an interview

Hello Mr. Johnson. My name is Ash Hauswirth, and I'm a student in Houghton, MI. I appreciate you taking the time for this interview.Q: what inspired you to be a photographer?

I’ve simply always liked photography. My father always had a Fuji or Nikon camera around his neck in the 70s and 80s. I started playing with a few cameras I borrowed from local photographer Joe Kirkish. I liked the idea of capturing things in the moment and I started shooting photos of my friends with film. Things took off with the advent of digital photography. I combined this with my love of art and my interest in business and marketing. I’m an engineer and an artist so a camera lets both halves of my brain work together.

Q: what are some of the things you enjoy taking pictures of?

I’m a people-shooter. Everyone generally settles on what they like and what they’re good at. My strength is working with people – leading them through a creative process. Some of my favorite work is when we have a single client in the studio or on location. Their energy and input helps the creative process evolve during the shoot. It’s very cathartic for subject and photographer.

Q: Are there things you do not like to photograph?

Ha ha. Good question. Yes. In general I don’t like it when someone ‘tells’ me to shoot something. I like to be ‘asked’ to shoot, and asked to create. In terms of subjects – I’m really no good at landscapes, nature, or still life. I need people. I need them to be dynamic and look right into the lens. Birds and buildings seldom do this…

Q: whats the hardest thing about being a photographer?

A few things are hard. In general, the actual photographer part is surrounded by many things non-photographer. Invoices, bills, rent, insurance, payroll, taxes, schedules, etc. The business side is necessary but often hard. Educating our clients can be hard too. Once we shoot a photo, we can’t just hand it over in 5 minutes right off of the camera. There’s a process, a workflow that can take a couple hours or many days to process, edit, export, upload, and deliver to our clients.

Q: what is the easiest/most fun part of being a photographer?

Hmmm… A tough question. I love simply shooting. But that’s not easy. It’s hard and fun at same time. The easy AND fun part is seeing our clients react to their images. The raw, unedited images on the back of the camera and the fully edited, large images often get dramatic responses. People laugh, they cry, they exclaim “That’s ME?!” They send us cookies, thank-you cards, antique furniture, and their own handmade art. That is fun and easy: showing our clients their photos.

Q: what kind of equipment do you need to get started as a professional photographer?

If someone is wanting to start with ‘professional’ in mind, they should really invest in a SLR body and a couple basic lenses. There are many kinds of cameras, but this is the standard and has been for decades. With digital photography, you’d need a computer for managing the images. From here you add lighting, light modifiers, more lenses, a backup camera body, more computers, more storage… But we often make recommendations on starter-setups that cost only a couple thousand dollars. For reference, the last lens we bought was exactly that much.

Q: what advice would you give someone who wants to become a professional photographer?

Regardless if you want to shoot nature, still life, or people – there is one common denominator: shooting. I recommend getting inspired by other people’s art and translate that into your own desire to shoot whatever it is you like shooting. Don’t copy them, but be inspired by them. And then just keep your face to the back of a camera the rest of the time. Share your work. Get feedback. Improve skills, and keep shooting. That’s the core of what a photographer does after all.

Q: how do you make your pictures seem so original?

Well first of all, thanks! I spend a lot of time being inspired by others. I put this in my head and mix it up with my own ideas, clients’ ideas, and the location we’re working in. As it spills out during a shoot, our clients trust us with the vision. Some of it works, and some of it doesn’t. A lot of it is liked, and some of it is very misunderstood. That’s the beauty of art! And it’s a reason I like photography - I can create what I see inside my own head.

Q: how many hours a day do you spend on photography?

Good question. It really varies. Every day time is spent on it to some extent, and we divide the tasks up. Meghan is in charge of the studio and the day to day business aspects like clients, schedules, and dollars. Our assistants and an intern help move equipment, work with clients, and support me during a shoot. An editor in Ann Arbor (she used to be our intern and then second photographer) processes the images for us, and I’m free to think about the actual photography part. A small commercial shoot can take 30-90 minutes. A portrait session is 60-120 minutes. A wedding can take 2 days! Some days I’m not shooting at all, and other days I can have 3 shoots a day for two solid days.

Q: how much travel is involved in photography?

Over the last few years, we travel more and more. 100 miles to Marquette, and 2000 miles to California are not uncommon, and the majority of our wedding work is in Wisconsin. Traveling can be fun, but for large shoots it takes about a hundred pounds of gear and two people to make it successful. That makes it a bit more complicated and expensive to pull off, but don’t get me wrong – it can be fun too. To say we meet the most interesting people on our road trips would be an understatement.

Q: what other skills do you need to be a professional photographer?

A professional photographer needs to have many skills, and I think it’s a most unique combination of business, art, technical, and people-skills. You have to be personable, reliable, professional, and completely creative. It’s such a strange job. To get the idea out of your head and create or capture it, you need to know not only basics of exposure and light, but how to get these exposures in any weather and in any condition. You have to sleep with your camera under your pillow.