Fotograf Mark Wallis

—Sunteți fotogenic?

—Not really, mainly because I pull stupid faces when I find myself on the wrong side of the camera.

—Cum ați ajuns în industria fotografiei?

—The old story of the couple with no money, an old uni friend with a decent camera and a firm agreement that there’d be no posed photos.

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

—For me it’s all about the genuine moment, captured without any intervention by the photographer. A moment that would have happened even if the photographer wasn’t there. A moment of action, emotion, great light, etc.

—Vă place să călătoriți?

—I do, but in comfort. I’m more of a city person than a wilderness person.

—Ce vă place cel mai mult la profesia dvs?

—Working for myself and (kinda) gatecrashing parties.

—Ce vă place cel mai puțin la profesia dvs?

—The assumption by some that I’m at the wedding to take control of everything and to take boring, posed photos of the guests.

—Care va fi viitorul fotografiei?

—Not sure I even know what the ‘present’ of wedding photography is. I just do what I do and hope enough people each year want that.

—Cum răspundeți criticilor?

—Depends who it’s coming from and how constructive it is.

—Există tendințe în fotografia?

—Always somebody doing something that everybody else copies until something else comes along. Trends get old quickly (see ‘couple in rain with flashgun’, etc.)

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

—Approach is key for me. They either want to just get on and enjoy their wedding and have a record of it, or they want to spend the day modelling for pieces of art or fashion photography (or somewhere in between). A connection with the photographer’s portfolio, and a desire to see themselves in those images, is a good guide.

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

—I don’t think there is anything specific. A good wedding photographer will have an eye for a moment or an interesting composition or great light that most won’t have, but the key thing is that when you’re employed to shoot a wedding you approach it from a different angle to a friend or family member who is there to enjoy the wedding. I am paid to be observant. Plus, I see what the common people are doing. I’m there to photograph everybody, not just the couple.

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

—For me, whoever does the most to increase education and encourage the use of reason and logic in decision-making from the top to the bottom of social and political hierarchy.

—Pe cine doriți să fotografiați?

—Anybody that trusts me completely and who will ignore me.

—Aveți tabuuri profesionale?

—I won’t work for people or companies that I perceive to be helping to make the world a worse place.

—Cu cine ați vrea să faceți fotografii?

—Nobody. I like working alone.

—Ce vă îngrijorează și de ce?

—Time and money and my misguided perception that I have a shortage of both.

—Care este cel mai impresionant moment din viața dvs?

—Completing this interview.

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

—Butthead from Beavis & Butthead, because he.. he… he. You said would. He.. he…

—Cine vă inspiră în viață și de ce?

—I’m not good at absorbing or recognising inspiration.

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

—Depends who is doing the liking and respecting.

—Care este cea mai mare greșeală pe care ați făcut-o în profesia dvs?

—Running up the stairs of Marylebone Town Hall with a zoom lens precariously perched in a jacket pocket didn’t end well.

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

—Clothes, money, phone, a camera of some sort.

—Există vreun lucru pe care vă doriți să nu-l fi cumpărat dintre aparatele pe care le aveți? De ce?

—A Panasonic GF1 that I barely used and that my wife dropped and damaged after I’d had it for a couple of weeks. I don’t get on with cameras without viewfinders.

—Cum vă pregătiți pentru a face fotografii mai bune?

—Take more pictures.

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

—Nobody specific, but seeing in 2004/2005 that a documentary approach was a viable option for wedding photography was the push I needed to start doing it myself.

—Ce doriți să exprimați prin fotografiile dvs?

—The truth.

—Ce vă motivează să continuați să faceți fotografii?

—People keep paying me to come to their weddings.

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

—My mum got it pretty much spot on.

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

—I would make better use of my enquiring mind and study science or engineering, so that I could be of more use to the world and future generations.

—Ce credeți despre viața pe alte planete?

—Presumably, but we’ll wipe out life on our own planet before we make contact with life on others.

—Cine sunt eroii dvs?

—I don’t really have any. They’d only ruin it at some point.

—Pentru cine nu aveți respect?

—Those who promote fear, intolerance and lies to feed their own greed.

—Ce faceți în timpul liber?

—I do DIY, or I play my ukulele, or I go to (mostly metal) gigs or I do a crossword.

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

—Most of my sides. I’m a fairly private person.

—Când sunteți complet mulțumit de munca dvs?

—Dunno, it hasn’t happened yet.

—Credeți în rolurile tradiționale ale femeii și bărbatului?

—Like most traditions, best left in the past. Live and let live.

—Vă faceți prieteni ușor?

—I really don’t. I’m friendly and approachable and I get on with most people, but I’ve been burnt too many times so I keep most people at a few arms’ length.

—Unde v-ar plăcea să trăiți?

—In a huge warehouse apartment in NYC, or in a cosy old manor house surrounded by a few acres, or on top of a hill in Scotland.

—Există viață după căsătorie?

—It’s just a certificate and a great party. As you were.

—Aveți o glumă preferată? Spuneți-o.

—“Some people like cats and some people don't. Apparently the Pope's a cataholic.” Milton Jones

—Vă plac câinii sau pisicile?

—I prefer cats to dogs, but I don’t like the damage they do to your house, so am currently resisting my family’s desire to own one.

—Pe cine sau ce urâți?

—Overuse of hate.

—Cel mai bun lucru în viață este:

—Freedom. And Five Guy’s Bacon Cheeseburger, All The Way.

—Cel mai neplăcut lucru în viață este:

—Procrastination. And people constantly changing speed on the motorway when I’m using cruise control.

—Ce v-ar plăcea să schimbați la dvs?

—I’d like to have more self-belief.

—Ce v-ar plăcea să schimbați în lume?

—I’d like to ensure everyone gets a quality education and eradicate dependence on myth, legend and violence.

—Ne puteți da câteva sugestii pentru fotografii începători?

—Take your own (decent) food, and wear comfortable shoes.

—Dacă extratereștrii ar veni pe Pământ și ați fi prima persoana care s-ar întâlni cu ei, ce le-ați spune?

—That I want a ride in their spaceship.

—Dacă ați fi solicitat să faceți un film, ce gen ar fi?

—A very dark and gory horror film.

—Mâine mă voi duce să fac...

—…something less boring instead.