Simon Forsyth Photographer Extraordinaire
One of our club members Simon Forsyth, a former Rotarian from Waikanae, gave us an interesting insight into his life as a photographer.
Simon grew up in Christchurch and went to Waihi Boarding School where he experienced the extremes of very cold winters and hot summers with shorts being the required uniform all year around.
He began his interest in photography in his third year with a teacher who set up a photographic Club. Simon initially borrowed a box camera and during his secondary school years read every book and article he could find on photography.
At school it was suggested he go to Tech but he decided instead to leave and spent eight and a half years in retail plus completed a diploma in photography. These experiences gave Simon the practical skills which helped him apply what he'd learnt.
In 1990 one Simon bought a small portrait business in Martin. While not the best place for this type of business is 3 years’ experience there gave him a start. He then moved to the Kapiti Coast for 16 years and started a business there.
Simon then talked about the huge changes that resulted from the move from film to digital. This required people in the photography business to change what was then fairly basic technology as it progressed to the incredibly advanced industry it is today.
This was a very trying time but Simon adapted and has been now shooting digital for over 15 years. While there has been some resurgence in film he sees digital as much more versatile and offering a wide range of options.
Prior to the quakes Simon moved to Christchurch. His current interest is on shooting landscape while he waits for repairs to a shoulder injury.
Simon is a member of two photographic organisations plus an accredited judge for various competitions. This primarily involves taking an evaluation focus and giving constructive feedback to help photographers improve. He especially likes this work as someone helped him in his formative years and he enjoys returning in kind.
Simon shared a variety of his work with us including outside portraits which he prefers as he finds this enables him to be much more creative compared to studio work
With respect to taking pictures, Simon feels that this is more involved than most people realise as things are constantly changing and there is always something new to learn. He especially enjoys doing something different and finds taking pictures with dogs is great fun which for one shoot involved someone trying to tell their dog to smile with limited success.
With respect to portraits, this is usually more about helping participants' do what's needed plus helping them relax. Hands are also important as if shots are taken the wrong way they can look very large.
When working with groups, Simon finds you need to get to group worth dynamics of the people involved quickly as you don't have a lot of time. The average sitting takes 1 hour and involves a lot of variables including the weather, lighting, crowd psychology etc.
When Simon asks a group what they want he finds they seldom know how to answer which can make it difficult for the photographer. On most occasions they tend to leave it to the professional photographer to guide them.
Simon also has an interest in other types of photography but does tend to avoid weddings as the return is minimal.
With respect to the arrival of digital everything including the viewfinder was small which made it hard and required the shooting of a lot of pictures to ensure the right one was obtained.
When asked about the film versus camera dilemma Simon felt that these days you can blow a digital image up to any size where 35 m film can only be blown up so far before losing quality.
One aspect Simon especially enjoys is stopping along the road and capturing various scenes of interest. He also often uses multiple exposures to get special effects.
It was a pleasure to hear Simon's experience, learn from his expertise plus get to see a wide range of his excellent work.