Budding Photographer Interview - Douglas Bethune.

Looking through Doug's photo stream, you notice right away that Doug likes food. LOL. Doug has a talent for making food look so good you start to drool. Such attention to detail in his photos make them winners every time. But it's not just food in his stream, there are so many great examples of still life, sports and product shots too. Doug's photos always inspire me to try new angles and perspectives in my photography.

Photographer Name: Douglas Bethune

1 ) How long have you been interested in photography?

I’ve been interested in photography seriously for the last 3-4 years. I had a camera when I was a kid and took a few pictures of things around my house growing up but got away from taking pictures during my teenage years.

2 ) What got you started in photography?

When my wife was pregnant in 2001 with our first child, I used some xmas present money from my mother in law and got a camera. I went to Costco and bought a Minolta SLR. From that point on, my interest in photography was rekindled. When our first daughter was born, I shot 2 rolls of film in about 90 minutes. It was crazy.

3 ) Do you have any photographers who's work you admire?

Edward Burtynsky. His work is amazing.

I've also been tracking Ethan Meleg's adventures around North America on his blog. His shots are incredible.

4 ) What inspires you to make photographs?

Anything that essentially catches my eye. I never really started noticing things from a photography viewpoint until I started carrying my camera around every day. Now when I pick up a magazine or newspaper, I start looking a lot more critically at photos that I see and try to glean ideas from there.

5 ) Do you have a specific style that you like to shoot?
Such as portraits, fine art, photojournalism etc.

Not really, I like shooting sports, stills and nature. I like shooting nature a lot and enjoy getting up early and taking photos when I can. On a couple of occasions, I been lucky enough to come across a sporting event and that’s been very fun to shoot.

6 ) What is your favorite photographic subject?

It’s a toss up between food and nature, but since you’ve asked…I’d have to say food. When I was younger, I briefly trained as a chef but quickly found it not to my liking but I’ve always liked cooking. The challenge for me when shooting food is to have the shot planned in my head far enough in advance before the food gets cold because there are usually hungry mouths to feed.

7 ) What gear do you shoot with?

This is ironic, because I just swithced over most of my lenses this week. I had mostly Sony lenses for the longest while, but I now carry the following:

Sony A700
Sigma 24-70 f2.8
Sigma 70-200 f2-8
Sony 50mm f1.4
Sigma 105mm macro f2.8
Cable Release
Manfrotto 190xprob Tripod (with ball head)
Umbrella
Reflector
Gorilla Pod
Sony HVL42AM Flash

8 ) What is your favorite lens?

I’d have to say the 50mm. It’s very versatile.

9 ) Do you shoot in Apeture Priority, Shutter Priority or
Manual?

I shot in Manual for the longest time but after reading The Hot Shoe Diaries, I’ve experimented with shooting in Aperture Priority recently.

10 ) Where do you see your photography in 10 years?

Hopefully to a point where I make a decent 2nd income from my photography, if I become good enough to make it my sole source of income, that would be cool.

11 ) Do you have a tip for our readers?

Get to know your camera. It's a very powerful device and when the photographer and camera are in sync, wonderful photos are created.

12 )Do you have a favorite photo of yours that you would
like to share with us?

Sure. I took this shot a few weeks ago at High Park in Toronto. I really liked how it turned out.

Thank you Doug for the insite into your photography. You photos always inspire. Keep up the great work. I recommend that every one have a look at Doug's Flickr Stream for some great photography.

Please leave a comment on this post and let me know what you think.

Chris.