Feature Photographer
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Name: | Mac McPherson | ||||||||||
| Based: | Sussex, England | |||||||||||
| Style: | Commercial, Portrait, Fine Art, Beauty | |||||||||||
| Status: | Professional | |||||||||||
| Experience: | Hand printer 4 years, as a photographer 3 years | |||||||||||
| Format: | Film / Digital | |||||||||||
| Camera: | Canon 10D / Sigma SA300 / Bronica SQB | |||||||||||
| Portfolios: | Yes | |||||||||||
| Paid work: | Yes | |||||||||||
| Tests: | Yes | |||||||||||
| TFP: | Yes | |||||||||||
| Film: | "Aria" for thinking & "Casablanca" for the story | |||||||||||
| Author: | John Francombe or Tom Clancy | |||||||||||
| Destination: | Poland, Estonia, Ukraine and Russia | |||||||||||
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| How did you get into photography Mac? |  |
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| I used to run my own IT consultancy working in Europe and USA. | ||||||||||||
| Illness forced me to give it up in 2000 and didn't have a clue what | ||||||||||||
| else to do. My wife suggested I do something in the photographic | ||||||||||||
| industry...so, I became a printer. Trained to work with Fuji, Agfa and | ||||||||||||
| Kodak lab systems and also learned to hand print (Cibachrome, C41 | ||||||||||||
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and b + w). Got into hand colouring when given some old prints and | |||||||||||
| asked could I rescue them and bring them to life. Got fed up | ||||||||||||
| 'rescuing' photographs and made the foolish mistake of saying that I | ||||||||||||
| could do better. Got a big break from a client who saw my 'tulips' | ||||||||||||
| picture and wanted a series. They took them to an art gallery to get | ||||||||||||
| framed and things just started from there. | ||||||||||||
| How did your first model shoot go? |  |
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| In a studio with a life model where I was trying to recreate some | ||||||||||||
| images by Ruth Bernhard for a gallery and a competition. The model | ||||||||||||
| was great in being static for long periods whilst I ran around like the | ||||||||||||
| proverbial fiddling with lights / reflectors... Started the shoot and | ||||||||||||
| then the studio owner was banging on the door as time was up!! | ||||||||||||
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The model was very good and we retired to Brighton nudist beach to | |||||||||||
| continue in the depths of winter doing some Bill Brandt styles | ||||||||||||
| Where do you like to shoot the most, indoors or outdoors? | ||||||||||||
| Depends on the nature of the project and time of year. Spring, | ||||||||||||
| Summer and Autumn I will be out and about as I aim to build up | ||||||||||||
| lifestyle images. Winter is for the studio | ||||||||||||
| Been abroad recently? |  |
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| Belgium, France and Germany for exhibitions and meet and greets, | ||||||||||||
| client meetings, book launch and a chance to do a lot of photography | ||||||||||||
| with both regular and new models and I will be in Spain in July for a | ||||||||||||
| mixture of teaching and my first gallery representation in Barcelona | ||||||||||||
| Thank God for Eurostar and a good train service! | ||||||||||||
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Photoshop, how important is it for you? | |||||||||||
| Depends on client and work. To me, it is just another tool, like I use | ||||||||||||
| different lenses and / or film for different things although I am doing | ||||||||||||
| my ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) exam | ||||||||||||
| What's your top tip for new photographers? |  |
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| Work hard (the more you practice, the better you get). Keep setting | ||||||||||||
| yourself a target and work on it until you exceed
it. Put in long hours |
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| Develop a skin like a rhino for all the criticism and rejection you will | ||||||||||||
| get. Don't stay static ~ people / lifestyles / requirements change | ||||||||||||
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| All images are the copyright of
Mac McPherson |
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Mac is concentrating more on
lifestyle / advertorial / fashion pix and is always looking for models
to collaborate with. That is, Mac does a session of pix you want, then
Mac gets the pix he wants. So if you or anyone you know may be interested,
email Mac (working up to lingerie) |
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| Links |
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Past Feature Photographers |
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