Thursday Thoughts with Erik Bernskiold

The internet is a wonderful thing.  Communication today is so much easier than it was even ten years ago.  Collaborative projects can take place in real time across the globe, and the ways in which we can interact is truly amazing.  As Photographers, this gives us access to a never-ending supply of inspiration from peers and colleagues across the world.  One such peer I’ve met is Erik Bernskiold, who lives in Sweden!  (We’re both members of NAPP.)  He is truly a talented individual, with a very astute sense of photography, graphic and web design, and just an all-around great sense of humor.

He and I had a chance to chat recently so I got him to agree to a Q&A for the blog.  So, without further ado, here’s my Ten Questions with Erik Bernskiold:

  • Q:  Everyone always wants to know some of the basics, so let’s get a few things out of the way at once here…how long have yhou been a photographer?
  • A:  I’ve been a photographer for just about two years now.
  • Q:    Canon or Nikon?
  • A:  I’m a Nikon shooter.
  • Q:  Mac or PC?
  • A:  Macs all the way!
  • Q:  Chocolate or vanilla?
  • A:  Truly tough one… I like them both although if I have to say something…chocolate.
  • Q:  Moving into a little more granularity, photographers often enjoy hearing helpful and constructive critiques of their work, as we are aware of how much we can grow from it.  However, we’ve also all had the “nice shot” and “cool” comments when we’ve shared our work.  From all of this, what was the singular most useful critique or comment you’ve ever had on work you’ve shared publicly?
  • A:  It’s really hard to narrow down just a single comment and I don’t have one really special. I’d have to say the ones that were brutal enough. Brutal critique goes to your head straight away I believe.
  • Q:  Who said it?
  • A:  In this case, quite a few people. Good people they are!
  • Q:  If someone was asking you for an honest critique of their work, what 3 factors would you look at most (excluding friendships or family relatives, we’re talking professional or fellow photographer-types here)?
  • A:  Composition, The Image’s Meaning and the technical details.
  • Q:  Got any war stories from field shoots or outings that you can or would be willing to share?
  • A:  Not much exciting things that are fun to read about happen to me on lonely landscape outings. I’ve yet to fall down somewhere or get in trouble. All I can share is the nice people I’ve met and whom have asked me what I was doing and talking briefly in general. It’s just nice that there exists people who talks to strangers like that nowadays! 😀
  • Q:  If you had to choose between the gear or the software as the only way to create, which would it be and why?
  • A:  Oh! Definitely the gear! I do though come to see the software as part of my gear list (also cause I’m a graphic and web designer as well) but when it comes to photography I really want to get everything I can done in camera and then what I really need to in post-processing!
  • Q:  Any final thoughts you’d like to share about the state of photography or any catch phrases that you keep in mind when shooting?
  • A:  I could go on about the state of photography for a long time, but since I’ve done that in articles before, I won’t here. What I do think though is that photography is never-ending and that you should focus less on the gear and more about the process, being out and shooting which is what makes it all fun in the end!

Thanks to Erik for taking the time out to visit with me.  Be sure you visit his blog and website over at Bernskiold Media

Tune in next week when Jason Moore of the famous P&P Blogroll (and also a talented photographer in his own right) takes some time to sit down and take a few questions!  In the meantime, happy shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!

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