Foto Live Speaker profile: Adam Williams
One of our fair nation's finest landscape photographers, Adam Williams will grace the stage at Foto Live in August. Here's four quick questions with the master photographer.
1) What's your most memorable photography experience?
It's a tough one, as so many spring to mind, but I just love those quite sunrises spent alone in majestic locations. However, If I had to choose one single moment it would be the day the cloud touched the ground at Uluru.
I was with Ignacio Palacios the day before our Central Australia workshop was to begin, out for sunrise as you do, however, Uluru was completely clouded in, not even a hint of the majestic rock. Disappointed, we packed up and headed back for a hot breakfast, driving the long way around to scout potential locations for the tour. As we rounded back past the main vantage point we spotted a glow from within the clouds, and seconds later the clouds began to part and the light flooded in. Spectacular!
2) What's the number one mistake you see amateur photographers making?
The desire to be better, looking for the secret sauce, or that one little trick that will make their photos stand out, the truth is the journey is the reward, enjoy the joy of steady improvement, enjoy the places, experiences and people you meet. Honestly the day I stop growing as an artist is the day I stop enjoying what I do, Don't wish to be at the end of the journey because you will miss all the good stuff along the way.
3) What's one piece of advice you'd pass on to an aspiring photographer?
Try to be yourself, I think most of us desire to be unique, and to have our photography standout, however, in my case I spent a lot of years trying to be the same as everyone else, its not all bad, emulating your favorite photographers is a great way to learn your craft and begin to understand what you like.
However, in my own experience, the most rewarding/satisfying work started when I began to seek out who I was and what I wanted to say.
4) What can people expect from your talk at FOTO LIVE?
For those attending, I hope to challenge the expectations of what landscape photography can be, excite and inspire new directions, new ideas, to create on a deeper more emotive, more personal level.
Adam Williams is one of eight amazing speakers at our one day photography event, FOTO LIVE. Find out more here.
