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Article
22nd February 2010
Photographer Spotlight: Adam Swords
Aged just 21, Adam Swords is highly motivated, self-taught photographer that learned the ropes of running a successful photography business through assisting reputable photographers within the industry, such as award winning commercial photographer Chase Jarvis who Adam interned for in Seattle in 2009.
A seasoned traveller, Adam has traveled to over 20 countries and has a passion for local culture. He shares quality advice and his experiences of the photography industry on his blog and Twitter as well as posting behind the scenes videos giving us an insight in to his working methods.
How would you define your photographic style?
My photographic style is ever changing and my work is influenced by so many different things. If you take a look through my portfolio right now you’ll see dynamic images with rich blacks and vibrant colours that seek the attention of the viewer.
It’s very hard to describe my own style so I’d love to flip that question around and ask you how you and the readers here would describe it Jorge?
What does your camera equipment consist of?
I’ve used both Canon and Nikon and will never be caught trying to argue one is better than the other. I shoot Canon simply because my very first camera was a 300D that I bought second hand for a great price and once I started investing in lenses I saw no reason to jump ship.
- Canon 5D Mark II
- Canon 40D
- Sigma 10-20
- Canon 17-40L
- Canon 24-70L
- Canon 70-200L F2.8 IS
I also use Sandisk Extreme UDMA 16GB Cards, Pocket Wizards Plus II wireless triggers, Lowepro camera bags (my main bag is a Vertex 300 AW) and Nikon SB24 Speedlights that work great for small compact lighting solutions on location, especially for the extreme sports stuff.
What’s your post-production software of choice?
Don’t hate me Mac peeps but I’m a Windows user so I use Adobe Lightroom to manage and edit my photographs and then import them in to Adobe Photoshop CS4 for final editing and retouching.
Are you considering any equipment upgrades in the future?
I’ll be getting my hands on 1D Mark IV later in the year and I’m currently looking in to which lighting set-up to invest in. Currently Bowens are my top choice.
I’ve also started shooting video with my Canon 5D and I’m heading over to Dubai in a couple of weeks to help teach at the Gulf Photo Plus photography workshops where Vincent Laforet has a class. Needless to say I’ll be picking his brains about rigs for the new breed of video shooting DSLRs.
Share with us your proudest photograph.
My proudest photograph…wow that’s a tough call. I think it’s probably this shot I took in Dubai nearly three years ago when I was 18 years old. I was a student on the same workshops that I now assist at and I remember getting back to my hotel room later that afternoon and editing the photos.
When I came across this one there was just something about it that I loved and made me realise that photography was my calling as a career. I wanted to shoot more photos like this and see them printed out on billboards around the world. Three years later and my dream has become a reality and at 21 I have my own great photography business.
Explore the Series
To view more featured photographers, check out the series page.
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Link
19th February 2010
The Value in Your PhotographsFor the most part, it’s fair to state that a lot of things in life are available for a cost and when you take into account your personal work, we always find it difficult to place monetary worth on it and that’s because a fair cost is in the eye of the beholder.
Customers make purchases on things they see both value and a fair price in and when it comes to photographs, there’s so many elements to take into account so that you at least generate a decent profit from a print but Jack Hollingsworth beautiful words about the intrinsic value of a photo is one that I deeply admire -
I have always believed (and still do) that, ultimately, it’s the customer and not the photographer who determines a photograph’s value. A photograph, in and of itself, isn’t valuable or worthy just because a photographer claims it to be. That photograph becomes valuable and worthy only when it directly solves a customer’s problem. So on the one hand, it’s the customer who determines value.
It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of trying to monetize from something you love doing but even more of a perspective changer when you realize that people are willing to pay money for it even way before you put it up for sale and that’s because they see value in it.
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Photo
19th February 2010
Around our neighborhood, we have a few small industrial buildings and while we live on the side where we’re not completely overshadowed by them like other houses are, I still wish the view outside was a bit more pleasing.
At the moment, there’s an extensive gated lot that rent’s out space to construction trucks so needless to say that some mornings are not as peaceful as we may like. But that doesn’t mean I can’t find the bright side of situations and extract some interesting aspects of it. Photographing keeps me sane. (Photograph by Jorge Quinteros)
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19th February 2010
If you’re just starting out, do me and yourself a favor. Learn photography first. And Photoshop second. Learn the mechanics of your camera, before your keyboard.
~ Jack Hollingsworth’s stance on how the industry may have shifted its focus more towards post-production, rather than capture.
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Link
17th February 2010
The Aperture vs Lightroom ShootoutStuart Forsyth discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the 2 leading photo management software at the moment, Aperture & Lightroom.
Prior to Aperture 3, my experience with the program was minimal and I often avoided exploring it because I’ve been quite satisfied with the workflow I’ve already created with Lightroom and I saw no need to recreate that elsewhere.
After reading Stuart’s separate post on his first impressions of A3, he reinforced my feeling on why I’ve stuck to what I already know rather than pondering if there’s something better -
I’d ask those who I’ve seen on various social sites and blogs trying to flame or belittle the “other” tools due to a personal preference or limited experience in one or the other to stop being silly. Aperture and Lightroom are two top notch products and their fierce competition is bringing innovation and fantastic features sets to both.
In essence they have the same goals in mind, albeit slightly different in their implementation. Enjoy the tools you use, be informed of the options and spend less time arguing and more time taking and producing great photos.
Jorge Quinteros © 2007 – Today About Archives Subscribe Back to top ↩
