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Indre for NEUE Magazine. |
Whether its iconic portraiture, fashion editorial
or exotic travel, David Todd McCarty blends both fantasy and authenticity
to create iconic images, that evoke an emotional response. David started off
his career in advertising, working as a creative director for many years.
Consequently, he understands the need of art directors more then most. From
passion, excitement, sadness, to being straight up quirky McCarty knows how to
reflect this well in his beautiful portraits.
At a time when photographers are
often mimicking one another, photographer director David
McCarty is flourishing. What is his secret? Having patience,
perseverance, while creating masterpieces. Find out more in this exclusive
interview where I get to know the creator behind the art.
BF: What
makes your creativity thrive?
DM: I don’t think I look at
creativity as a thing. I don’t know if it’s something that has to be catered
to, or pampered. I think of creativity as a solution to a problem. But if your
asking how I stay inspired, then I’d have to say it’s sort of involuntary. I
create because I don’t know what else to do. Some days you don’t feel inspired
and you search for inspiration in the work of others. I can read a great piece
of writing and decide to write something myself. Or see a movie. I can see a
great photograph and that will inspire me to want to shoot something myself.
Books, Magazines, You Tube, Pinterest. There is such a ridiculous world of
content out there. Any style, any execution you can imagine. Almost endless,
you always have to decide how to take that inspiration and make it your
own.
What’s your vision? What’s your voice? I have never
considered my own style continuously. What I meant is I don’t know what makes
my photography different from others, but I know it is. People have told me
that they can see a photo and know it’s mine. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe
someday someone will tell me. So then you go shoot. I take a lot of pictures,
so to me, shooting is just gathering material. Editing is where I get excited I
love to edit. Today’s dark room is a computer. And that’s where most master
photographers created their magic. It was always in the dark room.
BF: Out of
all the clients you have shot, who has stood out the most?
DM: I guess one that stands out,
maybe not as the best photo I’ve ever taken or anything, but the process by
which it came about, would be a series I did of the artist Victor Grasso for
Salt Magazine. One of the shots of Victor, with a real octopus in his mouth
became the cover. It was an interesting series. We shot them all in his garage,
which is also his studio. It’s a simple one story garage he has one wall
painted white and this is where he paints. We shot against that. The idea for
the octopus was Victor’s. He was working on a series of paintings inspired by
Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo. At the time Victor had a large, unruly beard and a
shaved head. He wanted to pour corn syrup over his head, which I thought was a
cool idea.
He also wanted to do something cool with a
small octopus, like put it in a old bottle, the way you see a worm in the
bottom of a bottle of tequila. The day I showed up to shoot him, he’d shaved
his beard, but we did it anyway. At one point, I just asked him to stick the
octopus in his mouth and he did. It was really collaborative and I think what
struck me most was that I had a subject that was a part of the shot, not just
waiting to be told what to do. This is also what you get from a great fashion
model. You don’t even need to tell them what to do; they’ll just start doing
it. The best models I’ve worked with take on the spirit of the wardrobe. If
it’s structured, they’re still and formal. If it’s light and flowey, they
become ethereal. It’s like magic and very transformative.
BF: Why
did you decide to become a photographer?
DM: What
do I LIKE about photography? It is my art every image is original. I don’t care
if you think you’re copying a look or style. Every photo is unique the subject,
the light, the angle. Unlike some people who pick up a camera and just decide
that’s what they want to do, it took me a lot longer. I was always interested
in photography but it was just one of many things that interest me. I began in
advertising as a writer and art director, then as a creative director and
commercial film director. Photography was always a hobby, but never a serious
pursuit. That changed when digital photography became a reality. No longer did
you need a dark room and chemicals and all the expense of it all.
The first digital camera I bought was the
Canon Rebel. It was the first DSLR to come out under $1,000. It was 6.3MP. Your
iPhone is 8MP I think. It cost me $800, and then I spent another $2700 on two
lenses, which I still have. It wasn’t fancy but, it allowed me to shoot to my
hearts content, and that’s what I did. It progressed from there. Henri Cartier-Bresson
famously said, “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.” “We can probably
revise that to your first million today. I’m a big believer in shooting. Shoot
often, shoot a lot.”
BF: How do
you describe yourself and your work?
DM: As I said before, I’m not
good at describing my photography, but I can tell you how I work. I’m known
primarily for my black and white work, but sometimes I really enjoy working in
color. Either way, I often shoot with a monochrome preview. It forces me to
visualize the composition, and not be distracted by the colors. I always shoot
RAW so I can make those decisions later anyway. But I’ve always loved black and
white. Since I was a kid it always felt classier timeless. I mostly shoot
people, and whether it’s fashion or portraits, I tend to blur the line between
the two. I like to shoot portraits like fashion editorial, and I like to shoot
fashion like celebrity portraiture. I’m very interested in capturing emotion in
my subjects. Not always big emotions, in fact I rarely ask a subject to smile,
but enough that we get a glimpse into their personality. It might be a smile or
a smirk, or it might be their posture or the way they hold their hands. I like
to make rock stars look like real people and I like to make real people look
like rock stars.
With a celebrity, you want to see their humanity,
something beyond the public persona. With a real person, you want to elevate
them to stardom. Everyone is capable of achieving that. Shooting people is all
about trust. If the subject is nervous that they’ll look bad, they’ll only give
you poses that they think flatter them. Or they’ll be nervous and won’t relax.
You can’t get good work out of people until they relax. I don’t generally look
for tension in my images. Even when I try to shoot something edgy, I end up
making it pretty. Once people trust that your going to make them look good,
they’ll relax and let you in. Then you can explore and try things.
Not everything works. Being afraid to fail is
a terrible thing for an artist or a performer. You HAVE to be afraid to fail,
or you’ll just do mediocre work. But it’s scary, so people sometimes don’t want
to risk it. But without risk, you’ll never achieve anything great. When it
comes to being on set, I’m pretty quiet and don’t tend to over direct. Some
people would say I don’t direct at all. I like to create a comfortable
atmosphere and let what happens, happen. It’s a more natural approach and
designed to allow the tension to melt away. The first series is almost always
the weakest. I’m trying to find my shot and the subject is often stiff, or
nervous, or looking to me for direction. When it stops being forced, I always
find what I want. What do I want? I never know. It’s part of the process for
me. When I pull tares, I’m just looking for inspiration, not to try and
duplicate someone else’s effort. Sometimes when things aren’t flowing, you just
tare it down and do something else.
I have stuff I know will always work and can fall
back on in a pinch, but when you’re exploring and you have a willing subject,
there are not rules. Then the work begins. The last thing I’ll say about how I
work, that I think makes me a little different, is that I always look for
simplicity. I want the path of least resistance. I don’t like to manufacture a
mood or setting. I like to take what is there and work with it. Most of my
studio work relies on a single strobe in a soft box and I shoot 95% of my
images with a Canon 5DMlll and a 50mm f1.2 lens. I have a lot of gear and
lenses, but I found that I didn’t need a lot of bells and whistles to create
images that capture my imagination. Keep it simple.
Written by Heather
Lisa Noire
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Victor Grasso on the cover of SALT Magazine. |
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Helena Sopar for an ad campaign. The Gallery in Philadelphia. |
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Ben Williams, award-winning Jazz Bassist for his latest album. |
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Ade, model. Personal. |
These images are amazing xo
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Stunning post! Love it!xx
ReplyDeletewww.inspiredbyel.blogspot.co.uk
How interesting he started his career in advertising. ''Shoot often and shoot a lot'' is some great advice! :)
ReplyDeleteGabrielle | A Glass Of Ice
x
awesome content and even better photos!
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Love this post! Great inspiration :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theladyfairer.blogspot.com
@Gabrielle I loved that advice also. It really does help teach you a lot :)
ReplyDelete@El inspired thanks so much it was a pleasure interviewing David :)
ReplyDeleteThey are quite alluring @Olivia Aimes :)
ReplyDelete@annie lee thanks so much . xx
ReplyDelete@Julie Smith It truly is with amazing advice :)
ReplyDelete