Interview with Emma Richardson

Emma Richardson is a local based wedding photographer who also works within Plymouth college of art as a learning support tutor. I deicded to Interview her as im also interested in the same photographic field.

Firstly I’d like to say thank you for speaking with me, and my first question is how did you get into photography?

Emma: well at school I was really into my painting and I was really interested in light on people. I wanted to apply that into my painting and I went to do a foundation course at Bedford college, while I was there, there was this really cool guy like jack D and he taught me a bit of photography. And I think it’s his influence as well that when he was looking at the sort of pictures I was doing he would be like “oh you’ve got really good eye for composition”. So I kind of scrapped painting and started doing a lot of black and white photography. It took off from there and I ended up taking the course  and worked from there really.

What really interested you about the subject?

Emma: well i think it was when I did my options at school; I was interested in art but really loved science. And the subject really combined both and I was really interested in the technology and how it worked, the chemical process and obviously learning the black and white first time round is excited when you first see the paper come up and you’re like wow its magical. And it as just sort of the combination of learning about light and technology, science and art all combined so that was all the things I love all in one go.

After your learning, how did you promote yourself?

Emma: well when I decided to do my degree, before I even moved down to Exeter from where I originally lived near London.  I sent emails out  to all the photographers in the area, I was kind of a bit savvy I guess, I was kind of thinking I know that when people go and do the degree you often have to have work experience as well, and the degree didn’t provide that. So I just sort of waited for a reply from all the photographers in the area for work experience luckily I sent them off in September and a had a reply from a local photographer looking for an assistant and I started from there. Worked for him for 3 years, after I left I had a break and then went back to working for him full time for a couple of years and then decided to set up on my own. And that’s how i got into it really. 

Are you mainly film or digital?

Emma: well if I could I would be film all the time, but it’s just not economically viable in this day and age. And a lot of people expect digital so that’s the way I work. So it’s all diggy everything, which is a shame.

From looking at your website, I’ve noticed you have done quite a bit of wedding photography, what would a client expect from you as a photographer of their wedding?

Emma: well I think people come to me because firstly I can take pictures and I’ve got a good portfolio. Plus I’m not very intrusive on their wedding day; it’s not about the photography it’s about making a recording sort of like a documentary of their day so not taking over and bossing people about. So I think they come to me because of that and just because of the recommendations I’ve have. People have always said “thought she was a guest just taking pictures and not getting in the way”.  So that’s the kind of thing people should expect also just kind of tactfulness and sutilty and just being in the right place at the right time and just bring the experience I had from working for 3 years with somebody else I thought I could start my own business because I had taken on board all the stuff he had taught me and taking it off and trying it out. I made sure I knew exactly what I’m doing before I go out and take pictures, because it is some ones wedding day and you’ve only got one chance.

What equipment do you use?

Emma: I use all canon stuff. I’ve got an arrangement of different cameras I use depending on what sort of day it is, but I use a canon 40D and I’ve got another one of those for back up and I’ve got a canon 50D as well. But I’m thinking of  getting a canon 5D but I’m sort of toying with the idea of going full frame or not as I quite like the compression that you get with it. The main lens that I use, I always take two cameras around so I’m not changing lens all the time, is a 50 mm prime lens to use in like low light conditions and you get a shallow depth of field with the picture which is really good. I use a zoom lens  for my pap type shots, getting people off guard and I’ve got a 70 300 and I also use  an image stabiliser lens which I’ve got recently which is really good for low light conditions like inside church’s and venues anywhere where it is dark especially in the winter.

During your photography course, who would you say mainly inspired you?

Emma: when I was doing my course because of the work that I was doing I wanted a completely different slant to the wedding/social portraiture/studio stuff that I was doing so I did a lot of gimmicky fashion stuff. I was quite interested in body image and talking about how in the world of fashion the theme of stereotype. I looked at a lot of fashion photographers like Nick Knight and sally man. I kind of liked the more cheeky ones and was quite interested in Gregory Crewdson. A lot of my work was about building sets and stageing stuff (the constructed image).

What would you say you’re all time goal is?

Emma: Be happy! I can’t think photography wise. But I would love to do some travel photography but apart from that I haven’t really got a goal of such I just want to use my photography to give people happy memories.

Are you working on any projects at the moment?

Emma: no not really. I’m always sketching down ideas and stuff in sketch books but I’ve kind of gone away from doing my own work because I’m so busy with teaching and all the other stuff that I do. But when i have holiday like in the summer I normally get a little project on the go. I tend to do a lot of stuff which is photography based but with a bit of illustration on top, playing around with drawing on top of images and using photography to make other little bits of art that is kind of personal to me. Experiments really.

For anyone starting out in the same field, have you got any tips?

Emma: go and work with somebody who knows what they are doing. Get lots of experience in the field that you want to go into, it is very competitive and you need to know your stuff. There are so many things that could go wrong on a wedding day and you need to be very prepared, you need like 6 backup cameras and you need 5 of everything. I’ve been in situations where both of my flash guns broke and you kind of have to make do with what you have around you like natural light, which is a nightmare especially if it’s an evening event. So I’ve got backup everything  I even have a backup car plan just in case I can’t get somewhere, you just need to think about everything that could go wrong and make sure you have a contingency plan for everything.

Well thank you for your time.