ViewBug community member Adrian Murray is a super talented photographer with a unique approach to children photography. Read our conversation and learn some awesome insights.
My photography is mostly my children; so my style boils down to what I want to capture most about them, childhood. We all have our own preconceived notions about what childhood is. Whether that's a memory, a story, or a general feeling. So when I photograph my kids I want to portray a universally ideal childhood. When a lot of us look back to our own childhood there are usually feelings of nostalgia involved. So I usually stylize my photos to take on a more vintage look. I do this before the shot when I choose my children's outfits, all the way to the end, when I process it to look just the way I want. Like so many people these days, I've always had access to a camera. I can't deny that fact. However, I didn't really start taking it seriously until January of this year. I had discovered that dental school was causing a lot of anxiety in my day to day life so I needed some sort of stress reliever. Also, like so many other parents, I wanted to document my children growing up. So I picked up a new camera, a new lens, and learned how to use them.
What do you carry in your camera bag?
For cameras I have a full frame Canon 6D, and a crop frame Canon 7D. For lenses I have a pancake 40mm, the 17-40mm f/4L, the 50mm f/1.2L, and the 135mm f/2L. I also have a couple third part flash guns with wireless transmitters that I have only used a few times.
Do you do much of post-processing?
I do post processing on every photo. I use Lightroom for 99.9% of my post processing. I’ve used full blown Photoshop CC for one extremely subtle enhancement that I couldn’t easily achieve in Lightroom.
Can you share a couple of tips with your fellow photographers?
Patience is a virtue in life and in photography. This applies to all genres, but especially photographing children. When you’re out with a child and camera make sure you take the time to not only compose your shot properly; but also wait for the moment when their actions and the environment around them simply click. You probably will never know when this moment will happen until a second before; that’s why you should always be ready on the trigger.
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