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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.
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