Wednesday, January 14, 2015

LYFE INTERVIEW/ LYNDON EUGENE


 Everyone I introduce to you Lyndon. A photographer residing in the Atlanta area.I have seen his work around some sites and thought to myself I'd like to interview this individual with his detailed and high contrast photos. Get to know him below.
LYFE:WHAT CAMERA + LENS DO YOU USE?

LYNDON: I started out using a Canon T3 with the standard 18mm-55mm kit lens but now I shoot my clients with my Canon 6D with a Canon 50mm 1.4 and sometimes I'll use a 24mm-105mm but the 50mm is my favorite. I love prime lenses.

LYFE: WHAT PROGRAM YOU PREFER TO EDIT IN?


LYNDON: I strictly use Lightroom for my Dslr shots. If I have to go into photoshop then I feel like i didn't do my job. If I'm on the iPhone then I use a number of apps on there. Mainly Snapseed, Vscocam, and Mextures. Vscocam is my favorite because it can give your images that old school film look.





LYFE: HOW DID THE CONCEPT FOR YOUR LOGO COME ABOUT? 



 LYNDON:I found the designer Patrice through Instagram and I was a fan from jump.  She does really dope paintings and things of that nature. Then I found out she does graphic design work through a mutual friend and I knew I needed a logo but I didn't know exactly what I wanted on it or what theme. She asked me a lot of questions about myself,  looked through my work and came up with some drafts off of that.  I can't really take any credit on the design because I had no idea what kind of logo i wanted. I just paid her and let her go to work.


LYFE:YOU LOVE TRAVELING; DO YOU ONLY TRAVEL ONLY FOR CLIENTS OR PASSION FOR THE SCENERY?


LYNDON: I'm a military brat and I spent a lot of time overseas in Europe as a child so traveling and experiencing different cultures is something I was exposed to at a very young age. I'm very passionate about being able to see different scenes, learning about foreign cultures and enjoying the food. If I can get paid while traveling that's great but I mainly do it for my own pleasure. My favorite place is Capetown, South Africa. It's the most beautiful place you will see in your life. The views are priceless, the food is awesome and the women are gorgeous with the sexiest accents.


 LYFE:WHAT IS YOUR FANTASY?


LYNDON: Aww man I wasn't ready for that one, is this a PG blog or nah lol. I would say that my fantasy is to have a beautiful woman and live like the movie The Blue Lagoon. If you never seen the movie its about two young cousins that were shipwrecked on a small island by themselves and they just lived off the island isolated from everything.  They grew up together then fell in love and shit. I don't know why 80's Hollywood was so infatuated with incest but I wanna be like The Blue Lagoon without someone I'm related to cause that's nasty. Oh and I want the blue lagoon to have wifi, Netflix and Popeyes. That would be perfect.



LYFE:WHERE CAN PEOPLE REACH YOU ?

LYNDON: You can reach me on my website lyndoneugene.com , through email lyndon@lyndoneugene.com or on my Instagram @lyndoneugene pretty much everything is lyndoneugene


 LYFE:WHAT DO YOU WANT VIEWERS TO TAKE FROM YOUR PHOTOS?


 LYNDON:When i started I really just wanted to take some cool pictures while I'm abroad and on vacation, but now just watching my images mature, I want to move people with powerful images. I want them to feel the subjects and landscape and take it as a story. When they see the images I want them to see them as a story. I want it to speak to them without words.



 LYFE:WHAT DRIVES YOUR PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY?


 LYNDON:I think traveling definitely provides a lot of fuel for the fire because when you're away from home you are always going to want to take pictures. That's natural. I think me wanting to capture people in their natural element is another thing that drives me. I love capturing images with my clients where they act like I'm not even there and still functioning as such.  That's why I love street photography so much because it's real art to me. When you put your camera on a regular person they will stop what they are doing and try to pose and look cool. I really don't want the poses and you trying to look cool or sexy. You already look cool or sexy 9 times outta 10 before you was posing, just pretend like I'm not in front of you with this huge camera and let me capture you in your natural essence.



 LYFE:DID YOU GO TO SCHOOL FOR PHOTOGRAPHY?


LYNDON:No I didn't go to school for photography. I learned a lot between asking a few of my photographer friends questions while trying not to get on their nerves, looking at videos on YouTube and last but def not least just going out and experimenting myself. I bought 4 cameras in 2013 because I fell in love with taking pictures. I couldn't stop lol. First I bought a little point and shoot and I wasn't too happy with it because I wanted to be able to just snap pictures like click. Click. Click. Click. Rapidly and my digital wasn't doing that. And I wanted to be able to have my subject in focus with everything else blurred out. So I did some research on it and found out I need an Dslr camera so I found one on Craigslist (a Canon XT) for 200 bucks. The guy even gave me 2 lenses and a bag. I came up foreal. I was able to snap my rapid pictures and practice depth of field techniques but it was terrible in low light so I bought another camera off craigslist (a Canon Rebel T3) and it actually belonged to this dope photographer I'm friends with now named Rayneutron and I used that for about 6 months until I got up enough money to get the full frame camera that I use today.


 LYFE:DO YOU THINK IT'S HARD TO PROFIT OFF CREATIVITY?


 LYNDON: think it can be done. Really I think it's all about just having a niche and building a solid brand that people know and want to be a part of. If you can do that I think you will be profitable and flourish. All of my favorite photographers have some type of go to style they are known for and people want that from them. Some are known for their headshots or crazy lighting techniques .  Some are known for their landscapes and ways of capturing nature. Not saying that they can't do it all but I think having a niche is important. So that's what I want to focus on more next year is having a certain style that people can associate me with instead of experimenting with so many different things and doing whatever. I want people to want to hire me because they know  I'm going to give them some dope portraits or center focused shots or whatever I lean towards.


LYFE: DO YOU THINK BEING A "STARVING ARTIST IS INEVITABLE IN THE CREATIVE FIELD ?


LYNDON:Well I'm in a situation where I have a day job that pays my bills and I'm grateful for that because I can really focus on my photography how I want to and not have to compromise because I'm not in a situation where I feel like I need to do something I wouldn't normally do because I'm scared the lights might get cut off.  Or I'm looking out the window at 3am making sure the repo man isn't outside with the whip jacked up on the back of his truck.  Eventually I want to do this full time but I want it to be right. I've seen it done the right way. One of my friends Ben Styles I used to work with is a media specialist and he said fuck it and quit his job just to focus on his passion and he's doing really well gaining clients, building relationships and most importantly making a living off what he loves to do. I look at him as an inspiration because that's an example of how it's supposed to be done and you don't have to live in a 50square foot loft to be creative and do what you love.


 LYFE:DO YOU EVER GET DISCOURAGED?


 LYNDON: Of course, I see people that are way more talented than me everyday and I'm like dang I cant hold a candle to these guys but I'm not going to let it stop me from doing what I want to do. I just use it as inspiration. I'm not going to let it stop me from growing and accomplishing my goals.


LYFE: WHAT MOTTOS DO YOU LIVE BY?

LYNDON:"Win, Lose or Draw." - Nispey Hussle
     Basically if you choose to do something you have to live with that choice and go hard for it no matter what. Give it your all. If you win. You win. If you lose. You lose. If it's a draw and you break even then at least you know you went hard and gave it your all. I chose to do photography so that's what I'm going to do win, lose or draw.  I had several things happen to me this year, my mother passed earlier this year and that was my heart and really had me in a dark place. About a month and a half after that I broke my foot and wasn't able to work at my day job but I was like I guess it's a blessing in disguise cause I could have more time to focus on my craft.  Silly me.  Broke my foot on a Monday and I got my car broken into with thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment, hard drives and a laptop in my book bag stolen out my car that same Friday.  That really set me back the whole time I was out of work for almost 3 months.  Stuff happens and you just have to learn how to trust in God and deal with it if that's something you really want to do.  I spend most of the time shooting with my iPhone and editing old pictures that weren't lost on my hard drives until I was able to get my money back up and continue to do what I'm passionate about. But i know I still have a long way to go to get where I want to be which is being very comfortable doing what I want. When I want.


LYFE: 3 WORDS SUMMARIZE LYNDON EUGENE.

LYNDON: Young. Black. Cultured

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