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Sep. 21, 2009 - Featured Members |
| Name: Chris Fawkes
Website Blog [ b ] School profile Location: Melbourne, Australia How long have you been in business?: 19 years How did you get into to photography? I picked up a job working as a photographer for Deakin University in 1985. I worked for another company traveling around Australia photographing child and family portraits and eventually opened my own business in 1990 then studio in 94. Tell us how networking with other photographers has affected your business: I wouldn’t be working as a photographer today if not for networking. I visited a lot of studios in the early nineties offering my services to shoot weddings. I came to a point where I realized my wedding work was so bad that it was unfair to charge for it. I decided to give photography away and the phone rang. One of the studios I had dropped a card off to a year earlier rang to ask if I could assist another photographer who was shooting for them that weekend. I continued to assist that same photographer for some time and he taught me the craft. Many others who have either critiqued my work or simply shared their own little secrets have influenced my work over the years. I was shooting a lot of portrait sessions when I started out but not making wage. It was another photographer who was able to look at what I was doing and tell me the simple differences I needed to make. My sales went to a minimum tenfold overnight. I also have a number of friends working full time throughout Australia and the U.S who I had the opportunity to train when they were starting out so networking for me really works both ways. What is your favorite part about shooting weddings? I love people and the emotional energy of a wedding day. I like directing events and feel honored that the couple entrust me to do that throughout much of the day. I’m not so much a fly on the wall photographer I like to get involved with the couple and direct the way things are going. What's your favorite piece of equipment these days? I love the 16-35 and enjoy playing with the video lights. What is your favorite iPhone App? What’s an iphone? No seriously my cell phone is years old, not even a camera in it. I try to create the perception that I’m a cool guy but when the phone comes out my status as the worlds biggest dork is displayed for everyone to see. Please tell us something personal about you so we can get to know you better: I was also a youth worker for over 20 years with various churches I’ve been involved with. Volunteer but it really took up most of any spare time I had. Where do you see the industry heading in the next 5 years: I think we are going to see a sharp increase in product related business models through education and testimony. I am expecting that photographers will come to realize that selling products is less work than selling a disc that requires every image to be edited and that clients will end up with something much nicer I may be naive but I expect this will lead us away from the shoot to burn business model. I mean shoot to burn will always be around but I think much less so than it is now. How important is your blog? I am a blog slob but even after six months of no posting I was still pulling about 500 hits a week. I often meet people when I’m out who follow my blog that I had no idea about. It really is a great way to stay connected in your community. I also find the networking with other photographers an excellent side of blogging too. I entered the WPPI 16x20 in 2007 as a direct result of the friendships I had made with U.S photographers and was fortunate enough to win a 5D. How has Facebook and/or Twitter impacted your business? I’m just new to twitter so working out the potential of it. Facebook has yielded great results for me from the paid advertising and simply by updating my status regularly friends feel like they have stayed in contact and this keep me in their minds when they get engaged or know someone getting married. I also love stalking other photographers or FB for inspiration. Favorite thing about [ b ] School? I really love the idea of the video classes and some great stuff up there. Some real gold. I have been meaning to add something for a few months now but need to get my head around the video side of things. I love to share with others but I don’t like sharing with those who are not serious, the uncle Bob’s. Why should I help train people who will compete with my peers by shooting for free? For that reason I’m guarded as to what I would share on a free forum. The nominal fee to be a [b] school member is enough to preclude your uncle bobs as well as trolls and to my mind a much better environment for talking trade secrets. Are there any workshops or upcoming GTGs that you'd like to plug? I am working on some ideas for a workshop for a handful of photographers that I train. It will be two days and held in Albury and will cover a range of subjects but focus on lighting and marketing. Being my first workshop I won’t be charging for it and I will be extending an invite to fellow [b] schoolers once I have firmed up a date. Tell us what you like about the attached favorite photographs: |
| Completely posed but Belinda just looks so beautiful.
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| I love cats, it’s all about their attitude to life and everyone/thing around them and I get that vibe from this portrait.
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| I had taken my friend Ruth’s little girl shopping and promised her an ice cream after lunch. When the waitress brought her milk and sandwich over the milk had a scoop of ice cream in it. This didn’t stop Ella from holding me to my promise as soon as lunch was over so I had to buy her another one. She kicked off her shoes and made herself comfortable as she slipped into that special world where only little girls and their ice creams can go. I had to take a pic.
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| I was walking past this gondolier and held my camera by my side and snapped. I have created a photoshop action to replicate the holga camera style look (read about it here http://www.chrisfawkes.net/holga.pdf) which I used to finish the image.
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| Ella spent nine hours with me shopping for props for this shot. I was sure she would crash before we started shooting but she and Ethan had so much fun. It was summer so we started at 9pm and shot for an hour. Ice cream followed.
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| I saw the end of Christine Aguilera’s Candyman video where she was riding shotgun on the shoulders of the soldiers. I literally caught it out of the corner of my eye but decided to try to replicate what I thought I had seen on my next wedding. Sarah was one of those brides whose energy leaps out of her photos and it worked for me here.
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| This image was from an engagement session. I broke some rules to get it and there is a lot of blowout but I love it anyway. |
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