Photographer Interview
John McIntire:- Yorkshire based American with an amazing eye for studio work, detail and beauty

Let's get the obvious question out of the way: what made you decide to pick up a camera and be a photographer?
I’ve had a latent interest in since I was very young.  It wasn’t until 2004 until I did something about it though and purchased my first camera.



Who/what is your inspiration?
At first it was the likes of National Geographic that got my interest piqued. I had no interest in working with people until I came across my first copy of Vogue. Seeing all the images, that quite obviously took an enormous amount of creativity and hard work from an entire creative team, just took my breath away and I said “I want to be part of that!” From there I discovered the likes of Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Nick Knight, Terry Richardson, Guy Bourdin, Lithium Picnic, Miles Aldridge (the list goes on and on) and never really looked back!



What has been your most interesting shoot to date?
That’s a tough one! There’s a few, but nothing particularly outlandish. Well, on my second shoot with a pair of burlesque performers, six women showed up for a shoot in my ever so tiny loft space. That was certainly interesting. More recently, I did a shoot for an art gallery for publicity for one of their upcoming exhibitions and one of the sets involved a pair of models precariously perched on a small ledge 30 feet above the floor!



Where do you see yourself and your photography in 5 years time?
As I’ve just recently gone full-time as a photographer, the goal is to have my business solidly established and by that time have moved away from portraiture and more towards the commercial and editorial side of things.



Have you ever had people being stupidly negative towards you and your work? and how did you deal with it?
I try my best to keep myself to myself, so I haven’t really had any issues there; however, my wife, very unfortunately, seems to receive heavy criticism on my behalf from detractors in her circles.



So let's talk news, how are you coping with the economic climate? Have you had to cut back on equipment/shooting in general?
I’m going to jump out on a very thin limb and say that the current recession will hopefully prove to be a blessing. I quit my full-time job just as all the banks started going under. The logic is, if I can do what I have to to keep afloat in the hard times, the good times will roll back around eventually and the lessons learned should be invaluable.



Let's say I'm a model, and I want to work with you really bad! What would you look for in me before considering me as a potential model?
Enthusiasm. Politeness. Open-mindedness. I’m not very demanding.



We know that every photographer has good and bad shoots, but when are you most satisfied with a shoot?
When someone who’s walked in, clearly hard on their self and very low on confidence, then walks away absolutely beaming and full of enthusiasm. That’s job satisfaction enough for me.



There is always room for improvement! Where/how would you like to improve with your photography?
In every way; I suck. Really, the thing I intend to work on most is conceptualising. I would really like to stop thinking in terms of individual photos and work more on cohesive sets that tell stories as a whole.



Have you ever had a bad experience with a model?
Yes. But that’s between me and me.



What is your pet hate for models?
Just show up please. Oh and please don’t expect 40+ hours of post-processing to happen overnight.



What is your pet hate for photographers?
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? One. Then ninety-nine, to say how they would do it differently. Just because your way works doesn’t mean the next person’s method, vision or style isn’t just as valid. Get over yourself. plskthx



Are you self taught? Or did you attend photography classes/courses?
Entirely self taught by way of every magazine, book and internet article I could get my hands on.



Sometimes you just have to learn lessons in life the hard way, what would you say has been your most valuable lesson along your photographic journey?
Don’t put too much weight on what other people think. Once you bow to the expectations and specification of others, it stops being personal.



And finally, what would be your dream collaboration?
Honestly? I have no idea. Just never really thought about it like that. Well Apnea and Mosh are two of my favourite models, so I guess them!