Interview #6.

This interview I am talking with Lisa Enever who lives on the South Coast of NSW, not far from sunny Dapto. Known on Flickr as Miss Panda, or Bianca the Enforcer! She is a mum, a music lover, a silver camera devotee and quite the photographer. I know Lisa from the Flickr photogroup the Wollongong Pictorial Mafia. A rough sounding group, a group not to be messed with, but a group of terrific people none the less. So lets find out a bit more about this mob member from the ‘Gong.

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Thanks Lisa for taking time out of your busy schedule. Firstly, can you tell us a bit about yourself. Things like age (optional!), job, where you live etc.

Firstly let me say thank you Todd for this opportunity. I have to admit to being stunned when you asked me as my work is nothing like the calibre of your previous interviewees!

Me in a nutshell: I have lived in the Wollongong area for a good part of my life. I’m married with 3 gorgeous but noisy teenagers. In a previous life I was a teacher but now I work part-time in the local council libraries.

I shoot with a Canon 400D and am lucky to have a supportive husband who is happy to spend money on delicious lenses. In this short time he has supplemented my kit lenses with a f/1.4 nifty fifty, a 100mm macro, a 10-20mm, and a wonderfully versatile 24-70mm.

I also use a Canon eos5 film cam, a Canon G9 which has been converted for purely infrared work. My latest toy is a Holga.

What started you out in photography and how long have you been into photography seriously?

I’m a very late starter in photography, having picked up a camera for the first time a while after my 41st birthday. I have been pursuing it with a passion for coming up to two years.

I had always been interested in photography but found that the cost of gear, film and developing was prohibitive and so had not pursued it. The digital age changed all of that. My sister Tina (The Lovebird) introduced me to Flickr and I was so stunned and inspired by the quality of the images that regular, everyday people were producing that I just had to get out there and give it a try for myself. Ironically, I now find myself gravitating back to film. Playing in the darkroom has been a revelation to me. I find it infuriating that there is no ctrl/Z in the darkroom, but that makes it all the more satisfying when I produce a print I am happy with.

Discovering the Flickr group Wollongong Pictorial Mafia was one of the best things I have ever done. It connected me with local photographers who were willing to guide me along the way right from the basics of which buttons did what on my camera. Through the ‘mafia’ I have become friends with a diverse bunch of fantastic people who have shared not only photographic advice, techniques and technical help but also many laughs and a drink or two.

For the past year I have also been a member of the Kiama Shellharbour Camera Club. This is a much more structured group which meets fortnightly. Again, I have met some terrific people. We have guest judges come along to give appraisals of prints and projected digital images and I have enjoyed the challenges this brings and the things I have learnt along the way.

I have participated in exhibitions with both groups and got a real kick when people are actually prepared to buy my work!

This year I started a two day a week Tafe course in Photoimaging. It’s a fabulous course with best of both worlds. We spend the mornings in the darkroom, and in the afternoons we head off to the photoshop lab. I am looking forward to all the course has to offer, including studio lighting and infrared film.

What do you find challenging in photography? And what comes easily?

I think the most challenging thing about photography is also the most exciting: the sheer limitlessness of photographic subjects, techniques and styles. I am keen to try everything, so sometimes I get lost along the way. I often decide I should just pick one thing (eg black and white or panorama) and stick with it for a while to get it right, but then something new and exciting comes along and I get sidetracked and race off to try that. It seems I am fast becoming a photographic jack-of-all-trades, master of none! It’s the variety, though, that keeps me interested and makes it all seem fresh to me every day.

I love the way I can browse the thumbnails on my Flickr contacts page and often guess who has produced which images without looking at the names because I recognise the style/subjects of various individuals. I hope one day that my contacts can recognise my style, but I would think that day is a long time coming because I have yet to find that one thing that I love above everything else.

That said, one thing I particularly enjoy is infrared photography. I do struggle with noise issues with the little converted G9, but I adore the effects it produces. People’s skin appears like porcelain and landscapes are eerie with the white foliage.

And what comes easily? The passion!

Is there a style of photography you don’t enjoy?

I can’t really say there is anything about photography that I don’t enjoy, with the possible exception of the one wedding I did as a favour to a good friend. I felt completely out of my depth and overwhelmed by the realisation there was only ONE chance to get it right. I was lucky to have a kind, more experienced mafia member volunteer to come along and back me up. I have now reluctantly signed up to do three more weddings this year, but luckily only as the second shooter.

Landscapes, too, can be iffy for me. I enjoy getting out there and taking them, but my results are often lack-lustre and I come home disappointed. I think I need to be more up close and personal to connect with my subject.

Apart from photography, hot showers, Maltesers, Golden Gaytimes and music, what do you enjoy doing?

As a mum, I just love hanging out with my family. I’m sure my kids are far more mature than me. My family are my greatest fans and take a great interest in what I come home with after a shoot.

You have 3 shots left to take. You can go anywhere and meet any one. What do you photograph?

1. The Antarctic! I know the white balance must be a bugger with all that ice, but to me the sheer majesty of nature is more evident here than anywhere else.

2. A portrait of my family where no one is pulling a silly face and everyone is smiling.

3. A red panda in his natural habitat. These gentle little endangered creatures have really captured my heart.

What Flickr people have influenced your photography? And in what way?

I have always thought of Yorrick (Richard Higgins) as my mentor. I have been lucky to go out on many shoots with him and he probably taught me more about my camera and about technique than anyone else, patiently answering all of my idiotic questions. The reason I bought a 400D was because that’s what Rich was shooting with. Monkey see, monkey do. J The best way to learn! I was blown away by his work right from the beginning. His artistic bent means always seems to find that perfect angle and see what others don’t see.

I was also helped along by J.Woof (Julian Casey-Lowry) and downgongway (Byron Jackson). I recall Byron painstakingly sketching diagrams in the sand at City Beach to explain depth of field.

There are so many Flickr people who inspire me that I cannot mention them all. I have to say though that I look forward to every image that mulletgod uploads, as he produces sheer magic. He makes the light work for him every time.

When you grow up, what do you want to be? Or who would you like to be?

I don’t plan on ever growing up.

I know I would like to someday get paid to take photos, but I haven’t yet decided what sort of photos I would like to take. I’m hoping the exposure my course gives me to people in the industry will help me to decide on a direction.

If you could get a gold camera, would you let go of your silver one?

Oh Norbs, seriously, gold would just be tacky! Gold is awfully close to that yellow on the Nikon logo.

And lastly, a quick fire 5 questions. Just tell us what springs into your head when you hear these words.

Sunrise

God got it all wrong when he arranged it to be at that time of day.

Bokeh.

My nifty fifty f/1.4 fetish

Portrait.

Best when candid.

Photoshop.

Pure evil when in the wrong hands!

Bertie Beetles.

Whenever I think of Bertie Beetles I now just think of you, Norbs 🙂

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Thanks very much to Lisa for taking the time to answer some questions. Regarding the last question, it was a bit of an in joke between Lisa and I. I actually meant there to be another question, but forgot to send it. A pro to the end.

More interviews to come.