Interview with my Flickr friend Alex (Algo)

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

I was a Brownie Box Camera boy, and took at least two films on it. Many years later my interest got sparked by being given a pre-war Robot motorized camera 24x24. This may still be responsible for my liking of square pictures. Wish I had had some teaching, but never have.


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

My favourite camera and lens has been the Minolta A1, with its excellent 28 - 200 lens. Sadly, when it broke down, after more than 20000 exposures, it could not be repaired.


3. What equipment and software do you use?

I’m mainly using the Sony DSLR, and quite like it, but have a number of niggles. Roll on Christmas with the hope of an upgrade? PSElements for the minumal processing I do.


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

The three lenses I carry around all the time are the 50mm Minolta Macro, the 35/200 Minolta zoom, and the Sony kit lens, 18-35 fitted with a circular polarizer to catch blue sky. If I’m in the car, I usually have an ultra wide angle. That’s not really an answer but they are part of the camera, which is the “one item”.


5. How do you decide on locations and subjects?

I look at the light and see where I feel like going -- to the reservoirs, or the woods or the hills, or just driving around? Almost all photos I take are less than ten miles from home.


6. What are your favorite subjects to photograph?

Anything I see. (My sunbeams and misty photos have seemed to have been liked.)


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

The way the light falls and strikes subjects.

(And of course seeing great photos on Flickr is a constant source of inspiration.)

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

I aim to get better pictures of birds in flight (with wings back lit?) -- especially swans or herons.


9. What other artists have influenced your work?

So many photographers on Flickr produce outstanding photographs. Every day I am astonished, and hope I express it sufficiently. I’m tempted to name a few, but know I couldn’t then stop ....

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

I’ve tried my hand at a variety of things, with varying success, but would really have liked to have a been a much better dinghy sailor. For me it is a Zen activity, letting the wind, water and gravity (balance) take over -- and either fly across the water, or fall in.


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

I’ve not met any flickrites in person ( that I know of), although that seems almost a surprise to say, as I feel I know a number quite well. I live near several, and we have photographed the same places. Gary, the foremost English flickr photographer, lives near.

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

It depends what you want to use Flickr for. If you want comments and Faves, then give them ... lots. (Sorry .. That’s so obvious ... but I’m lousy on advice.)

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

I can’t decide -- not today. But try -- 100 year hand.
100 Years hand


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

Don’t get me started on the Explore/interestingness so called lottery. Part of my dislike is “sour grapes”, following the way I was chopped down in June 2006. Part is the biased methods used in choosing (and ignoring) photos for the publicity that Explore gives. We’re given warnings over and over, not to take it seriously, and then It is pushed forward as the prestigious accolade -- hypocrisy! Maybe some transparency would help instead of the hocus pocus at present, and the feeling that the choices represent some individual’s taste.

These are the photos that Algo want to show us in this interview:

1) The stage is set




2) Sunday morning mist




3) trees watch the sun set



Thanks to Alex for his kind reply and for teaching me to dig my surroundings in search of the hidden gems laying around me and to not underestimate the beauty of a misty morning.

Alex's profile on Flickr

Angela Lobefaro aka angie_real