Fotograf Adam Johnson

—Sunteți fotogenic?

—I think everyone is photogenic. Just not everyone appreciates it the first time they see a photo of themselves. I'm the kind of person who grows to like photos of myself over time, rather than instantly loving them.

—Cum ați ajuns în industria fotografiei?

—It just happened. I got married, bought a DSLR for my honeymoon, and became obsessed with it. I thought I was getting quite good, shot a friend's wedding (as a guest) and did a terrible job. So I went away, practised and studied super hard, bought better equipment then tried again. It went much better the second time and I was able to build a portfolio and website. 18 months later I quit my day job.

—Care sunt cele mai importante componente ale unei fotografii bune, după părerea dvs?

—If we are talking about a wedding photo then it's all about emotion. Light is my obsession, but a beautifully lit emotionless or 'mute' wedding photo is pointless. A photo has to speak for itself, it shouldn't need a caption or an explanation.

—Vă place să călătoriți?

—Of course. And I love that wedding photography is showing me more of the world than I would ever have seen without it.

—Ce vă place cel mai mult la profesia dvs?

—Freedom of expression. The more you shoot, the better you get, the more people hear about you and know about your work, the more freedom you are given to express yourself artistically. That and what I said about traveling in the last question!

—Ce vă place cel mai puțin la profesia dvs?

—I am honestly grateful for this being my profession but of course, when you have young children at school, it can take its toll when you're out most weekends throughout the summer and not able to spend as much time with them as I would like.

—Care va fi viitorul fotografiei?

—Who knows?! I just hope I'm able to change and adapt to however it changes. I truly believe there will always be a market for beautiful, well crafted photos – the technology and expectations may change but the product will not.

—Ce este special la genul de fotografie în care sunteți specializat?

—People. That's what it's all about. People and relationships. Being invited into a private world and asked to document it for a day.

—Cum răspundeți criticilor?

—Badly. I do not like to be criticised. Often once it has sunk in I'm able to either reject or accept it and use it to improve, but I don't like it!

—Există tendințe în fotografia?

—Of course! I just prefer to ignore them.

—Care ar trebui să fie criteriile după care un client să aleagă un fotograf?

—If the photographer's photos of a total stranger's wedding can make you feel something in your heart and soul, you've found your wedding photographer.

—Ce lucruri sunt complet nepermise când fotografiați?

—There are no rules but I think each photographer will have their own principles or boundaries. If someone is crying because they are truly sad then I will not photograph them just to get that 'tear shot' that is so popular with wedding photographers these days. If I do not feel it is appropriate to shoot something, then I won't shoot it.

—Ce persoană poate fi simbolul secolului XXI după părerea dvs?

—Can we answer this with 85 years of the century remaining?! I think there are so many medical and technological advances we will see in this century and I expect icons to be created in these areas.

—Pe cine doriți să fotografiați?

—Ben Folds, Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United.

—Aveți tabuuri profesionale?

—Not that I know of!

—Cu cine ați vrea să faceți fotografii?

—Annie Leibowitz, Joey L, James Nachtwey, Don McCullin, Richard Avedon... I love to shoot with other photographers, I think it's a good thing to do regularly.

—Ce vă îngrijorează și de ce?

—I am a worrier. I worry about a lot of things! Professionally speaking I worry about becoming irrelevant, about getting stuck in a rut and left behind and nobody wanting me to take their wedding pictures!

—Care este cel mai impresionant moment din viața dvs?

—The births of my two children.

—Dacă ați fi fost un personaj de desen animat, de carte sau de film, cine v-ar fi plăcut să fiți?

—Peter Pan. I want to stay young and always fight pirates.

—Cine vă inspiră în viață și de ce?

—I don't know if they inspire me as such but my children are the reason that I do what I do and why I want to continually get better at it. I am inspired by anyone successful – in business, in photography, in sport, in life... Not in an arrogant way but I find my own successes an inspiration to keep trying harder and to achieve more.

—Cum definiți succesul? Cum îl măsurați?

—For me, people booking me to shoot photos of them, plus the recognition of my work by my peers is probably my yardstick of success professionally. Happiness and contentment are signs of success in wider life.

—V-ar plăcea să fiți mai degrabă plăcut sau respectat?

—I don't think it's possible for me personally to respect somebody I don't like, so I don't think you can be one or the other. I can quickly lose respect for someone who turns out to be a huge douchebag.

—Care este cea mai mare greșeală pe care ați făcut-o în profesia dvs?

—I don't remember. I know I've made mistakes but I'm pretty good about moving on from stuff.

—Când plecați în călătorie, ce luați cu dvs. și de ce?

—My iphone, my kindle, my macbook, my camera and some earphones.

—Există vreun lucru pe care vă doriți să nu-l fi cumpărat dintre aparatele pe care le aveți? De ce?

—I tend to sell stuff if it doesn't fit into my life or work after I buy it. I remember I once bought a weird step trainer off an infomercial on the TV, it was so rubbish!

—Cum vă pregătiți pentru a face fotografii mai bune?

—Taking pictures is the education. I'm quite analytical so if I see a photo I like I work out what I like and why... I do the same with my own photos, working out how I could've done better or what I could've done differently. I look at other photography a lot – in books, online, instagram and I think that seeps into my work.

—Activitatea cărei persoane v-a influențat cel mai mult în calitate de fotograf?

—I think a turning point for me was doing a workshop with Daniel Aguilar from Mexico.

—Care este lucrul pe care vă doriți să-l fi știut când ați început să faceți fotografii?

—That there were no rules!

—Ce doriți să exprimați prin fotografiile dvs?

—I've no idea. Good stuff I hope.

—Ce vă motivează să continuați să faceți fotografii?

—The thing I love about taking photos, or any creative pursuit I guess is that it's just that – a pursuit – and you can never catch the thing you're chasing, but you're constantly improving, or changing at least. It's not static, or limited, or constrained. I know I've not taken my best photo, and I may never take it, but I will always keep striving for it.

—Părinții dvs. ar fi trebuit să mai mai stricți sau mai puțin stricți?

—No comment.

—Dacă v-ați putea întoarce în timp, ce ați face diferit?

—Nothing, I don't think of life this way. I got to this point in my life, a point in which I am extremely happy, because of the choices I made. I don't want to change anything.That, or I'd go back and invest in Apple before they invented the iPod.Or I could invent the iPod.

—Ce credeți despre viața pe alte planete?

—Maybe, maybe not. I'm not concerned with it.

—Cine sunt eroii dvs?

—I have no heroes.

—Pentru cine nu aveți respect?

—An awful question.

—Ce faceți în timpul liber?

—I play piano, play and watch football, watch TV shows and movies, go to the gym, spend time with friends and family, listen to music...I don't see life as spare time and work time. It's just life. I do all this stuff and I work, there's no split time. I work when I have to and I play whenever I can.

—Care este latura dvs. pe care publicul nu o vede niciodată?

—The public? As opposed to who?

—Când sunteți complet mulțumit de munca dvs?

—I love my own work. I love seeing progression in my work. I love it when my clients are in love with the photos I give to them. Completely satisfied? Is this possible?

—Credeți în rolurile tradiționale ale femeii și bărbatului?

—My parents got divorced when I was young. This has skewed my view of tradition in the home... I don't really know what traditional roles are – women raise children, cook and clean and men just earn the money? Then no, I don't believe in that. A family is the sum of its parts, not separate and distinct people or roles.

—Vă faceți prieteni ușor?

—Yeah I guess. I'm never the instigator, I'm shy so I tend to wait for people to make friends with me!

—Unde v-ar plăcea să trăiți?

—If I could have four homes I would have one in the UK, probably near where I live now, one in New York City, a rural house in Southern France and one somewhere in California! Not that I'm greedy.

—Care este cel mai stupid lucru pe care ați fost de acord să-l faceți?

—I'm not sure I've ever agreed to something stupid.

—Există viață după căsătorie?

—I've been married 8 years... I'm still alive.

—Aveți o glumă preferată? Spuneți-o.

—What's invisible and smells like carrots?Rabbit farts.

—Vă plac câinii sau pisicile?

—Neither.

—Pe cine sau ce urâți?

—I hate wasps. Passionately.

—Cel mai bun lucru în viață este:

—Family time.

—Cel mai neplăcut lucru în viață este:

—Traffic jams.

—Este ceva în jur ce v-ar plăcea să schimbați?

—I want to make my house bigger!

—Ce v-ar plăcea să schimbați la dvs?

—I would like to break my iphone addiction!

—Ce v-ar plăcea să schimbați în lume?

—Far too much to list. The world is a broken place.

—Ne puteți da câteva sugestii pentru fotografii începători?

—You don't have to shoot every second of the wedding, you're not making a stop motion movie... Slow down, breathe, let your mind take in what is happening then tell the story with your photos. There are no rules.

—Dacă extratereștrii ar veni pe Pământ și ați fi prima persoana care s-ar întâlni cu ei, ce le-ați spune?

—You will never feel satisfied after eating a McDonalds...

—Dacă ați fi solicitat să faceți un film, ce gen ar fi?

—Slapstick comedy.

—Mâine mă voi duce să fac...

—I'll go to the gym, do some editing, get ready for Saturday's wedding, kick a football with my children, eat food, drink coffee...