Interview with Steven Reid

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

My name is Steven Reid and I am a photographer based in the south west of England. I love photography in general, but I am fascinated with capturing movement in photos. I have always been amazed that you can look at an image and see either a split second or ten minutes captured in a single photo.

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

AI think the more you shoot, the more abstract situations you find yourself in. I am not sure if it counts as weird, but I found the behind the scenes of my image Night at the Station quite surreal.

I feel the image captures a peaceful station at night quite well. For me it invokes the calm at the end of the day when the commuters have left, and just a handful of people are arriving having taken the last train home.

The reality; the photo was taken at Kingswear station during a minor storm. Space was restricted so photographers were quickly rotating into position, the rain was pouring down outside and dripping off the roof, and a gale was blowing up the river Dart. I am quite happy that none of the reality got into the final image.

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

AI shoot with Canon equipment, I tend to use a 7D for aviation and a 5D for landscapes and hot air balloons. For my railway photography I sometimes use both bodies with different lenses, or I may pick a particular body for a shoot depending on the weather and the effect I want. In terms of lenses I have built up a collection of L lenses over the years, but I mainly use a 24-70mm and a 100-400MM zooms.

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

ALook, learn and live.

Look: I think photographers can gain a lot from looking at other people’s work. The more images you are exposed to, the more you come to understand what you want in your own photos; what you like, what you dislike, how you would take it, and what you would do differently. Remember every element in a photo has been placed there by the photographer.

Learn: There are a tremendous amount of resources available today on the internet, both free and paid. I am a big fan of Scott Kelby and always make time to watch his weekly YouTube show 'The Grid'. If you ever see an image and think ‘Wow, how did the photographer do that?’, then the answer will be out there somewhere.

Live: This is the most important of all, photographers need to go out and take photos. It is always easy to find an excuse not to shoot, the weather isn’t right or the light isn’t going to appear... trust me, I have many more excuses. But if you head out and fill your memory cards, one day, you will be in the right spot with no-one else around you, and you will capture that decisive moment to hang on your wall and keep forever.