Featured Photographer: Thu&Mads

Posted on September 18th, 2009

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Still life Mushroom

Interview:

Where was this taken? The mushroom image was shot in my studio (Saigon)   

What s your favorite Nikon gear? My favourite gear depends very much on the job, but I do have a fondness for the old Nikon FM2 combined with with an 85mm and 35mm. That was basically my working gear when I really got into photography.

Got shooting and processing tips? Learn the rules and get to know when to break them. Learn the basics and expand your knowledge.
Learn to visualise. Photography is made up of both technique and composition and both takes training to develop.   
I was very fortunate to start my apprenticeship when film was still alive and digital was in the infant days. Working with b/w film and develop it in the darkroom and then doing a contact sheet before selecting and printing teaches you something about the craft of photography that is difficult to understand if you only shoot digital and have never experienced the darkroom.   

Also, analogue technologies would give you a creative freedom that is hard to duplicate digitally. For instance, Polaroid emulsion transfer and emulsion lift were two of my favourite techniques to experiment with, but Polaroid material is rare these days.  In terms of digital processing it is all about experiment with the various programs available and find the one that you feel comfortable with.
Programs are getting better and better for every upgrade and soon it will be as with the car industry, any car will get you from A to B, it is more about your taste in cars.  
Currently I am using Aperture as my studio is completely Mac based. It felt as a natural choice. I also use Phocus for Hasselblad and Photoshop for retouch work.  
But most important step of your workflow is back-up. Working files will reside on at least 4 different harddrives before the project is backed up to two remote hardrives.

With a negative or slide you would still have the original, with digital you can only be sure as long as your harddisk don’t crash. Always have a minimum of two drives.

How did you get to start photography?
As I mentioned above, I started out as an apprentice back in Bergen, Norway. I trained with a commercial photographer and then set up my own studio that I ran for 2 years until I moved to England.

I wanted to get an international degree in photography but found the course too basic and managed to transfer to St.Martins and I completed a BA Graphic Design course.

Later I moved to Vietnam due to a job offer, ended up getting married and then worked as an art director for close to six years for local lifestyle/fashion and food magazines before setting up a studio again. So basically full circle. 

What is your goal? In terms of goals, I simply want to improve. Always want to learn more and do more.

Favorite photographers on Flickr? Naming favourite photographers on Flickr is hard, I always come across new interesting streams. I love the function of seeing the last seven days of interestingness.
There is always somebody new to discover there.

I really admire the work of Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, they will always stay classic.

Favorite websites?
For websites, I do read the photographyblog.com for updates and swiss-miss.com almost daily.
I keep a folder on my desktop with links to various websites that I read once a week. All colour coded into different categories such as graphic design, interior, photography, technology and advertising. They are mostly blogs.

Other winning photographs of the Nikon Award:

Jewellery – Green Emerald Collection