Hello Ira, welcome to GMax Studios, and it's an honor and pleasure to have you here
Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here, yes.
instrumental music playing
First question that everybody kind of wants to know
Is that where did photography start for you?
Photography started for me
while I was in high school It was a hobby, that
just kept growing, and growing and growing
I was supposed to eventually go to medical school
and be a doctor, but
I was so in love with taking photos, that I decided, follow my heart
and be a photographer. I started working for a local newspaper
and working with the local photographers that were older and knew what they were doing
was what taught me everything.
You are most, you know, renowned for doing about
thirty plus assignments for Nat Geo So how did that happen?
How does one actually land there first, do they approach you or do you approach them
how does it work? I knew I wanted to travel and do
that kind of photography around the world and I, needed to approach the National Geographic
but, you're not going to walk in to the National Geographic
and show them your pictures
and impress them. They've seen great pictures from all around
the world, from great photographers. There's no way
that, you just walk in. I knew somebody that worked there
that, got my foot in the door and I went in and I suggested a story to them
Small story. And, they were willing to try me out.
What was that first, small story that you did?
The first small story I did was about
protecting and saving the American buffalo,
the bison. And because it had been becoming extinct
and the government was trying to breed these bison and
populate their herd, so that was the first story I did.
After that, you have had some really, long assignments which have lasted for days and months.
Well after that the assignments started coming in
and back when I started, we would do assignments that
three-four months at a time, I'd be gone.
What's the longest time you've spent on an assignment?
There was one story I worked on for about a year and a half.
It was a story I was doing on early man the first modern humans,
So, it was a lot of ground to cover, lot of places to go,
and lot of permissions to get.
And that was predominantly shot in which country?
That was shot around the world.
I spent time in Africa, I spent time in Australia,
I spent time in Israel,
I did some caves in France
and Spain, so it was pretty much around the world.
When you find something you love
that you want to do,
those are the kind of things that are usually more difficult
to get money out of.
If you want to go into banking
or be an engineer
they're gonna pay you.
But, if you want to be an artist, it's harder to find the money.
And it's not only now, it's been that way when I started.
Has it gotten tougher?
I think it has gotten tougher
because there are more people taking pictures,
there are more photos out there from people.
So the value, of a photo
has dropped.
Too many people with these great cameras
traveling and taking pictures and willing
to give them away
just to get published.
Publishers are going,
why should I pay for it when I get it for free?
So, being a cultural documentarian do you think the demand for that has lessened?
I think the demand for
in-depth stories has lessened because the world is now attuned to
social media, having, you know instantaneous pictures get it up
put it up on Facebook, put it up on Instagram,
and serious, in-depth photography is tougher to do.
There aren't as many magazines as there used to be.
So, for me, book publishing is a way to display my photos
but, even book publishing is tough. My book just came out last week,
a book on looking at the culture of Cuba through sport, Baseball - they love the sport
there. But it's tough getting a book published
and usually, if you're lucky enough to get it published, you don't necessarily
make money out of it. It's more just, for your heart.
You want that book published. You want to feel, you got something on paper,
I'm living in a world, of my image is inside some computer screen
getting prints and books published is special for me.
But you have taken exceptionally well to social media especially Instagram
So how, did that happen? Did it take a mental, kind of leap for you?
The world in photography is totally changed. And, not just photography,
everything in the world has changed because of the digital age.
And I realized, I didn't want to be a dinosaur. I didn't want to be left behind
dealing with my photography the way I did, twenty years ago.
So, with social media and all the other digital platforms
I embraced it. Okay, let's make this work for me.
And I moved forward. In my life I don't want to look back
on things I want to look forward.
I want not, "hey this is what I used to do" but more about, "this is what I'm going to do."
When I'm taking pictures now,
I have to be careful because
Sometimes I do, it does cross my mind
Well, I want to shoot it, and make it you know, the right size, the right feel
for Instagram.
But then I stop and realize, If I get a really nice image
Then, I can't use it for something else
It's not the right style for something else, I can't, it's not going to make a print
I get torn at times.
So, what was your typical gear like
when you started shooting? When I was shooting these, science
archaeological stories with film, I had to carry a lot of lights!
I remember going to airports with ten-twelve cases of equipment
Lighting equipment, backgrounds, all this grip gear, arms,
reflectors, it was a lot of equipment.
And now, using digital and being able to
pump up the ISO to a higher number
I carry less lights.
I've always used Profoto gear, and the new Profoto stuff is great!
They have small lights that I could work with, that are,
transportable, that are easy and, I'm able to carry less equipment
which is a blessing for me, cause, those days of traveling with assistants
and all this gear was, you know always iffy getting the stuff on airplanes.
So the switch from film to digital,
was it easy, did you embrace it like
you said you embraced where the world was going,
do you feel nostalgic about it?
I switched from film to digital
I think in about, 2004 because that was the time when
the cameras, I thought were good enough but when I first switched, I was nervous.
And I remember the first stories I was doing I had to go to Malaysia
and photograph And I basically shot it digital,
but I also shot it with film. That's how worried I was.
So I shot it on two cameras. And, initially yeah, it's a little rough
trying to make sure things are working developing a workflow
but as things progressed I realized that digital was great!
You know, I had, multiple copies of my images, so, if a drive went
they were backed up I could email or send pictures around the
world something with film I couldn't do, with film
I would be worried about sending original transparencies out
or getting dupes made of those transparencies and sending them - fed-ex'ed somewhere
and hoping they get there and trying to get them back and
worrying about them getting damaged so, with digital - was, once I got
the rhythm, it was fantastic. No looking back.
No looking back; I do, what I do miss and I hadn't done it in a long time was
working with black and white in the dark room. That stopped a long time ago.
And maybe someday, I'll give it a shot again, but,
you know the dark room, black and white, making prints
was pretty special.
What's your, uh, typical kit now,
now that you've switched to a mirrorless. How many lenses? Do you carry the world on your back?
Or do you just prefer going light and being
agile on your feet?
Well now that, you know I'm using the mirrorless cameras,
I'm using the Sonys which are pretty small and lightweight.
I try to carry less.
So I carry, typically,
two, maybe three bodies. I have usually three zooms with me,
you know, a wide zoom, a mid-range zoom and a long zoom
the holy trinity yeah.
Because, with digital you don't want to be changing lenses that much
cause of dust on the sensors. So besides those three basic zooms,
I usually carry one or two fast prime lenses 28mm f/2, 55mm f/1.8, or an 85mm f/1.8
those are the, for more, night shots or really low light situations I get into
Back in the days of shooting film without zoom lenses, I had two or three
cameras around my neck because you need different lenses.
With zooms, most of my stuff done between 24mm and 105mm.
I don't use extreme lenses unless I need an effect
from the extreme lens, like I'll use a long lens to blur out a background
or I'll use a really wide lens if I'm, just, in a room where there's
no space to back off. Quick comparison: you went on a thirty day
trip to the arctic?
Oh that was a three-month trip. Yeah, to the Arctic when I was young
and just starting out. Yeah, so compare this what you're carrying
now, to the kind of equipment you were carrying then.
What was it, that you were carrying then?
Back then, I was using, basic probably Nikon Fs or F2s,
I had probably three bodies, maybe four with me.
And there were no zooms then so I I had I think, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm,
105mm, 200mm lenses. At one point, I had some 21mm lens that
you flip the mirror up, put the lens in and you have a separate viewfinder.
And under those extreme circumstances, do you feel that, you know I mean
did you have the constant need to recharge the batteries?
Right, they didn't need recharging every day definitely so. Oh, when I was shooting film
especially when I was in the Arctic, nothing had batteries in there.
Everything was, you know, battery-less.
You know I hand-wound my film you couldn't put a motor on
because in the cold weather it would crack.
And for metering, I used a hand-held selenium-cell light meter
So there are no batteries in that one of the old ones with the little bulb
in front. Right. Because in the cold weather your batteries are going to die.
That was minus forty, minus fifty degrees.
What do you think makes for a good composition?
Oh, to me there are two different kind of
compositions that generally work. The ones I like the best
are layered compositions where something's going on in the foreground,
something going on in the middle ground and then there's something going on
in the background. And those layers really tell the story.
But it's hard to do that. You've got to, it takes practice,
it takes patience, waiting for things to sort of move in and create it.
The other composition is the one where I think, wedding photographers and fashion
photographers use where, you've got your subject,
you're using a long lens and a wide aperture and you just like, let the background
just go blurred. And those are easy to do.
But I, personally, am I happier with the more complex
compositions. So that would mean, shooting at,
high f stops, right? to do those, yeah I would do, to get foreground
background, if it's day time and there's a lot of light
not a problem. You get f/8 usually I tend to shoot more wider lenses
anyway I like, 28mm is a really good spot for me
I know a lot of people like a 35mm lens but, with 28mm, I get more of a spread in my backgrounds
It's a personal choice. And so, 28mm lens with f/8
you're going to have a lot of depth of field.
If you really want to be a good photographer,
if you really love photography you need to have personal projects. Because
commissioned work you can't be as creative. You're under the thumb, you're being told
what to do by a client.
Personal work is where all your creativity is and
where you can try out new things. Develop a new style. You're not worried about, "what's the client
going to say." So I think personal work, personal projects
are so important to do now.
When I look at some of the newer photographers,
the younger photographers today,
I sometimes get the feeling
they're not going to work as hard. I get this feeling that
because of the digital images and because of what you can do with post-production
a lot of people think, "oh I don't have to get it right now"
"I'll just fix it later" whereas, I came from a generation
of, "get it right in the camera."
And for me,
taking the picture, making the picture, being in the moment when that's happening
is where I want to be.
I don't want to be
spending my time in front of the computer screen.
That's not the joy of photography for me.
For me, the joy of photography is, being out there somewhere
hearing the sounds that are happening smelling... whatever is going on
the wind blowing, all that happening while shooting
those are the memories I want. That's where I want to be with my imagery.
Not, at a computer in some post-production.
Can you name three photographers
who have influenced your work or everybody should be aware of their work and
look up to them as idols, heroes in terms of work?
I think every photographer looks up to different people.
Different people have made an influence in their life.
And there are classic photographers that have, Henri Cartier Bresson is,
one of the classic photographers that everyone looks up to.
His reportage, his decisive moment was an important changing point
in the world of photography. When I started doing colour,
it was Ernst Haas - the German photographer Because he took colour and he made imagery
out of it. Using colour as an artform of itself.
And then there are some early Nat-Geo photographers. There's a guy, Wynn Parks, William Allard
- a friend of mine is a great photographer so,
these are people that, you know I look up to.
You know, young photographers get so caught up in so many different things.
I uh, I just want them to realize
keep your life simple, try to keep your photography uncomplicated,
and follow your passion. Hopefully if you follow the passion
money will follow. Because you need money to continue your work.
You need to survive. So unless you have another source of money,
you can't be a photographer and be dirt poor.
You need to buy equipment, you need your computers
so - the most important thing is be happy in your photography.
Because if people come to you and they see you're
not such a happy person and you're miserable as photographer
because you're not shooting what you want they're not going to want to hire you.
So you've got to have that attitude that you're happy with your photography
that you're doing what you want. And hopefully, with a little business sense
and, you may be able to survive.
For a wildlife photographer, photographing a rare butterfly
or a new species, really means something.
As a wildlife photographer if you're going on a safari,
three to six months are needed in order to prepare for it.
There's a huge difference in your images when you plan and prepare for a tour,
than when you just shoot wildlife spontaneously.
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