攝影師 Mark Wallis

—您上相嗎？

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

—您如何開始從事攝影行業？

—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.

—您認為一張好照片裡最重要的元素有哪些？

—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.

—您熱愛旅行嗎？

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

—您最喜歡這個職業的哪個部分？

—Working for myself and (kinda) gatecrashing parties.

—您最不喜歡這個職業的哪個部分？

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

—攝影的前景如何？

—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.

—您如何應對批評？

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

—攝影有什麼潮流？

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

—客戶選擇攝影師的標準有哪些？

—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.

—通常不會被注意，但攝影師卻能留意的細節有哪些呢？

—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.

—您認為哪個人可以被視為21世紀的代表人物？

—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.

—您想拍誰？

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

—您有任何職業禁忌嗎？

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

—您想和誰一起拍攝？

—Nobody. I like working alone.

—您會擔心什麼？為什麼？

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

—您人生中印象最深刻的一刻是什麼？

—Completing this interview.

—如果您是個卡通、小說或電影角色，您想成為誰？為什麼？

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

—誰能在生命中激發您的靈感？為什麼？

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

—您是希望被喜愛或是被景仰呢？

—Depends who is doing the liking and respecting.

—您在工作上犯過最大的錯誤是什麼？

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

—當您要去旅行時，您會帶什麼？為什麼？

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

—在您擁有的物品中，有任何您希望沒買過的嗎？為什麼？

—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.

—您如何學習拍出更好的照片呢？

—Take more pictures.

—身為攝影師，誰的作品對您影響最大？

—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.

—您想用自己的照片說些什麼？

—The truth.

—讓您持續拍照的動力是什麼？

—People keep paying me to come to their weddings.

—您的雙親應該更加或是更不嚴厲呢？

—My mum got it pretty much spot on.

—如果能回到過去，您會有什麼不同舉動呢？

—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.

—您對在其他星球上的生命有什麼看法呢？

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

—誰是您的英雄？

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

—您不重視誰？

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

—您空閒時會做些什麼？

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

—您的哪一面是公眾不曾看到過的？

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

—您什麼時候會對自己的作品完全滿意？

—Dunno, it hasn’t happened yet.

—您認可男女性的傳統角色嗎？

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

—您容易交到朋友嗎？

—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.

—您希望在哪裡生活？

—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.

—結婚後還有人生嗎？

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

—您有最愛的笑話嗎？請告訴我們。

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

—您喜歡狗還是貓？

—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.

—您討厭誰或什麼？

—Overuse of hate.

—人生中最棒的事是：

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

—人生中最煩人的事是：

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

—您希望改變自己的哪一點？

—I’d like to have more self-belief.

—您希望改變世界的哪些方面？

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

—您能為新進攝影師提供一些建議嗎？

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

—如果外星人來到地球，而您是他們第一個遇見的人，您會跟他們說什麼？

—That I want a ride in their spaceship.

—如果您被邀請去拍攝電影，那會是什麼類型的電影呢？

—A very dark and gory horror film.

—明天我會去做...

—…something less boring instead.