PM Subscriber Spotlight: Beyond
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Photographer:
Ali Pourmand
• Web Site:
http://zeninphotography.com • Location:
New Orleans, LA soon to move to Chicago, IL
• Contact:
gaeali at yahoo dot com • Member Since: 05/12/05
•
Equipment:
Nikonian, see my photoblog for details
PM: How did you get involved in photography?
AP: The first time I picked a camera I was in my early teens. One of my cousins was into making movies and photography and he let me use his then Zenith 122, a Russian 35 mm camera. After shooting my first roll of film and developing the negatives, I looked at the prints with a certain 'awe' I hadn't experienced previously with anything else. The photos were nothing but snapshots from an old crumbling wall, some crooked trees and a terribly overexposed sunset among a pile other out of focus shots but I could not stop looking at them! That original feeling has only intensified over the years.
PM: How would you describe your photographic style?
AP:
I think enthusiastic photographers who don’t have to pay the bills working as pros for most of their time change styles as they change themselves. In the last few years, particularly since I went all digital, I have become increasingly interested in the Daoist philosophy and its influence on art. Daoism has had a tremendous impact on Chinese and Japanese (and more recently all around the world) poetry, calligraphy and painting throughout centuries and photography is not an exception. However, there is no such a things as a “Daoist style” in photography! So my general approach is to use nature as my canvas and paint on it “what is”. I have also become increasingly more interested in shooting black and white.
PM: Why do you photoblog?
AP:
Over the last two years that I have been photoblogging, I have used my blog as a medium to communicate my photos with any passerby who is interested in sharing his/her thoughts with me about my work within the context of the Daoist philosophy or simply their honest opinion. Sometimes my photos are accompanied by a piece of poetry or a short story. It happens quite often though that I find no words necessary. When I started the blog I really didn’t have a definitive purpose for it, as much as I don’t have a definitive purpose for my photography. It’s just an outward expression of who I am inside and one of the strongest ways I can convey my innermost feelings.
PM: What are your strengths and weakness as a photographer?
AP: This is a tough one to answer because usually one is not the best criticizer of his/her own work! I think I have developed a fair amount of experience in the world of digital photography since I decided it was time to leave film a few years ago. There is always room to improve and I’d like to leave the task of answering this question to those who see my work. I always welcome critique.
PM:
What would you recommend for beginning photobloggers?
AP: It really depends on what you want to achieve. Like I said my reason was to simply share my work with those who are interested to look at my photos. Some might say don’t put your snapshots on the web or you’ll just be contributing to the terrabites of trash pixels that is already online! I respect this attitude but humbly disagree. I personally try my best not to take snapshots to begin with. After these years I have come to realize and appreciate the power of a good photograph and I believe it is worth it to try your best to create something, rather than allow your camera take charge and do what any security camera can do without you! That said, I believe we all start somewhere, which is actually nowhere! No one can take good photographs without snapping pictures first. So my suggestion is to constantly work on improving. It doesn’t matter if your photos don’t stand out in the early days, they will with time and experience. Another thing I’d like to say is to make sure you create a photoblog that is appealing to the eye and easy to navigate. I have seen websites put out by highly skilled photographers that deter viewers just because their work is presented very poorly on their webspace.
PM: What is your background, and what are you doing when you are not photoblogging?
AP: I'm currently working on the last pieces of my PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences. I have been working on global climate change in the last 100 thousand years using geochemical tools for about 4.5 years now. I will, however, change course soon as I will be leaving for University of Chicago in the fall on a post-doc. I will move from the Earth to the Cosmos, working on cosmochemistry and trying to figure out how old the universe is (well we all know the answer already!). It sounds like a lot of fun only if some one else does the dirty work in the lab!