Photo Live Issue 2

PHOTOlive 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

[ ISSUE two 2017 ] 

Cover shot by Lisa-Marie Photography

Contents 

Photographers 

Street Photographers 

Models 

Podcasts

welcome to PHOTO live ISSUE 2 

This issue is packed full of brilliant talent! 

We were fortunate to catch up with some amazing artists who specialise 

in people photography. So this issue is one for those readers who love 

fashion, models and a touch of glam thanks to our special interview with 

Haute Shots’ Stacey Frazier. 

We also caught up with Marco Larousse, Japanese photographer, Noriyuki 

and Rita Law from Hong Kong who talk to us about street photography. 

Roxanne and Brian from This Week In Photo Glam talk to us about hosting 

a podcast as well as their photography and modelling, while French model 

Morgane fills us in on being a model in France. 

We want to hear from you... if you’re a photographer or model, head over to 

our Facebook or Instagram page and drop us a message - tell us if you’re a 

photographer, model or involved in photography and why we should feature 

you. We love meeting new people and love sharing their art in our magazine. 

Rob Jenkins 

Editor/Publisher 

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LISA-MARIE 

Photography 

Bio 

Lisa-Marie is a Scottish-born Freelance Photographer 

based in Alberta, Canada who 

specializes in Fashion, beauty and conceptual 

portraiture. 

Lisa-Marie has been published in a variety 

of magazines that include Papercut Magazine, 

Ellements Magazine, Hacid Magazine 

and Dark Beauty Magazine to name a few. 

She has also had the cover of several magazine 

such as Model Life Magazine’s launch 

issue, children’s magazine Petite Magnifique, 

The Alchemist Magazine’s Beauty 

Issue and Lash Inc. She is featured on the 

Editor’s Choice page of 500px. A few of her 

images have been shown in New York City. 

She recently won Vistek’s “Show Us Your 

Best Contest” and had a 6 page spread interview 

for Practical Photography Magazine’s 

Pro Showcase for the July 2016 issue. 

Lisa-Marie is also an Elinchrom and Canon 

Ambassador. 

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Lisa-Marie welcome to Photo Live, who 

inspired you to make photography 

your life? 

Thanks so much for having me be a part 

of Photo Live! Photography was never 

really on my radar for a career or even 

a hobby until my grade 10 year of high 

school. I had to choose an option class 

for credits to graduate and I was between 

photography, computers and art. 

I was already taking a computers course 

and didn’t want to have two of the same 

class. I also can’t draw so it was a simple 

choice of the photography class. I remember 

thinking that “Oh this will be so 

easy!” and boy was I wrong! Very early 

on I became enamoured with photography 

and wanted to learn as much as I 

could. I’ve never looked back. 

Let’s back up and talk about your first 

few photo shoots - were they fashion 

themed? 

Not at all! Fashion photography never really 

came into play for me until my second 

year of university. During our first 

few “photoshoots” I had friends from 

high school help me with portrait work 

as we were learning side lighting, butterfly 

lighting and Rembrandt lighting etc. 

Even during university I wanted to be a 

food photographer so I was focusing on 

still life photography. 

What sort of gear did you use? 

I’ve always been a Canon girl. Canon was 

what I learned on and my first professional 

camera was the Canon 40D. I had 

a simple 18-55mm lens and then “upgraded” 

to a 50mm when I started doing 

fashion work. I used the strobes we had 

in the studio and I have had Elinchrom 

lighting for years. 

You graduated from Grant MacEwan 

University studying Design and Photography 

- tell us about that part of 

your life… the study, what was it like 

studying photography formally? 

During high school, I learned the basics 

but I wanted to learn more. I wanted to 

broaden my knowledge of the technology 

of photography. Photography was the 

minor with a major in design. Although 

the program was great, it didn’t focus on 

photography as much as I would have 

hoped. I found myself putting everything 

into the photography classes and less 

into the design. I had three wonderful 

photography teachers who I learned a 

lot from. If it wasn’t for one of my professors, 

I wouldn’t have found fashion 

photography. 

Do you feel that the study helped you 

with the direction you chose? 

The program helped me realize that this 

WAS my passion and what I wanted to 

do for the rest of my life. Finding fashion 

photography was more of an accident. 

We had a class where we were studying 

portraiture. We had to do the basic lighting 

that I had done in high school but I 

wanted to go a little bit further and try 

some different editing. I remember being 

so proud of those images. During our critique, 

my professor looked at my work 

then looked at me. Without missing a 

beat he said “People aren’t your thing.” 

When he walked away, my heart just 

dropped. I’m a perfectionist, especially 

with photography and I was so devastated. 

I wanted to prove him wrong. I 

spent all summer doing fashion shoots 

with my friends around our city, trying 

different things and coming up with different 

concepts. At our year end portfolio 

showing, my entire portfolio was 

fashion and beauty photography. The 

professor who had said those words to 

me the year prior came up to my table. 

I said to him, “Remember when you said 

I couldn’t photograph people?” He just 

looked at me and winked. I realized then 

he had said what he said to me because 

he knew my personality. He knew I would 

work hard to prove him wrong. Without 

him saying those words to me, I wouldn’t 

have found the love and passion I have 

for fashion photography. 

You graduated, and you seem to have 

hit the ground running, tell us about 

the first time you were published in a 

magazine? 

I still remember that feeling. I was on 

cloud 9. I had done an editorial with a 

local model at a children’s playground 

right at sunrise. She brought tons of 

clothes and accessories. I was incredibly 

nervous as she is a very popular model 

in our city and someone once told me, if 

you get to shoot with her then you have 

made it here in Edmonton. After I sent 

her the finished edits, she convinced 

me to send them to a magazine in British 

Columbia. The dream was always to 

get published but I never thought that 

it would happen so quickly. Getting that 

accepted email was such an amazing 

feeling. Even to this day, I still get the 

feeling of accomplishment and pride of 

getting published. 

And recently you were featured in 

Practical Photography (one of my favourite 

titles) what are you doing for 

them? 

I love Practical Photography Magazine! 

I was absolutely honoured when they 

asked to feature me in their Pro Showcase 

in their July 2016 issue. Not long 

after that issue hit shelves, they asked 

me to be their columnist for the November 

2016-Novemember 2017 year. I cried 

when I opened up that email. I have 

never felt so proud and honoured to be 

asked to be a part of one of my favourite 

magazines. It has been an amazing year 

writing for them! 

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One thing people often ask is how does 

someone become a sponsored photographer? 

You’re a Canon Ambassador, 

what does that mean? 

I am a Canon and Elinchrom Ambassador. 

This happened just last year. I 

had entered a photography contest for 

one of our local photography stores in 

town. I never enter contests but this one 

popped up on social media and I thought 

why not? I ended up winning that contest 

and it opened up so many doors for 

me. I was asked what equipment I used 

and one of the workers at the Toronto 

headquarters showed my work to people 

at Elinchrom first. I was asked to speak 

at the Toronto ProFusion Photography 

Tradeshow for Elinchrom and demonstrate 

how I use their lighting systems 

to create a ‘Lisa-Marie McGinn’ style of 

photography. Not long after that, I was 

asked to host two workshops in Edmonton 

and Calgary sponsored by Vistek, 

Canon and Elinchrom. I will never forget 

that feeling! Having people come and 

watch me do my thing and create my 

art meant the world to me! With every 

image I share on social media now, I tag 

Elinchrom and Canon. I share my lighting 

and what camera and lenses I use. 

On to your photos, how do you start 

planning out an idea? Do you collaborate 

with others? 

Yes I love collaborating. Usually my ideas 

come to me late at night, right before I 

go to sleep I lay in bed thinking what kind 

of image I want to create next. I always 

want to try something different, sometimes 

it works and sometimes it doesn’t. 

I’m lucky to know a lot of talented individuals 

in my town who are always open 

and willing to create my vision. 

Book I and Book II are full of amazing 

photos, did you spend a lot of time editing 

through your portfolio to choose 

what images were featured? 

Thank you so much! I find myself culling 

my images more frequently now than 

when I first started. I always have 1 or 

2 images from a shoot that are my favourite 

and I add those to my portfolio. 

My portfolio has changed quite a bit over 

the last 5 years and even now with my 

style leaning towards beauty photography, 

I find it changing again. I used to 

love photographing creative, fairytale 

style imagery and while I still love capturing 

those images, beauty work has 

been my go-to for the last year. 

You also do Portrait and Wedding packages, 

does your fashion photography 

cross over into families and weddings? 

Yes, definitely. In regards to angles and 

trying to be creative, I find myself trying 

different things than just the standard 

portraits and weddings. It works sometimes 

but I always love to try new things 

and I’m not afraid too keep trying. 

Let’s touch on post processing, do you 

do your own and how do you approach 

an image? What I mean is when you’re 

planning a fashion shoot, do you have 

an outcome in mind where you know 

you’ll need to add some post or is it an 

organic process that evolves as you 

work? 

Yes, I love retouching! Photoshop has always 

been a passion for me. When I’m 

photographing an editorial, I typically 

know how I am going to edit just by the 

lighting and mood I’m trying to accomplish. 

Sometimes I go in completely blind 

and just experiment. I typically do that 

after editing a portrait session or a wedding. 

I love grabbing an image that I haven’t 

touched and just editing until I am 

happy with the final image. 

Can a photographer make a living 

from fashion alone? 

I believe they can, yes. I was laid off from 

my full time job three years ago. I had 

no idea what I was going to do next. My 

boyfriend (now my husband) told me to 

try photography. What did I have to lose? 

The first 4 months were hard. I needed 

to get my name out there more and 

get those clients. Three years later, I’m 

shooting constantly whether its fashion, 

beauty, portraits or weddings and get to 

travel to different cities and provinces 

demonstrating my style of photography. 

Ok some fun questions - where do you 

see yourself if 5 years? 

Professionally? Shooting for Vogue! The 

ultimate dream for a fashion photographer. 

I would love to be travelling the 

world doing workshops and working for 

clients like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan 

etc. Personally? I just recently 

got married and my husband and I 

would love to have a family. And another 

dog...or two! 

What gear do you lust after if any? 

Phase One or Hasselblad! Thats the 

dream! I used a Hasselblad in University 

and it was the most amazing experience. 

The quality was outstanding. Although I 

will never part with my Canon cameras 

(I have a collection now). 

You’re going on holiday - what camera 

would you take for playing the tourist? 

Travelling with me is always an adventure. 

I carry EVERYTHING I have camera 

wise. I have my Canon 5D Mark III, my 

Canon 7D (just incase) and all of my lenses. 

You never know when an amazing 

photographic opportunity will come up 

so I always like to be prepared! 

Finally where can readers go to see 

more of your work? 

They can go to my website at 

www.lisamariemcginn.com or my instagram 

handle is @lisamariephotog. Also, 

check out my facebook at Lisa-Marie 

Photography. You can also pick up past 

copies of Practical Photography Magazine 

(November 2016-November 2017) 

and read about how I create my images! 

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ONLINE: 

www.lisamariemcginn.com 

www.instagram.com/lisamariephotog 

www.facebook.com/LMGPhoto 

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marc 

hayden 

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Hi Marc and welcome to Photo Live, 

how would you describe yourself as a 

photographer? What do you specialise 

in? 

Hi! Thanks for having me :) I tend to favour 

portraiture and fashion for personal 

work, and there is a strong beauty 

theme to my image-making. Im doing a 

lot more lifestyle work these days, and 

I really enjoy documentary-style work, 

too. 

I think every photographer has a story 

about how they got started, what’s 

yours? 

Well, I actually went to art school and 

painted at school. I always had a passion 

for art, but I painted up until university, 

and thats where I started using Apple 

Macs. I didn’t touch a camera until many 

years later, and it was actually the iPhone 

that got me into photography. Photography 

was a real luxury hobby and 

career before digital photography and 

the internet really took off, but I knew Id 

always love image-taking….I just knew. 

I was working for Apple’s ad agency for 

a few years and realised I wasn’t being 

creative, so I decided to change careers! 

Looking at your photography, eyes 

are important to you aren’t they? But 

when you capture them, they seem to 

pierce you as the viewer… 

Yeah, I can’t get away from eyes. For 

lifestyle, they aren’t the focus, but for 

beauty, I love them. I see a lot of stuff 

on social media, and its just naked girls. 

Don’t get me wrong, the female body is 

wonderful, but bum shots are kinda…. 

boring. Everyone has a butt. And many 

look the same haha. Eyes, though….theyare 

unique, and they say everything. I 

also want people to appreciate the image, 

not just the flesh. 

Talk to us about your editorial work. 

Are you doing fashion magazines and, 

I’ve been told, that that type of shoot 

can be more for the love and exposure 

as they pay minimal rates…? 

I test a lot, because I enjoy it, and working 

with stylists is great. But Im not 

submitting anymore. If a quality fashion 

mag commissions me, 100% I’m there, 

because Im an artist, and I love to create. 

If you’re doing Wonderland, Love, 

or Vogue….those kind of mags, then the 

exposure is good. Its definitely a labour 

of love. 

You also do Commissions, can you tell 

us about that? 

Sure! I do a fair amount of corporate 

work, and fashion commissions are 

great. Being a full time freelancer really 

is full time. Im terrible at stopping, but 

I have a family, so I want to make time 

for them. My social life is pretty much 

non-existent, but its the path I chose. I 

want to create, and I want to support 

my family….commissions help me do 

that. I have done cool lookbooks for a variety 

of brands, and Im always looking to 

do more. 

You’re recent personal work is powerful, 

what’s inspired that look? 

Just me. And that is really important. I 

remember starting out and panicking 

about having a style. Id look a other artists 

and worry. But the moment I stopped 

worrying, and just did what came naturally, 

thats when my work came into its 

own. Obviously I take in outside influence 

all the time, but the way I frame, the 

poses, etc….thats just what I like. 

Who inspires you? 

I like fine art. I know more about fine art 

than I do photography, so Id say Cubism, 

Pop Art, music, graphic art. Basquiat, 

Picasso, Haring, Mondrian - these guys 

were visionaries. 

What do you see for photography in 

the next 5 years, as in the tech and 

perhaps the way we appreciate the 

art? 

Great question, and I do wonder how the 

availability of kit will affect the quality 

of the work, in both positive and negative 

ways. But, at the end of the day, 

you can’t buy artistic talent, so Im not 

phased by that. Its like when music production 

was suddenly available to every 

bedroom producer….there is just more 

noise. The quality always shines through. 

Marc - thanks for being in Photo Live 

Issue 2, where can readers go to find 

out more about you? 

Thanks for having me! My instagram 

@_marchayden and my website 

marchayden.co.uk are great places to 

keep up with my work. Im also on twitter 

@_marchayden, and on Facebook (marchaydenphoto). 

If your readers have 

any questions they can also drop me an 

email at marc@marchayden.co.uk. 

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ONLINE: 

marchayden.co.uk 

instagram.com/_marchayden 

facebook.com/marchaydenphoto 

facebook.com/_marchayden 

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ALEX SANCHEZ 

Welcome to Live Alex, where are you 

living and how did you get started as 

a photographer? 

I live in Lyon, I´ve always love photography 

but I did not have a professional 

camera. So 2 years ago I decided to start 

and began to collaborate with different 

models. 

You have some amazing maternity 

photography, what inspired you to 

photograph women in this style? 

Even though it is not my favorite photography 

style, it´s something I love to 

do as it remains in my ground, witch is 

the studio photography. 

What mainly inspires me is to immortalize 

this precious moment which is the 

pregnancy. In this period of a woman life 

you can see how radiant they are, totally 

glowing. I try to enhance this moment 

throught the studio lights control. 

What photography do you love most? 

I love doing portraits and nudes. I´m always 

searching for deep expressions 

and intense looks. 

Regarding nudes photography, I try to 

show only the indispensable, so as to 

bring to mind sensuality. 

Tell us about life for a photographer in 

France… do you do this as a full time 

job? 

For the moment I am not doing this full 

time but I am working for it :). It will be 

great to work from my passion. In Lyon 

there is a lot of photographers but I cannot 

complain as I have got enough photography 

work. 

Do you travel much with your photography? 

Where have you been? 

I love to travel but as I work a lot, sometimes 

it is hard to plan. I have been to 

Morocco, England, South of France, 

Spain is my motherland. And I am going 

to Thailand in November. Can´t wait! 

What’s been the most challenging 

photo shoot you’ve done? 

For me, each picture is a challenge, there 

is always things that happen during 

the shooting that you did not have predicted, 

but if I have to choose one, I will 

definitly say the social pictures, I mean 

wedding pictures, event pictures, as you 

cannot control the models and the light 

as in a studio. 

Who inspires you as a photographer? 

Peter Coulson, I really love how he masterizes 

the black and white pictures. I 

also like very much Michael Woloszynowicz. 

What do you have planned for next 

year? 

My goal is to manage to open my own 

studio so as to developp my art to the 

next level. 

Where can our readers go to see more 

of your work? 

facebook.com/AlexSanchezPhotography 

& instagram.com/alex.sanchez.photo. 

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ONLINE: 

www.instagram.com/alex.sanchez.photo 

www. facebook.com/AlexSanchezPhotography 

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Chris, welcome to Photo Live, why are 

your photos so damn good? Ok that’s 

probably too confronting as an opening, 

let’s start with, when did you 

know you’d found your “look” or style? 

Haha thanks for having me! I’d say finding 

a “look” took me about 6 or 7 years. 

I spent a long time treading water, not 

really doing one thing in particular. It 

wasn’t until I did a lot of soul searching 

to really decide what I wanted to focus 

on that it started coming together. 

Let’s back up a bit more, how did you 

get started as a photographer? 

I picked it up as a hobby after graduating 

college. I had always messed around 

with it before then, but once I really dug 

in, I was hooked. I’d shoot whatever I 

could locally and after some time, decided 

to give it a real go. 

When I look at your art, I keep thinking 

of the words - Drama, Passion, Power… 

am I on track? 

I like those words - I also like to throw 

in “Theatrical.” I love the idea of visual 

theater and all the ingredients of melodrama 

that go with it. 

The photo, Cela New York, tell us about 

that photo... 

This was shot for a handbag desire, Cela 

New York, and we were very much inspired 

by a Helmut Newton shot for this 

image in particular. It was shot in Prospect 

Park in Brooklyn. 

You’ve photographed some amazing 

people, who’d been a lot of fun to 

shoot? 

I’ve been very fortunate to shoot a wide 

variety of people will all different kinds 

of personalities. That dance between 

theirs and mine is one of my favorite 

parts about portraiture. One of my favorite 

subjects has been my lady, the 

very talented Lindsay Adler. 

Chris 

KNIGHT 

I love the tones and feel of your Personal 

Work, talk us through the red- 

something that evolved over time? 

You use light dramatically, is that 

headed woman sitting on the desk 

with the two men… it’s got a detective 

feel from the movies. 

That image was definitely inspired by old 

film noir movies - one of my favorite genres 

of film. It was actually shot in Beijing, 

China as part of an event for Profoto 

China. Lindsay Adler and I were there to 

present and shoot and this was a concept 

we created for them - and two entirely 

different versions of it. My version 

was the set-based, cinematic version. I 

designed the set at home and they built 

it. We sourced a few local models and 

shot that image with over almost 200 

people standing my shoulder. It was lots 

of fun and a great challenge. 

And the images featuring people with 

arrows, can you share what you’re 

communicating and why…? 

These were for a project called “St. Sebastian.” 

I love the story, the visuals and 

the narrative that comes with it. This 

was shot here in New York. I wanted to 

create a classic version and modern version 

side-by-side to see how the viewer 

responds uniquely to each. It’s one of my 

favorite projects I’ve ever done. 

It definitely has. I spent years shooting 

swimwear and lifestyle in Miami with 

clean, bright, colorful images. Dramatic 

lighting was a journey, but I’m happier 

over here. 

Who inspired you as a growing artist 

and has that changed as you’ve grown 

as a photographer? 

I’m definitely heavily inspired by classical 

painting. I love Rembrandt, Caravaggio, 

Vermeer - the Baroque painters really do 

it for me. Photographically I love Irving 

Penn, Richard Avedon, Eugenio Recuenco, 

Erwin Olaf, Gregory Crewdson, Annie 

Leibovitz. Tastes definitely change and 

evolve. I didn’t get into painting until 

much later, but I think one of the best 

things visual artists can do is study mediums 

that are not your own. 

We’d like to send readers to see more 

of your photography - where can they 

go? 

chrisknightphoto.com 

instagram.com/chrisknightphoto 

facebook.com/chrisknightphoto 

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ONLINE: chrisknightphoto.com 

instagram.com/chrisknightphoto 

facebook.com/chrisknightphoto 

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Andrea Joki

Andrea Joki tells us 

about her photographic 

journey... 

BACKGROUND 

My father was a hobbyist photographer 

– mostly taking pictures of trains and 

his children (the two of us). I inherited 

his camera equipment but didn’t do 

much with it until the birth of EBAY in 

the 1990s. I was buying and selling antique 

apparel (1860s-1920s) and needed 

photographs to match the provenance I 

had researched for each item. So I put 

aside my father’s Minolta and bought a 

Canon Rebel with digital features (this 

was pre-digital sensor but the selling 

point of the Rebel was that it had digital 

exposure readings – no exposure meter 

needed!). I still have that camera – nicknamed 

“Fred” - and he saw a lot of use 

up until around 2005 – and the rise of 

the digital sensor. 

I was curious about digital sensor cameras 

but feared the loss of quality in dynamic 

range and clarity. I researched 

how CCD and CMOS sensors worked and 

eventually settled on the Nikon D50. The 

color was beautiful even if the CMOS rendered 

skin tones so much nicer (and less 

orangey). 

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DEVELOPING MY STYLE 

In early 2000, I think many people got 

into family portraiture for their children 

and the love of kids. So they were ace at 

getting great expressions and moments 

from their subjects but often had terrible 

comps and color. For me, I loved the 

design challenge – the story of an image 

and how all the pieces come together to 

tell us about the subject. Unfortunately, 

I had the opposite issue of my nascent 

photographer colleagues: while I would 

have an image with a beautiful juxtaposition 

of wild countryside and perfectly 

positioned person, I wouldn’t notice that 

they were dead in the eyes and lifeless. 

I was too busy putting together the big 

picture rather than seeing the small details 

of connection and emotion. 

At that point, I was very ambivalent – I 

enjoyed images of people NOT looking at 

the camera and instead interacting with 

the environment but I needed to be able 

to take and sell ‘smiling faces’ as well 

if I wanted a business. It’s something I 

worked on for several years; learning to 

get that comfortable rapport with any 

subject of any age. That skill didn’t come 

over night and I really had to upgrade 

my interpersonal skills to do so. E.g., 

what works on a small kid can be very 

irritating to a teen. 

At the same time, taking image after image 

helped me to develop my personal 

vision – my style. It’s something that I’ve 

come to realize has to grow organically 

from taking a lot of pictures. It can’t be 

forced and it is something that evolves 

over time; you find that you naturally begin 

to gravitate toward photographing 

and processing images in a certain way 

that YOU find pleasing. The best example 

I can give of this is that in 2006 I was 

good friends with some amazing pho- 

tographers. Our way of photographing 

was very similar; in fact, we all shot with 

deep rich color / very good clarity and 

our images were fairly similar. But within 

four years, we had branched out and 

come into our own as photographers in 

very different ways. Our current work 

looks so dissimilar as to be striking that 

we were ever photographing similarly. 

My style soon translated into surreality 

– I wanted a bit of magical realism in 

my images and to create something we 

could not ordinarily see beyond life’s distractions. 

To complement that, I always 

want every image to tell a story about 

the person in it. For that reason, I never 

photograph in public parks – they all look 

the same whether you are in Melbourne 

or Prague, Denver or Chicago. The same 

manicured lawns and the same hardy 

trees. Instead, I try to find places that 

are representative of the person and 

that time in their life- nature preserves 

or places with the native architecture or 

flora. That way, when the person grows 

up or moves, they will have everything in 

the image to remind them of that time 

and place. A park or random location 

just can’t do that. 

The other foundation of my style that I 

am very proud of is color harmony. It’s 

about creating moods or ensuring that 

the subject harmonizes with or stands 

out from the environment. E.g., if photographing 

in a forest I will dress subjects 

in jewel tones, often in contrasting 

colors that help them pop from the busy 

background so they don’t get lost. At 

beaches or fields, I will dress subjects 

in bleached and softer colors that work 

with the environment so the harmonize 

with it instead of standing out like a 

sore thumb. That’s one of the reasons 

you won’t find subjects in black or dark 

clothes on a beaches if I can help it – I 

work with my clients in advance with 

suggestions on what to wear based on 

the chosen location. 

When we photograph, we photograph 

for interest – we want people to really 

explore the image. It’s a tough task: how 

to make the image speak and to ensure 

everything in the four corners is precisely 

placed to create accord or surprising 

chaos. Suggestions such as rule of third, 

golden mean, and juxtaposition make 

sense when you see the big picture and 

how everything works together to put a 

focus on or describe the subject. E.g., if 

you take a photograph on a lawn with 

random cars in the background and a 

tree growing out of the subject’s head, 

it doesn’t enhance the subject or tell 

his/her story. But if you place them in 

the bottom right corner of the image 

with their house beautifully framed in 

the background in the left top corner, 

then you’ve told a story. Similarly, if I 

am photographing in Finland, I’ll include 

blueberry bushes and aspens framing 

the subject. If I am in Oregon, I will get 

windswept driftwood on meandering 

beaches or old growth moss covering 

aspen forests, in Prague I want to photograph 

the Old Town or an abandoned 

soviet military base, and in Gold Coast 

of Australia, I want to photograph the 

spits that jut out with high rises in the 

background. It’s all about contrasting 

the timelessness of a location with the 

very dated (never to be that way again) 

person in the image. 

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THOUGHTS FOR FELLOW 

PHOTOGRAPHERS 

I’m asked often about what advice to 

give photographers and the most important 

thing for me is to encourage people 

to a) analyze everything you do and b) 

get (honest!) feedback as often as you 

can. Also, experiment without the worry 

about failing. Even now, with so many 

years behind me, I try new things and 

different angles/orientations every session, 

knowing most won’t work. A great 

shoot for me is not all decent images – 

it’s about looking through the raws and 

being on a rollercoaster ride of good… 

good…terrible…great…great..bad…good.. 

good….bad….. In failing is when I learned 

to really grow as a photographer. 

My other recommendation is to learn to 

see beyond what the camera can take. 

You are not bound but the limited dynamic 

range and ‘mechanical’ boringness 

of what the machine captures. A 

photograph is art when it translates a 

scene or moment into something very 

unique and distinct. Always stretch your 

imagination to go beyond what your 

raw is showing you – there is a fascinating 

world out there that you, with 

your unique history and world view, can 

translate into something truly inspirational 

and wholly distinct. 

Finally – photographers make up the 

best community of people! After several 

years in the business, I looked back and 

recognized that my best images were 

often taken with other photographers 

– working with colleagues at all levels is 

amazing and they push you to new directions 

you might not have otherwise 

taken. Teaming up with local photogra- 

phers is often the best thing you can do 

for yourself and your business – regular 

get togethers create the most amazing 

images and opportunities for growth. 

I think that’s why I began teaching in 

2008. I have made amazing friendships 

around the world and have photography 

to thank for bringing the world to me 

here In this little country of Finland. Although 

I don’t do workshops any more 

due to the heavy travel, I am forever 

grateful for the memories I’ve made and 

the truly inspirational people I’ve met as 

a result. We have some of the most creative 

and giving people in the industry 

and too often don’t even know it. 

Of course, pictures speak louder than 

words. Here are images with context/ 

info, which I always find helpful. In several, 

I gave behind the scenes or raws to 

give an idea of the starting point to give 

an idea of how not to be bound by the 

raw. 

My website: www.jokiphotography.com 

Facebook and Flickr that have my most 

recent work: 

www.facebook.com/JokiPhotography/ 

www.flickr.com/photos/maiasuvi/ 

Behind the scenes Facebook page – 

where you can see pullbacks/behind the 

scenes images: 

www.facebook.com/JokiPhoto 

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ONLINE: www.jokiphotography.com 

www.facebook.com/JokiPhotography 

www.flickr.com/photos/maiasuvi 

www.facebook.com/JokiPhoto 

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Interview with photographer Stacie Frazier... 

Welcome Stacie! You’ve done so much 

for women, what I mean is that you’ve 

taken your art and helped people see 

real beauty, how did it all start? 

I really feel like my entire life eventually 

led me to boudoir photography. But, it 

specifically began after I had been laid 

off from my job as a graphic designer. 

Part of my job responsibilities as a designer 

had been light photography details. 

I had begun shooting friends as a 

hobby during lunch breaks on the roof 

of the Venetian hotel-casino. That led to 

them asking if I could do sexier shoots 

for them on the side. Well, I had blogged 

much of these experiences, and unbeknownst 

to me at the time, was developing 

a following. So, by the time I had lost 

my job I had perfect strangers asking for 

boudoir shoots. It turned into an automatic 

business for me. So grateful. But, 

mostly thankful that it ended up being 

a business that actually empowered the 

women I worked with, and not just me. 

Do your clients start by saying they 

don’t feel “glamorous” or beautiful? 

How do you overcome that? Is it s body 

image problem? Nerves? Both? 

Every woman comes into their session 

with nerves. Many of them have been 

married for 20 years or so and “unseen” 

- whether it be just by their husbands 

being the only one to have seen 

them intimately or sadly, being taken for 

granted at that stage in their marriage. 

Their bodies have changed from age, 

childbirth and whatnot. But they still 

want to be sexy, feel desired and viewed 

with kind, loving eyes as a woman of 

true beauty and worth. And I honestly 

believe each woman I photograph is just 

that...worthy and beautiful. So, during 

a session they are being viewed by my 

team and I, perfect strangers to them, of 

course they will be nervous. One thing I 

hear time and time again though is how 

appreciative they are that we were so 

nonjudgemental. That is one of the most 

important traits for a boudoir photographer, 

in my opinion. It builds trust. But, it 

has to be genuine, obviously. 

Do the women do it for themselves, for 

their partner … both? 

It started with most of them saying 

they were doing it for their partner. But, 

I could see they were really doing it for 

themselves too. Now, I get a mixture of 

women who say they are doing it for 

themselves, their partners or both. 

Tell us about the process… Someone 

has rang you and wants to book - 

what happens next? 

We figure out what their needs are and 

I help them decide which session they 

should go with, location they should 

shoot at, etc. They book their shoot and 

fill out a questionnaire that helps me get 

to know them better so that I can formulate 

ideas for their shoot to tailor it 

more to their personality through poses 

and wardrobe advice. And then it’s 

showtime! 

Talk to us about the challenging 

shoots. What’s a difficulty you sometimes 

face? 

On a very rare occasion, we might encounter 

a client who is either especially 

uncomfortable in her own skin which 

makes her more stiff and more difficult 

to pose or who has her heart set on facial 

expressions that don’t translate on 

camera as beautifully as she might think 

they will. It can prove difficult to break 

the habits of “duck lips” or “deer in the 

headlights” eyes, for instance. 

I’m not sure how to phrase this, so I’ll 

do my best, your photos are exactly 

what I’d want to see of my lovely wife, 

what I mean is they are feminine but 

really sexy as well. I hope that makes 

sense? 

I think something that I have always 

aimed for was to create photos that appealed 

to both women and men alike. 

Usually the photos are being gifted to a 

man so I needed to represent his desires 

as well as the clients. For that reason, 

I never really shoot overly frilly or girly 

scenes. I prefer a more masculine backdrop 

actually, so that the clients femininity 

pops more. But, I also lean towards 

a woman looking more confident and 

powerful, which can be characterized as 

masculine traits in our society. Against 

a more neutral backdrop, this is accomplished 

much easier than something 

overly feminine. 

Tell us about your reality show. 

Well, we almost had a reality show. Came 

really close, but it ultimately didn’t end 

up happening. We had been approached 

by many producers trying to entice 

us into trying to get out own show. I 

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skipped most of the requests but trusted 

two of them to portray us accurately 

and respectfully so we actually had two 

different opportunities where the networks 

were presented with the idea but 

ultimately passed. 

Sizzle Reel: https://youtu.be/k2OqqGHqjcs 

Props and accessories - how do you decide 

who suits what? 

The answers on the pre-session questionnaire 

that I send to them helps me 

figure out if there is anything I might be 

able to bring to make their shoot more 

special. But, we do all of our shoots on 

location so I keep that to a minimum. I 

can, however, give them advice on what 

types of outfits to bring based on what 

I have learned about them. I do like 

when clients bring meaningful props to 

sessions, like a special piece of jewelry 

or perhaps a framed wedding photo to 

place bedside on the nightstand. 

There’s lot’s of tears when people see 

how amazing they look, do you feel the 

experience changes people and that 

the changes last? 

I have always said that a boudoir photography 

shoot is most definitely a life 

changing experience for women. I’ve 

seen the transformation with my own 

eyes from the very beginning. They leave 

their session standing taller, and that 

feeling stays with them for months afterwards, 

and they are reminded of it 

every time they look at their photos. I 

think this is why I see so many clients 

returning for more sessions throughout 

the years. It’s an addictive feeling for 

them! 

Ok, what’s next for you - any plans for 

the next 12 months you can share? 

It’s a slight departure from my regular 

work but I am continuing on with my 

current fine art photo project. It’s called 

Bag Ladies, which is a look at the objectification 

of women, particularly where 

dating and our social conditioning are 

concerned. I’m concerned with where we 

are heading with all of that. You can find 

this photography project right here: 

Interview: youtu.be/iK3iyyw3mkE 

Announcement post: 

hauteshots.com/personal-photography-project/ 

Full series posts: 

hauteshots.com/category/bag-ladies/ 

Can you share 5 tips for people having 

a boudoir shoot? 

Relax. 

Don’t be afraid to let your personality 

shine through. 

Trust your photographer. 

Enjoy the process. 

Be extra kind to yourself. 

Finally where can readers find out 

more about Haute Shots and Stacie 

Frazier? 

Website: hauteshots.com 

Blog: hauteshots.com/our-blog 

Instagram: instagram.com/hauteshots 

Facebook: facebook.com/HauteShots 

Marketing Video: youtu.be/m-sLDYWQ8d0 

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ONLINE: hauteshots.com 

hauteshots.com/our-blog 

instagram.com/hauteshots 

facebook.com/HauteShots 

youtu.be/m-sLDYWQ8d0 

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hotogr 

St reet 

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aphers 

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MARCO Larousse 

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Welcome to Photo Live Marco, ok, 

straight into it - how hard is it being a 

street photographer? What I mean is 

do you find it challenging to take photos 

of strangers as part of your photography? 

It used to be hard for me in the beginning 

when I started to point my camera 

at people in foreign countries. I was 

very curious about their unposed daily 

life routines and did not want to capture 

staged and posed smiling photos. 

At that time, I started doing this in the 

beginning of the 90’s, I was not aware 

that there was a historic genre of photography 

called street photography. 

Once I discovered that this was a classic 

art form and understood the importance 

of documenting contemporary daily life 

that may become relevant for future 

generations, I started to feel very confident 

about what I do. I even feel that 

street photography is extremely important 

to society if the intentions are right 

and the subjects are treated with a lot 

of respect. 

Tell us about the beautiful black and 

white. You seem to do a lot of B and W 

… are you shooting jpg files and using 

one of the Fuji film modes? 

I shoot 95% of my images in B&W. I like 

to tell the story without the distraction 

of color. I only switch to color if I think 

that the color adds important information 

to the story. I set my camera to 

shoot jpg & RAW and set the camera to 

B&W +Red Filter mode with some custom 

tweaking of highlight and shadow intensity. 

Fuji and Olympus both have very 

nice B&W jpg modes straight out of the 

camera that are often already publishable. 

For my large fine art prints, however, 

I go to the RAW files and tweak them to 

look good on paper. 

Back to the beginning - when did you 

pick up a camera and decide this was 

what you loved? 

I got my first own camera when I was 

about 6 years old. It was a plastic camera 

that I found in a grab bag for 50 

cents. My mom bought me a cheap roll 

of B&W film and I was hooked. This may 

also have been where my brain was 

wired into thinking that the final result 

of the photographic process was a B&W 

print. And I still shoot B&W and print my 

work on paper to this day. 

Why Fuji? 

When Fuji introduced the first X100 at 

Photokina 2010, I was very excited about 

the concept of a camera that brought 

back the features of my old analog 

rangefinders into the digital world. The 

camera was small, quiet, had a great IQ 

and had the aperture, shutter speed and 

exposure compensation as external dials 

on the camera. Now that even the ISO 

dial has been added to my most recent 

Fuji camera, I am very happy with this 

set up for now. 

Why analog? 

I just shoot differently when I shoot 

analog. The whole process is a lot slower 

and I’m even more selective on the shots 

that I take. I also have a higher keeper 

rate by shooting less. Analog also helps 

me to slow down and enjoy the waiting 

time before the image reward compared 

to the instant gratification of digital photography. 

You’re also a successful podcaster 

with Scott Bourne, how did that come 

about? 

I had appeared on a few photography 

podcasts when Scott contacted me 

about 4 years ago and asked me if I 

wanted to start a podcast on Fuji cameras 

with him. I was still an ambassador 

for Fuji at that time (official X-Photographer) 

and after we worked out our strategy 

we started the show. Both of us were 

surprised how quickly this show became 

popular, but we were hitting different 

limitations on a show that was only talking 

about one brand. We then closed the 

Fuji show and opened the show to all 

mirrorless brands. I was producing these 

shows for Photofocus at that time. And 

at the beginning of this year, Scott and 

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I founded PPN - Photo Podcast Network 

as a hub for photography and creativity 

related podcasts. We currently have 4 

shows per month and have been really 

pleased with the great feedback from 

our wonderful audience. 

Will PPN be growing in the future - you 

already have some excellent show’s, 

what’s next? 

We are still a young network and are 

growing our audience every week. There 

are a lot of opportunities out there and 

we’ll make the next move when the time 

is right :) 

Are you teaching or doing workshops? 

Can you tell us what you teach in 

them? 

Yes, I am teaching workshops that generally 

cover street or documentary photography. 

And printing often plays an 

important role, too. I see my workshops 

rather as retreats. I don’t want to lecture 

theory the whole time. I find it equally 

important to talk about motivation, 

goals, and mind-set. My goal is that the 

participants have a good time and feel 

that they are spending a few days with 

friends. They should see and learn new 

things and leave the workshop/retreat 

motivated. 

Where can our readers go to see more 

of your photography? 

They can go to MarcoLarousse.com 

to see my work and read my blog 

or tune in at PPN - Photo Podcast 

Networkphotopodcasts.com/podcasts 

to listen to our photography podcast 

episodes on inspiration, mirrorless, 

Q&A, or gear. And they can always 

get in touch with me on Twitter 

twitter.com/hamburgcam. 

Thanks Marco! 

Thank you so much for featuring my 

work. 

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ONLINE: 

www.MarcoLarousse.com 

www.photopodcasts.com/podcasts 

www.twitter.com/hamburgcam 

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RITA LAW

Hi Rita, thanks for talking to us at Photo 

Live, where are you based? 

I am based in Hong Kong - a dense urban 

jungle, chaotic yet blissfully exciting. 

You take a lot of amazing city photos, 

capturing the businesses... or should I 

say, chaos of Hong Kong, how did you 

get into photography? 

I was given a Practica LTL3 from my dad 

when I was 13 and it becomes my first 

camera (I still use it sometimes when I 

travel!). 

The one thing that really brought me into 

photography was the film photography 

course I attended in university. I used to 

worry too much if I would waste a film 

every time I shoot. One of the “Sunny 16” 

excises was to shoot a series of street 

photos using a fully manual SLR and 

no light metering was allowed, the end 

result images weren’t that great at all 

but it made me realised trial-and-error 

is the best way to learn from my own 

mistakes. 

Hong Kong looks a mix of old and new 

- what’s it like to walk around the city 

and shoot? 

Hong Kong itself is like a concrete jungle. 

The urban design back in late 19th is 

pretty compelling I have to say. You can 

easily find all sort of neon signage hanging 

right above a busy street in Kowloon 

and some parts of Hong Kong Island. The 

street scene in Hong Kong always looks 

dense and full of energy. It is very easy 

to spot interesting happenings on street. 

In short, it is a paradise for street photography 

lovers. 

Tell us how you go out and shoot? 

What’s your process? Do you plan or is 

it impulsive? 

I found observing people and all the random 

happenings on street particularly 

fascinating. I shoot when I spot an interesting 

scene, moment or people. This 

must have something to do with my previous 

job as a location scout. 

What are you using for your photography? 

(Gear) 

At work, I use Nikon D5 and the 24-70mm 

f/2.8 E ED VR for general event coverage 

and sometimes carry with me the 80- 

400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR if it is a sporting 

event. I have a Panasonic GF7 with its kit 

lens for streets and of course a smartphone, 

recently upgraded to iPhone8, to 

snap at any moment. 

Talking of gear, you worked for Digital 

Rev for a while, what was that like? 

It was fun and absolutely rewarding. The 

DRTV production team was a relatively 

small one, 4 in total, but definitely the 

best team I have ever worked with, plus 

It is always a pleasure to be given the 

latest cameras and gears to try on! 

And now you work for yourself? 

No, I work for an agency as a content 

producer right now, my work is more 

into content marketing than purely production, 

which is a definitely challenging 

but interesting to me, since I came from 

a Graphic Design background. 

Have you done much traveling and 

where have you gone? 

Yes! I consider myself as a travelholic. I 

travelled 4-5 times each year. I made 

trips to Cuba, Canada, UK, Georgia and 

Russia so far in 2017 and will be visiting 

Lebanon next month! 

What’s been a favourite place to visit? 

Oh… This is hard to choose from! If I really 

have to pick a favourite place, then it 

would have to be Moscow. It is the destination 

of my very first solo trip when I 

was 19. I fell in love with this city at first 

sight. I visited Moscow 6 times already - 

never get bored with it! 

Back to your photos, do you process 

images before sharing? 

For the images on my Instagram, I mainly 

use the built-in filters from app and 

sometimes Photoshop CC if I have access 

to computer and got plenty of spare 

time. 

Tell us 3 things about Rita Law we don’t 

know (maybe a favourite book, movie, 

food, what you love about HK or hate) 

I love neon signages. 

I love sans-serif. 

I hate foods with orange pigment like 

pumpkin and carrot. 

Can you give us a 5 tips on shooting 

photos in the city? 

* Choose the camera you are most comfortable 

to carry around, take it with you 

everyday 

* Use aperture-priority mode or even full 

auto mode for run-and-gun type of urban 

photography and street snap 

* Look for the geometry, leading lines or 

pattern in the scene 

* Get lost in the city and don’t be afraid 

to explore 

* (Not really a tip though…) Shooting 

with a DSLR with huge tele zoom lens in 

city may make you look like a creep or 

paparazzi, get ready for weird look in 

public! 

Finally where can our readers go to see 

more of your photos? 

I am pretty active on Instagram 

(@RitaTheTravelholic) but can also be 

found on Twitter (@ritalaw), Youtube: 

www.youtube.com/c/ritathetravelholic 

and Facebook: 

www.facebook.com/ritathetravelholic 

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ONLINE: 

www.instagram.com/RitaTheTravelholic 

www. facebook.com/ritathetravelholic 

www.youtube.com/c/ritathetravelholic 

www.twitter.com/ritalaw 

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NORIYUKI 

Tomita 

Welcome to Live Nori, tell us about 

yourself and where you live, how you 

got into photography…. 

I’m a middle-aged Japanese journalist 

live in Tokyo. My speciality is art, cultu 

re, and so on. I’ve just quit my newspaper 

company this spring and now I’m a 

free and traveling alone. 

My first step job in photography was 

for work in my twenties. At first, I used 

a film camera and did the development 

myself. Soon I got into and enjoyed taking 

many photos as a hobby. In the beginning 

I liked art and wanted to be an 

artist in my youth, so that taking photos 

tickled my artist’s mind. In addition, my 

photos were sometimes used with my 

articles in the newspaper. 

What sort of photography do you do? 

Is it street or a mix of different styles? 

Many are street photos. I’m free to go 

to favorite places and take landscapes, 

flowers, photos of old temples, and cats. 

If possible, I would like to take portraits 

more. 

What is life like in Japan for you? Do 

you work full time or is photography 

your full time job? 

I no longer work full time and now I‘m 

putting my dreams into practice enjoying 

my free time. Travelling with a 

camera is one of those dreams. I want to 

continue this life like a cloud as long as 

time and money permits. 

How often are you out shooting? 

Basically I always take my camera everyday 

and use it whenever I find an interesting 

scene. 

Why did you choose to use Fuji? 

I’ve used several makers for many years. 

Nikon or Canon for films, Ricoh or Sony 

for digitals. For journalism, it was necessary 

to capture exactlly and closely. 

But I came to prefer the more warm 

and soft photos. Fuji suits my demands. 

Occasionary I knew that old lenses can 

be used with mirrorless and last year I 

bought Helios. It was very exciting to use 

it by manual mode and then I began to 

buy many vintage lenses. I discovered 

the summilux 50mm or 35mm of Leitz 

that was produced about 50 or 60 years 

before.They are wonderful because of 

the beautiful and soft bokeh. Now I use 

a Leica M8 too. 

Are you involved in any clubs or photo 

groups? 

No. I prefer being alone. Fortunately 

many followers see my photos in Instagram. 

That’s enough. 

We love how you photograph the culture 

of your country, what do you 

think about when you’re out doing 

your photography? Are you just walking 

and finding things or do you have a 

plan and look for certain subjects? 

I love this country and culture, but for 

me, taking photo is more private, indiviual, 

thing. I see old temples and flowers, 

equally in my mind. Delight of creation is 

important. 

What would you tell a new photographer 

who is starting out, how would 

you advise them to do some street 

shooting? 

Don’t use zoomlens with auto focus. Only 

when you stop this, your world of photography 

will be wide open. 

Finally where can our readers go to see 

your photos? 

Someday I want to publish a photo essay 

or books with my photos in near future. 

For now you can find me on instagram 

under @noripppyo. 

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ONLINE: 

www.instagram.com/ 

noripppyo. 

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MODEL 

Morgane 

Were’ guessing being a model in 

France is competitive, after all 

Paris, Milan and New York are 

seen as the fashion capitals of 

the world. We asked French model 

Morgane, how she got started 

as a model and just how difficult 

it is there… 

Morgane, welcome to Photo Live, tell 

us about yourself. 

Well I am Morgane, I am French and I 

live in Lyon. I got into modelling a year 

ago, when one of my friend asked me if i 

wanted to try to do a photoshoot. First I 

wasn’t sure I could do it but after thinking 

more about it I felt like why not, I like 

his work, I know him, let’s give it a try. I 

always dreamed of doing a photoshoot 

so I tried it out. 

Is modelling for full time? 

Its not a full time job for me, I would love 

it to be. It’s a passion that I have to create 

some projects with photographers. 

Are you registered with an agency 

and what does an agency do for you 

(a question for the many models that 

contact me about starting out). 

I dont have any agency beaucause I dont 

have an agency profile because of my 

small size. 

(Editor: According to The Balance, a 

female model in Paris needs to be five 

feet nine inches to six feet tall, and figure 

measurements are 34-23-33) 

Still you’ve done so many amazing 

photo shoots, how does that process 

work? Does the photographer contact 

you or is it booked through an agency? 

Usually the photographer contacts me 

via a social network. We discuss the project 

and try to make it happen if we think 

we can work together. 

Tell us about your first modelling 

shoot, were you nervous? 

I was pretty nervous, I had never done 

that before, I was scared to look stupid 

or to make bad pictures. But I trust my 

friend and he made me feel confident. 

You can see my first photoshoot on instagram 

and my progress with my friend 

with who I’ve done many other awesome 

projects. 

How do you prepare for a photo shoot? 

Well I talk a lot about the direction we 

want to take with the photographer. 

We talk about the look, the makeup, the 

place where we are going to shoot the 

photos. I find some inspirational images 

online for the photoshoot. 

Are you doing catwalk too … what is 

the main type of modelling you do? 

I only do photoshoots for now, however 

I’ve been asked me to appear in a music 

video! 

What’s the modelling scene like in 

France? Is it difficult to get noticed? 

Well there is a lot of girls that dream to 

become a model so it’s not an easy thing 

to do. 

You’ve build a great Instagram following 

- can you share some tips for our 

readers who may be just starting out 

as models? 

It’s important to practice. Don’t say yes 

to just anything. Trust yourself and do 

what you love. 

What’s been your favourite shoot? 

My favorite shoot is one of my last 

shoot. It’s not on Instagram yet but it 

will pretty soon. It was in a studio with 

two photographers that are friends of 

mine. We played with glitter and it was 

so much fun, a bit sexy, colourful and a 

lot of work. 

Ok a fun question - what would you 

take with you on a desert island? 

Tough question, i need so many things 

lol. I guess my phone, i am nothing without 

my phone, if it works of course or 

chocolate, chocolate is life. 

Morgane thanks for letting us talk to 

you, where can our readers go to see 

more of your amazing work? 

All my work is on instagram so I can 

share my work and communicate with 

everyone, you can see it at: 

instagram.com/like.a.magic.unicorn 

all photographs supplied by Morgane

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ONLINE: 

www.instagram.com/like.a.magic.unicorn 

www. facebook.com/morganephotoslyon 

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PODCAST 

TWIP 

GLAM 

Last issue we touched on some podcasts 

we enjoy, and another brilliant 

show is TWIP Glam hosted by Brian 

Fischer and Roxanne Cali - welcome to 

Photo Live! 

Brian: Thanks for having us! 

So to get started how did you both 

come to know each other? 

Brian: Like most models and photographers, 

we met at a photo shoot. At this 

point I had been on the hunt for a podcast 

partner for over a year. As we shot 

together I was immediately taken with 

Roxanne’s quick banter and the acoustics 

of her voice. I asked her on the spot 

if she would be interested in hosting a 

podcast and we have been on this journey 

together ever cents. 

Roxanne: Brian first reached out to me 

on Model Mayhem, I was new to the industry 

and his photos were amazing! I 

was quite nervous the first time we shot, 

thankfully he made it so easy for me and 

we hit it off right away! 

You’ve shot together a few times - 

how often and what’s been a favourite 

shoot? 

Brian: We try to shoot together three or 

four times a year, but our busy schedules 

make that sporadic. Because I find 

the process of working with Roxanne 

so enjoyable, it’s hard to pick, one of my 

favorites would have to be an experimental 

body paint shoot we did gluing 

thousands of pink aquarium rocks to 

Roxanne. The shoot went off without a 

hitch but we had a ton of confused spectators 

and and amazing mess to clean 

up afterwards. 

Roxanne: We have shot together countless 

times, between Brian’s portfolio jams 

and our individual and group shoots, we 

have a lot of photos. I also fondly remember 

the pink aquarium rock shoot, 

it’s up there for sure, but the LED bikini 

was such a fun project, that might be 

my favorite. Brian made the suits and I 

tucked the battery pack right between 

my cheeks. Good thing he wasn’t taking 

photos from the back! 

You’ve only recently become part of 

TWIP - how did that happen? 

Brian: Our road to podcasting has had 

some interesting twists and turns. The 

first iteration of our show,”Model Photography 

Showcase”, was a similar for- 

114

mat but primarily audio with an attached 

slideshow. That show was designed to 

be a 26 episode run over the space of 

one year. At the end of the series Frederick 

Van Johnson announced the TWiP 

network. After a bit of soul-searching we 

had a meeting with Frederick and decided 

to launch a modernized iteration of 

the show on his network. 

What’s happening with the TWIP network 

- we haven’t seen the original 

show for a while…? 

Brian: This Week in Photo (TWiP) went 

on hiatus earlier this year to allow for 

some much-needed renovation. During 

the hiatus the entire infrastructure that 

drives the network has been reengineered 

and updated. The good news is 

that the main show we’ll be returning to 

the airwaves this November. 

Back to your show - how do you find so 

many talented people to talk to? 

Brian: We spend a surprising amount of 

time surfing through social media looking 

for profiles. We don’t just look for the 

biggest names we can get on board. We 

try to look for the spark of creativity regardless 

of level of experience. We also 

rely on a bit of crowd sourcing, when invite 

people to send in suggestions with 

every episode. 

Roxanne: Brian is the master of finding 

talent. He can typically tell from just one 

image if they should be on the show, I 

greatly admire his knack for that. 

Who comes up with the questions, 

what’s the process to making the interview 

interesting? 

Brian: Our show is surprisingly organic. 

We script the first 15 seconds and the 

last 20 seconds of the show and have 

a rough format, but everything else is 

made up on the spot. To Roxanne’s credit, 

I regularly do not share the images I 

have picked in advance. Her reactions 

are 100% genuine and on the spot! 

Roxanne: What makes the interview 

interesting is the stories behind the 

concepts, the bloopers, and the stylistic 

elements. It’s all there, we just put it 

together! I enjoy the free-flowing ideas 

rather than a strict script. 

You both have a fun banter, there’s no 

awkward pauses, what’s the secret? 

Brian: Editing! Lots and lots of editing!, but 

that’s only a partial truth. Roxanne was 

the 35th person I considered to podcast 

with. She is amazingly quickwitted and agile. 

Over the years I have thrown out some 

of the most off-the-wall comments and 

jokes, and she is right on top of it. I think 

some of this comes from having worked 

and traveled together for years but most 

of it is just good chemistry. 

Outside of the podcast, are you both 

doing teaching… particularly together? 

Brian: In the past I have done a fair 

amount of workshop hosting and taught 

workflow to professional photographers. 

Unfortunately, the podcast has eaten 

into my teaching. Each episode takes a 

tremendous amount of time to produce. 

Roxanne: I don’t consider myself a teacher 

per say, but I’ve been involved in many 

photo workshops and training seminars 

as the model. I would love to help Brian 

in the future as we incorporate some 

teaching into our podcast. 

What’s next for the show…? 

Brian: That’s a great question, we are 

just about to complete season one. Season 

two will begin just after New Year’s. 

In addition to our staple of interviewing 

photographers, we would like to add episodes 

involving more models, make up 

artists, Fashion designers and so on. I 

would also like to do more destination 

shows. We may also co-host some workshops 

in the coming year. 

Roxanne: We are very excited to incorporate 

more variety into the show, this 

has been a labor of love and we want to 

keep things interesting, so trying some 

new things will be a fun adventure for 

us. I thoroughly enjoyed our recent episode 

where we shot at the castle in 

Northern California and set-up a small 

demo of how it all works. Hopefully those 

types of shows will be more prevalent in 

the coming season. 

How do you deal with the nudity restrictions 

on iTunes and YouTube? 

Brian: Regretfully, the iTunes and primary 

YouTube feeds have modesty boxes 

over nudity. The good news is that we 

publish an on edited version to the blog 

posts at ThisWeekinPhoto.com 

And finally how can readers subscribe 

and listen? What can we do to spread 

the word about TWIP Glam? 

Brian: The easiest way to subscribe 

is through iTunes, Not an iTunes user, 

ThisWeekinPhoto.com has links to the 

RSS feed that will let you subscribe with 

any podcast application. 

115

BRIAN 

Fis ch er 

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Brian welcome to Photo Live. You’re a 

busy man, running a photo podcast, 

blog and a photographer… what else 

do you do? 

Although I started out as a full-time professional 

photographer, I quickly realized 

that I needed stability and benefits. In 

my 20’s I went back to school and now 

work in the medical field. In my personal 

life I restore old trucks(Very slowly). At 

the moment I am working on hey 1969 

International Harvester cab-over semi. 

I also dabble in drones, 3-D printing, antique 

photography, and the list goes on. 

Tell us about your photography, how 

did you get into taking photos of 

amazing people? 

I like to say that I didn’t get into photography, 

photography got into me. I 

have my older brother to blame, one 

day I walked into the bathroom to find 

him conducting mad science! There was 

chemicals in trays, Machines shooting 

lights on magical paper and this amazing 

red light. I was hooked! 

Through high school and college photography, 

my work with human subjects 

was limited to portraits. As I grew little 

older, had more resources and had students 

interested in the subject, I drifted 

into shooting glamour. I had a powerful 

experience handing over the results of 

one of my early glamour shoots to it’s 

subject. The model was amateur with 

relatively low self-esteem. Upon seeing 

her images, she burst into tears of happiness. 

There was no turning back, the 

majority of my work has been glamour 

from that point on. 

One thing I’ve picked up watching TWIP 

Glam is you really pay attention to the 

details, is that something you’re a natural 

at or something you’ve learned 

over time? 

Without doubt it’s a combination. I am 

by nature detail oriented. I come from a 

long line of engineers and schoolteachers, 

and it shows. This may also be a 

product of spending years in front of a 

lightbox examining my own work. Digital 

photography is great for instant feedback, 

but nothing will slow you down 

and make you pay attention like shooting 

with the film. This is why I regularly 

shoot with film to this day. 

What’s been a favourite shoot you’ve 

done? 

This is a hard one to answer, every shoot 

is different and so many stand out and 

not just because they produced the best 

images. Sometimes it’s just making an 

amazing connection with your model. 

My podcast partner Roxanne is a perfect 

example. It started with a great photo 

shoot and has turned into and amazing 

friendship. 

If I had to pick a tremendously fun photo 

shoot I would have to go back to 2008 

when I shot the Canadian model Ella 

Modella. I was doing a series of “Prosthetic 

swimwear” shoots and Ella came 

to California to be involved. We had 

amazing chemistry from the outset, 

the weather was perfect and we had 

tremendous fun. More than following 

directions Ella has a wonderful sense of 

her surroundings. We were coming to 

the end of the shoot and Ella spotted a 

spectacular sunset happening behind 

me. We immediately ran past each other 

in a sprint to capture the last moments 

of light, turning into one of my favorite 

silhouettes ever. 

Other side- what’s been not so much 

fun? 

I have a few to choose from. Being a 

beach photographer I have drowned a 

number of cameras and had a few scary 

instances. In 2011 I was shooting a model 

on top of a huge flat rock at Panther 

Beach California. A huge rogue wave 

came up one side of the rocks and down 

my side. I was drug about 20 feet towards 

a significant drop into the ocean 

fortunately I came to a stop before going 

into the drink. bloodied and camera destroyed, 

the shoot was over. 

How often are you doing collaborations 

and who’s involved? 

Over the last 10 years I have worked to 

boil my photo shoots down to the minimum. 

Ideally I shoot with myself, the 

model, occasional assistance and one 

lens. I like the restriction of working with 

and around the environment. I think it 

forces you to be more creative. 

Who comes up with the ideas - is it a 

team thing or does it fall to you? 

It’s just me! (...and an Internet of friends). 

I take time every day to look at great 

photography. Whether that is model 

mayhem, 500px or National Geographic. 

I think that everybody has great inspirations 

as we look at the world around 

us. The trick is to grab that idea before it 

fades and write it down. 

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How do you choose the model for the 

shoot? 

In the case of a shoot for a client I take 

great care in determining their personal 

preferences. Even if I feel a model is 

not quite ideal for a shoot, it’s important 

to lean in the direction of the customers 

preferences. For my personal work, I always 

start with faces. If a model’s face 

speaks the message I’m trying to put 

forth, everything else will take care of 

itself. 

Can you share 5 quick tips for people 

wanting to shoot models? 

1. Workshops - Group shoots and workshops 

are fantastic way to introduce 

your self to shooting models. 

2. Start with a professional - Hire a local, 

experienced model for your first two or 

three photo shoots. Most models are 

more than happy to work with new photographers. 

3. Starts simple - keep your first photo 

shoot sample. Natural light with a single 

reflector and one assistant. 

4. Communicate - make sure to communicate 

your vision to your model and 

invite her to set the boundaries of the 

photo shoot. 

5. Community - after starting your portfolio, 

join the online community of photographers 

and models. Websites like 

‘Model Mayhem” and ‘One Model Place’ 

can be tremendous resources. 

Bonus: 6. Model release - have your model 

sign a simple release explaining the 

boundaries of the photo shoot and what 

the images will be used for. This is an essential 

step for setting a models expectations 

for a shoot. 

Apart from Roxanne (hehe) who else 

has been a favourite to shoot? 

I’ve had so many positive experiences 

over the years it’s hard to choose. One of 

my many favorites is model Gracie Kay. 

(http://www.modelmayhem.com/kfly) 

With a wonderful combination of Beauty, 

Personality, Intelligence and Professionalism, 

she is more than a great model, 

she is one of my favorite people. 

Finally where can we go to see more of 

your photography?? 

With my personal website in dire need of 

an update I suggest people check out my 

profile on Model Mayhem. 

www.modelmayhem.com/BrianFischer 

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ONLINE: www.modelmayhem.com/BrianFischer 

123

MODEL & PODCAST HOST 

Ava CALI 

124

Hi Roxanne (Ava Cali), why do you model? 

I know it’s straight to the point but 

hey let’s dig a bit deeper… 

Modeling allows me to create art with 

my body as well as motivation to stay 

healthy and fit. At any moment I could 

get a great gig that needs me ready next 

week...so it’s a great motivator! I guess 

if I’m completely honest, modeling gives 

me confidence in my everyday life that 

allows me to succeed in many other avenues. 

How did you start modelling and tell 

us a bit about your first shoots, were 

they awkward, fun, difficult? 

I was working in the office of a venue 

that randomly hosted a photography 

workshop for beginners one day. I 

met the model and we started talking 

about her nude portfolio and she asked 

if I would want to shoot with her right 

then. I was feeling spontaneous...so we 

headed to a good backdrop and off came 

our clothes! That first photo with her is 

still in my portfolio on Model Mayhem. It 

was definitely awkward and very fun. I 

couldn’t believe what I had done after it 

was over, but I didn’t regret it either! She 

got me in contact with the photography 

school and I did my fist studio shoot 

about a week later. That photographer 

was very patient with me as I was quite 

nervous, we did silhouettes and got 

some very neat shots! I remember dancing 

around the backdrop and him just 

going with it rather than instructing me 

into forced poses. It was a great learning 

experience. That started my portfolio on 

Model Mayhem and the rest is history. 

I often get asked about modelling and 

one thing the girls who I photograph 

talk to me about is that they are “not 

the right look”… they are either not 

tall enough or not skinny enough, can 

you talk to us about modelling where 

you are, what sort of of modelling can 

someone do if they are not tall enough 

or thin enough or… 

Every shoot requires different body 

types. I don’t like to think about it in 

terms of not being skinny or tall enough, 

it’s more about the style of photos your 

body best lends itself to. If you are 

healthy and happy, that is what matters. 

It’s about taking what you have, 

making it the best it can be, then finding 

photographers who appreciate your 

look. Modeling is empowering, it’s a tool 

and an art form. 

I find that living on the Central Coast, I 

mostly get jobs with swimwear at the 

beach, or boudoir shoots in hotel rooms 

to help boost a photographers portfolio 

to get more paid clients. The weather 

here is so mild that I also often do nudes 

in nature- that’s one of my favorites as 

it’s a new challenge each time! For curvier 

girls, pinup is a great look, but lifestyle 

and swim can also be great options. Just 

getting out there and experimenting 

with what you like and what fits your 

style best is important. You don’t know 

if you will love it until you try. I will say 

though that if you are basing your income 

on modeling, being tall and skinny 

will likely get you the most jobs. It’s 

just the industry. Look outside the box 

though and put yourself out there. 

Are magazines that feature the typical 

thin, tall model changing do you think? 

I see often on TV ads that more regular 

shaped people are being featured and 

we applaud that, but is it something 

you feel is going to stay with us…? 

I do think there are more average everyday 

bodies being featured in ads. They 

are beautiful and I hope it does stick! I 

think it’s great for girls going through 

puberty especially to see body-type variety 

in ads. It’s tough at that age. 

Have you had any experiences with 

being discounted because of your 

physical look? Too tall, too short to anything? 

I have been fortunate enough to work 

with very kind and professional photographers. 

I have never had a photographer 

discount any of my attributes. 

I think if this had happened early on it 

would’ve have pursued modeling, so I’m 

very thankful that it hasn’t. Sometimes 

I’ve looked at my images and realized 

that there were things I wanted to work 

on physically, but photographers hire 

me based on my portfolio so they know 

what I look like before I show up. If they 

were looking for a different height or 

shape, they wouldn’t have reached out 

to me. 

Ok, on to some fun, what is your favourite 

modelling genre for you? 

I think I mentioned this earlier too... 

Nudes in nature, specifically implied 

nudes in nature are my favorite. They 

challenge me because they are always 

new situations to integrate myself into. 

It’s avoiding sharp objects and trying to 

look natural while in very uncomfortable 

poses. I just like the challenge and the 

end result! 

Can you tell us of any fun situations 

that you’ve had, any “oops” moments? 

Brian will tell you about one he caught 

on camera, I was with 2 other models on 

the beach facing away from the waves 

when a freakishly large wave came out 

of nowhere and soaked all 3 of us! It was 

quite funny and very cold. 

Talk to us about props, clothing etc, do 

you buy them or does the photographer 

or a stylist provide them for a 

shoot? 

I bring lots of Goodwill items to themed 

shoots, sometimes they work, sometimes 

they don’t. For group shoots I always 

bring my own wardrobe. I’ve been 

on shoots where a stylist has pre-selected 

everything I am wearing and it’s 

great! It’s important to have up to date 

measurements on your port for that reason. 

I’m constantly picking up fun items 

125

to bring to shoots. I have boxes of props 

and funny outfits. It makes dressing up 

for Halloween extra fun too! 

You’re also a podcast host, can you tell 

us how that got started and how it’s 

going? 

Brian and I met when he contacted me 

to shoot years ago, we became quick 

friends. He’s had this podcast dream 

for quite some time and asked me to be 

his cohost. When I agreed I had no idea 

where it was going. Our first podcast 

was audio only (with photos from the 

photographers we were interviewing) 

and it morphed into a full-blown production! 

They other day I was talking at a 

school about photography and one 

thing we discussed was the changes … 

it seems that very few people are “just 

photographers” these days. Often 

they are content creators with stories, 

video and much more across a bunch 

of social media, do you think that’s 

happening with modeling? 

Modeling is a relatively short-term gig 

for most of us. Beauty fades. There’s not 

as much time for models to decide that 

they want to broaden their interests in 

modeling outside of trying different genres. 

Photographers typically have a lifelong 

passion lending itself to broadening 

horizons when they hit a certain point in 

their advancement. Models hit that time 

and are usually at the end of their careers. 

They could pick up a camera or get 

into other aspects, but broadly speaking 

there isn’t a lot of time for them to be 

more than “just models”. 

Ok a fun question - what would you 

take on a desert island: 

- Book 

- DVD … movie or TV show (yes you have 

electricity and a player) 

- favourite clothing 

- favourite food 

- anything else? 

I would definitely bring a survival book, 

I love to read, but can’t imagine reading 

one book over and over. If I’ve read 

a book once, that’s usually enough. Just 

like movies, if I know what’s going to 

happen it’s just not as fun anymore. I 

read and watch movies mostly for entertainment 

value though. A survival book 

would help enrich the rest of my life, so I 

think I’d go practical. lol 

I’d bring Princess Bride as my movie, it’s 

one movie I can’t get enough of! It’s so 

quotable and I love all of the characters! 

Even though I know this is theoretical 

and I wouldn’t need to worry about climate 

and shade, all of those things come 

to mind. I honestly prefer to be naked, so 

if that was an option and the weather 

was just right I’d choose that for sure. 

My favorite clothes are sundresses, they 

make me feel pretty and carefree...and I 

love summer! 

Favorite food has to be a tie...alfredo pesto 

pasta with chicken or very spicy Thai 

red curry. I couldn’t live without both! 

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Other: I am an absolute wine lover to the 

core. It wouldn’t be home without plenty 

of good wine! Mostly red, but white has 

its’ place as well. 

My portfolio is on model mayhem at 

www.modelmayhem.com/avacali and 

hear our podcast at: 

thisweekinphoto.com/category/twip-glam/ 

Finally Roxanne, where can our readers 

go to see more of your amazing 

modelling and hear your on the 

podcast? 

ONLINE: www.modelmayhem.com/avacali 

thisweekinphoto.com/category/twip-glam 

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FILM 

film classic 

CAMERAS 

This issue we again visited Tom at Camera House in Adelaide on Grenfell Street and 

talked classic cameras. Tom had some beauties to share... 

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The Nikon F2 Photomic 

Manufactured in Japan from 1971 

to 1980 this camera used a horizontal-travel 

focal plane shutter and titanium 

shutter curtains. It’s a 35mm 

camera and uses the Nikon F-mount 

for lenses. The interesting thing about 

this camera, Tom pointed out, is the 

F2 had an interchangeable viewfinder 

(heads) that had pro’s enthusiastic 

about using it. It was the D800 of its 

time. It’s a solid camera, and came in 

all black or black and silver top version. 

The film locking mechanism is 

brilliant as the rotating latch prevents 

the film cassette dropping out of the 

bottom until you open it completely. 

It also featured 1/2000 shutter top 

speed 

Higher flash sync of 1/80 

Slow shutter speeds from 2 - 10 seconds 

with integrated self-timer. 

If you want one you need to look out 

for fatigue cracks on the titanium foil 

and the only way to replace that is 

buying a second body for parts without 

cracks. Also check for high levels 

of wear or corrosion on the film guides 

and the pressure plate. 

Ensure the shutter works on all 

speeds. Slower speeds can be inaccurate 

so check them. However these issues 

can be looked at by a technician 

who can do a clean and lubricate and 

adjust. 

If you’re keen on film this is a good 

camera to grab. It’s solid, reliable and 

brilliant to use. 

129

Leica M4-P 

It’s beautiful. The stunning rangefinder 

built from 1981 to 1986 and made 

by Leitz Canada. It was finished in 

black chrome and some hard to get 

silver-chrome units can be found, 

maybe. The M4-P featured 28mm and 

75mm framelines so it could be used 

with the newer lenses of the time - 

the M lenses. It was a 35mm featuring 

manual focus, manual exposure and 

weighed 545g. Holding it in your hand 

makes you want to load up some film 

and hit the streets. 

Image from Wikipedia. 

Zeiss Ikon Contina 

Also a 35mm camera, this one made 

by Zeiss Ikon and first introduced in 

the mid 1950s. Zeiss Ikon is a company 

formed in the mid 1920s in Germany, it 

came in a viewfinder and a rangefinder. 

It featured a 1 second to 1/250 or 

1/300 with the X and M Sync and Self 

Timer. Excellent lenses and solid build, 

it’s a smaller camera in the hand then 

the Nikon but still heavy compared to 

some of today’s mirrorless units. It’s 

sturdy and feels good in your hands… 

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"PBX has become my most valuable resource. 

When I'm in a rut and just can't think of what's next for improving my business, I can scroll 

through the ever growing library of interviews and just pick one. Sure enough there's 

something in that random interview that I hadn't thought about or even knew was something I 

could do. 

Plus there's an amazing community of photographers in the Facebook group that are so giving 

with their knowledge. I only wish I had found this sooner. -Justin Berrington 

131

BLACKFOREST 

Interview with BlackForest Bags founder - Rashi 

132

There’s one item photographers love 

almost as much as their cameras. 

It’s something we faun over, desire to 

have the next best thing, touch lovingly 

and probably, if you’re like me, have 

way too many. I’m talking about camera 

bags. It seems I can’t ever find just 

the right one. I’ve come to the conclusion 

you can’t have just one. So here’s 

my set up. 

A backpack for overseas travel, it olds 

two mirrorless bodies, a few lenses 

and personal items. I take this on the 

plane so I know my gear is safe. I also 

have a messenger bag that’s light but 

sturdy that I use for walking around 

streets and shooting touristy stuff. 

But still I struggle, the back pack isn’t 

right for weddings or street cause 

I’m having to take it off to get a lens 

out - smart that the zip is against my 

back so I can’t be robbed though. The 

messenger bag is good but sometimes 

I’d like something a bit .. more stylish. 

Something that my wife isn’t going to 

roll her eyes and … my hope is she likes 

it so much she is also happy to put it 

on her shoulder. Especially when she’s 

doing all the shopping and I”m carrying 

everything she buys, plus my gear. 

So I went searching on the web, and I 

came across a bag I’d never seen before. 

Checking their website I discovered 

they actually are great looking 

bags, roomy and the company seems 

to really be into photography. 

I reached out to Blackforest bags and 

the founder herself came back to me 

and we had a talk about bags… welcome 

to Photo Live RashI! 

Thank you very much for the 

opportunity. 

You’re based in India, where abouts? 

We are based in Surat, Gujarat. 

Now there’s a lot of photographers 

here probably looking to start their 

own business - not in bag production 

but in other areas, how did you go 

about starting your business? 

I am actually a dentist by profession. I 

am also a triathlete and a mother. 

I had stopped working during my pregnancy 

and had to take a long maternity 

leave which gave me a lot of time to 

start working on my own passion which 

has now become a full time job. 

I have always been fascinated with 

photography and my husband is a photography 

enthusiast. He makes some really 

amazing pictures. We always carry 

our SLR camera everywhere we travel, 

be it family holidays or our solo trips. We 

have tried a lot of bags existing in the 

market to give us the right feel while on 

the move. With time like everyone else 

we have gathered a collection of cameras 

and lenses, lights, a tripod and couple 

of other essentials. 

Whatever bag we tried over time, backpacks 

and messengers had either a 

very typical camera bag look or if they 

looked slightly better, they couldn’t perform 

well. We often used to discuss what 

an ideal bag should be like and my sole 

search for one made me create one. 

The thing that got me interested apart 

from the look of the bags is that you 

state one of the problems is that it’s 

been a problem carrying not only our 

camera but all the other things at the 

same time. Tell us how you tackled 

that problem? 

Its really important to have a well organised 

camera bag which can keep the 

camera body and lenses separated with 

padded dividers, offer all round protection 

and also provide additional pockets 

for travel documents and personal 

items. Creating just enough space for 

all these gives freedom to any user to 

use the pockets or slots as they would 

prefer. It also makes it easy for one to 

access anything they need instantly because 

you know where you have placed 

them. 

To ensure long term use and comfort, we 

have chosen the best, most natural materials, 

designed well and ensured that 

the artisans who handcraft our bags 

follow the stitching instructions well to 

avoid any tears and the bags must stay 

intact. 

The bags shouldn’t weigh down the user 

so they have to be made light without 

compromising on the quality of leather 

, cotton canvas, the foam padding, and 

hardware. 

I remember another bag manufacturer 

doing a video on making their bags 

and I confess I’m geeky enough to 

have watched and enjoyed it, how did 

you test your prototype bags to make 

sure they were going to be right for 

your market? 

133

We have been working on this project 

for almost an year before we launched 

in August 2016. There were a 3 prototypes 

and some initial samples made 

and studied by a few photographers and 

friends before we finalised the design of 

our first series RIMO I. Field tests were 

done by loading the bags with various 

sets of equipment and lugged around. 

In fact we travelled a lot with our own 

samples and prototypes. They were sent 

out to wedding photographers, fashion 

photographers and also to various 

reviewers like Steve Huff, Dave Cryer, 

Chris Gampat, Brittany Smith. Over time 

we have improved anything we thought 

needed betterment and kept on moving 

in that direction. 

The study of materials and hardware 

never stops even now because we are 

yet expanding our product line due to be 

launched in near future. 

We welcome any feedback most happily 

and work on those points yet adhering 

to our design philosophy and ideas. 

As someone who’s photographed a 

bunch of weddings over the years, one 

thing that can be tricky is - getting to 

your lens to swap quickly and quietly 

- velcro is my enemy… was that something 

you had to think about? 

Yes velcro is a necessary evil. You just 

can’t do without it at least as of now 

there hasn’t been any breakthrough. 

However there is one major change we 

have established in our products which 

you will notice when you receive our 

bag. We have totally avoided using the 

brushed nylon lining used by 90 percent 

companies out there. This brushed nylon 

lining seen in almost every camera bag 

out there sticks to the velcro dividers 

once they are inserted in the bag. We 

have to struggle a little bit to place them 

in the right position as best suited for 

our gear. After discussing this with a lot 

of photographers, we understood that 

with many years of use, this brushed nylon 

lining starts wearing off until a time 

that velcro no longer sticks to it rendering 

the bag useless. Everyone tries to 

continue using the bag by changing the 

position of the divider a bit but life of the 

bag shortens as this lining wears out. 

Also it is very noisy to pull off a velcro 

divider. 

This may not be a concern for many of 

us who do photography just as a hobby 

and don’t end up using the bags everyday. 

The lesser the bag is used, the lesser 

the dividers are pulled out and placed 

back, the more the life of the bag. 

In our bags however the lining has been 

changed to premium cotton twill which 

looks classy. Offers smaller area for 

velcro attachment and stays intact for 

years to come. It is barely any noise to 

be pulled out comparatively. 

How many people work at Blackforest? 

We are a team of six people within the 

company. 

Rashi Chaudhary, Founder. I design the 

bags, source materials from various vendors, 

write content for our website. I am 

also head marketing and customer care. 

This is because we need to stay involved 

at all these fronts to ensure we connect 

well with our customers and create more 

than just a camera bags company. 

Paresh Chaudhary, Co Founder ,my husband 

is the Director at his own textile 

firm, Nobletex industries. I work from 

home mostly because we have a 3 year 

old baby girl to look after. Therefore all 

inventory maintenance, shipping from 

the warehouse and all legal formalities, 

documents and accounts is under his 

wing. Website developer and technical 

Incharge: This person helps us time to 

time to instate any changes at our website. 

He has been with us from our website 

designing phase much before we 

launched. 

We have one accountant and one Warehouse 

Helper who maintains the inventory, 

packs all to be shipped bags and 

dispatches them. He also maintains the 

raw materials procured at the warehouse. 

And one Assistant who can carry 

on with some work I delegate time to 

time. 

We outsource manufacturing of bags at 

a state of the art unit in India which does 

work for a lot of top brands worldwide. 

One thing we photographers sometimes 

struggle with is getting our 

name out there - seems everyone is a 

photographer today. How did you get 

your name out there in a pretty competitive 

market with some quality bag 

makers already established? 

We believe people will notice us for our 

designs, quality and durability. Once you 

receive our bag, you will be able to see 

how well they have been made and I am 

very hopeful you will love to carry it out. 

They look so great. The designs are not 

made just for men. Women would love to 

have one of their own. 

Over this past year, we have been very 

responsive to our customers for all their 

requests and that makes a lot of difference. 

You need to be there for them. A 

lot of website visitors are recommended 

by our customers. So the word of mouth 

works. 

We have gained only genuine reviews in 

our journey and will always stay true to 

that. 

Our price point is a very great factor. 

Once you receive our bag, you will definitely 

agree our bags are value for 

money. 

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135

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One thing I love about your website 

and blog is you actually have lot’s of 

great content about photography, 

Travel, fashion and lot’s of photo articles 

- how did you decided to take that 

path? 

We are photography enthusiasts and 

love travelling the world. We love making 

new friends and our BLOG is very reflective 

of our personal journey. We love 

to share great content from all over the 

world and I feel it is a very relevant platform. 

Through our website, we intend 

to do a lot more than just business. As 

a photographer yourself, you would understand 

how we artists are, there is an 

urge to explore and bring beauty forward 

to the world. 

Now to be upfront you’re not paying 

anything for us to talk to you but we 

are going to get a bag and put it to 

the test… what I’m planning is having 

3 different photographers use the bag 

over a weekend and give us feedback. 

Before I do that are the bags for DSLR 

cameras or better for mirrorless ? 

The bag which you are receiving, the VIN- 

SON can carry: 

1. SLR camera body or 2 mirrorless cameras 

2. 2-3 lenses 

3. Laptop – 13’3 in 

4. Accessories 

You can chose your own kit depending 

on your use. 

We’re looking forward to testing the 

bag out - where can our readers go to 

see your bags and your great content 

about photography? 

They can be referred to this page. It all 

begins here and then the website will direct 

you to the associated pages. 

https://www.blackforestbags.com 

Thanks Rashi 

Its been a pleasure. 

Review 

When the Vinson (Sand Tan) bag arrived from Black 

Forest the plan was to put it to a series of user 

tests. I was... going to share it with a few of the 

photographers in our group, but then I started using 

it and well, that’s not going to happen. This bag 

is beautiful and practical. I decided to take it on a 

shoot in the city when I met up with local model 

Amy Caldwell (you’ll see her with the bag in my pictures). 

Planning my day, I decided on taking my Fuji 

XT20, 3 lenses, a small container holding SD cards, 

spare batteries, my wallet, keys, cleaning cloth and 

a few other bits and pieces. I put my iPhone 6s Plus 

in the spot where you’d normally place an iPad and 

off I went. 

Things I loved were the shoulder strap has a swivel 

so it’s never tangled or wrong way round ( a pet 

peeve ).Also it stays on the shoulder when walking 

around but if you’re moving quickly put it diagonally 

across your chest and it sits comfortably. 

The bag has a handle on top so you can pick it up 

by the handle... you’d be suprised how handy this 

is. The pockets are strong and snug, so to where 

the iPad sits. 

It’s a combination of waxed cotton and full grain 

leather and looks high quality. It feels nice to the 

touch and if you’re using one body and a lens or a 

mirrorless and a couple of lenses it’s perfect. And 

the price is very good too for a high quality bag. The 

bag flap closes with brass catches so at weddings 

there’s no velcro tear noise. 

On the streeet the bag is a joy to use, it’s easy to 

access, looks quality and holds enough gear and 

personal items for a days shooting. 

Highly Recommended! 

137

THE $1 BILLION 

Instagram 

GOLD MINE! 

138

INSTAGRAM FOR THE FAMOUS 

AND NOT-SO-FAMOUS... 

I was browsing Harper’s Bazaar 

online the other day (hey I do model 

photography!) and came across 

a very interesting statistic... apparently 

industry experts, in around 

2015, estimated that brands spend 

more then $1 billion per year on 

sponsored Instagram posts. That’s 

a lot of money that use to be spent 

on traditional media! Social media 

sponsorship is a whole new world 

of marketing and it’s opened the 

doors to just about anyone who’s 

willing to put in the hard work, has 

talent and drive to make either a 

part time or full time income from 

their passion. But first a short history 

lesson on advertising... 

If you were to jump back into some 

sort of time machine, and set the 

date for around 1970 through to 

the 80s or 90s, there wasn’t too 

many ways to get known locally, 

let alone be world famous. You 

had to be a star ( or rising star ) of 

stage, screen, music, art ... maybe 

politics, medicine, science, humanities... 

On the darker side of life, 

some have committed crimes for 

fame: 

John Hinckley Jr - He attempted 

to assassinate President Ronald 

Reagan so that he could use the 

‘fame’ to get the attention of actress 

Jodie Foster who he was in 

love with. 

Tonya Harding - The figure skater 

so badly wanted to be the most famous 

that she conspired to have 

her competitor, Nancy Kerrigan, 

attacked. The result was Kerrigan 

recovered and placed higher then 

Harding, who sunk to the lows of 

the celebrity world doing a sex 

tape and celebrity boxing. 

In contrast we have millions of talented 

people who made art, music 

films and other forms of entertainment 

or knowledge that gained 

fame as a by product of their endeavours. 

Albert Einstein for example 

is a Nobel laureate in physics, 

Nelson Mandela, Nobel laureate for 

peace suffered years of imprisonment 

for his beliefs. Musicians, artists, 

creators, scientists, doctors 

and leaders of nations have become 

famous as a result of their 

hard work and dedication. 

In video games we have people 

like Hideo Kojima who developed 

Metal Gear Solid, Sid Meier of Civilisation 

fame and Carol Shaw who 

is noted as the first woman game 

designer who, whilst working for 

Atari worked on 3-D Tic Tac Toe 

and world on Super Breakout. 

These people became famous, 

not because they sought fame but 

because of their talent. Today that 

line has blurred. Some people are 

famous for simply, being famous. 

Today, the whole game has 

changed dramatically. 

Traditional media doesn’t have the 

same power it once had. Magazines 

and newspapers have been 

closing in the hundreds each year. 

The internet and particularly social 

media has fragmented how 

we consume entertainment. No 

longer do we sit down on Sunday 

night at 8.30 for the “Sunday 

Night Movie” we have Netflix, Stan, 

HBO, iTunes,YouTube and Amazon 

among others to watch what we 

want when we want. Social media 

sites like Instagram allow anyone 

with a talent to gather faithful followers 

and engage with them by 

sharing content. Then, if you’re 

good at creating interesting content 

and good at gaining followers, 

suddenly you’re the “media” ... you 

have the numbers to be a valuable 

commodity for advertisers to 

sponsor. 

With that in mind, let’s take a look 

at one option for gaining followers 

and maybe becoming ... famous. 

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Instagram: becoming an 

“influencer” 

Instagram is one of the key online 

and social media choices for gaining 

popularity. Instagram’s research 

shows that it has 2.8x higher then 

average ad recall then other social 

media networks. It also found that 

consumers are a whopping 58x 

more likely to engage with branded 

content on Instagram then Facebook, 

and 120x more likely compared 

to Twitter. 

Instagram visitors stay on site 

for an average of 192 seconds 

longer then any other social media 

channel. 

So Instagram offers those who 

build an audience popularity, but 

it’s not just popularity that is the 

motivation. Income, career and an 

adventurous life itself can be the 

rewards when you work the system. 

You see advertisers pay for 

eyeballs - the eyes of people who 

are potential customers for their 

products. If you’re a photographer 

using say ... Nikon equipment and 

you have 30,000 followers that are 

actively engaged with you on Instagram, 

then you might be an attractive 

proposition for a brand like 

Nikon to work with you - I’m using 

Nikon as a hypothetical, but you 

get the point. That is ... 

1. You need a large following 

2. Your following needs to be engaged 

with your content 

Why engaged? Because anyone 

can go and buy followers, and 

while there’s nothing wrong with 

promoting and advertising your 

media (your page/site) ... that’s 

how marketing works, ideally you 

need followers to be involved with 

you, to want to see your posts. In 

the 80s if you were selling a product 

you made an ad and ran it on 

TV or radio or in print. 

Today you are the product - people 

are “buying” you so to speak. If you 

have created something of value, 

for example good photo content 

and story’s, then chances are you 

can build an audience. Back in the 

90s and prior, you first needed a 

product or service, then you needed 

to spend money with the media 

to promote or sell that product. Today 

you can bypass that expense, 

no longer do you need to book a TV 

campaign or an ad in a magazine 

to get people’s attention. Social 

media sites like Instagram gives 

everyone the same opportunity. 

The key factor though is you need 

your audience to be engaged, that 

is connected to your content, enjoying, 

likening and commenting on 

your content. 

It’s no good having 100,000 followers 

and getting 10 likes on a post. 

Advertisers want people to see 

and engage with their brand. 

If followers (fans) are the starting 

point for sponsorship, it’s the engaged 

fans that are the true currency 

in this new world of media. 

We did some quick calculations on 

some of the biggest Instagram accounts 

from celebrities and found 

engagement rates varied. Some 

were around 1% while others were 

2.5% and more. However when 

you have 100 million followers and 

1% of your followers are engaged 

that’s still a massive number! One 

percent of 100 million works out 

to 1 million fans engaged and if 

you’re a brand that is 1 million potential 

customers seeing someone 

like Kim Kardashian use a product. 

So a brand not only gets engaged 

fans seeing their product but the 

endorsement of a celebrity is the 

cream on the marketing cake. 

Engagement rates, getting 

paid and becoming an Instagram 

Influencer. 

The Huff Post reports that some 

brands pay between $5 and $10 

per thousand followers. Some pay 

more for bigger names, up to $100 

per thousand followers. When 

you’re getting started and you’ve 

got a reasonable following that’s 

growing, you may start out by 

getting free product. As we said 

though, it’s not just about the numbers, 

you need to build engagement... 

getting your followers engaged 

(enjoying, commenting and 

liking) your content. So how do you 

work out what your engagement 

rate is? Let’s take a look: 

140

“1 million 

potential 

customers 

seeing 

someone 

like Kim 

Kardashian 

use a 

product.” 

Here’s how you work out engagement 

rates for your page: 

Engagement Rate on Instagram: 

(Number of likes & comments) / 

(Number of followers). 

Let’s say an account has 50,000 

followers and on average gets 

1500 comments/likes - that gives 

them an engagement rate of 3%. 

Is that any good? Well let’s do a 

quick comparison. But first ... a 

trip back in time. In the old days 

of 60s, 70s and 80s advertisers 

would measure the success by 

the number of sales an ad generated. 

Some smart marketers like 

Readers Digest would run coupon 

campaigns, constantly testing and 

refining the message to improve 

the response of the message. Today 

people don’t run coupon campaigns 

so much, at least not like 

they use to. But comparing Instagram 

to email marketing gives us a 

clearer picture. 

On average (according to Smart 

Insights) the open rate on an email 

in the area of Entertainment is 

21%, but the click through rate - 

the number of people who opened 

your email then clicked to see the 

content was around 2.3% ... so not 

too much different to Instagram. 

But there are key differences. With 

email you have a bit more time and 

space to tell your story (sell product) 

but on Instagram you have 

the benefit of endorsement. That 

means if you are a travel blogger 

and use Instagram and have a 

strong following - people are likely 

to trust you and that trust is gold in 

the bank. That is because your followers 

believe you, they trust you 

and if you say visiting a resort was 

great, then they believe you and 

might also put that resort on their 

list of places to visit. 

So Instagram gives a sponsor/advertiser 

both reach and credibility 

through endorsment. 

Engagement Rates 

We looked at the average engagement 

rates on social media and 

found Instagram to be top of the 

pile: 

Instagram 2.26% 

Pinterest 0.042% 

Facebook 0.216% 

Twitter 0.027% 

We’ll take a look at Facebook and 

Youtube in another issue, but for 

now let’s dig a bit deeper into Instagram. 

We’ve asked a few of our friends 

who’ve built solid followings for 

some Instagram tips. 

141

142 

“Instagram’s research shows that 

it has 2.8x higher then average 

ad recall then other social media 

networks. It also found that 

consumers are a whopping 58x 

more likely to engage with branded 

content on Instagram then 

Facebook, and 120x more likely 

compared to Twitter.”

143

The World Loves Melbourne 

theworldlovesmelbourne.com 

instagram.com/theworldlovesmelbourne 

Dave Hagger who started the blog 

has a great Instagram following of 

almost 38,000. His blog is for foodies 

who want the best Melbourne 

has to offer and also has a sister 

site, The World Loves Sydney. 

Dave is a Food blogger and I can 

vouch he knows the best places 

for a meal! Here’s Dave’s take on 

using Instagram 

Facebook is tough but if you pay to 

play Facebook can be great. Instagram 

is also moving towards more 

pay to play! 

5 tips for Instagram would be: 

3. Post regularly. Build a following 

by posting every day if possible. 

However avoid posting too many 

times a day because that diminishes 

your value! 

4. Effective use of hashtags. Use 

local as well as broadly appealing 

hashtags. Try to mix them up. 

Avoid being shadow banned for 

using spammy hashtags. 

5. Style and curate your images! 

Creative use of backgrounds. Use 

props like Italian tiles, diff textures 

like wooden boards, vintage props, 

linen etc. Flatlays are still king - fill 

the frame with interest. Short video 

clips have good engagement 

and are the way of the future! 

1. Make it visually excellent! Use a 

decent SLR camera and a decent 

smartphone - as well as apps like 

Snapseed (my favourite) to enhance 

your already great photos. 

Play around with effects and filters 

so that the photo sings! 

2. Make it bright and vibrant! The 

trend is away from dark to vibrant 

pics. Some filters help brighten, 

even use a whiteness feel for effect. 

144

Tiffany Dean Cosplay 

instagram.com/tiffanydeancosplay 

Tiff is onoe of our cosplay editors 

and has worked hard building a following 

across multiple social media 

sites. Her Facebook sits at around 

10,000 and has been her main social 

media platform for some time, 

but with changes to the algorithm 

she’s now begun building her Instagram 

following with 2,500 so far. 

1. I place my IG in the same place 

as my FB re marketing. They’re unfortunately 

all I have and as IG is 

now owned by FB, neither are great 

for marketing. IG can be easier to 

gain a following, however followers 

are removed faster than you get 

them. I’m aiming to become active 

on YouTube and have IG as a secondary 

thing. IG however is a great 

booster during things like Conventions 

(for cosplayers) as people 

are generally looking for people 

they may have taken a photo of. 

2. The most effective ways to 

grow IG are to try and keep posts 

relevant to what your main focus 

is. For example, as a cosplayer I 

gain more followers if I post a cosplay 

of something that is current 

as it’s what is ‘trending.’ Hashtags 

are imperative to grow your IG as 

they are what people search for - 

it’s how people can find you. Also 

networking with others is helpful. 

Some Instagram pages focus on 

sharing others work - if you can 

be shared on a page with a good 

following it’s a great way for your 

follower number to increase. 

3. The first 500 I actually found 

easier than the rest, namely as at 

that time, Instagram didn’t go and 

boot followers. The first 500 tend 

to include a lot of friends and family 

too which helps you reach that 

number faster. 

4. Re hashtags I just realized that 

the best way to go is to make them 

relevant. For example if I post a 

photo of me in cosplay, I’m not going 

to go and hashtag something 

like gourmet meal (unless it’s relevant 

lol). I also try and do a few 

hashtags but not have 30 of them. 

It’s a fine line between too little and 

too many. It’s also random and IG 

works much like FB now in that you 

could hashtag the same things for 

different photos and get 300 likes 

on one photo and 30 on another. 

It’s important to just see hashtags 

as a way to tag relevant search 

words so people can find your 

photo. 

5. I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve 

not had too many negatives on my 

own page. I’ve been called fat and 

all sorts of things on pages with 

so called ‘fans’ of certain things. 

In those cases I tend to ignore it, 

but in this case I kindly made them 

aware that people may have gone 

through a difficult time and that 

the focus should be on the costume, 

not a persons weight. I also 

thought it important to speak up 

for the sake of young people who 

might develop eating disorders if 

slim people are being called fat. 

In most cases I either ignore or 

just delete. I only respond if I can 

correct someone respectfully and 

kindly. If it all goes to pot I just delete 

or block lol. 

145

Sara Moni Cosplay 

instagram.com/saramonicosplay 

We’ve been big fans of Sara’s over 

the years and she’s built huge following 

online. 

Facebook - 60,700 

Instagram - 29,800 plus followers 

We asked Sara for a few quick tips 

on how she got going on Instagram: 

It wasn’t really difficult to build my 

Instagram. It’s difficult to maintain 

and keep content flowing more 

than anything! 

1. Don’t be concerned with numbers, 

be concerned with engagement, 

the type of audience that 

you attract and if it’s the attention 

you really want. 

2. Don’t be afraid of taking weeks 

in planning and researching costume, 

never rush 

3. Never compare yourself to 

someone else in an unhealthy way. 

Fun competition can be motivating, 

but never get down on yourself 

Instagram marketing company, Dash Hudson, CEO Thomas Rankin suggests you need at least 5,000 followers although 

10,000 is the number that will more likely get the attention of brands... but they need to be real and engaged. Harper’s 

Bazaar magazine reported that fashion blogger, Daniella Bernstein of @weworewhat charges between $5000 and 

$15,000 for a single branded Instagram post. 

(http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/trends/a10949/how-bloggers-make-money-on-instagram/) 

146

Charlotte Nicholson 

instagram.com/charliegirlnic 

Charlotte is an Adelaide based 

photographer. 

1. Know your demographic! Knowing 

your audience is vital to Instagram. 

Understanding your audience 

helps with how you post, 

when you post and what you post. 

2. Interact with other Instagram 

accounts that also post to a similar 

audience demographic. Getting 

your posts into their feeds can 

be a case of interacting with their 

posts. This can be done by liking 

posts, following, commenting or direct 

messaging them. Interact with 

your followers. Take the time to 

thank followers for comments. Interaction 

means that your content 

has a better chance of reaching 

their Instagram feed. Pay attention 

to accounts that regularly like your 

posts, they are still seeing your 

posts and it’s because the algorithm 

has noted they like your content. 

3. #... Learn how to hashtag. Research 

hashtags that are popular 

in your genre of content. For example: 

brands, location, style and 

content relevant. 

Instagram allows up to 30 #’s per 

post that need to be in your original 

post to count. Hashtags are 

a way to get your content to new 

accounts. Using the right hashtag 

can throw your content into the 

feed of new followers who may be 

interested in your content based 

on what they are interested in, who 

they follow, and what hashtags 

they have used recently. 

4. Use the stories feed to bring 

your content directly to the attention 

of your followers. When any of 

us open up Instagram the stories 

feed is the first content we see. 

This is an opportunity to direct your 

followers to your content. 

5. Post consistently. Post quality 

content at regular times over the 

week. Don’t be that person that 

posts 10 posts in one evening and 

then doesn’t post again for a few 

days. Insights information will help 

you determine what time of day 

and what content works for your 

account. 

147

THE INSTAGRAM AUDIENCE 

EXPERIMENT 

OR HOW WE SCREWED UP OUR EDITOR’S FEED... 

“...feeding 

him a few 

Red Bulls 

and a donut 

calmed him 

down a bit.” 

We decided as part of this story 

to experiment on Instagram using 

sites that promise large “real” 

followers for payment. We didn’t 

want to damage the Gametraders 

account so we volunteered our editors 

photography account. After 

much persuasion (promise of a 6 

pack of Red Bull) we got started on 

our experiment. 

To begin he (foolishly) closed his 

old account and created a new 

one - you can see it here: 

https://www.instagram.com/rjp_ 

adelaide/ 

Next he started posting some photos 

as he is a photographer that 

does a lot of portrait and model 

photography sprinkled with occasional 

cosplay. 

Over a few weeks of terrible hash 

tagging skills he’d managed only 

130 followers. We reminded him 

how useless he was and that he 

wasn’t allowed to do anymore 

hash tagging. He didn’t take the 

criticism to well but feeding him a 

few Red Bulls and a donut calmed 

him down a bit. 

Now it was now time for the experiment. 

First up we researched a 

bunch of sites that offer to sell or 

gain you followers for around $20 

- $30 U.S. We bought 1000 followers 

that flooded in pretty quickly. 

The engagement, however stayed 

the same, in fact it went down! At 

this point the Editor started to really 

freak out, worrying about getting 

banned or something. 

Next we tried another seller and 

got another 1500 but engagement 

remained poor. As an example - 

see the Wonder Woman photo of 

cosplayer Tiffany Dean, sure the 

hashtags could have been better 

and we decided to work on that as 

we experimented. 

Next we got in contact with one 

of the mega follower sites with 

names like Portrait of the Day or 

similar - I won’t share which one, 

but this generated thousands of 

likes of the supplied photo (cost 

$20 US) but not many followers. 

We experimented by letting them 

choose the photos to share - we 

got two shares and we had thousands 

of likes and lot’s of positive 

148

comments on the photo. So that 

worked in that we got awareness 

but not a lot of rub off with regards 

to followers. However, the followers 

it did generate were genuine 

fans of the photography style on 

his page plus we notice that even 

though followers were not growing 

and likes were still small comparatively, 

we noticed that some of the 

“likes” were coming from followers 

with large followings themselves. 

Doing some quick calculations, our 

editors’ page engagement rate is 

slowly creeping up to 1% (again) 

after being punished, now we use 

the word punished here loosely but 

maybe not. You see after we began 

the experiment and saw how 

bad the engagement level was we 

did some digging and and came 

across the term - Shadowban... 

there’s a very comprehensive article 

here on Shadowban - 

thepreviewapp.com/avoid-instagram-shadowban/ 

name and press Get Tested... 

shadowban.azurewebsites.net 

When we tested, we were “safe” 

so that means either our content is 

not good, our hashtags are terrible 

(yeah we know) and not working 

or, and this is probably it, a combination 

of bought users that are not 

engaged plus poor hash tagging. 

So in conclusion to our experiment 

our editor now has thousands of 

followers, a low engagement rate 

but he’s seeing different types of 

“likes” and he hopes to build on 

that. He did threaten to delete this 

account too and start again, but 

after another bunch of Red Bulls, a 

few donuts and some advice from 

friends, he’s decided to keep it and 

work on getting the engagement 

rate up. 

It points out that there are 4 things 

you can do to avoid this Shadowban 

situation including avoiding 

using buying apps/sites like we 

used. Plus they mention banned 

hashtags! With regard to Shadowban 

we did some more digging 

and found the respected website 

- Petapixel has an article on Shadowbans 

and even has a link to this 

site that claims to test if you are 

“banned” 

You can see the site here and you 

simply paste in your Instagram 

149

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instagram.com/photolivemagazine

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