Spotlight 7 Week 26: Patric Shaw

Week 26 featured Patrick Shaw, as curated by smoothdude. On Flickr.

1) Tell us where you're from and where you're living now. How has it influenced your photography?
I'm english and lived all over the world,at the moment I live in Brooklyn new york with my gorgeous wife and 2 sons,before that we resided in paris for 6 years,where I tried the life of a fashion photographer. Paris made me fall in love with photography, photographers like cartier bresson, jeanloup sieff, henri lartigue, robert doisneau and november, photography month.

2) How do you get emotion from your models? What's a tip you could give to someone starting out in portrait photography? with your subjects, try talking to them first, there is a story about avedon shooting the duke and duchess of windsor, he was deliberately late to the studio on the day, said it was because the taxi he was in, had run over a dog, he then started giving them a blow by blow description ( knowing they were dog lovers ) of the dying dog, and all the time shooting their reaction The story was completely fictitious. He had his shot.. it would have been completely different without that emotion there are many ways to bring some humanity to a shot....first think about who you are shooting, and don't be boring.

3) You seem to prefer a close crop of the face when you shoot, what leads you to your compositional choices?
That comes from paris, I had been given an assignment from allure magazine to shoot some beauty for them so I came in incredibly close on the face, almost medical .....they loved it. I dont use any particular compositional device or rule maybe thirds if anything

4) What equpiment do you use and how important a part does it play in photography, in your opinion?
I use a bunch of rented digital cameras hasselblad and canon EOS 1ds mk 3, I own a canon G9 and a canon 5D Its nice to have great tools ....but it is still more important to have a good eye

5) What piece of equipment would you want if we were going to buy you something (which we're not of course! :)
oh the hasselblad H3 D ll-31and a bunch of lenses

6) Show us your favorite photo chosen for Spotlight Seven and tell us something about it.
alison lll by you: www.flickr.com/photos/patric_shaw/70 0964032

this on reminds me of alex in a clockwork orange ... defiant strong and completely Alison

7) Which photo did we not choose that you would have thought we would have featured?
fernando lll
www.flickr.com/photos/patric_shaw/ 2308274320/

I laugh every time i look at this one of fernando it looks like he about to explode or pop a gasket a gentle person with red hot temper

8) Are you doing photography professionally? What are you goals regarding photography?
yes I try to make a crust out of photography, maybe its to be the best portrait photographer I can be

9) If you could photograph one person living right now, who would it be? Would it be in a studio setting?
That would be Tom Waites and it would be on location or in the studio

10) Show us a photograph on flickr you wish you took.
flickr.com/photos/westholme/2820127437/

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