Fstoppers: How did you get into photography?

Marcus Nilsson: I was always painting and drawing when I was younger, I was very much into fine art, but I worked as a chef full time for many years. After 10 years or so working in the restaurant business, I decided to go to school for art here in New York. I quit cooking at 28, and I went to school for fine art. I meant to do painting and drawing, but I took a black and white photography class, a 101 darkroom class, and I kind of fell in love with photography. Before that I didn’t really do any photography, just snapshots like everybody else. I fell in love with it there in the darkroom, the black and white and the film.

Fstoppers: Was it a natural progression to shooting cuisine?

Marcus Nilsson: That’s also something that I didn’t plan, even though I’d gone to culinary school and I’ve cooked. I know a lot about food and I loved food, but I didn’t like food photography at all. I read cook books and magazines, but I never really liked the way it was photographed and presented. I was photographing more fine art still lifes and there would be body parts in there, an arm or a leg or something, but there would also be food in the picture. Most often it wasn’t about the food, and there would be a piece of chocolate cake in the corner. It was more about the other things that were going on.

I ended up shooting food commercially because of Richard Ferretti, who was the creative director at Gourmet magazine in 2005, he contacted me. I had a super ugly, homemade website that I’d made in Word – it was terrible! – but I had a few of my still lifes and some really gritty black and white photographs of chicken feet and pigs’ feet, and he saw those pictures and called me and asked me if I’d like to shoot a feature for Gourmet magazine. I’d never done a job in my whole life! He was looking for a new way of looking at food, and I think he changed the way people look at food in general today. He was the one who got me shooting food! He saw something in my photography, because I wasn’t brainwashed, you know? I wasn’t a food shooter. I realized after shooting that story that I didn’t have to shoot food in a specific way. It doesn’t have to look like Martha Stewart did back in the day, where everything was neat, backlit, with a soft focus. I shot sharp pictures, and I wanted my food to look touched, like a sophisticated snap shot… though it is very planned out. I’m a perfectionist, but it doesn’t look fake. So after that I had more jobs than I could take. And now everybody shoots like that!

Fstoppers: It seems like there are definite trends in food photography. What was it like when you started, and where do you think it is now?

Marcus Nilsson: When I started they would put the plate on the pretty napkin that was ironed and folded, and they would have the utensils sitting perfectly: knife to the right with the fork to the left. Things would often be backlit with very soft focus, and there would be “lifestyle” people with very white teeth and shit like that. And that’s how it used to looked, and then it wasn’t just me, it was a group of people that started doing things differently but it started a whole new trend. Now it’s more relaxed, and they want it to be a bit darker and not so precious.

Fstoppers: Do you always work with a food stylist?

Marcus Nilsson: No, not always.

Fstoppers: What sort of role do they play in the process when they work with you?

Marcus Nilsson: Well, I do a lot of personal assignments when I do the food, and I do a lot of travel assignments and travel all over the world for Bon Appetite, Departures, Martha Stewart, Travel & Leisure… GQ sends me places as well, and Details magazine. When I go on those jobs, it’s just me and my assistants, and I do all the food. When I go someplace and a photograph a sandwich or a plate of food in someone’s home, of course whoever cooks the food does the main thing, but we always discuss how to plate it and what to plate it on. And I always put my fingers in it. I always shoot the food untouched, and then I move things around, and take a picture. And then I start eating. I’ll take a bite, and take a picture. And then I’ll take another bite, and another picture. I eat through the plate until I think it’s not worth shooting anymore, usually that’s how it works.

Fstoppers: What is it that you look for in a good photograph?

Marcus Nilsson: The difference between a good photographer and a bad photographer is that the good photographer sees what the other photographer doesn’t see. It’s all about seeing things. If we do a still life with plates, it just have to feel right throughout the image. It has to feel natural, it’s hard to explain.

Fstoppers: How do you describe the look of your photos? Give me three words.

Marcus Nilsson: That’s where I was lacking in art school, I’m not good at talking about my work. (laughs) When you see something, your eye responds and you take a picture and that’s what it is to me. There’s no philosophy, there’s no deeper meaning. My pictures don’t look too staged. I’m looking at a still life of fruit right now… it’s sexy? Maybe there’s a certain mood in them.

Fstoppers: How do you approach lighting?

Marcus Nilsson: I shoot most of my stuff in daylight, and it depends on what I’m looking for in the picture, but usually I prefer northern light. It’s a colder light, a softer light. I think it works great for food. I’m very picky with the light. If I’m shooting daylight and the light’s not right? I won’t shoot. If we’re working on a set up and the light changes, we either have to wait for the light to get good again or move it somewhere else.

Fstoppers: So most of it is natural light?

Marcus Nilsson: It is. I do light stuff as well, sometimes I even use on-camera flash. I had a big project I was working on in Mexico City last year, where I shot everything on-camera flash…

Fstoppers: Really?!

Marcus Nilsson: Yeah, it’s a new style for me. Like I said before, what I did and what I’ve done before… it’s everywhere now. Everyone shoots like this. Everybody’s talking about this, especially art directors when they’re talking about how something should be shot. It took years for my style to get on the page of a magazine and now everybody wants to shoot like that, and I’m bored, kind of. I’m looking for new ways to do it! I’m looking at these pictures – I have a whole series here on my wall – and I would say the composition is exactly my style. I shoot most of my stuff overhead, but instead of having that daylight that I usually shoot, I have on-camera flash and it looks great. So yes, I do other stuff, but most of it is daylight. Daylight is rich and soft, and while it could be very harsh, it’s a whole different animal than lighting with strobes. Sometimes when I shoot advertising, I mimic daylight with strobes, and I can hardly tell the difference myself in the end.

Fstoppers: What do you shoot with?

Marcus Nilsson: When it comes to lenses, I don’t like too many options. When I first started shooting, I think I only had one lens, maybe two. When I first started shooting, I was shooting on a Pentax 67 and a Mamiya RZ67. So I had a normal lens and a slightly wider lens, so like a 105mm and a 90mm or a 75mm or something like that. No long lenses, I never used long lenses. Now I’ve moved on to 4×5. Most of my stuff I shot my first three years as a photographer, I shot on large format film and I only used one lens.

Fstoppers: Do you still shoot film?

Marcus Nilsson: No, not very much. I still have the cameras and I take them out every once in a while. I have two cameras that I shoot with digitally, I have a Phase One camera with a Phase One digital back. It’s called P45 +. With that, I use the 80 lens, which is the normal lens. I shoot basically everything with an 80mm lens on that camera. I have a 5D Mark II as well, and the same thing there. I have a 90mm shift lens, and I have a 50mm. The shift lens I use to pull everything in focus, but I don’t like shooting at deep f-stops. I don’t like going too far down on the lens. I love shooting with the tilt lens, because I can put everything in focus that’s important, which since I shoot overhead is about 80% of the picture. But still it’s a huge difference. The 90mm tilt-shift on the 5D is amazing, but the P45 + is my favorite.

Fstoppers: How much time do you spend editing, and how much post-production work do you do?

Marcus Nilsson: When I first started, I was terrible at editing. It took me forever, I could never decide on pictures. Now I shoot so much, I have more work than I can take and on top of that I also do personal stuff. I’ve gotten really good at editing, it’s something you pick up and get better at as you go. I can edit pretty quick these days! Some projects I take longer than others, like personal projects can take longer than jobs for some reason. Post-production what I do is I shoot tethered or on cards depending on the situation, and most of the time I shoot tethered on Capture 1 6 and we make the files look nice there and then we process them to TIFs and then I work on them in Photoshop. And there’s hardly ever any retouching. If there’s a celebrity, I might make them look younger, take out some wrinkles here and there, but that’s usually on the client’s request. If people have black bags under their eyes, I like that. If they’re wrinkly, I like that. I try to get that rich film look, I have a few tricks in Photoshop but nothing groundbreaking I guess.

Fstoppers: What is your favorite food to eat?

Marcus Nilsson: I get that question a lot. I have different favorites throughout the year. I drink a lot of wine and collect wine, and I drink different wines in different seasons. Right now it’s cold, so I eat more meats, stews, whole birds, and I drink darker, heavier wines. In the summer, I love salads and vegetables. I eat anything and everything, I have a few favorite dishes but there’s nothing I’d want to eat forever. I get bored quickly.

Fstoppers: What is your least favorite food to photograph?

Marcus Nilsson: Hamburgers and sandwiches! I hate sandwiches. (laughs) I just got asked to do a big cookbook on hamburgers and sandwiches, and I turned it down because I was going to have to shoot 40 or 50 recipes, and I have a hard time taking one good photograph of a sandwich. I mean, I’ve done it and I do good hamburgers, but it’s very limiting. If you do a book or project when you have lots of them, it’s hard to get a variation on them. There’s no so many options. People normally like to shoot them at a low angle, and I don’t like to shoot at a low angle. I like to shoot overhead.

Fstoppers: What is the most exotic dish that you’ve ever shot?

Marcus Nilsson: Maybe something in Mexico City. There are markets down there where they sell all kinds of stuff that I really wouldn’t like to eat. They sell these worms that are alive and ants and ant eggs. I’m not grossed out by that, I appreciate it, but you’re also in an environment where the smells overwhelm you every step you take. There are little bunny rabbits with the fur on their head and feet only, and then you take another step and there’s worms crawling around in a bucket. And then there’s a bicycle with some goats’ heads in the basket, and it’s craziness. I find it fascinating and I love it, but it’s an experience.

Fstoppers: What’s the biggest mistake that young photographers make when they first start out shooting cuisine?

Marcus Nilsson: They don’t have their own style. They need to find their own voice. No matter what you shoot, if you copy what’s in the magazines or another photographer, you have to find something unique and special. There are so many photographers out there, why would they need another one that shoots like everyone else?

Fstoppers: What would you say is the secret of your success?

Marcus Nilsson: I know what I like, and I have a personal style in the way I photograph. That’s why Richard Ferretti picked me up, I guess. He saw something in me, he believed in me.

Fstoppers: What’s next for you?

Marcus Nilsson: I’m doing a big advertising campaign for a big American food company and then after that I’m working on a cookbook with Danny Meyer and Michael Romano, you know, the Union Square Hospitality Group. They own Maialino, Gramercy Tavern, a lot of restaurants, and they’re doing a cookbook on the family meal. It will be part portraits, part food. I’ve also been working on a project in Mexico City, as I mentioned earlier, for Swallow magazine, which is a really interesting magazine that’s worth mentioning. We’re having a launch party in New York City and one in Mexico City. There are also plenty of personal projects that I’m working on, and Swallow offers a really fresh perspective on cuisine, which we need.

Shooting interiors and still lifes can be notoriously difficult. And when done poorly, it can be downright boring… which is why I love photographer Lisa Hubbard and her work. Hubbard’s work is fresh and quirky, with a style and sense of humor that never gets old. Her impressive list of clients, including Anthropolgie, Absolut, Bon Appetit, Burberry, Kmart, and Martha Stewart, certainly agree. Check out this week’s FS Spotlight with Lisa Hubbard to get the scoop on her life as a successful interior and lifestyle photographer.

Fstoppers: Why photography?

Lisa Hubbard: I fell in love with cameras.

Fstoppers: Your work has a really unique sense of composition. What do you look for in an image, and how would you describe your own work?

Lisa Hubbard: I think I probably look for balance, but balance can be achieved with the use of negative space, too. In that case, I suppose, it’s really “unbalance”. I want the objects in my photographs to each have a full share in the image. I don’t want anything just sitting there, boring us. It may be quiet, but it shouldn’t be forgotten. That’s a lot to live up to, and I’m sure I fail at this all the time. But I’m always inspired by Charles Ludlum, “You are a living mockery of your own ideals. If not, you have set your ideals too low.”

Fstoppers: I love your use of color. It seems like often you’re working with a set color palette and limited pops of color… which lends some whimsy. Can you tell me a bit about this approach?

Lisa Hubbard: I do love a pop of color. It’s as simple as that. It’s a little like a one line joke, but a one line joke can be wonderful.

Fstoppers: Do you work with a stylist?

Lisa Hubbard: In commercial work, yes. There’s almost always a stylist on set. Some stylists just bring the props, and some work with me on set, too. I like both approaches. Some stylists feel very strongly about where an object lies in the final image. I love this. They are as obsessed as I am. It used to bother me, but I’ve learned to honor it. Some like to set up the entire shot, and expect me to just shoot it as is. This is very difficult. They are not looking through a camera as they set things up, and they are not controlling the light. A photograph really is light. When a stylist sets something up off to the side in the studio, or even on set, they can’t know what they are creating in the final image. The photographer’s job is to use light, camera, lens, angle, time…   and make an image. It’s a lot to manage at once. This is what photographers do. We bring it all together.

Fstoppers: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever been hired to shoot?

Lisa Hubbard: Not strange but wonderful: a screech owl. I felt that I was in the presence of greatness… tiny greatness. They are only about 8 inches tall!

Fstoppers: What camera do you shoot with? Lenses?

Lisa Hubbard: Commercially, I use the Canon digital cameras with prime lenses, usually t/s. In the past, I’ve used a 4×5 Arca Swiss. For my personal work, I have a two view cameras: a 5×7 (which is a beautiful proportion) and an 8×10. I miss the days of film and 4×5 for commercial work. A view camera is the very best tool for seeing that I have ever used. There’s great value in looking AT a picture on a ground glass, as opposed to looking THROUGH a camera. I love both, but it’s a very different experience, with different advantages. What I do love about the Canon digital cameras is the speed of work flow and the ability to shoot moving images. I’ve just finished a super-short film about still life, and I love it. It’s been enormous fun, and it has opened up a fresh new world to me, for which I’m grateful.

Fstoppers: How do you approach lighting for interiors? Do you use more natural light or studio lighting? What equipment?

Lisa Hubbard: For interiors, I use daylight whenever possible and add to it. I would rather shoot a room at the best time of day for that space than light the whole space. When adding light, I use strobe (Profoto acute and lanterns, usually).

Fstoppers: Who have you shot for recently?

Lisa Hubbard: Lots of food for magazines, and a new home catalog for Schoolhouse Electric Company. It’s fun and elegant, and beautifully designed.

Fstoppers: Three artists who have influenced you are…

Lisa Hubbard: Giorgio Morandi, an Italian still life painter. He spent much of his life painting the same everyday objects over and over…  Sounds dull, no? But I envy him. His work is gorgeous and full of life. To find something fresh in the same crap again and again… It really cuts away the fluff, and all that’s left is the painting (or the photography). Anyone can find the latest thing, the newest thing to shoot or paint. Anyone can take a gorgeous photo of something gorgeous. But it takes real courage to make something new each day from the same few objects. Jan Groover, a genius photographer and my teacher, who died on January 1st 2012. One thing she taught me was that we all make up our own job:  I can give myself an easy job or a challenging one. Morandi, for example, gave himself a tough one, but one with lots of room to grow and build on.

Fstoppers: What makes an interesting interior or garden shot? A boring one?

Lisa Hubbard: In commercial work, an interesting interior image is one where I can feel myself existing in the space. I want to see a way “in”.  It’s also one that avoids the usual visual cliches… This is easier said than done. And of course, I want to be inspired. I have a house, and I’m constantly looking for ideas to help me make it a home, but in a personal way.

Fstoppers: The best part about being a photographer is:

Lisa Hubbard: Making pictures! Playing with light. Being part of a crew that is working together and building on what each other creates.

Fstoppers: The worst is:
Lisa Hubbard: 4am call times… Kidding! Sometimes there’s a chance for the crew to make something really gorgeous on a shoot, but the client doesn’t want it. They can’t use it. Of course the client is right. They always know best what they are looking for, and the art director on the shoot is the one who goes back to the office with the work and has to defend it if we’ve gone off track, so of course they know best what they need. But sometimes it means that we don’t get to shoot that gorgeous thing, and that makes me sad.

Fstoppers: Where have you traveled for work?

Lisa Hubbard: All over the US, Wales, Italy, Ireland.

Fstoppers: What’s your advice to aspiring photographers interested in shooting interiors and design work?

Lisa Hubbard: The market is overwhelmed right now. The advent of digital a few years back has made it possible for just about anyone to be a photographer… sort of. It no longer takes skill and nerves of steel to do a commercial shoot and be SURE you’ll come back with good quality film. Technically, digital is pretty fool proof. So… my advice? Don’t let that fool you into thinking that every damn image you can click away at is wonderful. Yes, quick photos can be very fun, and I love them sometimes, and they are dear to me. But that’s not enough. Push yourself to think about what photography can do. What you can do. Be critical. Give yourself a harder job. And never let anyone else compose your image.

Fstoppers: Tell me a little bit about how photography and surfing first intersected for you.

Chris Burkard: It’s funny, for most people it usually comes one at a time, but for me it wasn’t that way. I was doing a lot of 2-dimensional art in high school, more for creative purposes to stay busy. I found photography after I graduated, when I was just surfing with my friends and really enjoying waking up super early and going out. It felt like a really natural progression from working with art to picking up a camera, because it felt like finally I had found a medium I could take everywhere. With art you’re restricted to your easel or wherever you are, but with photography you can take it into social settings, to the mountains or the water, anywhere you want. For me it was the perfect medium for expression. Being able to shoot in the water was one of my first passions. I got a water housing, and it really kind of escalated into landscape photography.

Fstoppers: You’re currently on staff with Surfer magazine. What is that like? What is your day to day?

Chris Burkard: I’ve been working with Surfer magazine for about 6 years, and I’ve been on retainer for about 2 and a half. It’s interesting, there have been a lot of different photographers that have worked for the magazine over the years, and every photographer is hired for their strength. Certain photographers are amazing contest photographers, certain guys are great in the water, and certain guys are great at shooting portraits. The cool thing about Surfer is that they hired me for my strengths, which are planning trips to off-the-beaten-path places and travel pieces. I do a lot of travel pieces for the magazine, and I do trips to Iceland and India and obscure places, and that’s sort of my forte. Luckily, they just allow me to do that. For half the year, about February through October, I’m just traveling. I try to plan like 3 or 4 trips for them, and I’m trying to plan trips for some other clients that I work for, Patagonia or whatever. Usually the pieces I do for Surfer are a feature, a travel article or a profile, there’s some sort of purpose for it. The rest of the year I’m home, working in California just because it’s the place I know super well and it’s easy to get great stuff that time of year. Normally it’s 9 months on the road, off and on, and three months or so at home.

Chris Burkard

Chris Burkard: The list is long! Indonesia a couple times, Russia, Iceland three times, Ireland…

Fstoppers: What? You shot surfing in Russia?

Chris Burkard: Yeah! I went to Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan, about a year ago. It was crazy. It was a really amazing, interesting trip. I’ve also been to Canada, Alaska, all through Central America, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Thailand, Chile, Maine, Northern California, the list goes on and on!

Fstoppers: You’re only 25! You’re on staff with Surfer, you’ve won multiple awards, and you’ve already released a book. What would you say is the secret of your success?

Chris Burkard: Early on I decided rather than label myself as a surfing photographer, I tried to be a photographer first and decided to shoot surfing. What I did, and still do to this day, is whatever format or style is mine, I try to apply that to everything I do. I don’t really enjoy shooting things that aren’t going to mean anything a couple years down the road, I want to shoot images that are timeless, that are going to be wall hangers forever, that people are going to appreciate in any era. I’ve tried to consciously to do that, and that’s been done by shooting silhouettes or using really good lighting that evokes emotion out of the viewer. To me, that’s been the key to my success, because what you’re doing is you’re not dating your images, so they’re worth more. Because they’re worth more, hopefully they get run more often and publishers like them because they apply to everyone and people will want to buy them because they do speak volumes to everybody, not just surfers. For me, that’s the key and that’s something that I’ve worked consciously on for the last couple years.

Fstoppers: The thing you love most about photography is…

Chris Burkard: How it teaches me patience.

Fstoppers: The thing that you love the least is…

Chris Burkard: Long flights. And early mornings, getting up at 5AM isn’t fun at all!

Fstoppers: Tell me a bit about what you need in terms of gear for surfing.

Chris Burkard: You usually have some sort of a telephoto, whether it’s a 400mm, 500mm, or 600mm. You have your basic lenses: your portrait lens, and a 70-200 f2.8, which is what you use for lineups and things like that, and that’s the lens that I use the most. You also have your water housings. I have a fisheye housing, a flash housing, a long lens housing; you have a myriad of housings to put your gear inside so they stay safe. Transportation’s also really key, and you have a Pelican case. You can be on a boat or a Jet Ski, swimming, or on land. Water resistant enclosures are important as well, especially if you’re in the rain or there’s a lot of spray coming off the wave. With surfing you’re harder on your equipment than you are with any other sport, I’d say. The ocean and corrosion from salt water is so bad, and at the same time you need some of the best equipment because you’re shooting super fast and you need big, big telephoto lenses. It’s a total nightmare!

Fstoppers: Are you able to use flash at all?

Chris Burkard: Yeah! We use flash quite a bit. We do a couple different types. We’ll do flash housing, where we’re swimming with the athlete in the waves and we have a flash on our housing; we’ll do remote flash, where someone has the flash in the water and will be strobed or Pocket Wizard-activated by someone shooting in a boat or on land, and you can light up the surfer from a distance. It can get crazy. We’ve had like 3 or 4 flashes in the water before.

Fstoppers: When you’re in the middle of all the action and in the ocean, how do you stay focused on the moment?

Chris Burkard: It can be a little tricky sometimes when you’re shooting really big surf and you’re driving a Jet Ski or someone else is driving the Jet Ski. There are people zipping all around and waves, and you’re worrying about your camera getting wet and you’re trying to focus and shoot the person that’s surfing. That can get hectic, there’s no doubt about it. The key is really just to familiarize yourself with your surroundings so that you can take out some of the variables. Also trusting the people that you’re with, that’s super important obviously. You don’t want to be in a situation that could get really bad really quickly, because it can. The ocean can be a really unruly subject, and you never want to turn your back on it.

Fstoppers: Where are you when most of these shots are taken? I know you mentioned being on a Jet Ski.

Chris Burkard: Sometimes I’m in the water, sometimes I’m on land, sometimes I’m on a Jet Ski. It all depends on the situation. If it’s a wave that’s way out at sea, usually we’re on a Jet Ski. If it’s close to shore we could be swimming, if it’s big, barreling close outs I’m usually in the water. If it’s a long point break, I’m shooting from land. It all depends on the situation, and a lot of times you’re trying to show the place from several different angles so you spend time on all three.

Fstoppers: If you could surf anywhere, where would it be?

Chris Burkard: There’s a really crazy place in the Caribbean that I went to last year that not a lot of people know about, and it was one of the most amazing trips I’ve ever been on. There’s no tourism on the island whatsoever, you have to know the local people, and that’s probably where I would go. I’ve told everybody, if I could ever do a surf trip by myself, that’s probably where I’d go. It’s amazing, and it’s a secret… that’s one of the perks of the job.

Fstoppers: What’s the most difficult part of surf photography?

Chris Burkard: That would be conditions. It’s not like skateboarding or snowboarding, where you have a lot of days out of the year where you just have to set up your lights and set up your shot. Every moment’s changing. You can never create a scenario over. You’re dealing with uncontrolled scenarios, you’re dealing with uncontrolled weather, tide, and swell, and your surfer, so there are about five different factors every single time that you’re hoping will come together. Even when everything goes right, something still goes wrong! That’s the trickiest part.

Fstoppers: Your photos seem to have a lot of color and a high depth of field. Can you tell me a bit about your style?

Chris Burkard: Whenever I go somewhere, especially traveling, I never want to be the guy that just has the straight on photo from land. That’s the least thing I want. I want something that always shows a bit of the place or it gives an air of secrecy or gives the viewer a sense of putting the pieces together. I’m always looking for landmarks or something that will really tie into the surroundings, hopefully something that will make the wave and the surfer come together in a little bit more of a landscape orientation. Surfing happens in such beautiful arenas, I want to make the surroundings the star of the image and have everything in line with nature a little more.

Fstoppers: What’s the craziest experience you’ve had while shooting surfing?

Chris Burkard: I was in Chile and we had a drunk boat captain that was driving us next to this wave that we were shooting, and a big set came and he drove us right into the set, and the whole thing washed over the boat. All my camera gear was soaked, totally toasted, done, gone. It was a total nightmare. I’m lucky I didn’t fly off the boat. I felt like I was at SeaWorld or something. And then in Russia, I got put into jail because of passport issues. My passport wasn’t stamped correctly, and that was really gnarly. I got deported through Korea, that was pretty crazy. I did a lot of praying in that moment! You go on a lot of trips and nothing goes wrong, and then something happens that really makes you appreciate where you live.

Fstoppers: What is the next piece of gear on your wish list?

Chris Burkard: Probably the Sony NEX-7, a little compact camera. I’m always searching for something small but powerful because from the water it’s nice to have something lightweight. I’m looking forward getting that and taking it out on the water and seeing what it can do as a nice little back up body.

Fstoppers: The one thing that you’d tell aspiring photographers is…

Chris Burkard: Create your own style and stick with it. People don’t really hire photographers because they’re average at a bunch of different things, they hire them because they’re really, really good at one thing and they show a willingness to excel at everything else. Don’t spread yourself too thin, focus on what you’re good at, and hone those skills.

The West Texas native has been become known for his mixed martial arts photography, and his work has been featured in Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, USA Today, Time magazine, The New York Times, and The LA Times. Fstoppers catches up with Hedges to hear about his favorite fight, why shooting the UFC is different from other sports, and staying focused while two guys pummel each other. Check out the full FS Spotlight interview below!

UFC on Versus 5: Sadollah vs. Ludwig by Josh Hedges

Fstoppers: How did you get started with photography?

Joshua Hedges: I’ve always been interested in it. One of my early Christmas presents from my parents was a little Kodak mini camera, and I was always carrying that around taking pictures of everything. As I started getting older, there was a photography class in high school where I learned how to develop in the dark room, and I built on it from there.

UFC 139: Shogun v Henderson by Josh Hedges

Fstoppers: Did you always have an interest in the martial arts? How did you end up shooting for the UFC?

Joshua Hedges: I didn’t always have an interest in it. I got introduced to the UFC when I was in high school. One of my buddies’ dad got it on Pay-Per-View, and we’d all hang out there on a Friday night. It became a thing, and we started getting together every time there was a fight. I got into it as a fan and became more involved in later from the business side of it. I had to build a website for one of my classes in college, and I chose martial arts. In the process of doing that I interviewed a couple guys and went to a couple shows and looked at it more from the journalistic side. And I thought, why not try shooting it? It sort of snowballed from there.

UFC 141: Lesnar v Overeem by Josh Hedges

Fstoppers: What do you shoot with?

Joshua Hedges: I use all Canon gear. My two main cameras are 1D Mark IVs, and I also have 1D Mark IIIs, which I mostly use for backup and remotes and things like that. And then the main lens that I use for 70-80% of the shots is the 70-200. I also use the 16-35, 24-70, 24-105, 15mm, 14mm, and I’ve been using the 8-15mm fisheyes recently that they just came out with. But the 70-200 is really the main one for me.

Fstoppers: Where do you typically stand during the fights? Are there certain spots that are better for angles?

Joshua Hedges: There are two primary positions that I shoot from: the photo box, which is standing on a box looking directly over the fence, and behind one of the posts on the cage, which is the main position. You can also stand down below in the photo pit, which requires shooting through the cage. I don’t do that a whole lot, but every once in a while I do. And as far as remote cameras, the main place I mount them for almost every show is directly overhead in the lighting grid. You just come off one of the posts in there and rig it with pocket wizards and stuff. Depending on the arena, we do other remotes if we have catwalk access or a spot where the general public is not going to get to them and mess with things. I might put a 400mm off in the corner and have it centered on the center of the cage so it’s shooting the same thing I am, but from a different angle.

Strikeforce World Grand Prix Semifinals by Josh Hedges

Fstoppers: What is the most difficult part of shooting the UFC?

Joshua Hedges: The moment. You get one chance at it. If it’s a knockout shot, and you don’t get it, you can’t go back and tell them to do it again. You have to stay focused at all times. There’s no lapse, there’s no relaxing. You tend to want to do that if it’s a boring fight that drags on, and toward the end you’re like, “get it over already,” but you have to coach yourself not to do that. You have to stay awake and always be ready.

UFC 138: Leben v Munoz by Josh Hedges

Fstoppers: How do you feel like shooting the UFC is different from shooting other sports?

Joshua Hedges: The big difference is that it’s indoors and the lighting is very controlled. You have to rely on the subject to be your creativity. You can’t play with shadows or do things with light that you could do with an outdoor football game at noon with the position of the sun or whatever. As far as the action, it’s not that much different. I think anyone who is a seasoned sports photographer could probably shoot it pretty well. It’s mainly that you have to try to find the emotion. It’s not necessarily worrying about the composition of the shot. It’s a little more complex, it’s a little tougher because of the limited lighting possibilities.

Stephens vs. Downes by Josh Hedges

Joshua Hedges: No. I’ve been doing it for so long. Maybe in the beginning there were a couple times where it was like, “Whoa, this is crazy!” But now I’ve had blood splashed on me, I’ve had guys right up in my face almost knocking me off of the post. It’s just kind of like any other shoot for me.

Fstoppers: What’s been your favorite moment or favorite fight?

Joshua Hedges: It changes from time to time, but I still think my favorite was when Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva finally fought at UFC 79. It was a fight that everybody had wanted for years and they were both past their prime, but it still turned out to be such an awesome fight. I got so many great shots from that! To this day, a couple of my favorite shots that I’ve ever taken were from that fight. There was one moment when they were doing the intros for the guys that I got goosebumps for a minute. It was like “Wow, this is really happening! This is crazy.”

UFC 138: Leben v Munoz by Josh Hedges

Fstoppers: How much time do you spend editing? How many shots do you normally take per fight?

UFC on Versus 4: Kongo vs. Barry by Josh Hedges

Joshua Hedges: Too many? It really varies. For a full round of a decent fight, probably 200-300 images per round. Obviously I try to keep it down as low as possible to try to help with editing. For a really good main event that goes the full 5 rounds, it could be 800-1000 images for that fight. As far as the edit goes, it really depends on the fight. If it’s a fight where I have an editor there with me, I really don’t spend much time at all until I get home later, and then I’ll just go back through them later and see if there’s anything the editor missed. If it’s something that I have to edit myself, which happens quite a bit, I’ll try to do as much as I can between fights. There’s really not much of a break, though, usually only enough time to download the cards. It probably takes me 2-3 hours after the fights, maybe 4 hours for a main event.

Fstoppers: What qualities do you look for? What makes one shot more powerful than the others?

Kyle Kingsbury and Fabio Maldonado by Josh Hedges

Joshua Hedges: The first thing I look for is good connections on punches and kicks, where you can see that the guy’s face is distorted from the punch landing and there’s sweat flying off, stuff like that. After that, the second quality is the emotion. I like to find something that shows the emotion: a guy grimacing in pain or sitting on his corner stool between rounds just completely exhausted with this look on his face like, “I can’t go on.” I always try to find shots like that because they help tell the story of what happened. If it’s a 3 or 5 round fight, you’re going to have tons of good shots of punches and things like that, but it’s the emotion shots you want, and you may only have one or two for a whole night or – if you’re lucky – one per fight. These guys, even though they’re in there going crazy nuts and stuff, they still have poker faces on. It’s really tough to get that out of it. You have to look for a cut or bruise or knot on the thigh or something like that, but the main thing is the connections and the emotions.

Chuck Liddell def. Wanderlei Silva by Josh Hedges

Fstoppers: What is your advice to aspiring sports photographers?

Joshua Hedges: Shoot as much as you can. Learn as much as you can from anybody that you can. Don’t ever think you know it all. I learn stuff all the time. The more you shoot, the more that you work hard, the more opportunities will come to you. You’ll find that it just kind of happens. When I first started doing this with the UFC, I never really thought of getting into other sports or being considered a sports photographer, but now here I am working alongside some of the best guys in the business and learning from them and helping to teach them things. There are things that I know that someone else might not know. When you have the opportunity, always try to pass your knowledge on to somebody else. Teach people, help them improve their skills, and it can only benefit you.

Chuck Liddell def. Wanderlei Silva by Josh Hedges

San Diego Padres v Colorado Rockies by Josh Hedges

His gorgeous portraits go beyond the obvious, however, exhibiting an unsurpassed aesthetic, powerful sexuality, and undeniable sensitivity appealing to both the sexes. You’ve seen his photographs in Maxim, Sports Illustrated, GQ, Elle, Esquire, and Vogue, so now learn about living the good life from Verglas himself!

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: Your first pivotal shoot was for Elle magazine, shooting intimate portraits of supermodels Stephanie Seymour, Cindy Crawford, and Naomi Campbell. What was that experience like for you?

Antoine Verglas: I was in France living with my girlfriend and she was coming to New York, so I decided to take the trip with her and do a story on all the top models of New York, who were starting to become more popular as “supermodels”. I decided to do an interview of all these girls about their boyfriends, hobbies, where they were from, what they do during the day, their passions. And then I took simple, sexy, intimate portraits of them without too much makeup, just in a natural way. Then I went to Elite, and there was a woman named Monique Pilar, who was handling 80% of the supermodels at the time, and it took me 2-3 months to shoot 12 supermodels and then Elle printed it.

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: You’re known for having a very intimate style, and several writers credit your aesthetic with shaping the look of modern lingerie and swimwear photography. How do you describe your style, and what’s your approach behind the camera?

Antoine Verglas: I think I always try to bring out the sensuality and beauty of the person that I’m photographing, in a natural way and in a candid way. I don’t use too much artifice. I was influenced by certain photographers like Lindberg in his early years, in the early 80’s when he used to do Marie Claire. I like true, natural beauty. I try to convey that especially with lingerie companies but also in fashion, beauty, and swimwear. It’s the same with all the celebrity portraits that I do, I’m always trying to bring out their true personality and their own charm through either a smile or an attitude. I’m not somebody who is trying to transform people, I would not say that’s my style. I’m trying to bring out the maximum beauty that they can deliver. Charm and beauty.

Fstoppers: Your work does a great job capturing female sensuality and sexuality. What is it that drew you to shooting women?

Antoine Verglas: I like people and shooting people, whether it’s women or men. I’m more known for women, but I actually love to take portraits of men. I would say that when I shoot men, I try to bring out their masculinity. What attracts me? I love women and the company of women, and I really try to make them look the most attractive and charming I can. That’s my reward, when someone tells me “Oh my God, I love that picture of me. That’s a great smile or expression!” That’s the best compliment. I’m not trying to please myself, I’m trying to please them.

Antoine Verglas

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: What inspires you?

Antoine Verglas: A lot of things inspire me. You can be inspired on the street by the beauty of a person or the way people look in the street. I’m mostly inspired by beautiful things: a beautiful apartment, a beautiful setting, a beautiful hotel, a beautiful beach, nice weather. I don’t need opulence or luxury, I need simple beauty. When something is very raw and natural, and naturally beautiful? Then I am inspired.

Fstoppers: What is it that makes the defining shot for you?

Antoine Verglas: For me, it’s the right expression. The eyes, the perfect way they look at you, the charm, the mouth. It’s the combination of an expression and an attitude, which makes you think, “Wow, he looks amazing,” or “Wow, she looks gorgeous!” It’s a combination of attitude, expression, and beauty.

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: What was your first camera?

Antoine Verglas: It was a small Nikon. My first Nikon professional camera was an F2 and F3, and then I switched to Canon and Hasselblad and Pentax later on. But at the beginning, I was a Nikon guy.

Antoine Verglas

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: So what do you shoot with now?

Antoine Verglas: Now we are at the digital era, you know, so I switch between Canon and Hasselblad.

Fstoppers: How many people are typically on set for a given shoot?

Antoine Verglas: Usually, it’s roughly between 10 to 20 people, between the set designer, the stylist, the assistant stylist, hair stylist, makeup artist, models, digital assistant. I always like a small team when taking an intimate picture, but unfortunately, you can’t always do it like that.

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: How do you normally approach lighting? What do you normally look for in your lighting?

Antoine Verglas: I always try to bring flattering lighting to the person I’m photographing. Some people need softer lighting, some people need harder lighting, it all depends on the subject. For men, I have a tendency to use more contrasting lighting, for women I have a tendency to use more soft and back light. It also depends on the age of the subject. A younger model will support strong lighting much easier than somebody older, and somebody with darker skin could handle stronger light better. Skin, age, eyes… sometimes if the light is too strong, the model will have a hard time looking at you. Back lighting may make the person more comfortable, and their eyes will be rested instead of struggling. Lighting is important to make the person feel better. Some celebrities are very particular with the lighting because they know what works for them after doing so many shoots. But change is good, you know?

Antoine Verglas

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: How is lingerie different from shooting fashion or shooting swimwear?

Antoine Verglas: Obviously with lingerie the person is more exposed, and it portrays a much different mood from shooting fashion. When I’m shooting fashion, it has a tendency to be much more “lifestyle” and angelic. Obviously, lingerie is lifestyle too, but it has a whole different mood. It’s much more intimate. I shoot lingerie differently than I shoot fashion. I have a tendency to be more active when I’m shooting fashion, and a tendency to be more sensual and intimate when shooting lingerie.

Fstoppers: If you could shoot anyone in the world, who would you shoot?

Antoine Verglas: Today? I think I’d like to reshoot Angelina Jolie. I’ve always loved her. I’ve worked with her, and I’d love to shoot her again.

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: What is your favorite part about your job?

Antoine Verglas: I think the best part of our job is meeting all the fabulous people… Successful people in politics, in companies, in singing. It’s incredible to meet all these beautiful women. It’s a treat to be able to those wonderful people; it’s a treat to be have been surrounded by pretty young women for so many years; I think it’s a treat to be surrounded by young people. In fashion there’s a young energy, it’s fun. I think it’s a treat to travel to all those 5-star hotels and incredible beaches all over the world. I think it’s a treat to visit Paris, London, Rome, Tokyo, LA, Bali; traveling the world is a blessing.

Antoine Verglas

Antoine Verglas

Fstoppers: What is your least favorite part?

Antoine Verglas: That it’s hard to say no. You have to travel and then take a plane to LA the next day and then you have to be in London two days later. It can be a little bit exhausting, and it’s hard to say no because if you say no then somebody else is going to do it, and you might miss an incredible picture that you will regret because someone else is going to take it.

Fstoppers: What’s your advice to aspiring photographers?

Antoine Verglas: My advice is to never give up and to always have an idea. It’s hard to break into the industry, but always have an idea for a project or for a book or for an exhibit. If you think of an idea that you’re attached to and feel close to, if it’s something that you’re really excited about, then you will take great pictures and make it something interesting. Whatever it is!

I knew it was going to be a good interview when hip hop photographer Mike Schreiber’s e-mail signed off with the words “Find food. Mate. Don’t get eaten.” Read our interview below, where Schreiber talks about getting the shot, getting to the top, and keeping it real in the digital age.

Maino photographed by Mike Schreiber

Fstoppers: How did you get started with hip hop photography?

Mike Schreiber: I worked at a photo agency that syndicated celebrity pictures. Photographers would come in with their pictures from concerts, and I thought, “Well… I like going to concerts. And if they can do it, I’m sure I can do it!” I started getting into shows, getting photo passes, and taking pictures. It was just for fun at first. Going to free shows and taking pictures, what could be bad about that? With hip hop, I started shooting shows that I wanted to go to anyway. I would take my pictures and go to The Source and Vibe for the party section. Once I started to place pictures, publicists started calling me because they knew I could get photos in the magazine. I did that for two years or so, and I shot a lot of live stuff for Spin. People at magazines started to know me, and at hip hop magazines especially. I would get little assignments, and I’d take portraits out of each thing that I did, and eventually I had a body of work. People gave me opportunities and I made the most of them… (laughs) and then next thing you know, somebody’s interviewing me about it!

Erykah Badu photographed by Mike Schreiber

Fstoppers: What was your first professional camera?

Mike Schreiber: The first one was a Pentax K1000, and I used it for a really long time along with other cameras. I had a Canon EOS Elan, and that’s what I shot the shows with. I’ve never been too into cameras and technology and all that stuff. I get a little queasy when people ask me that question.

Fstoppers: What do you shoot with now?

Mike Schreiber: I still shoot with a contax 645 and a Leica R5. I don’t like digital at all, so I don’t really do it… unless I have to. It just doesn’t appeal to me on any level… whatsoever! (laughs)

Fstoppers: So you shoot film most of the time?

Mike Schreiber: Yeah, unless someone expressly says, “We want you to do this digitally” I shoot film, even if it means not making as much money because I just don’t like digital. I don’t like the way it looks, I don’t like the way it feels. It seems like a lot more work to me. Where other people think it’s a lot less work, it looks like a lot more work to me. And I’m incredibly lazy!

Biz Markie photographed by Mike Schreiber

John Legend photographed by Mike Schreiber

Mike Schreiber: I prefer to shoot on location. I’m not a fan of studio stuff… I was never trained as a photographer and never assisted, so I’m much more comfortable outside. I studied anthropology in school, and while it sounds weird to say when someone’s interviewing me about photography, I’ve never been that into photography itself. For me, I love the interaction with people, and I love meeting new people and seeing new things. That’s the real appeal of it, the humanity of it. So if I have the opportunity I would prefer to shoot on location. And with rappers if I’m able to shoot them in a place that is familiar to them or personal in some way, it always works out better. It’s more true to who they are. What do I look for? I like texture and walls with texture. Since I do a lot of black and white it becomes different shades of gray and different textures.

Fstoppers: I wanted to ask you about your use of black and white. It lends a classic feel to your work, and I was curious about that.

MIA photographed by Mike Schreiber

Mike Schreiber: I’ve always liked black and white photos better than color photos. I think there’s something about color that can be distracting. I shoot both, but the color stuff is not as strong a lot of times, and I think it’s because we think of black and white as being more “real” in a way, but it’s the opposite. We see in color, so black and white is special and different.

Fstoppers: What’s your approach to lighting? Do you use mostly natural light?

Mike Schreiber: Almost 99% of everything I’ve ever shot is natural light. I don’t even like reflectors. The thing about photography, and thankfully I learned this a long time ago, is that it really doesn’t have to be that complicated. It just has to be what you like. And I don’t like lighting things. When there are lights and light meters and all this stuff, it’s just too much. It takes away from the interaction and people act more natural when they don’t have lights burning their eyes, whereas after each flash they do a different pose. For me, that’s not interesting. Natural light is beautiful. That’s the one thing I’m really great at, knowing when something looks good and when it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, I don’t do it! (laughs) Or I find another place to do it where it looks better.

Mos Def photographed by Mike Schreiber

Fstoppers: What do you think is the most important skill to have when photographing other artists?

Mike Schreiber: My biggest skill is my ability to make people feel comfortable. I’m incredibly funny. It’s crazy how funny I am! But for me, it’s about making people feel comfortable. It’s an unnatural thing, being in front of a camera. So the less self-conscious somebody feels, the less they pose. That’s much better than going through the motions of a photo shoot. It’s easy to take a photo that looks good, you just need a 5D or whatever. The challenge is to do a picture that will stand the test of time. There are certain pictures of Bob Marley that when you think of Bob Marley, you see these pictures. That’s always the goal but sometimes you don’t know until 20 years later. Like the Mos Def picture, I didn’t know. And Mos just happens to be incredibly talented and has become iconic to a certain group of people.

Jim Jones photographed by Mike Schreiber

Fstoppers: Who have been some of your favorite people to shoot so far?

Mike Schreiber: I’ve shot MIA a couple times, and she’s great. I like shooting most people, and I love meeting new people. The amazing thing about photography is that in the beginning of the day, none of these pictures exist. By the end of the day they exist and people can’t take it away. I like shooting Maino a lot, I like David Banner a lot. I like C-Murder.

Fstoppers: What is your advice to aspiring photographers?

Mike Schreiber: (laughs) Use a light meter. I don’t know! My advice is that people need to not worry about what they think other people want to see. Don’t worry about what’s the hot style or what photographer is popular or what you see in magazines. That’s not going to get you anywhere, chasing trends. You really have to find what you like to do and what you’re good at. Some people love lighting and they can spend days lighting a tomato and enjoy every minute of it. That’s what makes the world go round. I could not do that, it’s not in my nature. The person who loves that shouldn’t be shooting rappers, and vice versa. I shouldn’t be shooting tomatoes. It just wouldn’t look good. The most important thing is to have fun and do what you like. If you don’t like the pictures you’re taking, no one else will.

Carla Duren photographed by Mike Schreiber

Fstoppers: At the bottom of the e-mail you sent me it says, “Find food. Mate. Don’t get eaten.” I have to ask about that!

Mike Schreiber: That’s my blog, that’s my tumblr. I was watching Jon Stewart and some guy came on with a book about evolution. He said that our ancestors had to do three things: find food, mate, and not get eaten. I thought that was genius, because that’s really what it’s all about!

Want more? Check out Mike’s video about the debut of True Hip Hop.