picture this

J O H N L A N D E R S

P H O T O G R A P H E R

Picture This

I had a small Agfa camera when I was growing up. I'm not sure where it came from, but I can't remember a time when I wasn't pestering my parents for more film. The camera was difficult to load and wind, but that didn't stop me from trying to document my childhood. I loved taking pictures – the fact that they were out-of-focus, over- or under-exposed, and/or poorly composed (due to the camera's goofy viewfinder and my immature aesthetic) didn't bother me at all.

Later, I "appropriated" Dad's Pentax and began exploring the many mysteries of 35mm SLR cameras. Shutter speed, aperture, focus – everything had to be set manually. Learning by trial and error was a slow (and expensive) process, since the time between shutter release and print was about a week back then. Those little yellow Kodachrome mailers took even longer, but the added anticipation only made me more excited when the slides finally arrived.

I've been in love with music since I first heard the Beatles. I had my own "stereo" system, as well as a modest vinyl collection, by the time I was eight. That may seem rather quaint now, given the growing proliferation of mp3 players, but once upon a time, real records and record players were strictly for adults.

My father probably got tired of me trying to play cheesy Disney albums on his hand-built audiophile system, so he bought a turntable/receiver and some speakers for me at the Jacksonville NAS PX. Fortunately for me, the quadraphonic format had failed to become the next big thing, and Panasonic decided to dump all of their unwanted four-channel units on the military retail market.

Dad also thoughtfully supplied some "pop music" to replace my Pirates of the Caribbean and Sesame Street records, and my life was changed forever. Kindergarten sing-alongs gave way to "A Day in the Life" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Captain Kangaroo, meet Sergeant Pepper.

During my adolescence, I was delighted whenever my two passions intersected. I was captivated by pictures of rock stars: the Beatles, of course, as well as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, the Who, and the strangely photogenic Rolling Stones. Linda's Pictures, a collection of Linda McCartney's early work, was a particular favorite. Then came the snarling snapshots of supposedly anti-rock stars like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and the Clash. This was in the pre-MTV era, back when images of pop icons hadn't yet saturated Western culture.

Songs about photography were much rarer than photos of rock stars, but that only made them more precious. The first photo-related tune I remember hearing was "Pictures of Lily," by the Who, which was more about pornography than photography (a distinction to be explored in a future blog entry), really, but it still rocked. "Kodachrome," by Paul Simon, received frequent radio play during the early 70s, at least in south Florida, and Blondie's "Picture This" became a New Wave hit a few years later.

In the decades that followed, a few more songs about photography bubbled to the surface of popular consciousness: "Photographic," by Depeche Mode, "Pictures of You," by the Cure, and "Girls on Film" (yuck), by Duran Duran. Even "Picture Book," a relatively obscure tune by the Kinks, eventually became the soundtrack for an HP photo printer commercial.

Today, I love music and photography more than ever, and songs like Spoon's "I Turn My Camera On" still make me especially happy, even if they're not strictly about photography. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

All I want is a photo in my wallet

A small remembrance of something more solid

All I want is a picture of you

Picture this

A recent email interview:

1) When did you first realize you wanted to do photography as a career?

Until a few years ago, photography was simply part of my freelance writing career. Pictures help sell magazine articles, and vice versa. In the 90s, I was writing was for various nightclub publications, so I was doing a lot of club photography. I eventually realized that I liked taking pictures more than I liked writing articles about DJs, so that’s when I started thinking about photography as a possible career.

2) Did you go to a two-year or four-year college?

I actually attended several colleges (Nova University, University of Florida, Broward Community College, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, and the University of Miami), but not for photography, and I never finished a degree (much to my parents’ dismay).

3) What inspires you?

Beauty inspires me. Maybe not “beauty” in a traditional sense, but people, places, and things that make the world a better place. Visually, I’ve always loved fashion photography, although I’ve never been particularly fashionable myself :)

4) What advice would you give someone going to school for photography?

Experiment! You’re paying to learn, so make the most of it. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. And try to make as many contacts as possible. You’re going to need them.

5) What's the best way for someone to build a good portfolio while they are in school?

It really depends on what you want to do with the portfolio. You need to know your intended audience before you can choose images for them. Model agencies and advertising agencies, for example, want to see completely different styles of photography. The perfect book for getting agency test shoots wouldn’t interest a creative director at all.

Until you know exactly what you want to do, the only practical approach is to shoot in as many styles as possible, so you can put together the right images for the right people later on. If you’re working with models, try to capture several different versions of each “look.”

6) Do you prefer digital or film?

I grew up shooting film, but I only shoot digital now unless it’s for some personal project. Film is great for learning to get it right in the camera, but the expense and time involved in developing it discourages experimentation.

7) Any thing else you would want to tell a photography student?

It’s important to do your research, but ultimately you’re going to find your own path. In Miami Beach, if you talk to five photographers, you’ll get ten opinions about how to succeed in this business. Consider everything, but always follow your heart.