Photographer Interview: Chieflong

1. Who are you? Please give a brief background information. My name is Guy Longtin. I'm 50 years old and live in Renfrew Ontario. I'm married 28 years, have two daughters and a son and a beautiful little grand-daughter.

2. How long have you been doing photography? I've always had an interest in photography since I was in high school (many years ago) when I acquired a 35mm Pentax K1000 (the Volkswagon of cameras). I began getting serious about photography approximately 14 years ago.

3. How did you start doing photography? What got you interested in it? What really got me interested in photography was the birth of my children and wanting god quality photos of them. Also being an avid outdoorsman I wanted to capture the beauty of nature to share with my friends and relatives.

4. Do you earn living from photography or you do photography as your hobby/ your half time job? I do manage to make a few bucks with my work now to help cover the expenses of the equipment but truly want to keep it as a hobby. Maybe after I retire (5 years to go, woohoo!) I might start a little business in photography.

5. What's your day job? I'm the Fire Chief for the town with a small department of 11 career firefighters and 15 volunteers.

6. Do you have special education? Did you take courses or go to a school learn photography? I am self-taught in photography and learned by reading and reading and reading, and screwing' up rolls and rolls of film! I once had a teacher who told me that "You can learn from experience, but don't let experience be your teacher" How true!

7. Are you specializing in a particular area of photography? What is your favourite type of photography? I love nature photography. Getting out in my antique canoe on a quiet lake or river and drifting along the shore to see what nature will expose to me. I've also been very keen to light painting (something to do on are cold winter nights) where I can set-up in the darkroom and pass the evening away. I also like to get out and do night photography, especially when it's foggy.

8. Who are your big photographic influences? Yousef Karsch has got to be my favourite photographer (living so close to Ottawa). He has produced some amazing shots of our capitol city and has some of the greatest B&W portraits ever produced.

9. How do you educate yourself? Do you read special literature, visit photography galleries? What photo books/magazines do you have on your bookshelf? As for learning new techniques, sites like this and many others on the internet provide some of the greatest information. Posting ones photos and havign other peers comment on them sure helps build your selfesteem and confidence in getting out and shooting more.

10. What are your favorite places/objects to shoot? Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario Canada is my favourite spot to shoot. It offers plenty of opportunities to study wildlife in its natural habitat. Moose, deer, bears, wolves along with many species of birds are aboundant here. I have made 5 day trips solo in my canoe where I have not run into any other humans!

11. What equipment and software do you use? (camera(s), lenses, film, etc.) My equipment consist of Canon EOS 620, EOS 30D, EOS Rebel 3000, and an old Canon FT manual along with, YES, I sitll have my Pentax K1000 and it works great. Lens consist of Canon 35-105mm, Canon 85mm, Canon 35mm, Canon 17-55mm, Tamron 200-400mm, and many other lens for my old manual cameras. When trekking I carry a Manfrotto tripod and monopod. What I don't have is studio lighting!

12. What is your opinion on post-processing, especially enhancing pictures? I'm very open to post-processing, as long as it still looks like a photograph. Many people get hung up on post processing but we have been doing it since the discovery of photography. I remember learning about dodging and burning when I first started developing my own black and white prints which is a form of post processing. The tools are available now so why not make use of them!

13. What advice would you give someone who is interested in photography and wants to improve their photography skills? NOTES!! KEEP LOTS OF NOTES! That's how I learned the art! Now days with digital most of the information is stored in the camera but stuff like where the shot was taken, or reflector placement, and even info on what the subject was doing is not in your camera (and believeme ones memory does fade). Anyone interested should look up a photography club in their area and pay them a visit. I found that every photographer out there just loves talking about his/her shots and how they did them and are more than willing to brag to a NUBBY about how great they are!!

14. What's the most challenging aspect of photography for you? What's the best part of it? Photographers along with artist run dry spells every now and then. Don't let it bother you, it's natural. Just challenge yourself to a little project (like phtograph the entire alphabet using objects) and your interest will soon be refreshed. One of the biggest challenges is just getting out there! But having people tell you how great your shots are is the best reward. Photography is one of the greatest stress relievers for me. As my job is very stressful at times I just think about getting my camera and canoe out, and presto, no more stress!

15. Could you please attach 3 favourite photos you took? . Attached is a favourite of mine. Is it my favourties? Well at times yes and at times no. It all depends on the "flavour of the day". The one of the racoons up the tree was taken with my old K1000 and holds many memories of my first solo canoe trip.

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