Matthew, Photo Pro
Matthew: I get most of my feedback through the internet ...
I have often admired your photos on the forum as, I am sure, others have. What led you, in the first place, to become a photography enthusiast?
First of all, thanks for offering me this opportunity!
I had been involved casually with photography for quite a while. I don’t even know exactly why, to be perfectly honest. However it all took off rather seriously when I was given a compact digital camera, as a gift, by my uncle. It had a feature which allowed one to manually control a lot of different parameters. I spent hours reading about the subject, trying to understand what on earth aperture, shutter speed, ISO and all that meant, and I slowly started getting hooked. However, I soon began to understand the limitations of this camera and decided to spend a good percentage of the money I had saved during that year's summer job on a Digital-SLR.
Your favourite photographic subjects appear to be fast cars and aircraft. How do you explain your obvious fascination for such subjects?
I guess I’m just a fan of technology - particularly when it comes to engineering and speed. I have always found airplanes fascinating, particularly state-of-the-art military aircraft. It’s a similar story with cars. I became interested in Formula 1 when I was young, through video games, and I soon fell in love with the sport. From that point onwards the interest just kept growing and spreading to various other categories of motorsport. I find the whole concept of aerodynamics fascinating and that is probably what fuelled my interest in both aviation and motorsport, and why I love photographing aircraft and fast cars.
Matthew: I find the whole concept of aerodynamics fascinating ...
This was one of the main reasons why I felt I needed a Digital-SLR. When your subject is moving relatively fast, that’s where you really start pushing the camera to the limit.
What photographic apparatus do you use to capture the subjects of your photos with such obvious perfection
It’s quite a long list ... and the wish list is even longer!
I use a Canon EOS 40D as my primary camera and still, occasionally, use my older Canon EOS 400D as a backup/secondary camera. Unlike a common, compact, digital camera, with a Digital SLR camera one also need lenses, which are just as important. In this regard, my most used lenses are a Canon 100-400mm and a Canon 70-200mm lens. They are ideal for the kind of photography I like in that the 100-400mm offers great "zoom" characteristics which lets you get in really close to the action, while the 70-200mm is a great all rounder allowing you take very good pictures even when light starts getting scarce.
Apart from this equipment I also have a sturdy tripod together with an external remote which is ideal to capture shots at night, an external flash, lens filters and so on ...
Unfortunately, equipment is the most expensive part of this hobby but the good thing is that you don’t need to invest in everything right away and you can build your collection one item slowly as time passes.
Matthew: Any photo is a good excuse!
Do you develop prints of your own masterpieces as well as take the photographs?
The beauty of digital is that what once was the darkroom, and required plenty of special and expensive equipment, has now become packaged in software. I guess this is one of the reasons which made this hobby a lot more appealing than it was, before, with film. I do print some of my photos particularly when it’s not a shot you can take every day (such as a visit by a rare aircraft), however due to space limitations I don’t print as many as I’d like to. I do, however, keep digital copies of all my photos (and this quite quickly becomes a hard disk space problem) and there are certainly a few I will print in the near future as, to me, a photo always seems to look better when printed out!
The kind of photography you indulge in must mean many hours of lying low, waiting for the right shot. You must be very patient.
I was never a very patient person, but photography has certainly helped me improve! It’s not a rarity to go near the airport, waiting for some particular aircraft to arrive, in the scorching sun, only for it to show up four hours late or not at all ... but I guess that is what makes it even more special when you do get to take the photo you want. I clearly remember spending eight hours in the sun last year waiting for the air show participants to arrive, and they were all at least four hours late, but in the end it was all worth it and I’m already preparing to do the same this year. There’s something that is greatly satisfying when you start downloading the pictures of that moment you captured.
Do you ever take snap-shots of the more mundane things? Family? Holiday snaps?
This hobby somewhat limits my travel aspirations quite a bit, due to the costs involved, but holiday snaps are certainly something I like. In fact one of my all-time favourite photos is one I took of the Chain Bridge in Budapest. Knowing the area is usually full of people taking photos (when it all lights up) I went there a bit early so as to wait for it - and the rest of the scenery - to be illuminated just before the natural light was fully gone. I ended up spending around an hour and a half waiting for this, but ultimately I was really happy with the result and ended up printing it.
Family photos are not something I often do but I am sometimes asked to take a couple of snaps during certain occasions and well... any photo is a good excuse
Matthew on Chain Bridge in Budapest: I ended up spending around an hour and a half waiting for this ...
Have you ever taken part in photographic competitions and/or exhibitions?
I rarely take part in competitions, since my favourite genre is not something you’ll find exhibited often. I have, however, had some of my photos published in magazines and I guess it’s a nice feeling when you see your photos are appreciated. It’s a similar story with competitions ... these things are ultimately very subjective. You get people who like what you do and you get others who don’t. Instead of using competitions, though, I get most of my feedback through the internet and it’s thanks to these people that I have a chance to constantly improve my photography. In turn I also try to pass on anything I learn and help friends who are starting out. I still have a long way to go myself though!
Is photography only a hobby or is it also part of your job?
Just an expensive hobby! I’m not particularly interested in taking it as a job, as I feel that when you do that with something you’ll ultimately start to lose some of the passion you had for it. Besides, the costs involved are so high that it would take years for a hobbyist to break even let alone make a profit from prints he may sell! To add to this, what I photograph isn’t exactly ideal for making money. That's probably to be made in weddings and photo shoots, which is not something I’m interested in doing.
A photo you'd like to take one day, given the chance?
Well, perhaps to travel to Africa and photograph some of the wildlife and other scenes you can only find there. It will be a bit expensive, but luckily Africa's not going anywhere... I know a few photographers who went there for a few weeks, and they brought home some amazing pictures.
Give us a quotable quote about photography, preferably your own.
One of my all-time favourite photography quotes is by one of the best war photographers in history, Robert Capa: “If your pictures aren’t good enough ... you’re not close enough”.
My personal motto however goes more along the lines of, “if it moves, has an engine and makes a loud noise - then shoot it!”
Matthew: ... if it moves, has an engine and makes a loud noise - then shoot it!
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