photographer feature: esben bog

Name
Esben Bøg - Jensen

Flickr

Age 25

Location Denmark, Copenhagen

Who or what sparked your interest in photography? A friend of mine was really into the whole technical aspect of photography. Always talking about how sharp he could get a picture with this lens or how much he could zoom with that lens. He spend a ton of money on the best camera and lenses. I kinda wanted to show him that it wasn't about all that stuff. I can be a tech-geek at times, but I believe photography is never limited by the equipment you use. So I started shooting photographs to show him that you can do great work with nothing but the basics.

Who are some of your favorite photographers? There are so many. I don't even know where to start. I've always been a great fan of Aaron Feaver [photographer feature], Tamara Lichtenstein, Greg Williams, Lauri Bartley and Signe Vildstrup. And so many more...

Do you have any formal education in photography or are you self taught? I'm self taught.

Is photography your career? No. It's just for fun right now, but I am doing small assignments now and then. But not enough to be able to call it a career.

Are you currently working on any photography projects? Not really. I'm very spontaneous so something might just come to mind and I'll shoot if I have the time. But I guess that I'm always working on a couple of ideas that I wanna bring to life.

If you won a $400 million lottery how would you use it? I would probably buy a flat, a new Macbook, a Canon 5D Mark II and travel the world some more. Wouldn't know what to do with the rest of the money.

What is your favorite thing to photograph and why? People. Everyone has something in them worth taking a picture of. The uniqueness never ends when your shooting different people.

Where do you find and how do you instruct your models? I find models amongst my friends. And I rarely do anything else but tell them where to stand. I should be better at that though...

Do you listen to music while you shoot? If so, what is on your photo shoot play list? Not unless there are speakers close to where I shoot. I'm highly addicted to music though and is rarely seen without my headphones.

What kind of camera(s) do you use? What is your "go to" lens? Do you have a preferred brand/type of film? My favorite camera is my Hasselblad 500 CM - such a great machine. I also use a Bessa R3A, a Canon Ae-1 and the small Yashica T3 for film. But the one I use the most is probably my old Canon 450D with a Tamron 17-50 2.8 lens. If that's not on I'm using a Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens. That's actually the only two lenses I have for my Canon.

What do you do when you are feeling uninspired? Listen to music, go through blogs or watch a film.

Future photography goals? Do more schedule shoots and series - with a cool model and a great location. Right now my flickr is a mess consisting mostly of stuff from the archives.

What does your work flow consist of? A lot of shooting and a lot of computing - whenever it be editing of scanning negatives.

Three interesting facts about yourself? I'm studying Modern Culture and is currently working as an intern at a cool place called Artrebels. But i don't really think my life is that interesting to anybody else than myself.

What, if anything, do you do to promote your photography? Approximately how much time do you spend per day/week on promoting your photography online? I post a photo to flickr put it in a few groups and tweet it. Takes about 2 minutes.

tat-tuesday

for some reason i've been rather obsessed with bears lately so naturally, i love this mama bear and baby bear tattoo [via]

anchors away... i've always wanted to get a tattoo behind my ear [via]

swallow/bird neck tattoo [via]

real men love cats so much that they get kitty tattoo sleeves [via]

black and white elephant tattoo (by bryanatastad)

mostly animal tattoos today, till i threw in the shot of the anchor.

flickr faves

J. Sullins (by James Fitzgerald III)

Fabiano Iacomino

untitled by day lightning

forest dream (by Amorrr Burakova)

(by Aëla Labbé)

(by Daniel_Castañeda)

(by natasa adzic)

(by travisxchiral)

photographer feature: natalie kucken

Name
Natalie Kucken

Website | Blog

Age
17

Location
detroit, michigan, usa

Who or what sparked your interest in photography?
i got into photography by completing a project where i created an image every day for a year in 2009, which was an impulse decision and at first just a way to document my life and growing up and changing, but soon progressed to a love for portraiture and i quickly developed a style and a following. later on i realized that i wanted to focus on fashion and storytelling through my work.

Who are some of your favorite photographers?
my favorite photographers are clarence h. white, sally mann, crystin moritz, and david hamilton.

Do you have any formal education in photography or are you self taught?
i am completely self taught.

Is photography your career?
no, i plan to make it my career when i graduate from high school.

Are you currently working on any photography projects?
i am working on many shoots, mostly fashion-based things where the entire production is by me which is a huge amount of organizing and creating.

If you won a $400 million lottery how would you use it?
i would never want that much money! i would use it all on plane tickets and ridiculous creations i think.

What is your favorite thing to photograph and why?
my favorite thing to photograph is people, and to create something of them and their surroundings. people tell a story and you can capture a fleeting moment with them and their emotions.

Where do you find and how do you instruct your models?
my models are either friends or agency models. i instruct them differently depending on what i want, which can be very specific or very natural.

Do you listen to music while you shoot? If so, what is on your photo shoot play list?
usually no, most of my shoots are too hectic to have music to worry about too. if i do, it's mostly cocorosie, mum, amiina, or the album leaf, quiet and dream-like things.

What do you do when you are feeling uninspired?
sleep and write in my journal about things that have nothing to do with photographs.

Future photography goals?
to be represented and to simply shoot enough to support myself and create beautiful things- whether through paid work or candid moments.

Describe a day in your life that includes photography:
my shoots take up the entire day usually- waking up early to set out and prepare each pre-determined look and location and props, meeting the people i work with in the early afternoon, having coffee or tea and talk over the photos to be created, clothes makeup hair props and location, shoot, repeat clothes makeup hair props and location, repeat, repeat, hopefully eat somewhere in between, send the team home in the evening and try to clean up the destruction of creation.

Three interesting facts about yourself?
i'm always terrible at these things. i can't think of anything in particular or that is a concrete fact about myself- most interesting things are not like that.

What, if anything, do you do to promote your photography?  Approximately how much time do you spend per day/week on promoting your photography online?
i use flickr, tumblr, facebook, email things that i like, just the easy things right now.

tat-tuesday | watercolor tattoos

watercolor bird and cloud tattoo by amanda wachob

red watercolor poppy tattoo [via]

birds and brushstrokes
"This is a memorial tattoo for my grandpa. I first got the doves on 2/14 because he passed away on valentines day 7 years ago. The doves are based off of his favorite hymn “I’ll fly away.” I chose doves because it’s a very biblical bird and my grandpa was one of the heavy influences of my faith. Doves are referenced from the book of Matthew when Jesus is getting baptized and the Spirit comes down as a dove. The paintbrush strokes represent my grandpa’s job as a painter for most of his life.

(doves by Scott Sketo/ paintbrush strokes by Scott Parsons both from Enigma Studio in Richmond, VA)" [via]

yellow finch watercolor tattoo [via]

hummingbird watercolor tattoo by ondrash znojmo tattoo [via]

for the love of music watercolor tattoo [via]

watercolor eyes [via]

watercolor pirate ship [via]

watercolor rain/umrella tattoo [via]

flickr favorites

(by davidmichaelweller)

(via el.sun)

1/oh my love by polinabrz

(by binky-gutman)

photographer feature: baohien ngo

Name
baohien ngo

Website | Facebook

Age
17

Location
houston, texas

Who or what sparked your interest in photography?
My interest in photography originated from a desire I had to document every face I met and everything that happened to me.

Who are some of your favorite photographers?
Tim Barber and Wai Lin Tse.

Do you have any formal education in photography or are you self taught?
I'm mostly self taught. When I was in the 7th grade, I took a publications course and we had a photography unit but I didn't pay attention and nearly failed so I never got anything out of that. I took a class for digital photography in Maine for two weeks when I was fourteen, but at that point I already understood how to use a camera for the most part.

Is photography your career?
I wouldn't really call it a career. I'm still in high school, so being a student takes up the majority of my time. But since I don't have a job, I take commissioned assignments sometimes for money, although that doesn't happen often either.

Are you currently working on any photography projects?
I'm in the process of planning two or three different shoots but they aren't a part of a collective project.

If you won a $400 million lottery how would you use it?
I have a hard time bringing myself to spend even $30, so if I won a $400 million lottery I probably wouldn't know what to do with it and end up giving most of it away.

What is your favorite thing to photograph and why?
Faces. They tell so much. Or nature landscapes. I love nature landscapes, but Houston doesn't provide a lot of interesting nature landscapes for me to capture so I mostly take landscapes when I travel.

Where do you find and how do you instruct your models?
The majority of my models are friends or mutual friends. I don't have to direct most of them too much because they are experienced and/or with agencies so they'll usually know how to pose themselves. Most of the time, I'll just position them, like I'll ask them to stand in a certain spot and they'll just do their own thing.

Do you listen to music while you shoot? If so, what is on your photo shoot play list?
Yes, always. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Lana Del Rey, Beach House, Girls, and Los Campesinos! while shooting. My friends and I also play music so on my last shoot, we had a ukulele and just sung songs most of the time instead of listening to a playlist.

What kind of cameras do you use?
I use my Canon A-1 most of the time but I sometimes bring my Instax too, depending on whether or not I have film for it because it's expensive.

What do you do when you are feeling uninspired?
Stop taking photos and let my creativity regenerate. I try not to force myself to take photos or push myself too hard because that takes the fun out of it for me.

Future photography goals?
I don't care about shooting huge campaigns or anything like that. I'm happy with doing this for fun, but I like traveling so it'd be nice if I was asked to fly somewhere for an assignment in the future just so that I'd be able to see more of the world.

Describe a day in your life that includes photography:
If I'm shooting with a full team, I'll usually go to a studio for hair and makeup and then look over the clothes with whoever is handling wardrobe and put outfits together. When everyone's ready, we'll head off to the location and shoot for a bit but I'm really laid back during my shoots. I don't like working everyone to death so we'll usually take a lunch break or something.

What does your work flow consist of?
I use film so I have to get my photos processed at a store or lab. I can't afford prints all the time so I just have my negatives scanned straight onto a CD and I'll upload the photos onto my computer and go through them, and edit out dirt spots from the scanner but that's pretty much all I do.

Three interesting facts about yourself?

1. My cat is my best friend. 
2. I spend a lot of time reading about serial killers and rare medical conditions. 
3. I can rap Gucci Gucci by Kreayshawn from beginning to end by heart. It's embarrassing.

What, if anything, do you do to promote your photography? Approximately how much time do you spend per day/week on promoting your photography online?
I maintain a flickr, photo blog, and facebook page for my work but they're just kind of there, I don't spend too much time with promotion.