BRASHLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

My first Five at Five features Stuart Shafran. Stuart’s blog About Page says:

I am a self taught photographer based in Berkshire, UK. 

I have a broad range of photographic interests that include creating conceptual and experimental images, although the majority of my work is based around travel and street photography.

Five at Five Questions

•  When and how did you start on your photographic journey? 

I guess it truly began when I bought my first digital camera back in 2004. I didn’t take it seriously though until 2008 when I became involved with portrait photography and taking film stills on set of martial arts films and music videos. Since then I’ve moved away from commercial work and concentrated on taking mostly travel, street and conceptual photography. 

• What subject do you like photographing the most? 

Favourite photographic subject – probably street photography as it’s a genre you can look back on in ten / twenty / thirty years time and see how fashions or places have changed… I find that interesting.

• Have you been influenced by other photographers, if so by whom and why? If not, who is your favourite photographer? 

William Mortensen, Vivian Maier, Sebastiao Salgado, Herb Ritts, Edwin Smith, Elliott Erwitt, Fan Ho, Don Hong-Oai and the genius Ansel Adams. Because each of these photographers has created their own unique style and you can learn an awful lot about photography by studying their images as well as, in the case of Adams, Smith and Mortensen, their writings (especially Mortensen). 

• What is the go-to camera equipment that you use regularly and what software do you use to process your images? 

I use Fujifilm cameras exclusively now, namely an XT3, X100F and an XA2 converted for infrared. I use both zoom and prime lenses covering a range from 10-400mm, plus a 60mm prime for macro. Most used lens is my 18-55 which is on my XT3 most of the time. I use Photoshop (not Lightroom) for post processing, as well as (occasionally) Nik software and Exposure X6. 

• What is your favourite method of processing an image? (i.e., colour, monochrome, saturated, dreamy look etc) 

I usually process in monochrome because I find colour distracting and sometimes too intrusive. Unless the colour actually adds something special to the image then I’ll always process in monochrome. 

Photographs

Links

Blog: https://stuartshafran.wordpress.com/

Website: https://stuartshafran.wixsite.com/photography

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Thank you, Stuart, for participating in the Five at Five Introduction Series.

Next week’s Intro is Cee Neuner Photography