Blog on Photoblogs

It’s a real honour for me to post a profile of Miles Storey and his photoblog - MUTE. I have followed his photoblog for quite a while now, and I can honestly say that it was one of the first that I added to my RSS reader so many years ago. Enjoy the read, and if you find yourself in an uninspired place I suggest cruising by MUTE and find some inspiration!

BOPB: What drew you to photography in the first place, and what made you decide to start your blog?

Miles: I’ve always been attracted to photography. My father always had a camera around when I was growing up and we would all gather in the dark for magical slideshows on the wall. I always loved the aesthetic of photography, from the photography to the camera itself. But I never really made the connection to being a photographer, for me it was something to admire but not something I could do.

I started a blog because I was inspired by other photoblogs to take up photography. Toronto plays host to a lot of photobloggers and through their sites I was able to see the different ways people saw the things that were familiar to me. I wanted to contribute to that.

BOPB: What was your first camera? And what made you take the leap to digital?

Miles: My first serious camera was a Canon EOS film SLR, which I bought on a whim. I had no idea what I was doing and got no creative satisfaction with it. The first camera I used seriously was a Canon G1 digital, but my reason for buying it wasn’t photography. I was a designer at the time and thought the digital camera would be an efficient way to collect reference images for designs. I think it’s thanks to the convenience of digital photography that I ended up finally getting hooked and realising that I could get creative with a camera.

BOPB: If you were able to give a single piece of advice to a photographer who has decided to create a photoblog what would it be?

Miles: Keep it simple. There are too many photoblogs that distract the visitor from the image with weird features or designs, my favourite sites all focus on the image. Some photobloggers I admire have sites I find frustrating. I still visit those sites but, for example, Flash driven sites don’t let me bookmark particular images and share them, which is what photoblogs are all about for me. My site is a bit of a blank slate but it is possible to put your own personality onto your site without making it inaccessible

BOPB: Who are your photographic/artistic influences?

Miles: I like a wide range but documentary photography is what really inspires me. The intimate work of people like Mary Ellen Mark and James Nachtwey, or the epic range of Sebastiao Salgado and Edward Burtynsky. I like rawness and humanity in an image.

BOPB: I love your portrait work, the colours are vibrant (unless of course its a B+W shot), and they are always pin sharp. What would be your advice to a photoblogger who’s really interested in portrait work?

Miles: I use prime lenses almost exclusively, there’s just no comparison to zoom lenses in terms of price vs image quality, not to mention that I usually use apertures below f/2.8 for portraits. What’s really important though is getting the subject to connect with you, and have that come through the camera to the image. I know a lot of people think that a photograph is ruined if the subject is aware that they’re in front of a camera because they will be ‘posing’, but, with enough effort and care, it’s possible to make any subject feel comfortable and get a natural reaction from them. Again, I think this comes down to making a connection with the person. The image is only the end result of the interaction you had with that person. For me the portrait is the whole process, not just the image.

BOPB: I know that you mention on your site that, “I use photoshop, sometimes I go nuts with it, sometimes I don’t.” are there any other tools that you use regularly or is the majority of your developing done in photoshop?

Miles: I use Photoshop for all my post processing, including RAW conversion. I’ve always seen images in two different categories, images where I have a vision in my head and use Photoshop to get there, to put my mark on it, and those that I want to be able to speak for themselves, like the portraits or reportage shots. I’m certainly no photojournalist but I’m streamlining my image workflow more and more for these kinds of shots, using less and less manipulation and trying to rely more on the camera.

BOPB: I don’t see any mention of prints for sale on your site, do you plan on selling images?

Miles: I keep thinking about it but I can never bring myself to make that leap and presume that people would want my images on their walls. It’s not about being humble or anything, I look at my photography and don’t really see enough consistency or persistence of style to consider myself a mature photographer. I think selling prints or trying to exhibit would mean admitting something to myself that I’m not ready for. I have taken a big leap in the last year or so, getting images reprinted in a few local magazines and becoming a contributor to Torontoist. That’s been very satisfying and opened up some new opportunities for me.

BOPB: How often do you print your work? Do you use a lab or print at home? If you print at home, what printer are you currently using?

Miles: I don’t own a photo printer and I don’t have any of my photographs printed and framed, I prefer to put other people’s work on my wall, mostly other photobloggers. I do get prints sometimes, from a couple of local labs. I try to reconnect with portrait subjects and give them a print if I can. One subject I photographed, a homeless man, wrote his life story on the back, took the image to a print shop and made a bunch of copies, then gave them out to people on the street.

BOPB: What you method for overcoming a lack of inspiration when it comes to your photographic art or your blog?

Miles: I often feel uninspired, the only thing to do is get up and take photographs, it will take a while but eventually you’ll get back into the groove. Taking a tour of photoblogs is also a great way to get some motivation, especially if they’re in the same area as you and you can see what’s possible in your own neighbourhood.

BOPB: Would you mind sharing with us one or more photoblogs that you really like?

Miles: I have a big list of photoblogs I visit regularly, it’s hard to pick out ones in particular but a few of the sites that I took inspiration from in the very beginning that are still going strong are;

Making Happy - not updated any more but the archives are still there.
No Traces
Outafocus
The Narrative
Worksongs

BOPB: The Internet is really changing the “game” when it comes to photography. Gaze into your crystal ball for a second and tell us what you see for the future of photography and how the Internet is going to further transform it.

Miles: So many people are picking up cameras and sharing their images on the net these days, it’s great to see. Walking around the city there are people everywhere with cameras peering up at buildings or down at flowers! The internet gives all these people an outlet for their creativity and provides a forum for feedback and sharing experiences. I love that. As the number of people contributing continues to increase I think we’ll see groups with common interests forming, enabling more and more people to find their creative side.

BOPB: Where do you see your blog in say 3-5 years.

Miles: Honestly I’m pretty happy with where it is now. I don’t really have ambitions beyond sharing the odd image, this is my creative space and I enjoy being able to do what I want to when I want to.

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