Community Spotlight: spectaclephoto 'Concepts will beat execution any day!'

Whether you aspire to be a great photographer, are passionate about art, or just love to appreciate awesome photos, here is an inspiring conversation with ViewBug member spectaclephoto

I love photography because: I love the range of creativity and complexity photography offers. There are so many different types of photography (portrait, landscape, conceptual, ect.) that the craft itself attracts people from all walks of life and creative levels. Photography can be as simple or as hard as you make it, and that is exactly what attracts me to this craft.

My camera lets me: Out of all the tools I have worked with, my camera has come the closest to helping me create what is in my head. My camera lets my thoughts live, and become something before they are gone.

I find inspiration when: I am sure this is the case with most creatives, but inspiration comes to me at the most inconvenient times. It's most certainly never when I have my camera, and is almost always when I am lying in bed trying to fall asleep.

One of the photos I am most proud of: I would have to say hands down "One small step" from my imagination series. This was an idea I had two years before I created it. There are two reasons why this image took so long to create. First, there was no shortage of reason why this couldn't be done. I had thought of every reason not to try it, and zero reasons to just do it. The second reason was I was too busy chasing the dollar and only creating images my clients wanted. This mindset was good for my wallet, but almost brought me to the point of hating photography. I was unhappy with my work, because it was created strictly vision of others, and not mine. I had essentially ignored my true talent as a creative. Up until this image I thought I could create better images if only I had better equipment. It was all about the technical and I couldn't satisfy the thirst for the latest and greatest although it did nothing to improve my images. It wasn't until this image did I see the true benefits of creating my vision. The one thing I needed to make my work better this entire time, I had! My perspective on photography had changed and with that so did the quality of my clients. I showed the world that I could do more than just set up lights, and that my ideas are worth more than just the push of a button.

My favorite place to shoot is: My favorite place to shoot hands down would have to be in my studio. I love being able to control all aspects of the photo. A studio is basically a blank canvas just waiting to be painted.

The secret behind this photo is: This photo was created for a client who owns a leak detection business. They wanted a family portrait that was unique and included water. The water was all captured in camera right before it hit their heads. This was accomplished by the use of a sound trigger. The trigger had a delay and was set off by the sound of the balloon popping. Each person was shot individually and then a composite was made of all four family members together.

One of my favorite photos on ViewBug is: I love this image! I love how it is an unconventional image created in an unconventional way. The artist used a different tool to created a strikingly different image.