It gives me much pleasure to be able to interview Kevin Duncanson. We became friends a couple years ago where we met doing photography on Worth1000. We quickly became friends and I 've always considered Kevin a very talented, smart and kind person.
Hi, Kevin, when did you first start doing photography and why?
I started taking photo’s a bit more seriously about 2 years ago, up until
then it was a cheap camera and holiday type shots. I participate in another
photography website called Worth1000. I actually started on that website to
learn Photoshop. I had been there for about six months before I noticed they
had a photography section. On the spur of the moment, I decided to enter a
contest that night. The image I entered was terrible, no thought or
composition had been put into it, but the seed had been sown. I started to
look at the previous contests and entered more contests myself. Before I knew
it I was getting better and my love for photography had started. I soon
dropped the PS side of the site and concentrated on the photography section.
Was your first camera a digital one, if yes.. what was it?
My first proper camera was a Fuji Finepix 2800Z, this was my first digital
camera, which I loved until the strap pin broke on me while I was wearing
it. It fell to the ground and broke. This camera was originally purchased to
help with putting images on my wife's and I website. This helped to cut out
developing and scanning. Before the 2800Z, I had various cheap film cameras
which were used for holiday type snaps, at the point I had no interest in
photography, hence I cannot tell you what make or model they were.
What do you use now?
I currently have a canon 300D DSLR.
I have various lenses for this camera:
- Canon 18-55mm kit lens
- Canon 70-210mm
- Canon 50mm f2.5 macro lens
- Sigma 28-300mm lens
The sigma is my most used lens, it gives me a lot of range and is always
attached to the camera. The macro lens is just new (2 days) so I hope to
have a lot of fun with it, hopefully show some nice images from it on the
site. I hope also to be upgrading to a 20D image this Christmas, a present from my
wife, I lover her, well if I get the new base, I do ;)
Are you married and do you have any children?
I have happily married to my wife Pamela.W e will have been married for 16
years. We have two horrible, ohh... I mean lovely boys, aged eleven and
thirteen.FRIENDS
You live in the Uk, but I know that you are Scottish.. Tell us a little
about how it is that you live in England now?
Both Pamela and myself are from Glasgow, Scotland. We had traveled to the
North east of England to visit some relatives there on many occasions. At
the time of our move from Glasgow, the interest rates were very high, and
Glasgow was getting expensive to live in. Pamela got a chance to move to the
North east of England and we jumped at the chance, we took the gamble and
went.
The people of the NE of England are very friendly and we settled in
very well. We are happily settled in England, even though they do speak a
bit funny ;-) . We live about 180 miles from Glasgow, so that is not far and we
travel to visit family several times a year.
Is England any different than Scotland, I mean besides the geography?
Apart from the different regional dialect I would say that there is no
difference. The people are very friendly and welcoming.
Tell us a little about where you live now and how it affects the photography
that you do?
I live in a town called Peterlee, we are position centrally between four
cities which can be reached with a half an hours drive. So I have a good
choice of places to go. One of the Cities (Durham) is very small but also
very old, Durham gives me a lot of shooting choices with its old building
including the Castle and Cathedral. The town of Peterlee is on the North
East coast, so I live about one mile from the North Sea, so I tend to shoot
a lot of coastal scenes too.
the Night Scenes on the water: QUAYSIDE and QUAYSIDE 2Where are these taken.. were they for a
special event or just a lucky night out?
The night scenes were taken at Newcastle quayside in the North East of
England. I had been wanting to do a night scene for a while, so I just
decided to head up to Newcastle one evening on the spur of the moment. I had
to drive about 25 miles to get there, I struck lucky as there was not much
wind about. I setup my tripod, tried a few different settings till I was
happy and shot away, I spent about 2 hours walking up the bank of the river,
taking images.
Do you miss living in Scotland?
I do and I don’t. I miss my friends and family that I have up in Scotland,
but I don’t really miss Scotland the place. There is not much difference in
day to day living from Scotland to England. As I said before, I am only a
three hours drive away, so it is not that far away for a visit.
I know you have family there too, did you grow up in a big family?
Yes I did grow up in a big family. I have three brother and three sisters.
Can you imagine the chaos in our house when I was younger. I am the second
oldest of the clan. I have a brother and sister that have moved down to
Peterlee now, so I am not alone.
Was art something you were surrounded with at home?
Hmmm..I would have to say no. I know my oldest brother was very artistic and
a couple of my younger brothers and sisters, but I recall no artistic
influence in our home. We did have a busy hectic home.
Are other members of your family artists or interested in art?
My oldest brother was always drawing when we were younger, he loved to draw
cartoons. One of my younger brothers was also talented at drawing, he won a
few competitions at school for his art, he later went onto be a graphic
designer. He now specializes in designing and building websites.
What is your profession?
I am currently working as an Assistant ICT Network Manager at a secondary
school. I am a time served electrician by trade, but I decided about five
years ago that I did not want to do that for the rest of my life, so I
decided to get into I.T. I enrolled in some courses and got lucky at an
interview.
I know you have horses, have you always had animals?
I never had any pets when I was younger, I guess my Mum and dad thought
seven kids was enough without any animals. Pamela had always had pets in
her family, so when we got married we got a couple of cats for our home. We
loved our cats and started to show them, before we knew it we were breeding
British Shorthair cats and were one of the top breeders in the country. We
had to give up breeding as one of our cats got leukemia, so we had to close
down our breeding and showing.
As you mentioned, we have two horses. Pamela is the horse person, I can
ride a horse, just, but the passion is Pamela’s. One of Pamela’s dreams was
to breed her own horse, well that is what we did, we mated our horse Evee to
an Irish draught stallion, and now we have a two and half years old
mare(Rosie) to show for it. Breeding Rosie was hard work but fun for both of
us, she is a big soft horse who loves humans.
We also have a Corn snake that belongs to my oldest son, can’t say that I am
all that attached to him, as long as he stays in his vivarium, I am happy.
Your repertoire of photographs is very varied, many outdoor shots: WAVE ,
indoor setups: RED WINE
children: WANT
animals: SLEEPING TIGER etc., do you have one type of photography that you
prefer and if yes, which one?
I see myself as a beginner, two years is not long to be in photography, I
like to try out all different techniques and styles. I see it as the best
way to learn, learning from our mistakes. I often see an image and think
that I would like to give it a try, so I play about until I get a similar
type shot, learning as I go.
I would not say that I have a favorite type of photography at the moment, I
don’t think I have a style as I do try most thinks out. I would like to see
my images get a bit more moody and thoughtful as I progress.
This shot of the droplet on a CD: CD how and why did you do this shot?
The CD shot is a bit cliché, okay a lot cliché, but I had never tried one
before, so it was a bit of trial and error. A must is a nice new CD. I
experimented with different droplet sizes of water till I got ones I liked.
The hardest thing is the lighting, I used a torch that had a lot of
reflective surface within it, I thing this helped in giving me a better
colour of the CD and droplets. The first torch I tried did not give the same
colour spread, so it is good to try different light sources. It was just
trial and error to find the best angle to shine the torch at. I took the
image into PS to adjust contrast, sats and crop etc.. Here is the SETUP
Is there a type of photography that you haven't had a chance to do but would
like to.
I would love to do some travel photography, travel the world to interesting
paces. At the moment I have to make do with theme parks and beaches that
keep my boys amused.
Having a wife and children is plenty of fodder for pictures, is it difficult
to get them to pose?
I have a hard time trying to get my family to pose for images. When the
camera comes out they all run away and hide, well they do if they know I
want family pictures. My youngest son is the family member that I use most
in my photos, he gives me some of his time if I bribe him :) (see juggling
image!) Most of my family shots tend to candid type as they don’t like
posing for the camera. FRIENDS
The two boys at the top are my sons, the boy and girl at the bottom are my
niece and nephew.
Are they patient with you about your hobby?
I would have to say yes to this. They now expect me to take the camera on
most of our outings, and they don’t moan as much now when I suddenly stop
the car to take a picture of something that caught my eye as we were driving
along.
I know you have actually sold a few photographs, tell us about that.
I guess I struck lucky with selling these images, right
place right time.
The city of Newcastle and town of Gateshead recently had a Tall Ships Race
festival. The festival had been running all week, we went along on the Wed
night which was the night before the ships departed for Norway on the last
leg of the race. I knew in advance there was going to be a fireworks
display, so my trusted tripod was taken along for the journey.
When I arrived at the festival you could not move for people, about 200,000
along the two mile stretch of the river front. I soon realized that I was
not going to get a good shot of the fireworks as I was too close to the
action, and far too busy to set the tripod up. So I enjoyed the festival
atmosphere until about 30 mins before the fireworks was due to start, at
which time I decided to leave the immediate vicinity and relocate to a
bridge about ¾ miles away from the action. I got my self setup up on the
bridge, tripod and cable release to the ready and got some nice shots.
Our local area BBC (bbc tyne) website has been asking for images of tall
ships throughout the festival, so I decided to send some images of the
fireworks into their website.
Well I got notification they had put two of my images on the website, one on
the homepage.Well I was very happy to see my images up on their website,
made my day. No one else was on this bridge taking images, well not
seriously. Images at the festival site turned out to be limited and too much
smoke around. I am glad I shifted to the bridge now.
But it does not end there…
I got a call from a gentleman tonight asking if it was the person that had
taken the images. It turns out he is the owner of the Fireworks display
company and he wants to know If he can use my images on his web site and if
I would sell some high resolution images to the company.
I was like WOW , you should have seen the smile on my face
The owner has decided to take two image from me, I retained all rights to
the images. He just wants to use them for internal use within his company.
Is making money with your art something you hope to do, or just a happy
extra?
I would have to say that it is an added extra, I see photography as a hobby
that I enjoy very much. I have no thoughts of making a living from it at the
moment.
I love your lighthouse pictures, RED LIGHTHOUSEyou have several...LIGHTHOUSE is this just geography
or you have a special affinity for lighthouses?
The lighthouses started off as a geography thing, I have several lighthouses
located nearby. I love the curve of the harbor wall that run up to the
lighthouse, they lend them selves to a good compositional shots. I have
quite a few now, so I like to add to the collection if I come across
lighthouses as I travel around the country.
Photographers all have different strengths, I would say that I think you
have great compositional skills: LONDON EYE How important do you think composition is
to an image?
Like you, I think composition is one of my better points in photography. I think composition should be one of the basic thinks that people learn when
they start photography, composition can make or break an image. You might
have exposed that image perfectly, but if the basics of composition are not
followed than the image will fail. You don’t need a big fancy camera to get
a great shot, some good composition can go along way to help your shot.
I remember a time when you told me .. long ago, that you were not that in
love with abstract images, Has that
changed, and why?
Yes that has changed, I actually enjoy abstract a lot more and enjoy
shooting it myself. I think that has come about due to Artalyst. I have come
to be more appreciative of art as a whole, as we see all different types of
artwork here, it has helped my understanding of art and encouraged me to be
part of it.Abstract is one part of photography that I would like to pursue
more.
I know that you are a talented photoshopper: GRASS SAILING and DENE What are your opinions on
using photoshop to tweak your images?
I would not say talented, but I can use it. My interest in photography has
always been digital, from the beginning I was always taking images into PS
to crop, rotate, USM, contrast etc.. I cannot comment on the purist side of
photography using film as I have not been there, but I do see PS work on an
image as a valid form of modern digital darkroom.
I cannot remember the last time I did not take an image into PS and make
some sort of adjustment, every image get some sort of treatment. It’s a
great tool, so use it.
This is an amazing image: JELLY FISH can you tell me how it occurred
I captured the image of the jellyfish at a local sealife centre, we were in
a darkened area with lots of different tanks. One of the tanks went from the
floor to ceiling, it was full of jelly fish swimming around, there was a
light above the tank that illuminated the jellyfish. The shot was hard to
capture as these jellyfish are constantly on the move, I did not want to use
my flash to start with due to glare from the glass, but there was not enough
light to capture them without blur. At the ned, I used my flash, I put the
lens up against the glass as tight as I could to stop the glare. When I
previewed later my shots, I basically only had one good one from about
twenty shots. A bit of luck again. I did take it in to PS and tweaked the
contrast to make the jellyfish glow.
The amazing angel of the north? almost looks like an illustration... : ANGEL is that an effect achieved in photoshop? if yes.. how?
This is a straight photograph, there was a lovey blue sky that day, and allthe colours are as seen. I like the composition and the three colours that all work so well to make the shot work, but I really like it as that is my wife and son in the bottom left of the image, and they also add to the
perspective and size.
Besides photography do you have any other artists pursuits?
Not at the moment, but I am more and more wanting to create drawings and
paintings, I keep telling myself that I want to go on a course, life is just
a bit busy at the moment to make the space.
It is obvious you like art, and I know you used to draw... Why did you stop?
I was never really into drawing, yes I did like doing it when I was
younger(we are talking school time) I remember enjoying drawing at home and
was one of the better students in my art class, the crunch came when we had
to decide on subjects for our “O” levels, I made a decision there to pursue
technical Drawing and not art, we could do one or the other. I saw technical
drawing as a subject more likely to get me a job.
I also know you would like to try watercolours (aquarelle) .. what about
that medium interests you?
Doing water colours is something I want to do, I know I can do basic
sketching which then can be painted by water colours. At the school I work
at, there is a little community water colour class that comes in, I keep
meaning to skive off work for an hours and join them, I still might do that.
*for non UKers like myself, skive means to sneak*
Is there any other type of art that you would like to try but haven't?
I would love to try sculpture, this could be clay, glass or even carving
logs using chain saws, now that would be cool.
I know a lot of UK'ers like sports, are you a huge sports fan? and do you
play yourself?
I have always loved sports, my family were always involved in sports. My
favorite sport of my younger life which I gave up when I moved to England is
Volleyball. On moving to England, and not having a local volleyball team, I
took up racketball, I play once a week and love it. I am dab at
badminton also ;) I have always been good at most sports, I just take to
them very quickly. I guess a lot is due to good hand/eye coordination.
I have also started archery about a year ago, great fun.
I played my first game of cricket this year, so I might have a new sport on
the go.
Do you have any other hobbies?
No other hobbies, I think the sports are enough. I do see photography as my
main hobby.
How did you find out about Artalyst?
I found Artalyst via a contest at Worth1000, Artalyst was sponsoring the
contest at that time.
Artalyst is different from many art sites, what about it attracted you?
I love photography and also like to dabble with PS, Artalyst give me a great
platform to show of my photography and images that I have applied PS to
produce photoart. Not many site offer the front for straight photography and
photoart.
Do you have a favorite photographer that you are inspired by or that
influences or work?
I am almost embarrassed to say I don’t have a famous photographer to use as
inspiration. My inspiration really stems back to Worth1000 and Artalyst,
most of my learning has come from other people at these two sites. I love to
try all aspects of photography, I see peoples work that inspires me to try
some sort of technique, this person does not have to be famous, it could be
Joe Bloggs down the road, but if I like the work, then that is good enough
for me. There are that many talented people at Artalyst and Worth1000 that I
have not had much time to go looking elsewhere.
To this date I have only read one photography book, I keep meaning to get
more, but I tend to use the internet as my learning zone, I see for instance
a technique called “high key”, I do a google search on that, read up on it,
then I set up my temp studio and give it a try.
Where do you see your art going in the next 5 years?
I honestly have not thought about that, photography is a hobby to me, to try
new things and have fun.
I would love to have some sort of gallery showing for my images in the next
five years.
In photography, what is the most difficult part for you? Or what do you find
is the hardest to achieve.
I think the technical side can be difficult for me, I tend to jump straight
in trying out my ideas on how to shoot certain things.
I have a block with regards to shooting people, not so much hardest to
achieve, but down to a preference. I just do not have any impetus to shoot
people. I know this is the biggest earning subject to shoot for a
photographer, but it holds no appeal for me at the moment. Funny thing is,
I enjoy shooting candid shots of people, but the idea of a studio portrait
or wedding type photos does not appeal to me. Maybe one day it will.
How does the creative process work for you? When you set up do you already
know what you want.. is it an evolution towards something else?
I think the creative side is the hardest for me (unlike you Maggie), I see
myself as a more logical thinking person, hence the reason I took Technical
drawing lessons instead of art when at school.
I would say this is a very creative shot: FLOWER ON THE MILKY WAY and a difficult one to achieve also, can
you tell me how it came about and how it was achieved?
The milk splash image came about due to a head to head contest I had with a
friend. I frequent another site which is contest based, it is fun. My friend
and I decided to challenge each other to a white on white theme. At first
this sounded like an easy contest between us, but I was wrong. I was racking
my brains to come up with an idea, but I also wanted something more,
something with a WOW factor. The idea came to me as I was shopping with my
wife, we past a florist, where there was a bouquet of white flowers outside,
as I was looking at them and trying to think of something white I could use,
it came to me, milk. Dropping the flowers into milk, capturing the splash
(for WOW factor) would make a great shot. That was the easy bit, the hard
bit was getting the shot to come together.
Here is how it was done:
I took this image in my back garden in bright sunlight, I needed a lot of
light for the quick shutter speed, I tried in the house using a spot light,
but it was giving me grainy images. My setup consisted of a washing bowl
filled with 3 litres of full milk, I added some water to get to the top of
the bowl, I now wish I had went up the shop for more milk, the watery milk
is a bit translucent. I had four flower heads, I left some stem on the
bottom for me to spin them, yes, once they had fallen in the milk, I picked
them out and twisted the stem between my finger and thumb, this allowed
centrifugal force to get the milk of the petals, so I could use it again
I set my tripod up, attached my cable release, them it was down to dropping
the flowers from about fifteen inches and trying to press the shutter
release at the time of impact. I did play about with different heights until
I was happy. After a few test shots for camera settings, it was a lot of
repeat shots trying to get the timing correct.
Here are some other shots for the SAME SHOOT.
It did take a bit of time to get this shot right, but I feel it was worth it
in the end
I normally have an idea of what I want to shoot when I start, more often or
not ideas from different other subjects I have seen before, I am not against
letting some images evolve if they look like they are going to work.
and last but not least.. boxers or briefs!! LOL!!! :-
Well, I am Scottish and you should know that a Scotsman never wears anything
under his kilt ;)
