We are excited to share our conversation with ViewBug members and creative photographer, garysanchez. Gary is an amateur shutterbug and has received over 4,200 awards; both ViewBug and Peer Awards. Follow garysanchez to see his photos and get the latest updates on his new uploads and achievements.
Hi Gary, tell us a bit about yourself, how do you describe your photography style?
I was born and raised in Ireland, but have lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the last four years. My day job is as a heavy machine operator and photography is my go to when I want to unwind. My style is a mixed bag to be honest. I never really stick to one type of photography as it is more about how I'm feeling at any particular moment, whatever comes into my head. With high speed photography I can spend hours splashing, bursting, breaking and dropping whatever I think will come out well on camera. When outdoors, I try to capture the immediate beauty that I see around me, whether it be in infrared or a really long exposure to make the scene more dramatic.
In one sentence what has photography done for you in your life?
Photography allowed me to meet my future wife.
When did you start taking photos and what inspired you to get started?
I started taking photos not long after moving to Toronto. I had used my camera somewhat when I lived in Australia, but it was very basic stuff. Toronto is full of art. Art is everywhere, from the graffiti-filled alleyways, to artists painting and drawing in public. Once exploring the city, I felt the immediate urge to try new things. From there, it pretty much evolved from an interest to an obsession.
Do you have any influencers?
The internet is a wonderful accessory in todays world, and I have discovered so much from web surfing. Seeing other photographers works, reading about techniques and watching tutorials peaked my interest and caused me to want to try things myself. This lead to a book about trick photography by Evan Sharboneau. He taught me the basic skills and I proceeded to develop them. Now there are no limits, and I can achieve whatever the imagination allows.
What has been your favorite shoot and why?
I did a high speed photograph where I filled a wine glass with some juice and shot it with a pellet gun. The shot itself wasn't too difficult to execute. What I liked was being in a dark room and experiencing the exact instant when the glass exploded and the flash captured it. I was able to watch this split second event in real time and then see it seconds later in the viewfinder. The anticipation for this type of shot is like nothing else, it's different from shooting regular photographs.
Do you remember a difficult photo shoot session? What happened?
Water drop photography is the most difficult and time consuming project I have taken on. To try and configure the drops to the proper setting and to get the water consistency right can be very frustrating. I have spent many hours where I have been left with nothing to show for it. One particular day I must have taken over 300 photos and captured nothing. With some true determination I went back the next day and got the results I wanted.
What do you carry in your camera bag?
I use a Nikon D700 with a Nikkor 24-70mm lens for a lot of my shoots. I also have an old Canon EOS 400D with a Canon ef-s 60mm and Sigma 18-200mm f3.5 which I use for my long exposure shots as I own all the filters. I also have a dedicated infrared camera which shoots only in IR. When I shoot at home I use some flashes for the high speed shots.
Do you have a favorite location to shoot?
Toronto has hundreds of parks which are great during Autumn. To be honest anywhere outside is great to shoot- it's what you make of it!
What are you currently working on?
Things are very busy at the moment. I am about to leave on a five month backpacking trip with my fiancé in a couple of weeks, so we are getting ready for that. I guess my next project will be a lot of travel photography throughout South East Asia. We are visiting several countries, so the possibilities will be endless. Im expecting to shoot many landscapes, many insect, animals, temples , sunsets, and sunrises. The organisation alone is a project in itself. This is a trip of a lifetime that's going to be captured from every angle.
Can you share a couple of tips with your fellow photographers?
All I can say is practice makes for better results. You need to find what you like and get the method down, and keep at it and it will become second nature very quickly. My photoshop skills are still evolving but I tend to keep it simple to get a good outcome. Everyday things can become surprisingly interesting, you just need to go ahead and capture them. The possibilities are endless whether something is exploding, bursting, splashing, crashing or simply pleasing to the eye. Just keep snapping.
