Interview with Adam Batterbee

Hi Adam! Tell us about yourself in two sentences - who are you?

I’m a freelance travel photographer and rhythmatist. When I’m not off taking pictures, I can be found playing the drums, both of which I started doing at around 11 years old. I left school and went on to study photography at art college. However, I didn’t finish the course. After two years I dropped out thinking becoming a professional musician would be more fun. I was right.

QWhat's the weirdest situation you've found yourself in while taking a photograph?

AI’ve seen, and been involved in, far too many weird situations working and touring with bands over my years. One of the joys of the photographic side of my life is that it rarely gets weird behind a lens – not for me anyway. And I quite like it that way.

QWhat do you shoot on? What's your favorite set up?

AWith a few exceptions, it’s always been Nikon for me. The first ‘proper’ camera I had was my dad’s old manual Nikon that he gave me to learn on. I’ve stayed using their equipment ever since. FMs, FEs, F2s and my beautiful old beaten-up F3hp. My old 35mm film cameras used to have a life to them. I’ve never felt the same love for my DSLR cameras as I did for my old analogue friends. Currently I’m using D700s with battery grips. My one-stop, go-to lens for travel photography is the Nikkor 28-300mm. It’s far from fast glass, but it’s good quality. With that lens and a battery grip, it doesn’t run out of juice, and I can cover just about anything that crops up with the one lens rather than carrying around a full bag of gear (mine, a Lowepro Flipside 500 aw ) all day. Also I’m quite partial to shooting square-format images with an iPhone – possibly the best and most practical point-and-shoot camera in the world. I’m a huge fan of iphonography. I like the immediacy of shooting with the phone – it allows me to play around and overprocess images in a way I never would with 35mm stuff. I like my iphonography pimped. Most of my Picfair images were taken on iPhone.

QWhat's your number one tip for an aspiring photographer?

AJust take pictures. Take lots of pictures. On whatever camera floats your boat. You have control over the picture, not the camera. I was a very late arrival to the digital party. However, one of the great joys of digital photography is, once you’ve got bought the camera, it costs nothing to take loads of images. I still love to shoot with film, but the cheapest digital camera is a great way to learn about light and composition and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg in film. And spend more time with your camera than your laptop. I always wanted to be a photographer, not a graphic artist. Lightroom is useful and Photoshop fun, but in my opinion, it’s relied on and used far too often. The joy and skill of photography for me are at the coalface, not in the office.