Interview with:Peter Casolino [pcasolino]
PHOTOGRAPHY
 | Do you have an online gallery where one can view your photos? Yes. Www.Casolino.com |
| For how long have you done photography? How did you begin? 25 years. I began my career as a photographer after taking courses in college to help with my art degree. |
| What has been your education as a photographer? BS in art, and 20+years as a news photographer |
| Please list any exhibitions in which you have participated. I have had 4 solo shows in CT, USA. One was a show of black and white photography on Havana, Cuba. The other three were fine art exhibits mainly consisting of digitally manipulated photography. |
| Please list any awards for your work. Awards include NPPA region 1 photographer of the year.
Unique Photo grand prize winner ($10,000).
CT Society of Professional Journalist 8 first glacé awards, 7 second place awards, 9 third place awards.
Zuma Double-truck winner 3 times. |
| What is your favourite type of photography? I love pure street photography and surreal digital manipulation equally. |
| What do you try to express through your photography? My job as a news photographer requires me to tell stories visually, however the challenge and joy of my work is to use my personal vision in storytelling. I enjoy telling other people's views through my own eyes as I see it. I try and express the uniqueness of my subjects in every photograph. |
| How do you choose your subjects? Many of my subjects are found through public encounters and just talking with people socially. |
| What type of preparation do you do before undertaking the photo session? I try and NOT prepare too much at all besides having my equipment in order. I let the subject and situation dictate the flow of the session. |
| Do you normally photograph with a purpose already in mind, or do you let yourself go with the flow? I let the person or scene dictate the visuals. |
| Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Sigma, Olympus, Sony, Pentax...which do you place your bets on and why? I mainly use Nikon because my employer provides my equipment, however technology has come to the point that any of the major brands are equally as good these days. I use most equipment in manual modes, so it really doesn't matter what the label on the camera is. |
| Describe your current equipment: cameras, lenses, computers, accessories... I mainly use two bodies. One with a wide zoom, the other with a telephoto zoom. A SIMPLE bag. I use a MacBook pro to process my images. I use an iPhone to shoot video for news sites also. |
| What software and plug-ins do you use to retouch and manage your photos? I mainly use three programs exclusively. Photo Mechanic for editing and captioning. Photoshop for toning and cropping. Final cut for video editing.
That's it! |
| What measures do you take to protect your work against Internet piracy? I usually place a light watermark on my images. I stay away from sites that claim rights to my work. Some sites, even very popular ones will claim that you transfer usage rights by posting. It's a very sleazy practice. |
| Are you a good salesperson of your work? In what should you improve? Honestly, no. I mainly use agency representation so I can concentrate on photography and not on dealing with buyers. |
| Which past masters of photography do you most admire? Sabastio Salgado, Alex Webb, Mary Ellen Mark, Walker Evans Are among my favorites. |
| Are technology and digital retouching reducing the gap between professionals and amateurs? Technology has allowed many people to express themselves through photography. I find inspiration through many amateur photographers works. Some hobbyists are producing work that is truly inspired. |
| What is your team of habitual collaborators like? I work with a staff of very talented photographers and have many friends in the business. I am surrounded by passionate people every day, but when I'm shooting it's usually just me! |
| With which other photographers do you normally team up with or do sessions with? None |
| Do you consider yourself more technical or more artistic? Artistic |
| What have you learned about the art of framing and composition? My education was as a formally trained painter. I feel luck that this has given me a lot of insight into the power of composition. I think it has carried over well into my photography. |
| How does one develop the instinct of knowing when to press the shutter release button? It is a lifelong learning process. To me now it's not WHEN to shoot, but being intuitive and predicting WHERE to be when I do press the shutter button. |
| When should one use film, and when should one use digital? I used to love film. Digital has now surpassed the quality I could ever get with film anymore, so those days are over. |
| Does photography have the recognition that it should have in contemporary art museums? I think that it does. I see photography commanding high prices from collectors. |
| Which websites for photographers do you frequently visit? I look at just about anything. Too many to list. |
| Is there any particular technique that you could share? I honestly feel that subject and feeling are more important than specific technique in photography. I think people get too wrapped up in gear, technology and technique and forget to explore the simple essence of what good photography is. |
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Peter Casolino
New Haven, CT
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