Guest Takeover #1: An interview with landscape photographer and overall nice person Mary Kay
Πέμπτη, Δεκέμβριος 8, 2011 at 12:57πμ I had the pleasure to see Mary's work through Facebook. She is in my opinion a mind blowing photographer not just because of the quality of her photos, but also because of the way she got into photography and the way she worked her way up. From a person that thought cameras were merely for taking snapshots she transformed to one of the best landscape photographers around.
So I thought interviewing her for the opening of what will be a series of photog presentations, should be at least interesting.
So here we are with the first interviewee that will open the "Guest Takeover" series, Mary Kay!
Enjoy!
Hello Mary and thank you for being so kind to provide an interview! First of all let’s start with you as a person. Tell us a little about yourself.
Thank you for having me! My real name is Maria Kaimaki, but most people in photography circles know me as Mary Kay. I’m a teacher by profession, a perpetual student in all things that interest me and a landscape photographer by passion.
How did you get involved into photography? For you it’s a hobby, profession or both?
It’s all Konstantinos Vasilakis’s -my life companion’s- fault! Before I met him there were two periods in my life concerning my views and relationship with cameras and photography as art: I spent half of my life in pure ignorance, thinking that a camera was just for taking family snapshots or recording events. Then came internet and with it various art sites and the realization that some people used cameras to produce great art. So I spent the second half of my life just browsing and admiring, having no idea how landscape photography was done. Not that I didn’t try a couple of times, but my simple point and shoot camera refused to produce art and lack of any technical knowledge and equipment conspired to produce a bunch of disappointing snapshots (to put it mildly!) About three years ago Konstantinos came to my life with a huge bag full of photographic equipment, a complete knowledge of all the aspects of landscape photography and a huge appetite to share everything with me. Getting me to master the technical part was not an easy feat since it was all new to me, but a bit of patience, a bit of persistence and a bunch of books helped make everything clear eventually and the magic of nature and the excitement of being out there waiting for the light did the rest. The internet and art sites such as 1x, DeviantArt, 500px etc was a great source of information and inspiration too and it helped by setting high standards for me and the kind of work I aspired to produce. So it’s a hobby but done in a professional way!
I see you like landscape photography a lot. You would categorize yourself as a landscape photographer or there are multiple themes you equally love?
I love experimenting with different types of photography and I would like to try them all eventually but my real passion is Landscape Photography so, yes I consider myself a landscape photographer. It’s the kind of photography that satisfies my other loves for being in nature and for traveling.
I know that landscape photography is not for everyone. It’s not for me at least that’s for sure! Sometimes you have to wake up really early, walk kilometers deep into the mountains, be out in the cold weather, and in general you have to leave your comfort zone. What would you say to the people who are hesitating to set the alarm at 05:00 because they believe it might not worth it?
It’s always worth it! Even if you don’t come back with the image you had in mind, it’s always worth being in nature in time to see the first light. They often say that "it's all about the light" and I totally agree. From my first steps I realized that when seen under a different light, places that till then looked common or uninteresting to me suddenly became new and magical. Of course there is always a big possibility that there won’t be anything special about the light to produce the “keeper” you had dreamed of but the sure thing is that you will produce nothing if you stay in bed!
Each time I watch your photos I am not sure if I want to like you or hate you. The composition and colors and gorgeous. How do you do it lady?
Haha, I hope the first prevails! Well, when it comes to colors, they are Mother Nature’s and morning or afternoon light’s offer. My job is to try and use what’s offered to me in terms of light and subject matter in the best way possible, arrange all the essential elements in a composition that hopefully has something to say about the place, the time, the experience, me and my feelings at the same time.
You have an extended online presence in many websites such as 500px, Facebook, Deviantart etc. How much internet and its social aspect helped you as a photographer and in what ways?
Well, seriously, if it weren’t for internet I wouldn’t have been a photographer in the first place, which I think says it all! As I already told you, those art sites brought home to me that photography is a powerful means of artistic expression and since that day I spent an enormous amount of time browsing, admiring, taking in what other people have created with their cameras. Most important of all, it was through one of these sites that I met the man who later became my teacher, mentor and companion and introduced me to landscape photography, thus changing my life forever. Since then internet has been my major source of information and inspiration in anything I wanted to learn, try, create or buy. Through it I got to know and meet lots of people that became really good friends and supported me every step of the way. Last but not the least it gave me the opportunity not only to discover some amazing contemporary photographers but also to get to know them and receive valuable feedback and encouragement.
Most of your photos are from Greek landscapes. You have a dedicated purpose to showcase Greece’s natural beauties?
Actually all of my photos are from Greek landscapes and you couldn’t be more right about it! Receiving comments in the lines of “I didn’t know Greece is so beautiful” always makes me smile. We definitely intent on traveling abroad too, trying our eye and hand on all those places we’ve seen in other photographers’ images but our first priority is Greece. The main reason is that Greece is practically “virgin” in terms of landscape photography and thus fresh and new to the eyes of landscape photography lovers.
How do you find inspiration in and out of photography? How do you keep your inner artist happy?
I guess you know by now that I’m a big internet freak, so that’s what fills my time when I’m not out shooting, gives me ideas, inspiration, keeps me in touch with net friends or just passes the time till the next trip!
When you travel to a location in order to photograph you follow a procedure, do a research or just land there and start walking around until you see something interesting?
Well, both actually… One of the major advantages of having a landscape photographer like Konstantinos as a companion is that you can always be sure that when it comes to making the itinerary for a trip he will choose the most promising locations in terms of photography. You can ask ten different people about their opinion on the best place to visit during your holidays and you will get ten different answers, none of which will have photography in mind. But a landscape photographer will always think of places with photographic interest first! I have my own list of places I want to visit because I’ve heard they’re interesting or because I’ve seen interesting pictures of them and he has his. We try to come up with a route that includes as many places out of those lists as possible and we look them up on Google Earth, but finally it all comes up to on the spot scouting to decide which looks promising and which not.
What is your shooting procedure? How do you decide where when and with what to shoot?
As I already said the where is decided beforehand after research and scouting. The preliminary visit to the place usually decides the when too, that is if the chosen point of interest in the scene will be lit best in the morning light, the afternoon light or even sometimes both. Now, about the “with what”… Most of the times upon seeing a promising scene an “ideal” mental image is formed. This mental image contains elements you can control such as composition, focal length to capture as much of the scene around you or just a small detail of it, depth of field to create a particular effect, length of exposure for capturing the movement of the clouds or water, even the intentional over/ underexposure to create a particular mood etc. This ideal image also depends on elements you can’t control such as weather and lighting conditions. The elements you can control dictate the camera settings you are going to use, the filters, the lens and the technique so that you know what to use and how to set everything up even before the light hits your chosen composition. The hard part is to get the light and weather to co-operate! There are surprisingly few images that came out as I wanted them with less than at least 2 visits and there’s an ever-growing number of images that remain mental even after 4-5 visits and are in the “to try again in the future” list.
Let me know the funniest moment you had while you were out in a shoot. And why not give us the worst if you’d like!
I just realized that the funniest and the worst moment happened on the exact same day! It was on the day I made Prisoners of the Dusk in Methoni, Peloponnese. In order to achieve that composition I was practically half sprawled half hung over one of the loopholes and my tripod was not in the most secure position and I had to keep it steady by using my weight since it was extremely windy too. At some point I let go of it just for a few seconds to climb down to my bag and get a filter. A few seconds were more than enough and I saw it from the corner of my eye tumbling towards the abyss below! I grabbed blindly at it and managed to save it at the last moment by pure dump luck (given my history of clumsiness and my flare for destroying things I wouldn’t be surprised if I pushed it over even harder while trying to save it). Needless to say, the image of my tripod carrying my camera, lens and filters smashing on the rough rocks below still features in my worst nightmares! Anyway, I started with the worst moment since it happened first on that eventful day. After we were rewarded for our wait and my fright with a pretty intense sunset we packed up and headed for the exit… to find the gate of the castle securely chainlocked! To be honest, there was a sign stating that the castle remained open from 8.00am to 15.00 but when we got there it was already 16.30 so we thought it applied for summer months. The steps followed in order for us to escape?
- -1st attempt to climb over the gate -starring me. I end up stuck on the top of the gate, unable to pull the other leg over the gate. Defeated, I climb back down.
- - 2nd attempt to climb over the gate - starring Konstantinos. The attempt fails due to a cramped leg. Defeated, he climbs back down.
- - Night walk around the castle in search of an alternative exit, a hidden path, an Indiana Jones/Tomb Raider puzzle to be solved so that a hidden exit might be revealed… Nope, nothing!
- -Phone call to find our hotel’s number (still surprised we remembered the name), phone call to the receptionist. We explain our predicament and ask her to find the man who held the keys to the gate and ask him to come and set us free.
- -1st report from the receptionist: The Key-Keeper has just returned from his farm and is taking a bath. Once finished he will tend to our problem.
- -2nd report, about half an hour later: The Key-Keeper is in no mood to get out on a windy night like this in case he catches a cold after his bath. The receptionist sounds totally freaked out on our behalf. We aren’t. In fact we are sitting in an alcove enjoying the atmosphere and laughing with the absurdity of it all!
- -3rd report about half an hour later: The receptionist has sent a relative to get the keys. He will come and set us free after he finishes with his dinner.
- -Finally the relative comes, unlocks the gate and gives us a lecture about observing the damn signs next time!
Jesus that was quite an adventure!
Thanks for sharing this! Any final words? Rumble away here!
I’m afraid I already rumbled too much! :D I just wanted to thank you once again for having me here. It’s a real honor to be the first guest in your “Guest TakeOver”! Keep up the great work, I will be following your blog closely :)
Mary Kay on the web:
- Portfolio: http://justeline.daportfolio.com/
- Deviantart: http://justeline.deviantart.com/
- Tweeter: https://twitter.com/justelene
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/justelene
Reader Comments (1)
Oh wow. Those photos are amazing. Great interview. Love it!!
Maybell Marquina
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