Moms Who Click: BEHIND THE LENS WITH KELLY WADE

We are very excited to introduce a new feature to our blog, a weekly "Behind the Lens" photographer interview. We hope to share some insightful information about their work, their inspiration, and a little about their gear and methodology.

Moms Who Click is thrilled to introduce our first interview with Kelly Wade.   Kelly is a self-taught photographer who specializes in amazing landscapes.  His love of Hawaii is evident in the way he captures the amazing ocean, waterfalls and natural settings of the islands.  He has an amazing eye for light and shadow that makes the viewer follow every detail in the picture.  The natural lighting technique he favors creates wonderful movement and emotion in every shot.

Photographer: Kelly Wade
Studio: Kelly Wade Photography
Location: San Diego
Blog: http://kellywadephotography.blogspot.com/
Twitter/Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Wade-Photography/123154297740835
Other: Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikonteam/

Your Style:

• In 50 words or less, how would your clients describe your photography? I’m not one to brag, but I hear “amazing” a lot.
• Are you self-taught or classroom trained? Self-Taught
• How many years have you been a professional photographer? I started taking pictures in April 2007.  I continue to grow into a professional every day.
• Where do you want to take your photography business in 5 years? I would be happy to have people buying my landscapes to the point where I could travel the world taking more photographs.
• Is there a photographer who inspires your style?  Who would that be? Peter Lik is one of my favorite photographers, I love his landscape work.
• Favorite location to take photos? Well, Hawaii would have to be one of my favorite places to photograph; however, anywhere tropical never hurts.
• Favorite vacation spot? The Hawaiian Islands

Your Business:

• What was the pivotal moment when you decided to become a photographer? It just kind of happened.
• What’s the best marketing tip that has worked for you? The Internet and word of mouth.
• What’s the most surprising thing a customer has asked you? Nothing surprises me anymore.
• Favorite print lab? Still trying to find that favorite lab, I guess I am picky…

Your Gear

•  Are you Canon or Nikon (or – gasp--“other”): Nikon
• If you could only have one lens on a photo shoot, what would it be? 18-200MM a good all around lens.
• What brand bag do you carry your camera in? Lowepro is my main bag, I have a few different bags though, you can’t have too many bags.
• What gear would we find in your camera bag? Nikon body, 18-200mm 50mm, macro lens, filters, memory chips, charger, release cable, lens cleaner and cloth, extra battery etc.
• Are you a natural light fan or strobe fan? Natural light, you can’t beat it.
• Are you PC or Mac User? PC

Tips and Tricks

• What post processing tools do you use? I am not a big post processing person, I prefer to keep things as natural as I can.  When I do post process I use Photoshop.
• Do you shoot in Raw or Jpeg? Jpeg
• Best advice you would give your 20-year old self? I would have started sooner.
• Best advice you would give a new photographer? Don’t give up, no matter how frustrating. There is a ton of free info out there, you just have to find it and practice…Shoot shoot shoot…
• What site do you use for your photography and why? Gosh, that is a hard one. I look at so many different sites. I love to get ideas just from scrolling through Flickr,  it gives me new ideas and something to work towards. There are just too many to list.

What Else Should We Know About You?

• What was your worst photography experience? Wow, this is a painful story. I was at the beach shooting long exposures with my wife.   She asked me for some assistance with her tripod, being the nice husband I turned to help her and I heard splat. My camera went head first into the shallow ocean with an $800.00 lens attached. To say the least, salt water and cameras do not mix! The only good thing that came of this, I have insurance on all of my gear and it was replaced free of charge. Moral of the story, do not walk away from your tripod!!!
• What would surprise people most about you, whether it is photography related or not? That I am a photographer, I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, well maybe I do now.
• Tell us something else you’d like us to know: Photography is a passion, I love taking pictures and capturing moments in time. I love to see and hear the comments people make when they see a picture they really like. It is just satisfying…  

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