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Robert Bengtson - Interview by Eileen Fritsch The Art of Detail - interview by Eileen Fritsch Article rating: 8.86

Click here to read Robert Bengtson's Ten Tips on Using Nik Software and Other Tips for Celebrating the Art of Detail

TakeGreatPictures.com (TGP): How did your photography career get started?

Robert Bengtson (RB): While I was an undergrad at a university, I took an introductory photography class at an art school and in many ways got ‘hooked’. Seeing those first images emerge from the developer late at night under the cast of a red bulb was magic.

It was while working in the San Francisco Bay Area after graduation, however, when I decided I wanted to follow up on those experiences from the art school. So I opened up the phone book and started calling photographers out of the Yellow Pages until I found one who was willing to take me on as an assistant. Honest. Since then, I spent many-a-moon learning more about the field and where I wanted to fit in.

My commercial career has unfolded exclusively on word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied clients. This has taken me to some wonderful places over the years. But if I were to offer any advice to newcomers to commercial photogaphy, it would be to really strive to understand what it is that makes your heart sing. And then do whatever you can to move in those directions.

TGP: What type of camera equipment do you currently use?

(RB): For 35 mm, I shoot Canon. For medium format, I use a Contac 645.

TGP: What software do you use in your daily work? Do you have a standard workflow?

(RB): My main tool is Photoshop CS3, and I do have a digital person who does the more advanced post-production work. I have a pretty standard approach in terms of shooting and processing RAW files through to their eventual backup. But I’m still learning all the time and am sure there is much still to learn and many improvements I can be making.

For example, I have recently tried three programs from Nik Software. And while I’m just at the very beginning of kicking the proverbial tires, I do like what I see.

In Nik Color Efex Pro, I particularly like the conversion to B&W options. Color Efex offers a whole array of approaches you can use, depending on the specific nature of the image and the kind of look you want to achieve. For example, you can choose from various starting conversion applications (i.e. b/w conversion, tonal enhancer, and dynamic contrast). Then within those, you can adjust strength, brightness, contrast, shadows, and highlights. You can also apply the filter across the color spectrum in your image. There’s lots of variety.

Nik’s whole approach to previewing is also really great, because they let you choose between a variety of views. I particularly like the vertically split screen when applying some types of filters, because I really like seeing the original file. It gives me more of a sense of where I want to go with the adjustment I’m trying to create.

I also really appreciate all the options Nik provides within each filter. They offer such a wide variety of decision-making within the application of each filter that adding one’s own aesthetic subjectivity becomes a primary element in transforming images.

TGP: Do you print any of your own work?

(RB): Although I left the darkroom years ago (opting to put my creative attention into capture images), I’ve always admired the fine-art photographers who stayed in the darkroom and maintained the full-spectrum involvement in their art. The digital era has enabled me to reincorporate that side of the coin into my creative process and I now use an Epson Stylus Photo R2400 printer. I actually prefer what I can achieve digitally, because I like my images to have a higher contrast ratio that what I was typically receiving from a lab. A real pleasure to be completing the proverbial circle again and be generating prints that I’m really proud of.

TGP: What types of creative projects are you currently working on?

(RB): One I’m extremely excited about right now is called 100-Watt. It marks a fundamental departure from my other personal photography in that work extends from my movement. The resulting abstracts of light and motion really have a range of expression, with a lot of interesting metaphors relative to viewer & viewed, subject & artist, nouns & verbs. At times, I feel more like Jackson Pollack than Ansel Adams, and in that process I feel a new creative door opening up for me. This is work I’m intending to make gallery-bound at some point this year.

TGP: What other countries have you traveled to and photographed? Which country did you enjoy visiting most and why?

(RB): A whole array of various destinations have been favorites. A few “favorites of the favorites” stand out vis-à-vis capturing images there. I liked Nepal, because of its remoteness and culture. Morocco, too, was another place I really enjoyed shooting. To get intentionally lost in an underground souk? Priceless! 

TGP: In your opinion, how has photography as a career been affected by the rise of digital photography?

(RB): Obviously, with more people shooting than ever before, there’s been a huge influx of imagery into the whole framework of our society. But my view is that it’s made photography so much more accessible and understandable to the masses, because everyone now has a relationship with it as a form of creative expression. In that, more people can fully appreciate what it means to be truly talented as photographer.

True, it’s becoming that much more competitive out there for various projects and jobs, and some clients have begun taking photography in-house. But by developing my artistic style into my commercial assignments, then I become sought out because no one is going to (be able to) come in and create images in quite the same way I do. Creating value that’s hard to replace is about developing your own style as an artist.

TGP: Is there a single best way to learn how to be a better photographer?

(RB): There are a lot of things to learn about how light works and how cameras work. You can get a more complete understanding of those things in a classroom, because if you’re in the field, you’re going to learn about light only relative to how it’s shining on your particular subject that day.

Having said that, there’s no substitute for experience. Doing is learning. It’s also good to be able to learn from photographers, because if you want to know what it’s like to be a photographer, a great way is to work with one.

In either case, becoming a better photographer is ultimately about really looking at your work and constantly applying your images to your intention behind creating them in the first place. It becomes a cycle that reinforces itself.

TGP: What advice would you give to photo enthusiasts who want to take their photography to the next level? 

(RB): The ideal is to pursue what you truly love to shoot.

It’s exciting that a lot more people have cameras that enable them to create photographs in ways they never could before. But there is no substitute for a great eye and artistic intention.

Photography as an art form has always allowed amateurs to accidentally get one or two shots that might be worthy of being on the cover of National Geographic. But it’s becoming more obvious to me that creating art requires intention. You first have to decide what you want to say and then figure out how you want to say it creatively.

It’s also important to keep in mind that there are some things in life that technology isn’t going to make better. Listening to Beethoven on a grand piano isn’t the same as listening to it on a digital synthesizer.

A couple of years ago, when I was traveling in another country and shooting digitally for the first time, I intentionally turned off the viewfinder because I didn’t want to keep looking at the back of my camera. It worked great, because I wanted to experience the place and be present in the moment instead of constantly interacting with the back of the camera. I never looked at the back of my camera when I was shooting film and becoming aligned with the creative process is crucial to creating art. At least it is for me.

It all comes down to asking: How does photography support the heart and soul of your quest to create art?

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