Hi, I'm Tamara Lackey for the reDefine Show for Adorama TV
and on this episode i speak with triple master photographer and Australian, Ryan
Schembri, about how well he's done in photography competitions
for years and share some wonderful tips for you.
Plus we get a great behind the scenes wafter of his wedding photography. Enjoy.
Adorama TV presents
the reDefine Show with Tamara Lackey.
Hi I am sitting here in Las Vegas
with Ryan Schembri,
triple master of photography. Ryan, I would love for you to tell everybody a little
bit about
how you got to here. It's pretty fascinating at your age.
It is, uh, I was quite young,
so my, my father's a photographer as well. Yes. And so that's how I was
introduced to the business,
and so I started when, assisting when I was 12, I was full-time by 16 and now it's been
13 years in and I'm loving every second.
And full-time like for real at sixteen not just like. Full-time for real at 16 as in shooting my
own weddings at 16.
Right right, and then tell us about the educational piece in the, in the print
competition, and and
because you're quite as steamed in that area.
Yeah well, I have been very fortunate to meet
amazing people and be introduced to amazing people at such a young age and then I got
thrown into the competition arena in terms of being a
print chair, and a judge and all the rest of it and I am currently holding a position of
Chairman of Jurors back home with the APPA.
Em, And this year here i got to be Chairman of WPPI as well so it was great.
And you rocked it.
Well I hope I did.
And em, so
given the experience you've had to date and where you are today
when you see people enter, because it's funny you have been in this for a while,
um and when you see people come into this industry, what are some, piece
of advice that you would have for them?
Um, be a sponge basically and soak
everything in, and it's probably not even just the seminars or just the workshops
that you would attend. It's the conversations in the hallways, it's the
conversations at the bars that I've learnt so much from and yet I was a
17-year-old when I first came to WPPI.
How were you getting into the bars? I don't know really. Um, and they still ask me for Id now so
so who knows. But it was, it was, I vividly remember having conversations with
people like Yervant and
Dray Bozek and all these idols of mine. Those were influences for you.
Absolutely and um it wasn't being scanty or optimum
and just asked them absolutely any questions and no matter how stupid they sounded.
So. And you know I'm glad you say that because I do notice the amount of times people
hold themselves back.
Absolutely, yeah. And especially in environments like this where they have access to people where they
can ask questions.
Yeah and we're all normal aren't we? Yeah well, um. Some of us.
Um, but we are and we're completely approachable and we love talking to
people,
and some of us love our, the sound of our own voices so it's, it's amazing we'll talk to anyone. Yes.
Yes, um, what's another, what's another piece of advice you would give to somebody technically? So sponge
in terms of career and connections and
you know all that sort of stuff, from a technical perspective,
what do you see when you are doing so much with
print competition and such? Um, technically speaking I would
encourage people to know light before they camera.. Mmm.
I see so many people trying to take photo's to learn how to photograph and
to learn how to photograph to me, you need to know how to see the light first
before you know how to use your
actual camera. Yeah. And it's, it's more about
finding great light or creating great light and a, a big thing for me is if you can find
great light, you'll know how to create it. Right.
And your you're working with your friend Jerry Ghionis here, I see this on your shirt.
And you're, you're helping him out here? Or is that just your, your shirt that you got of his?
No, no, yeah no I just wore it, and no I am helping him out here and um,
you know the the IceLight has been part of our lives for many many years,
in terms of
creation and to see it finally come to life a few years ago was eh,
was amazing and we're very excited and we've been dying
to have these products in our hands for 10 years. Yeah, I mean seriously, window light on the go.
It really is.
It is, it's window light on the go and uh, you can just create so much with it.
So it's great.
Wonderful.
This is Tamara Lackey, Be sure to check out Adorama's latest contest to win some fabulous prizes.
We're going to jump to a video of you and Rocco Ancora and show us
some more of your skills in the flesh. Yeah.
Um, But, but before we do that can you do two things.
One : tell me a little about it.
And Number Two: before we leave this clip with you. Sure. Tell us where people
can learn more about you.
Ok no problem. Ehh, so it was funny Rocco and I had never had the
opportunity to shoot before together at the same wedding.
And we thought it would be really fun if we did that and we had a camera crew
follow every movement
of our day and, so that people could hear exactly what we say to
brides and grooms and bridal parties and all the rest of it. Everyone wants to know that.
What do you say. They do yeah. And more than a technical standpoint. I, I think
wedding photography is just relationships
and talking to people, so it was fun, it was really fun to do and I
hope people do get a lot out of it. Um, to find more about me
I have plenty of like facebooking, tweeting things and all that sort of stuff. Right.
You just type my name in and I'm sure it comes up a lot. But I do have several web sites.
ryanschembri.com
and schembristudios.com
and my third is my actual studio, which is
xcite photography and video and it's spelt with an x, and the word sight as in
seeing sight, it's a play on words. So. Perfect. Yeah.
Take a look see how you go.
Alright, Thank you so much.
Thank you too.
We've got a case of a very nervous groom.
I need to go and calm him down.
Part of the job.
Thanks so much Ryan.
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