Scott Hargis Interview

[peterst6906]

Just over half and hour until the start of the interview.

To watch the interview, just keep this thread open and then refresh your browser regularly.

Scott and I will go through a set of about two dozen questions and then we'll invite questions from the members.

We hope you enjoy this and also pick up some very useful information for your own photography.

Regards,

Peter

[peterst6906]

30 minutes to go.

Regards,

Peter

[peterst6906]

Welcome everyone to this first live, online interview on the Photocamel and it is a pleasure that for this first interview we have the opportunity to interview Scott Hargis (New Work from Scott Hargis Photography), well known interior photographer. If you haven’t seen much of his photography and you want some inspiration, check out his site and his Flickr stream (Flickr: Photos from Scott Hargis).

We hope you enjoy this discussion and look forward to some ongoing discussion in the Architecture forum, including some posts of your own interior photography.

Finally before we start, welcome to the new members who have signed up at the site as a result of this interview. All the moderators hope you check it out and find it a nice friendly place to spend some time.

[peterst6906]

Scott, firstly welcome to the Photocamel and thanks for agreeing to this interview. As you know, when this concept was initially planned, you were the first person I thought of in relation to architecture photography and I am grateful that you agreed to be involved in this.

[Scott Hargis]

Thanks, Peter, I'm glad to be here!

Hello, everyone!

[peterst6906]

Ok, so to ease into it, how long have you been shooting and what started you in photography?

[Scott Hargis]

I started shooting professionally 3 years ago, almost to the day, in fact. Previously I was a very low-end amateur photographer, doing nature shots, flower close-ups, bad landscapes, etc. I had never owned a digital camera.

I had been working in a corporate job for the same company for almost 15 years, and was slowly losing my soul (not to mention my mind). I started seeing a career counselor, and at the bottom of all those standardized tests the same thing kept coming up: Photography.

I became obsessed with the idea, and a few weeks later I wrote a letter of resignation and took the plunge. No clients, no experience, no equipment, no capital, nothing. It was a pretty dumb thing to do, really. It worked out, and I can’t adequately express how much I love what I do every day, but I went through some lean times there for a while. Life is much better when you have clients.

[peterst6906]

Wow. I'll bet life is much better once you establish yourself and I admire your decision to change careers mid-stream.

That's the type of decision that a lot of us would like to take but it's rare that someone actually does it.

I take it then that you are self-taught, or when you changed career, did you also study as part of that?

[Scott Hargis]

I’m self-taught. I read technical photography books pretty voraciously, and I spend hours online, just studying technique and looking at other photographer’s work. It's been a 3-year immersion course, and it's still ongoing......I need a life!
For interiors specifically, I have a great mentor: Thomas Grubba. When I met him I was just starting to try my hand at interiors and was struggling. He had been at it for about 3 years, and had developed a great system for lighting and post-processing.
I’ve taken what he showed me and sort of turned it into my own style, although the foundation is still Thomas’ technique.
He and I still work together and swap ideas and techniques almost every day.

[Scott Hargis]

Thomas Grubba Photography