Interview w/ Amy-Rose King Photography
How would you describe your style? Style, Style, Style. Geez, I never can describe this one. My Style is ME. I’m a hopeless romantic, who loves vintage, and loves to get emotionally involved with my subject (in a platonic way of course!). I love LOVE, and love to be able to capture it in a photograph. If you can feel anything when looking at one of my images, then I succeed. I try to stay away from the traditional shoots, and just try to make every thing look as natural as possible. Sometimes posing is necessary, but I love just letting my subjects interact with each other and letting things happen naturally. I also am a sucker for backlit subjects and sun flare. Gotta love me some sunsets!
Who are your artistic heroes? In my high school photography class I was assigned to do a report on Dorothea Lange. At first I was disappointed that I didn’t get Ansel Adams, due to my love for landscapes, but as I began to research Dorothea, I became entranced by her ability to capture emotion through her photographs. For a long time, I was just taking pictures to capture beauty and moments in time, but I never truly realized why I wanted to be a photographer until Dorothea. Her ability to capture deep emotion and document such a historic event as the Great Depression inspired me to not only be a photographer, but to be a photographer that would change the world with my images. She has honestly changed me and has made me “feel” images instead of just taking them. I can only hope to some day be as moving and inspirational as Dorothea Lange.
What is your favorite type of shoot? OoO… I love that moment right before the wedding, when the bride and groom see each other for the first time. It is almost magical! Love is oozing from every corner and its hard not to capture an awesome moment. Then, right after while the emotions are still running high, I love taking them for a walk and going on a mini shoot. They both look gorgeous, the flowers are gorgeous, the setting is gorgeous! There’s really no way to ever go wrong! I love Weddings. You almost have to be an amazing multi-tasker/problem solver and you really get to let your creativity shine.
But seriously, I love anything and EVERY THING. I secretly would love to be a street photographer, and just shoot random things and people, but although outgoing, I’m really shy! So maybe someday!
What is the #1 piece of advice you would give to beginning photographers? #1. Practice…Practice…PRACTICE! Don’t ever put that camera down! #2. Google + You Tube + Flickr = best friends. Seriously, the internet is full of endless information! #3. And this is probably my favorite piece of advice, and it was given to me by my dad. He taught me when I was teenager to always remember “We Belong”. You belong! Don’t be hard on yourself. Stop comparing yourself to your peers, and BELONG! It has honestly helped me through every aspect of my business. I belong, I can do this, I’m awesome = my motto
What is something interesting about you? Hah! I think I could write a book about this! Most interesting is I always wear purple mascara. Boring! I’m Cuban, I’m from Miami, I married my roommates brother, had 2 kids before the age of 25, when I’m not editing I’m writing, I love young adult novels, blast my music in the car before every shoot, could eat cotton candy 24/7, have 27 food allergies, and fight the urge to dance at every wedding I work at.
What is photography about to you? Do you ever stand in a moment and wish It would last forever? Wish that feeling would last forever? That you would stay young forever and your babies would never grow old? That’s photography. It’s feeling, and remembering, and reliving emotions. It’s making you see things differently, pointing out those details you would have forgotten a year or 5 down the road. Photography is art, and everyone is their own artist. It’s a way to show others how you see the world, and gives you the ability to change others. It’s Love and loss, happiness and sadness, something old and new. For me photography is everything!
What photography questions do you find yourself still asking? Lighting! I try and try, but I love being mobile and just working with what I have in my hands that I get frustrated with setting up my lights. I would love to learn how to use off camera flash and how to be quicker at setting it up and getting some awesome images.
What is your favorite type of lighting? Natural light! Under a tree, in the shade, early morning, early evening, Sun flares, all of the above. As much as I love blue skies in pictures, there’s something about an overcast day that makes me itch to whip out my camera!
How would you describe yourself in three words? natural, artsy, friend
What has been the hardest thing to learn about photography/business? MONEY! How much to charge, what’s worth your while? And how to say NO! I’ve learned this the hard way. And lastly marketing yourself. I’ve been lucky with word of mouth, but starting out fresh in a new city is tough.
Do you use photoshop and if so, what can you not live without? I love CS5 right now on my MAC. I started out working on a PC till I switched and I don’t think I’ll ever go back. Honestly it has made all the difference in the world for me. I also find myself using Lightroom for my basic workflow, and then I use PS for my more creative effects. I LOVE totally rad actions, but mostly just use pro-retouch, Boutwell magic glasses, and select-o-pop.
What is your most memorable photography moment? I’m a klutz, so all my memorable moments are when I almost killed myself falling off the side of a cliff at a wedding (while shooting a bride), or when I fell off a chair shooting a HUGE group shot at another wedding, and the list goes on. But honestly the most memorable moment was when I realized my passion for weddings.
It was one of my first solo weddings and I was working with a bride for a little while, and although I could tell she was hesitant, she decided to go ahead and book her wedding and have complete faith in me. We talked all the time about concerns and plans, and I almost started to feel like I was one of her bridesmaids. The day of the wedding came and everything was going wrong. Rental equipment wasn’t arriving, I didn’t have shoes to wear, my flashes weren’t firing, and I was super nervous. After improvising and making some adjustments to my plan I remember sitting on the balcony, watching my bride walk down the isle, and becoming emotional. I then said to myself, “I was made for this”. I know, corny, but that night went smoother than I expected, the family loved me, and every thing turned out better than I could have ever hoped for. I love the rush, the emotions, the Love, the couple, the company, the decorations, and just the ability to capture it all!
Yep, I was made for this
Do you blog-stalk anyone? Everyone! Honestly anytime I see someone post on facebook that they have blogged I instantly click! I’m a horrible business blogger, I do better at my personal blog than professional, but I’m so inspired by some of the blogs out there that I believe a blog is extremely helpful to getting your name out there and making you look human to your fans and clients (if that makes any sense). SO many people are guilty of blog stalking, and I am no exception. But just to be different, I’ll name a few that no one has probably heard of.
I love Brooke: http://www.blushbybk.com/blog/ I love her style and she is a cutie!
I love Ed: http://edshoots.blogspot.com/ he was our wedding photographer and his career exploded when he did my miami wedding. Now he does editorials. Ed, editorials. Awesome!
What is your favorite lens? Has to be my Canon 50mm 1.4, such a sharp lens, and I’m dying to put it on a full frame camera to let it blossom into the lens I know it could be. I am also saving my pennies for the 24-70mm. Some day
What is your story as a photographer (how long have you done it, what led you to start, etc.)? I
think I was born with a camera in my hand. When I was a little girl my
mom bought me a pink Kodak Ektra, which in a few minutes I would use
up an entire roll of film (thank goodness for digital right?). Then I
would get tired of waiting for the film to be developed, so I would
sneak my moms polaroid into the bathroom with my sister and take some
silly pictures of ourselves. After a few cheap cameras, and as I entered
high school, I was itching for a professional camera. I signed up for a
photography class and was convinced my parents would drop a grand on a
new camera, but was wrong. After some sweet talking and some begging,
grandma bought me my first camera for my 15th birthday. My new love for
photography grew in an instant. The dark room was my new hang out, my
teacher was amazing (because she encouraged us to think outside the
box), and I snapped away. Throughout the years I was able to travel to
Brazil, Paraguay, Bahamas, traveled all over the west coast & up the
east, and about 100 rolls of film later I had captured some of the
most amazing images of my lifetime.9 years later I decided to switch to Digital. Although my love for film has never left me, my appreciation for digital is ever growing. After my son began to get older, I decided it was time to go to the next level and start sharing my talent with others. I love being a portrait photographer. People bring such life to my work.
I almost wish we had memory cards installed into our brain that we could just as easily upload images to our computer. I AM Photography. I go to sleep thinking about pictures I could take, or new posses I could try, and wake up thinking about a new project I want to start. I cry in art galleries, and find myself aching to get better and be amazing.
Is there anything else you’d like us to know? I shoot people! So watch out
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