Award-winning photographer and Wildlife Silhouettes photo contest judge Max Riche shared some amazing insights with all of us, we cannot wait to share this conversation with you. Scroll down, get inspired and enjoy!
Tell us a bit about yourself, how do you describe your photography style?
I am trained as an engineer and scientist, and moved onto being a professional photographer after several years working internationally as a consultant. I guess this brings a certain style and feel to my photos: I give a huge importance to light, and the mastery of the great lighting. I also look for symmetries, lines of strength and composition a lot. In the landscapes I photograph, I like the urban elements as well as the frontal perspectives. And in the Athletes I work with, I always strive to catch the most graphic and dynamic lines of composition to create a stylized image.
When did you start taking photos and what inspired you to get started?
I had started at 8 or 9 already, as photography had always been big in my family, from my father who was a graphic designer and photographer. When I lived in NYC for my studies I also couldn't stop taking pictures, I was fascinated by the energy of the city, and I created a book out of those images. But it's not until I went full time into photography that I really got the "aha" moment about how one can evolve his style, make a thousand of artistic decisions every minute, in order to show a view on a subject that's truly unique and personal. And this is a life-long quest folks! You're never at a point where all is final. That's what is exciting about it.
Do you have any influencers?
I love the photos of Nadav Kander, for his ability to carry out both commercial projects and very artistic documentary bodies of work. I also love Carlos Serrao for his lighting and Chase Jarvis for his creativity and ability to bring so much raw impact into his photographs.
What has been your favorite shoot and why?
Last year I was commissioned by the Red Bull Media house to apply the vision I had developed in my Becoming an Athlete Series (that one got a prize in Europe summer 2012) to their brand. We shot in Germany on the roof of a building with an amazing Athlete for the entire night, and created an image that I am really proud of to this day. It was an intense shoot, but such a great team and energy with the Red Bull crew. I loved every minute of it.
Do you remember a difficult photo shoot session? What happened?
A year ago I was commissioned by Bicycling Magazine (the largest bike magazine, based in the US) to shoot the cover for the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France, in the Alps. We set on a two-day trip to the alps with athletes to shoot it, but it was still early in the season (in May, in order to be in time for the printing of the magazine) and the weather was really tough: we got snow on the first day, we asked the athlete to ride his bike in a white landscape! I was adjusting our plans by the hour to try to find a scenic pass that wasn't under the snow (yet!). The second day we went south but the roads were still blocked with huge stones. We decided to go for it anyway, but my assistant almost destroyed the car's gearbox on a stone laying on the road. For a minute we thought we were done! Thankfully, we made it work and got the best images on that day. It was a great shoot, but a lot of improvisation!
What do you carry in your camera bag?
It really depends on the assignment or the project I go onto. Last time I did a persona portrait project in India during the Maha Kumbh Mela: there were 100 million pilgrims coming to purify in the Ganges river, and I traveled to the site to photograph them. So I had a portable battery-operated studio flash and a softbox, a stand for my assistant to hold it in front of the subject (there is not leaving anything in the dirt on the ground with so many people walking around you), and I shot with the Nikon D800, a 50mm prime for sharpness. I had a couple other lenses but for other landscape images. I made the portraits with the prime. That was a heavy bag already! Maybe 15kg...
What are you currently working on right now?
I am putting a lot of my time into my climateheroes.org project: I recruited fellow photographers to make the portrait of women and men who have started acting to mitigate climate change, and we tell their stories to inspire more of us to start acting.
I was in NYC end of September to present the project at a UNFCCC conference where we launched it again as part of a coalition with the Leonardo DiCaprio foundation, in order to get the public to call world leaders to action for our climate.
We have a whole new body of work on our website; and are excited to be part of the movement. You can support at momentforaction.org!
Can you share a couple of tips with your fellow photographers?
Sure, I guess it really depends what your goals are and what kind of image you're trying to create. But I'd say, don't forget the pleasure of shooting something very personal, because that's this kind of work only that will bring you some fulfillment, and potentially, success. Also, if you're just building your portfolio or are trying to improve your style, you need to always be vigilant about the type of photo you do, how you represent what you have in your head: it's all about vision first, and the result must make this decision process obvious to the reader: why this composition, why this color, why this time of day? Everything must be the result of you making the decisions: less or more shadows, this or that point of view etc. It's a long quest, but that's also the most gratifying because when you look at a series afterwards, it's obvious that you've applied your vision of the world onto the subject. Choose your subject matter (landscape, portrait, wildlife, etc) and your visual elements consciously, with this in mind and you should see results coming gradually.
Whether it is a directed action shoot on a rooftop for a large-scale campaign with a team of 10, on assignment in the Alps for the cover of a sports and lifestyle magazine, or in the jungle of a small Indonesian island on a personal project, I consider that vision is what makes everything. There are many ways of making a great image. As a creative and problem-solver, it is usual for me to deal with the many challenges that come up in every situation, from not speaking Hindi, to that radio antenna that prevents your flashes from syncing! On my blog (www.maxriche.com/blog), I write about leadership, and exploring the ties between sports, art and entrepreneurship, because I truly believe that the future is all about being an Artist+Entrepreneur. My experiences in those fields defined who I am and my understanding of the world. Because I care about our planet, I am also the founder of the NGO Climate Heroes, which aim is to inspire more of us to help mitigate climate change, by sharing the portraits of women and men from all over the world who have already started acting. Visit the project and give us a hand, it will be forever appreciated.
