Interview with Tina Schwarz

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

As self taught photographer I decided to ditch the “regular day job” in insurance some years back to realize my dream of combining travel and photography. Since then I have been privileged to see and photograph more of the world than I ever imagined I would, and I’m completely hooked on exploring places with their people and cultures and foods and sights and sounds, so I do my utmost to capture a sense of what I experience and learn, to relay this in images.

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

ARecently I was standing on the beach at dawn in a remote part of China, waiting for the first colours in the sky. I had set up to create some long exposure images on this foggy morning, hoping to create a few really atmospheric shots. A few days later, while my partner and I were having an after work drink, a Chinese gentleman approached me with his cell phone. He spoke no English, I speak no Chinese. On his phone he showed me a photo of myself that morning on the beach in the fog, my camera set on it’s tripod, me wearing my hoody against the morning cold. He laughed, and mimicked my movements that morning, as I’d look through the viewfinder of my camera, waiting, standing and waiting, bend to check the image etc etc. It was the weirdest feeling! I had no idea anyone was watching me, let alone photographing me taking photos! And to run into him a few days later! He thought it was great and it seemed to amuse him immensely. So I showed him one of the images I took that morning. I don’t know whether he loved the image or just the whole situation, but he insisted on buying us a drink.

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

AI learned to shoot on Canon and my first DSLR was a 450D. Since then I’ve shot with Nikon set-ups but I love my Canon. I’ve recently acquired the 5D Mk III with various Tamron lenses to go with that. I love my 5D! I love the ergonomics of it and layout of controls, and love the image quality it gives me.

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

AThe one thing I read in a blog years ago, and it stuck in my head, and I’ve seen the truth of it over and over again: Keep shooting ‘cause practice makes perfect! If you don’t shoot you don’t experience and you don’t learn. The more you shoot in any and all set of conditions and circumstances, the more you figure out your boundaries and what to do to overcome those. Each situation has different challenges, and without those challenges we don’t push on or past those barriers. I’ve learned a lot from participating in online photo sharing and photo challenge communities – I keep seeing images that others have made where I think “I want to be able to create something like that”, and off I go to find the tools and learn new techniques to try and achieve new levels.