Iain Sim: Portrait Photographer

About IAIN

Iain Sim Photography is actually a partnership, although the name doesn't suggest it. I take pictures and my wife Jo does basically everything else, but somehow I get my name on the website. We also have two beautiful kids. We've been running a photography studio for about eight years now, and have been lucky to keep finding clients that we connect with, which I think makes a big difference to the final images. I also photograph products, headshots and personal projects, and these can sometimes be found on the blog or our facebook page.

We love working together and creating pictures that will be a part of our clients' lives for many, many years to come.

What advice would you give a photographer starting out in the industry? 

Along with learning the craft of photography (i.e., the technical skills required to capture a well seen/lit/composed/exposed image), it’s really important to also develop skills in turning those images into saleable products (i.e., file management, printing). In wedding or portraiture photography, most successful photographers run their own businesses these days, and so skills in marketing, sales and management are also incredibly valuable. The best thing I ever did for my business and career was to join the AIPP’s mentoring program.

What was the most challenging assignment you have ever had either physical or emotionally? 

My first paid job was a Serbian wedding with over 400 guests, most of whom spoke no English at all. Luckily not all of them were at the ceremony! There were people waving massive flags and a guy playing an accordion at an incredible volume while I tried to wrangle a few hundred guests into a group photo, and at that moment one of my CF cards decided to die! I lost four images, quickly re-shot them and vowed to have a better backup system in future! I now shoot with two cameras in the ceremony, both of which have two cards recording simultaneously for backup. 

What is the most unique project you have worked on and why? 

Probably this: http://blog.iainsim.net/2012/03/21/a-family-tree-sort-of/. That link will take you to a blog post which will explain the whole story.

What inspired you to start taking photos? 

I actually needed two doses of inspiration. I had a great photography teacher at High School who was passionate about photography and it probably rubbed off. I then did work experience as a photographer at a newspaper and decided I’d do something else for a living, because to be honest I found the things I was photographing for the newspaper pretty uninteresting. Then years later I went travelling and realized that I still loved photography and that the problem had just been that I hadn’t been photographing people, which is really what I’m interested in. 

How did you become a photographer? What was your big break into the industry? 

The family in the blog post I linked to earlier above were actually my “big break”. When they got engaged they asked me to photograph the wedding. I think I spent more time planning my role than they did planning to be bride and groom, so when their bridesmaid called to say she’d just recommended me to her friend (the bride with 400 guests), I was reasonably ready. I’ve had to learn and re-learn a lot since then, but those two weddings formed the basis of the business that I now run full-time.

What interests you most about photography? What do you find most rewarding about photography? 

Without any doubt, it’s the stories of the people in front of my lens, and the idea that I can capture images that will be used to tell those stories to future generations. For me, it’s not really about pixels or even about art actually.

Who is your favourite photographer and why? 
I don’t really have one favourite. Here’s three that jump to mind though: I love Annie Leibovitz’s ability to tell or even create a story in a single frame, Jose Villa for his colours and the perfect simplicity of his colours, composition and lighting, and Peter Brew-Bevan because of his incredible creativity – if you do a google image-search on his name you’ll see hundreds of images and each one is completely unique, even though many of them are shot quickly and in similar circumstances.

Where do you see the photographic industry in ten years time?
I’d like to think that as technology keeps improving it will just become less about the technical skills (because everybody will be able to take a well-exposed image or if not, very easily fix it) and more about each photographers ability to communicate ideas or tell stories visually. Digital SLRs have dramatically increased the number of “professional” photographers in the industry and have also dramatically decreased the proportion of life events such as weddings and births which get photographed by a full-time photographer, so we’re already seeing that it’s harder to make a living than it used to be and that only the best photographers and the best businesses are succeeding.That may sound pessimistic, but I actually feel great about the industry, knowing that it will be hard work but there’s a great life and career still to be had. 

What type of cameras and equipment do you use?
All Nikon, but all of the major manufacturers are making amazing cameras these days.

If you could photograph anyone or anything from any time period who or what would it be and why?
I’d love to take some of today’s gear back a few hundred years and photograph people who had absolutely no idea what I was doing! These days one of the hardest things about photographing people is getting them to put aside their ‘photo face’ that they’ve practiced in the mirror and just be themselves.