Digitalab Featured Photographer: David Pullum
At Digitalab, we appreciate the power of photography, whether it’s personal or professional. We asked David Pullum for one of his images and posed a couple of questions to find out exactly what it is he loves about photography and what he’d say to any enthusiastic photographer hoping to make a career out of their passion.
Tell us a bit about this image and why you chose it to be featured.
This image was taken just before the bride left the house where she was getting ready for the journey to the wedding venue.
I love the connection between the horse and the bridesmaid, the horse with his head bowed as if to say hello, whilst all the adults in the image are completely oblivious to this connection.
The placement of the elements in the image are good as well, enabling the viewer to see what’s happening easily without explanation.
Which styles of photography most interest/inspire you?
I love documentary photography and portraits. My style is more documentary. Of course I love the classic documentary photographers but also those a little less known like John R Pepper, whose work is very inspiring.
Being able to get the emotions of a wedding whilst not directing is a difficult skill to master. It’s also about telling a story and reflecting the personalities of your clients, and you can only do this if your clients like you and allow you into their own personal space. It’s a tough job to get right, it’s not just a matter of taking as many images as possible and then seeing which is the best. It’s about forming connections with your subject, having empathy and most of all being respectful. It’s a job that I love and a style that I find keeps teaching me lessons on a daily basis.
What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?
With the advent of digital, everyone is a photographer these days, however the old adage of “you get out what you put in” still applies to almost everything in life including photography. So there is still a need to work hard, to study what makes a great image and to try to get better images every time you press that shutter.
The most important aspect of photography is to be individual, to have your own style, so that people recognise its one of your images, DO NOT COPY, if you copy other people you just end up being a bad copy, its far more important to develop your own style and constantly look to enhance that style and improve your compositions, and lighting. A work hard ethic is something I have had installed in me since I was 13, and it has so far paid off. As long as you continue to work hard to will reap the rewards