Interview With 1stAngel

Adam Bykowski

When did you first become interested in art, in general?

I enjoyed art in elementary school starting in kindergarten or 1st grade, I guess, but I never was any good at it, so I never got that into things like drawing or painting.

When did you first become interested in photography, specifically?

When I met my wife. She had shown me some black & whites that she had enlarged to 8 x 10 and I thought it was so cool to actually see that in person. Then she showed me two books that totally inpired me into photography. One was Kodak’s “The Joy of Photography” and the other was “More Joy of Photography”. The book contained images made with special effects and tricks with filters. That was it. I was hooked. I was fascinated. I ended up borrowing her camera and ended up trying to replicate the photos I saw in the Kodak books. I spent a lot of time playing with long exposures on things like fireworks and a peson making swirls with sprklers in the dark. Stuff like that. It was fun.

In what other forms of art do you also work, if any?

Music. I am kind of out of it now, but I was very into the drums and rock music. I spent a lot of time practicing on my own and driving my parents crazy. I wasted a lot of time with basement bands that never went anywhere. We never even played out in front of a crowd. It is frustrating to even talk about. I was good. I’m not trying to brag or anything, but I felt if I got with the right bunch of guys, I might have done something with it. Too bad most rock and rollers want to spend more time getting high than practicing.

On which style(s) of photography do you specialise?

Nature photography.

Has your style changed from when you first began? If so, why?

Of course.  I am influenced by the beautiful photography on the internet that inspires me. I may not have my own style picked out just yet, but I try to mimic a certain angle for certain types of landscapes that work well. The Kodak books sparked my interest in photography, but what really changed my style was when I opened up a book that was authored by the nature photographer John Shaw. His work is so artful, yet so simplistic. It’s amazing. He is such an excellent teacher and full of common sense. It is because of him that I have become a nature photographer, at least as a hobby.

The other person that influenced me was Marc Adamus. Possibly the most brilliant landscape photographer in the world. If I could achieve his patience and master Photoshop the way he has, I would be more successful in producing better quality images and making some money at it.

What kind of equipment do you use?

I made a switch from a film camera shooting slides to digital about three years ago. I have a Canon 5D and three lenses. A 100mm macro, a 17040mm wide angle, and a 24-70mm. I use a Slik 813CF II carbon fiber tripod. I use the tripod about 95% of the time in conjuction with a remote shutter switch and the mirror lock feature on my 5D. I purchased a new Dell XPS 210 PC in Jan 08 with Windows XP Professional and a Core 2 Duo processor. I also upgraded to Photoshop CS3. I am very happy with all of it.

What made you choose that equipment?

While on Shutterpoint, you are shown what is selling. The home page shows you eight images of what has sold recently. Marc Adamus’s work was up there a lot. He was the top seller and for good reason, because his landscape work was awe-inspiring and beautiful. The colors, the sharpness of his images was and is a marvel. When I clicked on one of his images, it gave a description of the equipment he used, and he used a Canon 5D. I also looked at the type of lenses he used and the brand name and type of graduated neutral density filters he used. I wanted to be able to produce the same quality as he did, so I made the big investment and bought the same camera he did as well as Singh-Ray filters that he used. The rest is history as they say, but I’ve still a long way to go to reach the beauty of his work.

How do you choose what you’re going to photograph?

I walk. I drive. I look at maps. Mostly, if I’m in the woods, and I am trying to find something special, I end up doing a lot of walking and not much shooting. I usually hit my favorite spots that were successful for me previously. Most of those are local. The rest is up to weather conditions.

What kind of editing do you perform on your photographs, if any?

I first look at the RAW image that shows the in-camera settings and choices. The first thing I usually look at is how the image looks when change the choices in the White Balance and the Picture Style. I usually chose either Standard or Landscape. Different image situtations demand different choices on the two afore mentioned settings. These things are in my 5D Zoombrowser software that came with the camera. After I download the image into my computer, I then open it in Photoshop. Then it depends on the image.

Lately I have been more satisfied working in Levels as opposed to Curves to adjust my brightness. I work in Layers now and am getting better at dodging and burning. I like to saturate the image some, but not get stupid with it.

My one big pet peeve is images on the net that are so saturated the colors look silly. They look powerful, but the are ridiculously unreal and sometimes the saturation is so severe that it blurs out the details. I always zoom in to at least 100% to go over the entire image and take all the dust specs or hairs out using the healing brush.

How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?

If you’re talking about shooting out in the field. I usually spend about twenty minutes in one area or one spot.

If the area is blessed with special light and/or beauty I can easily spend an hour there bracketing my exposures and shooting different angles and heights (low to ground or hight up). I don’t pay much attention to how much time Photoshop editing takes. Probably too long. I spend a least 15 minutes on an average, not so tricky exposure shot. Tricky stuff takes a lot longer.

How do you know when a piece is finished? Is it easy to walk away?

I am frustrated and unhappy with about 90% of my work. It is either too dark, too contrasty, not sharp enough, the color balance is not the way I like it and it seems most photographer’s out there do a better job than I do. I look at other people’s work on the same subject or similar location and think, “Boy, I should have composed it that way or shot it at that time of day.”

I like some of my work, but it’s missing something and it’s driving me out of my mind.

What do you do to overcome a ‘block’?

I go on the internet and view other people’s work. My wife will send me an email at work and it will be of the most fantastic moments captured or odd places on earth that I may never get to. It frustrates me, but it also inspires me. It forces me to be better. To think better. To make lemonade out of the lemons before me. I appreciate everyone’s work at some point because eventually something in their psyche and personality will have them create a wonderous image that makes us all say, “WOW”.

How well do you take criticism and how do you make use of it?

I can handle it. I may not always like it or agree, but I know when someone has a good point and when someone is full of crap. If someone puts it intelligently and avoids being rude, I’m Ok with it. Shutterpoint has other photographer’s rate your stuff randomly and it has forced me to think about the image and make adjustments to it and re-submit it. So, I think it can be a good thing.  You need a thick skin in this business.

Who is your favourite photographer?

Marc Adamus and John Shaw. Google either one of those names and your eyes will have a feast. It might just make your day.

Which one of your photographs is your favourite?

Difficult question. It changes every week. The one here on Imagekind with the waterfall in the foreground in the shade and the brilliant, red maple tree in the sun in the backgound I like a lot. I’m big on striking colors and accents.

Have you exhibited any of your work in galleries?

I tried once. They got excited over my work and wanted me to come down. My wife went with me. The gallery is called Chicago Art Source. I dropped off a photo CD with 50 images on it. They said they would let me know when they would want to show my work. I thought they would get the ball rolling right away the way the were talking.

After a month I gave them a call and said that we haven’t even discussed price yet and if they wanted to discuss my work further. They said that they don’t have any use for my type of work at this time and that they would contact me when that need would come up. That was almost a year ago. I’m still waiting.

I would love to try a contest again. I might do that soon.

What are your plans for the future?

To keep breathing.

I want to try some art fairs in the Chicago area (where I live). I did my first art fair held in a Church community center this past weekend and I liked talking to people and getting their feedback. It wasn’t your typical art fair with tents and booths. Everything was displayed on the walls and had labels for artist’s name and price. It was called “Art for the Hungry”. There was a $2.00 admission or donation and the proceeds went to the local food pantry. I felt good about doing something for a good cause and met some great people. It is also a way to make money selling art and not trying to figure out somebody else’s idea of what I should be doing.

What advice do you have for budding photographers?

When all else fails do this……Focus your lens on something 1/3rd the distance from you, the rest of the 2/3rds is between that focused point and the far horizon. If you do that your images will come out pretty sharp.

Above all, take your time. Breathe, slow down and think about everthing that you are doing.

Pay attention to the background. Learn your basics and go from there. And shoot at least three exposures for each composition. One that looks right on, one darker and one brighter. You can’t always see the full picture in your LCD screen of your camera and don’t to wait to you get home and view it on your monitor to learn that you blew it.

If you want to learn about nature photography, buy any book written by John Shaw. You won’t regret it.

Your photography is quite dreamy.  It always makes me relax and that’s a great talent to have!  Very beautiful images.  Thank you very much for the interview.

You can view more of Adam’s work at http://bykowski.imagekind.com/