asses on the dance floor. We don’t want to take pictures of that. You guys have your own cameras for that. Then I get home, dump your photos, organize them, get rid of the worse images, Photoshop a little bit, like get rid of sweat if it was too hot or cold noses if it was too cold. I don’t like to make things too over done. I think retouching a photo and still making it look normal is important. Then we put it online and they order stuff. If I’m doing my own wedding, I tend to spend more time on each image.

A- What’s your latest project?
T- For the last couple of years I’ve been doing this project called ‘girl of the month’. I just look for girls on my Facebook page (rawemotionbytiffanybuckley)/ I judge based on their profile picture and how I feel that day, we go out and shoot, find some cool locations, then I edit some pictures. It’s been pretty good. I have no complaints on my productivity or the models or the location. So that’s my constant project.

A- How did it start?
T- I didn’t want to go into Model Mayhem and find some questionable people. I wanted to build a market on Facebook. It’s a lot easier than other websites and shows my work with everyone.

A- What is the worst mistake that photographers make?
T- All sorts of things. Forget memory cards, forget batteries, break equipment. Assuming that someone wants something or not following up. One time I dropped my camera and I broke my lens. Cost $400 to fix it. It happens.

A- You know a lot of people in the industry. I’m sure you see people make mistakes.
T- One thing I don’t appreciate is when a photographer comes into the business brand new and charges
the normal average price, when they haven’t even done the work before. That makes me upset more than anything. I know it’s kind of bad to charge less than what you’re worth, but I find it to be a game of honesty. So if you come here, haven’t shot a wedding before and go out charging $2000 or $3000 for it, go home. I don’t like financially raping people. I don’t think that’s honest business. Just go home.

A- Now these are my questions for you as a model. I admire your work as a model as much as I admire you as a photographer. What drives you to Model?
T- It’s a hobby. I’ve only been paid once for it, out of 40 or 50 times. It’s fun. It’s like, going out golfing. I just want to go modeling.

A- How did you start modeling?
T- When I was 13 or 14, maybe 15, when the first America’s Next Top Model came out, one of my parents made me watch it and told me that she wanted me to try out for it. I was like, you’re crazy. I’m not pretty enough, confident enough or popular enough to do anything like that. I’ll never travel with that crowd. But it got me thinking later on, after knowing all these photographers, sometimes they need people to shoot and being a young female photographer, we’re not the majority, so when you understand one side of the lens, and somebody wants to be on the other, it makes it easier, and it helps you understand the other side a lot more, when you’re on the other side, when you are shooting a model. I feel like it is almost research. I get some cool photos and it's a confidence booster. You’ve never done it before?

A- No! Do you have a concept or certain things you’d like to try as a model?
T- I really want to try high fashion, in legitimate designer clothing. That’s pretty much all I really want to do now. I’ve done a nice wide array of things modeling wise, but nothing too specific for a certain reason.

A- Do you think that there’s a good modeling market here in KC?
T- For paid modeling? No. If you want to do that, just go home.

A- Where do you draw your inspiration for modeling?
T- I don’t know. I just think the female body is gorgeous. Every female body and every male body is gorgeous. You just have to find the little angle and things that make it gorgeous. And sometimes, more than others, it's not fair. I understand that. I don’t look like Gisele Bundchen. But I think it is great to capture the human body, the soul of the person. My inspiration is all of you and my own body.

A- Do you have any favorite model?
T- I like Lily Allen. Of course, I’m in love with all the Victoria’s Secret models. I think that’s everybody.

A-We’re done then..Thanks!

Interview: Tom Foley- removed

Removed by Tom's request.

Interview: Emily Steele

This is the first of a series of interviews I plan to have. They'll be focused on photography-related people that I find unique, interesting or plain genius. Photographers, artists, models, designers. However, this is based mostly on local talent. I met Emily not too long ago and found her a very interesting artist. I found her in a very interesting place so I asked her for an interview. She kindly accepted and I learned a lot. So here it is. I give you Emily Steele. Please check out her work at http://www.esteelephotos.com/  (Under construction right now)

Adrian: How long you've been a photographer?
Emily: For about eight years.

Adrian: Why did you get into photography?
Emily: I was the yearbook editor in high school. That’s how it got started. Ever since I was a kid, I always had a camera in my hand, the crayola film cameras. Art is something I always enjoyed.

Adrian: How did you get to where you're at?
Emily: I have a full time job, Monday to Friday. Photography is for the most part on the weekends. It’s changed a bit for weddings, since I need somebody to shoot with me, so one of my colleagues is now shooting with me. It’s so much nicer now, to have an extra set of eyes. She sees thing I don’t normally see.

Adrian: Would you say you have a specialty in photography?
Emily: Working with Kids. I’ll do anything, but that’s what I enjoy the most.

Adrian: How would you define your style?
Emily: Growing. I don’t think it has a true definition, so it’s changing, evolving to be more me. It was more inside the box, but now it's not anymore.

Adrian: So if you were to describe your images to me, how would you describe them?
Emily: Full of energy. Happy energy. It’s the laughing, the teasing, the joking, things like that.

Adrian: What is your business model?
Emily: As simple as possible. I don’t like people to have to ask a hundred questions. I like them to have all the answers right up front. I release copy rights, it’s simpler at the end for me.

Adrian: Who's your market?

Emily: Female, Moms, Wives. I rarely get calls from males, and even then, I mostly deal with their wives or girlfriends. It’s mostly 20’s and young 30’s, with younger kids.

Adrian: What's your marketing strategy?

Emily: It’s all networking. My sister has a cupcake business and she has 1500 friends, so when I put a picture of her and my niece on her page, the reach was over 1800 people and it added ten likes to my page. The goal is to push Facebook to my website.

Adrian: Are you where you want to be?

Emily: No. Artistically, I still have a lot of growth, I think. An artist should always be growing, which is good. I’d like to get out of the traditional way, the Mom shots.

Adrian: What’s a Mom shot?

Emily: A traditional- head on shot, either sitting perfectly posed with a great smile on their face, which they’re going to put in an 8x10 picture frame and sit in their house. Business wise, I want to get bigger. I want to get my studio.

Adrian: Where's photography going, as an industry, especially here in the Midwest?

Emily: I think people are becoming pickier on the prices, since anybody can buy a DSLR and think they’re a professional photographer. I talk to a lot of people who had recently been married and I can count four who actually hired a professional photographer. Everybody else had either a friend or relative do it.

Adrian: How does that affect your business?
Emily: It makes it a lot harder.

Adrian: So what’s your strategy to deal with that?
Emily:  I will work with people. I will cut them deals. Although it’s tough because they get used to expect a deal every time.

Adrian: Who are your favorite photographers?

Emily: There’s a group in Louisiana called Three Nails Photography. Their lighting I absolutely adore. There’s another one in Lawrence Kansas, called Mojica Photography.

They do a lot of Indian Weddings. Their lighting is the total opposite than Three Nails. It’s a little bit harsher. I really, really like their style.

Adrian: What's your goal for five years from now?

Emily: I would get out of wedding photography for a few years. I will re-grow the company and start over. I don’t want to worry about the money. I want to do photography because I love it. I want to figure out some techniques.

Adrian: What are the next 5 items on your list of stuff to buy?
Emily: I want the SB-910 speedlight. A Nikon 3200 as a back up camera. Also want the Nikon D2x. I want a 12-120 lens. With a 1.8 aperture. And lastly, I want studio lights. I don’t know what brand, just a studio set.

Adrian: Please describe your work flow.

Emily: We’ll schedule the session, do the session, go home and download to my computer, I shoot RAW. I then group them by similarities, and edit each group. Hue, vibrancy, saturation, etc. Then I open them individually and flip through them to find the money shot. Fix things on the background, details on wardrobe. Then move to the next group. Burn a CD and ship them to the client.

Adrian: What's your most recent project?

Emily: I don’t have one. Just trying to get through my last shoot. I have over 500 photos from a kids session. We had a glitter war and cupcake war. I also had a trash the dress shoot.

Adrian: What's the most common mistake photographers make?

Emily: Beginners : lighting. Usually of rough on the edges, but that’s normal, a learning thing. Experienced photographers: Cockiness. They tend to believe their work is better than everybody else’s.

Adrian: Do you think part of it is because there used to be some sort of ‘initiation’ to start as a photographer? We used to start as assistants, learn the ropes, then move up the ladder and now you just buy a $300 camera and proclaim yourself a pro. So these old school pros, with a brick and mortar shop and tons of gear feel like is harder on them?

Emily: I think a lot of them don’t connect with people anymore. They’re not friendly and they don’t look like they enjoy what they’re doing. A situation comes to mind, where this professional was hired for six hours on a wedding. The six hours ran up the second the couple walks in the reception, so they are being announced and he stops them and tells them he needs $200 more to walk through the door with them, since their time was up. Rather than building some good PR and waiting for later. That’s pretty gutsy.

Adrian: Some advice for beginner photographers?

Emily: Figure out why they like it so much and don’t forget that. Because it happens quite often.