MARIA: Hey, Tony! TONY: Oh, hey there!
M: How's it going? T: Good, how are you?
M: Good! I heard you were here in the studio, hanging out,
and I wanted to ask you 21 questions.
Sounds good to me!
M: Awesome! Alright, let me get right to it.
Tell us what type of photographer you are.
Mostly people and portraits.
Some editorial, some corporate, some advertising.
M: Awesome, and what got you started in photography?
I started in photography when I was 19.
I bought a camera from a friend who needed to pay rent
and started taking pictures and thought it was super fun.
Was taking some art classes in college
and thought, "Wait, you can be a photographer for a living?"
[Maria chuckles]
And that was sort of the impetus, and then it took years
before I actually figured out how to do it.
This was before there was tons of internet.
Now, there's so many resources, like this YouTube channel,
so it's easy to learn and figure out how to do stuff.
At the time it was you find some books, a lot of assisting and now here I am.
M: Awesome, and as a photographer who has such intimate sessions with subjects
how have you adapted to the pandemic?
It's difficult for people because we're all used to wearing masks.
I mean, you caught me without a mask now, but...
Usually, we're all wearing masks, so that disrupts a little of that personalization,
but at the same time, if I wasn't wearing a mask when I was photographing,
I think it would make people uncomfortable. It shows that you respect them.
And it's fewer shoots,
fewer projects because of that, but you can still do it.
And there's more things to talk about.
We all have something we can relate to.
Everybody in the United States--everybody in the world--
can relate to a specific event that's happening now
and that's not always the case. M: Absolutely...
And so, what was that first camera you bought from your friend?
The first camera I bought was a Ricoh KR-5 Super
with a sears 28mm lens.
M: Wow! And what's your go-to camera and lens now?
I just got the Sony Alpha 1.
The lens I use the most (not the one that's on here now)
is the 24 to 105 f/4 G...
But there's so many good lenses, and it just depends.
The 12-24 is awesome. The 100-400 is awesome.
The 135 GM is awesome.
So many good lenses. M: Cool,
and what drew you to portraits and people?
I just like meeting people and seeing new people.
It's interesting. Everybody has a story.
Everybody has something going on.
There's something interesting about everybody.
You know, photography in general is cool.
Photographing anything is cool,
but it's nice to just get to know someone
or learn something about someone or their background or their history
or where they grew up or what they do.
That's always cool. M: Yeah, I agree.
And how did you learn to master lighting
and capturing the best side of a person?
Lighting is mostly from assisting a lot.
I assisted a long time, more than I thought I would,
and if you photo assist, you learn a ton
because you're working with all these different people,
some of whom are just amazing at what they do,
and others who, let's say, aren't amazing,
but you can learn from that too.
And just getting exposed to all those different ways of doing things
and different ways to approach things and different types of gear
and different lighting techniques,
you can learn a huge amount.
And then, photographing people and finding the best way to do that...
Everybody's different. I think you sort of have to find your own way.
My way is pretty casual. We just sort of interact.
I don't do a lot of posing...
but everyone's different. That's a hard one.
I don't think there's any one right answer to that.
M: Sure, and aside from portraits do you dabble in other styles of photography?
I photograph landscapes and travel stuff for fun,
and sometimes I'll photograph almost anything,
just because taking a picture is cool.
Any day you take a picture of something, it's good,
no matter what it is. [Maria laughing softly]
M: And so, you're a Sony Artisan, right? T: I am!
M: And what does that mean to you?
Well, it's an honor, especially now.
When I got in, it was early in the program,
before everybody realized how cool Sony was.
I was early to realizing how cool Sony was, [Maria laughs]
which was fortunate...
But it's great. The community is great.
Everybody at Sony is great.
When they do their events and things,
they're really good at building community
and being part of that is amazing.
M: Great! And you're also the board president of the APA.
T: I am! M: Tell me what you do there.
So, APA is a-- [stumbles over words]
T: Let me start over? M: Yeah!
APA is a photography trade organization,
so APA advocates for photographers, educates photographers,
helps photographers with their business and their careers...
All of that I think is important. The community of photography is important,
and the education that I had a hard time finding when I started out
is so much more available, and APA as part of that.
So, it's really just to help photographers
grow as photographers and help their businesses grow.
And we advocate on a national level
for legislation and copyright reform and things like that
to benefit all photographers.
So to me, it's an important organization,
and I think it's important that we all give back a little bit.
M: Yeah, that's amazing. So, what I'm gathering is you not only love to photograph people
but you like to also help people and help other photographers in general.
T: I do! I do. M: That's great!
And, so, do you have any projects coming up or you're working on right now?
I have a personal project I'm about to start.
I bought a domain called AmericasMakers.com,
and I'm about to start a project doing stills and video of
people that make things that they either sell or distribute in some way.
So, there's a shoe maker I'm going to photograph,
somebody else who cooks, somebody else who makes zipper jewelry.
I'm going to start with those.
And then there's commercial projects,
but usually I can't really talk about them until they're done.
There's one on Thursday. There's one next week...
There's another one next week, but until it's done, I can't.
M: So, you're busy, right? [laughs]
I'm certainly busier than I was last summer!
M: And, okay, switching it up a little bit:
What are some tips for somebody looking to improve their lighting skills?
I think the first thing is to get a light, if you don't have one, and just experiment.
Move the light around.
Try putting it behind your subject, to the side of your subject.
Try different things, try putting things in front of it.
Just experiment. It's easy to get locked into "this is how things are done,"
and that's always a way to do things, but it's not necessarily the best way,
and there's just so much stuff. I mean, the B&H YouTube channel--tons of stuff.
Watch lots and lots of YouTube,
but keep in mind that many people say things with authority--
including probably me, sometimes--that aren't always accurate.
Sometimes I make mistakes, everybody does.
So, get as much experience as you can,
and just learn from as many people as you can.
M: For sure!
And so what has been one of the coolest shoots you've ever been on?
One of the coolest shoots I did was for a soccer magazine that sadly doesn't exist anymore.
It was early in my career, and they flew me to London,
and I took the train to Reading, and I photographed an American Soccer player
named Bobby Convey for their cover,
and that was my first cover.
It was the first time I traveled internationally for an assignment that was mine.
It was super fun. M: That's awesome!
And what has been one of the most challenging shoots?
Some of what makes a shoot challenging
is when you have a client that changes the expectations midstream,
and that does happen. M: Mhmm
I can't be too specific because I don't want to...
You don't want to speak ill of anyone,
but make sure you understand what the expectations are,
and make sure that they understand what the expectations are.
M: Sure! And studio or outdoor photography?
In a perfect world, outdoors, but...
It's not a perfect world. [Maria laughs]
Sometimes it's rainy. Sometimes it's cloudy.
Sometimes the sun's out too much. Sometimes it gets dark too early.
So studios are great too,
but, in a perfect world, outdoors. M: Yeah.
M: And you've done a lot of traveling. Favorite place to shoot.
Alaska is amazing.
I go to LA... not much if not in the last year,
but generally three or four times a year.
There's always cool things to do out there.
Plus just anywhere new.
Every time I go anywhere, I see places,
I'm like, "Oh, I want to photograph somebody there.
"I want to photograph somebody there. That looks so cool."
Everywhere there's something cool. You just have to look for it.
M: Bucket list location.
That I haven't been to or that I have? M: That you haven't.
Oh, there's so many!
Ever since I was a little kid, I've wanted to go to
Tierra del fuego (the southern tip of South America)
and Hudson bay up in Canada.
Both because they just looked cool on a map,
and they're both on the list.
M: That's awesome,
And, if you weren't a photographer, what would you be?
When I started out, I thought maybe I wanted to be an architect or an engineer,
and maybe that's what I would be, but it's...
It's hard to say there's...
There's so many super cool things that you could do in the world.
When I was young, that was an issue I had
is i couldn't figure it out because
"That sounds cool!" and "that sounds cool!" and "that sounds cool"
But maybe an engineer or an architect?
M: Cool... And best piece of advice you've ever received?
I think one of the best pieces of advice I've gotten is
when you're on a assignment for a client,
after you get whatever the client needs,
always try and get something for yourself, M: Mhmm
and often that picture that you got for yourself
is the one that that client ends up liking. M: Mhmm
M: And, aside from your camera, what's your favorite piece of gear?
You know what? I'm going to go with this.
My Gitzo Traveler.
It's light enough that I can always bring it with me everywhere I go.
Every time I travel, it packs up small.
I hiked through the Grand Canyon a couple summers ago with it in my bag.
It's light enough that it wasn't an issue.
Fantastic piece of gear. M: Perfect,
and, tough question, if there were to be a movie about your life,
who would play you?
Well...
That's hard to say.
I've had people say that I look like Bradley Cooper,
and I've had people say I look like Paul Giamatti,
[Maria laughing] T: which are pretty diametrically opposed.
So, let's go with one or the other. M: Okay!
And, last question, who should we interview next?
Maybe Michel Leroy.
M: Okay, awesome!
Well, thank you so much! Get back to it,
and we'll get out of your hair!
Thank you so much! T: Thank you very much!