Fotograf Steve Grogan

—În primul rând, pe cine puteți numi cel mai bun fotograf în Manchester, Regatul Unit? :)

—Oooooh crikey, that is a very good question. There are many that I admire from my home city, but I'll plump for Pete Farrell of Pixies in the Cellar. His eye for composition is just ridiculous!

—Sunteți fotogenic?

—No. I absolutely hate having my photograph taken as I have a head like a thumb.

—Cum ați ajuns în industria fotografiei?

—If you'd have told me 5-6 years ago that I'd be a wedding photographer I'd have laughed at you. I believed that all wedding photography was contrived nonsense and it didn't appeal to me at all. However, once I'd photographed a couple of weddings as a second shooter I realised that wedding photography could be whatever you wanted it to be. So I took the plunge!

—Care sunt cele mai importante componente ale unei fotografii bune, după părerea dvs?

—For me it's all about the moment and composition. I'm not overly technical and don't stress about a little over/under exposure. The moment is so important to me.

—Vă place să călătoriți?

—Yes. I love it. Thankfully I've been able to travel rather a lot and being my own boss has enabled me to do more than ever.

—Ce vă place cel mai mult la profesia dvs?

—Perhaps a little cliched, but I like the idea of leaving behind images for future generations to enjoy. Plus I get to work alongside some amazing people. I've made friends for life since I started out.

—Ce vă place cel mai puțin la profesia dvs?

—Of course, there is always going to be something. The only part I don't enjoy is doing the staged group photos, but that's only a tiny percentage of the wedding so I can live with that.

—Care va fi viitorul fotografiei?

—I honestly have no idea. Who knows what the future holds?

—Ce este special la genul de fotografie în care sunteți specializat?

—Wedding photographers have to deal with a myriad of changing lighting situations throughout the day. This is definitely one of the most challenging aspects, especially when there are restrictions placed on you by churches for example, where you are rarely allowed to add any flash.

—Cum răspundeți criticilor?

—I take it on the chin. If it's unsolicited then I'll always question it, but any constructive feedback I get is valued as it'll help me to improve.

—Există tendințe în fotografia?

—A lot of weddings in the UK do follow a similar pattern, so it's quite easy for your images to eventually become repetitive.

—Care ar trebui să fie criteriile după care un client să aleagă un fotograf?

—If I was looking for a wedding photographer then I'd obviously be looking for someone whose images connected with me in some way. Once you've established that you like the images then I would advise any future newlyweds to meet up with the photographer, go for a beer/coffee/cake, have a chat with them, see if you like them as they are going to be around for pretty much all of your day.

—Ce lucruri sunt complet nepermise când fotografiați?

—For me, not much. I'd photograph anything if it happened at a wedding. Obviously, if someone objected for any reason then I'd stop. But I'd also use my common sense and gut feeling.

—Ce detalii de obicei neobservate de alții pot fi observate de un fotograf?

—One thing I learned quite early on was to step away from the couple for most of the day. There is so much going on around them that you can miss if you are too focussed on photographing just the couple. My couples seem to appreciate that I can show them images from moments they had no idea happened on their wedding day.

—Ce influențează valoarea fotografiei? Care sunt elementele ei?

—Any photo can hold value to anyone. I've probably taken thousands of "average" simple photos that could be so valuable to my couples and their families/friends. For example, someone who has recently passed away. Those photos then become priceless.

—Ce persoană poate fi simbolul secolului XXI după părerea dvs?

—Mark Zuckerberg, undoubtedly.

—Pe cine doriți să fotografiați?

—Easy one. I'd love to spend some time photographing and chatting with Sir Alex Ferguson.

—Ce vă îngrijorează și de ce?

—Yes, the constant wars all over the world. Utterly awful.

—Dacă ați fi fost un personaj de desen animat, de carte sau de film, cine v-ar fi plăcut să fiți?

—Bananaman.

—Cum definiți succesul? Cum îl măsurați?

—Happiness is the only measure of success. People who equate money to success are totally missing the point, in my opinion.

—V-ar plăcea să fiți mai degrabă plăcut sau respectat?

—A bit of both.

—Când plecați în călătorie, ce luați cu dvs. și de ce?

—I travel light.

—Cum vă pregătiți pentru a face fotografii mai bune?

—Practice, practice and practice. Take photos, thousands of them. And if you don't like them or they don't look right, figure out why that is, and then work on it. That's pretty much how I managed to become an established full-time professional. I lived and breathed photography until I was confident I'd reached a certain level of competency to be able to charge money for my work. Oh, and practice more. Did I mention practice?

—Activitatea cărei persoane v-a influențat cel mai mult în calitate de fotograf?

—There are a few whose work I admire and these were inspiring for me when I was first dipping my toes into the world of wedding photography. Andrew Billington, Alan Law, Steven Rooney, Adam Johnson, Two Mann Studios & Pete Farrell are all wedding photographers that I admire. There are more, but these are the ones off the top of my head.

—Ce vă motivează să continuați să faceți fotografii?

—The genuine love for what I do. Being surrounded by happy people is infectious and good for my soul. I rarely do negativity.

—Părinții dvs. ar fi trebuit să mai mai stricți sau mai puțin stricți?

—Possible more strict, especially at meal times as I have a lot of mental blocks to certain types of food.

—Dacă v-ați putea întoarce în timp, ce ați face diferit?

—I'd probably have traveled more in my late teens/early twenties.

—Ce credeți despre viața pe alte planete?

—Based on the laws of probability, I'd say yes.

—Ce faceți în timpul liber?

—With my family and friends plus lots of napping with my dogs, reading, traveling and being idle.

—Care este latura dvs. pe care publicul nu o vede niciodată?

—My insecurities tend to be kept under lock and key. But I worry myself to sleep most nights.

—Vă faceți prieteni ușor?

—Yes, I like to think so.

—Unde v-ar plăcea să trăiți?

—Reykjavik, Iceland.

—Aveți o glumă preferată? Spuneți-o.

—Why was the sand wet? Because the sea weed.

—Vă plac câinii sau pisicile?

—Dogs.

—Pe cine sau ce urâți?

—Hate is a strong word. Wow. That's a hard one. Perhaps Donald Trump or Theresa May could fall into that category.

—Mâine mă voi duce să fac...

—I'm going out with some fellow photographers for drinks in Manchester. Our weekends tend to be during the week given what we do for a living.