We are so pleased to welcome our friend, Michael Howard, as our Guest Photographer Judge this week! He is someone that we both had the pleasure of meeting when he led our Nashville Photo Walk last February and a photographer whose work is absolutely stunning. We hope you enjoy meeting him through his interview as much as we did meeting him in person. :)
Michael wrote: The main goal of my work is to create images that are meaningful and full of intention. I believe the best photography says something about life and isn’t just about a pretty face or passing trend. I want there to be a purpose behind my work instead of only creating images full of visual pyrotechnics. My conviction is that technical ability is only there to help make the message clearer, not to be the meaning of the image.
Michael’s Photography Journey:
I didn’t pick up a camera, with the intention of creating art, until I was in my first photography class in college in 1998. Instantly I was drawn to it and I went on to receive my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography. I quickly started my own business focusing on weddings and then in 2004 my wife and I moved to Nashville, TN so I could pursue commercial work as well. Since then I’ve shot 20 + weddings a year and commercially worked for clients such as Garth Brooks and Keith Urban. During the summer of 2009 I began to experiment with underwater photography, which has been personally very fulfilling. Currently I’m still shooting a select number of weddings a year along with my underwater and conceptual work.
Michael’s Helpful Hint:
I’m very interested in photographic vision and helping other photographers start the journey of finding their own voice. In a lot of the the photography I see today there are too many images that look similar and very few images that seem unique and fresh. Over the past year I’ve tried to not look at photography blogs, especially wedding ones, because they keep me from focusing on what I want to say with my own work. It’s very easy to compare yourself to all the other work that’s being done out there and to emulate what they are doing on the surface, but this only leads to shallow photography that doesn’t come from a place of inspiration. It’s been very beneficial for me to focus solely on my own work and to not worry about what everyone else is doing. I want to stand out from the crowd and the only way to do that is shoot what I’m most interested in instead of trying to keep up with all the photography trends and latest action sets. This philosophy has lead me to create my workshop series, which focuses on helping photographers find their vision and encourages them to stop emulating the others. You can find all of my workshop information at Paper to Print.
Photography Equipment:
I’m a Canon / Mac guy. I shoot with a 5D Mark II, even with my underwater work. My main lens is the 24-70L 2.8, but I also have the 70-200L 2.8, 50 1.4 and a 100mm 2.8 Macro. I do all of my culling and initial edits in Lightroom and my final retouching in Photoshop. I rarely use actions, because I usually see them as a distraction from the content of most photography.
Find Michael Here:
Thank you so much for hanging out with us here at I Heart Faces this week Michael! Please feel free to welcome him to our community or to ask him photography-related questions in the comments section below.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you, thank you, thank you for calling out on actions. It is refreshing to see someone who doesn’t work with them.
Your work is absolutely stunning.. I loved the article.. you have a new fan!
Kim recently posted..Double blessing- beautiful Mom to Be
Thank you for this wonderful article! It is such a refreshing perspective, and the reminder is timeless… I admit, I keep falling into the trap of comparing my work with what is popular right now. It is nice to have encouragement against that.
Lori and Grace – So glad to hear from both of you! I hope you are doing well! It was so much fun having both of you at the workshop and an honor to meet you both.
Michael is an amazing photographer. I had the privileged to attend his Paper to Print workshop and learn so much more than I ever imagined. His words and teachings run through my mind each time I take a picture. His way of expressing his feelings toward photography are one-of-a-kind and inspirational.
Loved reading about this amazing artist!
Grace recently posted..Black & White Wednesday – Confession
LOVE this! His advice was PERFECT! It’s hard NOT to compare yourself with everyone else, and then doubt what you are doing. I think I have found my voice, but because NO ONE else seems to do it, I don’t advertise that. Weird huh? God gave me a voice and I neglected it to stay in the pack with everyone else. Shame on me.
This was an AWESOME interview!
Dana-from chaos to Grace recently posted..iHeartfaces-Smirk!
Michael Howard is an artist that has been able to seperate himself from the pack of homogenized work. I have attended his Paper to Print workshop and the value that I received was amazing! The message of individulaity and real imagry without all of the fluff is one that I aspire to.
Enjoyed this interview very much!
Thanks everyone for the comments! I really appreciate it!
Brittany – I use a housing from Aquatech to shoot underwater. You have to get a specific housing to fit the specific camera body and lens you are using.
Wow!! I love his work. I also love the fact that he doesn’t compare himself to anyone else!! That is a trap that I keep falling into!
pattyann recently posted..The Bow in the Cloud
Thank you for this honest interview! I definitely needed to hear that reminder to not focus so much on other people’s work and instead focus on what I want pictures to look like.
Helen recently posted..Nothing Is Safe
thank you, Michael, for being so honest about your photography and in turn creating honest photographs.
Interview with Photographer Michael Howard http://bit.ly/antL7j Photography.alltop
How do you take those underwater photos with your Mark II? Do you use special underwater equipment? I love the idea of finding my own voice. Being especially new to the pro photography world, I find myself falling into this trap quite frequently. Thanks for your advice!
Those underwater shots are incredible! (And I’m secretly wondering how many times he had to come up for air and whether or not you use scuba gear to shoot those sessions.) Amazing!
I love your attitude. I totally fall into the trap of looking at countless of photography stuff with the same babies/couples/famlies and comparing myself.
On my own I like to focus on honesty, capturing dynamics of people…but when I start comparing myself I get caught up in all the ridiculous crap of photoshop and actions (which doesn’t work for me since I use GIMP haha). So reading this was an awesome reminder to forget about comparisons.
Thank you!!!!
RT @iHeartFaces: Interview with Photographer Michael Howard: We are so pleased to welcome our friend, Michael… http://goo.gl/fb/phVe3
The underwater photos are stunning! Nashville is lucky to have him.
Amber Polk recently posted..Rock Walls
Wow. . . reading what Michael had to say was like taking a breath of fresh air. The underwater photos are amazing. I have to follow this guy for sure.
I love his images!Amazing interview.
Very inspiring – thank you for sharing!
Anya Coleman recently posted..Frisco Photography – Photo Challenge
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