Max Flatow came in and gave us the story of his life, well at least the story of his life in photography. He spoke to us about many of his experiences and his work.
Photography was a gamble for him as he went to South Vermont College and was incredibly unsure of his career path and what he really wanted to do. His hobby at the time was photography and the school dark room would later help him foster his ability to shoot and create photographs.
But Max Flatow is a modern photographer and we can definitely see this as he appreciates all the changes in technology that the photography industry have gone through. The expenses of film are no longer a problem as digital allows him to take hundreds and hundreds of photos in order to capture that perfect shot. That is exactly what he does too. As a wedding photographer, capturing the moment is part of his job. In order to do that effectively, he snaps away whenever the moment allows for it.
As a wedding photographer, he explained that in the past, the wedding photographer would have only a few basic shots and then they left to develop them and you would hvae no idea how everything turned out. Technology has allowed for the capturing of the wedding before, during, and after the ceremony.
During his segment of wedding photography, he explained some of his techniques and how angles as well as subject placement play an important role in the composition of the pictures. His pictures offer a breath of amazement as the clarity and composition of these photos are just breathtaking in some sense. Although he does not rely heavily on photoshop, he appreciates the tools that it offers to create certain effects.
He later went on to talk about food photography and how the industry is changing. The industry used to revolve around enhancing the look of food products with dyes and pigments that the product is not something you would want to eat. Recently there has been a shift to create foods that are naturally beautiful and photograph them immediately before they go bad.
He explained that his business started out as a free service and later on became bigger as he started charging people for money. His best advertising is word of mouth. He experiences travel as he would often travel outside of the country in order to shoot his weddings. He is also an adventurer as he may wander off and take pictures of foods during a wedding project. He has gotten the opportunity to meet some very famous people such as Harrison Ford and Adrian Garner.
As a student who wants to develop photography as a hobby, his visit was incredibly helpful as it gave me an idea of how photography became such a big part of his life and eventually he left me some advice through the techniques and experiences he presented to us during his presentation.
My own photo attempting food photography:
