Interview with my Flickr friend Horst hb19

1. How did you first get interested in photography? And are you self taught?

My youngest son introduced me to flickr over one year ago. My knowledge of photography came through reviewing my images, viewing others on flickr & asking questions.....so to answer your question, I am self taught.

2. Do you have a favourite walk around lens? If so, what is it?

The only camera I have now is a point & shoot digital Canon S3 without any other accessories. All my images were either from my first camera, an Olympus C4000 & now the S3 both being point & shoot digitals.

3. What equipment and software do you use?

An inexpensive tripod & my Canon S3.......Occationally I use Picasa for saturation & cropping. I do not have PhotoShop.


4. Which one item of equipment is the most important for you?

Having only one, the Canon S3, but supporting that, I always carry an extra set of batteries & lens cleaner....


5. How do you decide on locations and subjects?

Most of the time I never decide on location whether I go for a morning walk or do things around my property.....I ALWAYS have my camera nearby, that's why I have the variety of subjects in my stream....


6. What are your favorite subjects to photograph?

Everyday ordinary items, any opportunity involving the effects of direct sunlight through reflections, refraction & color & lastly my wooden mannequin "Woody"


7. What continues to inspire you as a photographic artist?

Being able to express myself through actively seeing the ordinary & having the desire to create something out of nothing, i.e. creating an image that never existed before.....

8. What is the one thing that you have not captured on camera you feel you need to express?

That's difficult to answer but it really depends on the lack of not having the proper equipment.....I would love to be able to capture animals through an improved telephoto lens, obtaining a shallower dof for increasing my bokeh effect and lastly, thinking more in black & white themes.....

9. What other artists have influenced your work?

Most of the contacts here on flickr, whom I admire. I view, read & look at their exposure properties & try to digest what they have accomplished & try that myself on future photo opportunities.

10. What other talents do you possess besides photography? And is there another area of talent you would like to explore?

Creating a photo opportunity that didn't exist. Action shots would be a challenge.

11. Have you met other flick rites in person, and how was the experience?

First, my son who introduce me to Flickr (his screen name is dextr), then i have met Dean Forbes in Seattle, one in San Fransisco and two local flickrites from my area. The reward was seeing how each went about their way of seeing the world and both of us capturing the same subjects & thencomparing the differences.

12. Any words of advice for those who would like to dig deeper into photography?

With today's technology, capturing as many variations as possible of the same subject through variations of view point, exposure settings & then reviewing the results. You can always delete but you can't bring back that moment.

13. Of all the photos you've taken, what is your favorite and why?

The all time favorite is from my SKYplay series. It's called "Hang loose & let off some steam". This is a prime example of seeing an opportunity & instantly taking advantage of it, creating an image that the average person would not think of.


14. If you could change anything on flickr, what would it be?

The variety of images on flickr are endless. But I would certainly want to divide them into distinct categories, namely, Raw (no post processing), Photoshop or equal (definite post processing) and HDR.

These are the photos that Horst want to show us:

surfing USA.......




drivethru winery......




coloring my canon......



Thanks to Horst for his patience ;-) and for showing us a creative use of the fingers other that clicking.

Angie_real aka Angela Lobefaro