Q&A Session

Posted by Matt Lange on Aug 20, 2009 in Information | 0 comments

Will – If you could change anything about your work experience prior to going solo with your photography, would you? (ex. got in the game sooner, submitted more work to various outlets, completely circumnavigated seemingly destructive work experiences ): This one is tough.  I responded twice and deleted it both times.  I don’t really know.  I want to say, ‘I would have been a photographer straight out of school’, but that would have never happened.  I learned a lot by working at the places where I worked before doing this.  Some of things were good, and some of them were bad.  I would have liked to have worked somewhere that allowed me to be more creative than the last place, and allow me to display my talents.  But that’s not how it went down.  It was physically and emotionally draining. It was a strain on my relationship with my wife at home, and well, life in general.  I’m so much happier now.  I guess it’s good that I did it, to see what the lows can be like and make me appreciate the highs even better.  And this isn’t meant to knock everything about it.  I met some awesome people there.  At all the places I worked.

I wish I submitted work to more outlets yes.  I mean, who knows what could have been going on right now if I had.  But I’m here now and doing what I can.

Anyway.  Completely circumnavigate the prior?  No.  Maybe stayed away the first time.

Will – Favorite ninja turtle and why: Leonardo, because he has the sharpest weapons of all of them. But not the transformable one. He lost his swords.

Jordan – When and where was the moment when you fell for the art of photography? I honestly do not know.  I’ve been asked this a few times, in different forms.  Ever since I can remember, I have loved taking pictures.  Even when I was like, 7, I had a camera with me at school.  I would take pictures of everything.  The only time I can think of that I didn’t take pictures, would have to be the first couple years of college.  For some reason I left it behind for a little while and decided to be a Business student.  Obviously that was a failure.  When I got hired by the Tech yearbook staff, I got right back to it.   So to answer your question….Always.  I’ve always loved doing this. It’s the only thing that I can look back at my life and I’ve never given up on.  It’s amazing.  I’ll never get tired of it.

Jordan – What has been your personal favorite shoot? (whether it be you were inspired by it or it was just a personal interest you shot that you love): If I had to name a specific shoot, it would have to be the shoot I did recently for Louisiana Tech University Football.  I tried for over a year to convince them to let me do their promotional photos and when they gave in, I had never been so happy about photography.  It was at that point that I realized how happy this made me and thought about how unhappy I really was doing what I was doing.  So I made the decision to jump ship and give it a shot.  The shoot took place 4 hours away from Baton Rouge.  The day I left my fulltime job, I got straight in my car and drove to Ruston, LA.  I hardly spoke the whole way and didn’t sleep a wink.  I was a complete nervous wreck.  It took me far too long to set up the lights, but I did get it done before the players showed up.  Once we started, I was ON.  It combined everything I love.  Sports and photography.  The images came out amazing.  I knew I was on my.  I just hope I can build off of it.  Someone said, when I wasn’t around, that I don’t know what I’m doing (quitting my job) and I wouldn’t succeed.  I know I’ll prove them to be completely wrong. But as my friend Will would say, I am failsauce.  Lol.

What are you excited to shoot or what would you like to shoot in the future? I think this goes back to the question before, but with a little twist.  I’m obviously always excited to shoot sports.  But I’m also excited to shoot anything that is new to me. For example, I have a fashion shoot coming up next week. I’ve never really done this.  I’m really excited about it.  But it all comes back to sports.  Whether posed portraits or live game action, I love it all.  And the absolute pinnacle of what I can do with photography, right now, would be to shoot an ad for Nike.  I hope once I get that goal that there are many other things that are exciting to me.  But for right now, that’s the ultimate.

In your opinion, which is the single photograph that you believe to be your very best?  I honestly have no idea.  I thought about this one for a long time and I could come up with nothing.