Check out this great photographer and his work at Warren Cartwright Photography!
1. Tell me a bit about yourself (name, location, affiliations, personal stuff).
Warren Cartwright. Currently living in Vancouver, British Columbia. I'm a hobbyist/enthusiast photographer with a "real" job as a Product Manager for a software company. I picked up photography about 10 years ago, but started taking it seriously about 5 years ago.
2. What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?
My focus has been on landscape and wildlife photography for the most part. Having the opportunity to photograph wildlife in their natural environment, whether that be here in Canada, under water or on one of my trips to Africa, has always given me a tremendous amount of pleasure. You get an opportunity to learn so much about the natural world by observing it. Doing so through the lens of a camera forces you to really focus and pay attention to what's going on around you. It's almost a cliché, but until you understand your subjects, you're not going to be successful taking great pictures.
I've also been very fortunate in my job to have the ability to travel to a lot of very cool places around the world. I spent part of 2008 and 2009 living in the UK and working in Europe. That opened up a lot of new travel opportunities, and gave me a great opportunity to see some very interesting places. It also really increased my experience with landscape (including cityscape) photography.
3. Creatively where would you like to be in five years?
I think it's really about expanding my range of experiences. I'm not the most experienced photographer, and need a lot more "miles" to continue to develop my skills. I also recently upgraded to a Canon 5D Mark II, which is a full frame sensor, rather than a crop sensor as was on my previous DSLRs. It's a subtle difference, but one that's taking some getting used to. I'd like to continue to focus on wildlife photography, as that is where my real passion is. That's one of the great things about living in Vancouver; there's a lot of wild just out the front door. I'd like to spend more time dedicated to shooting - make it more of a priority in my life.
4. Where would be the best location for showing off your gorgeous photographs (the Louvre, Buckingham Palace)?
I don't think I'm that ambitious! I'm pretty happy with the web for the time being. I like the opportunity it provides for a very wide group of people to see and comment on the work I'm doing. I do need a lot of feedback and input on what I'm doing, and if any of it is really speaking to people. Eventually I'd like to try and put together a show of some of my best work, but I think I need to really find a style in my work before I get to that level. I still have a long way to go...
5. Where in the world do you like the best and would you move there if you could?
That's a tough one. I've lived in Toronto, Vancouver and London (UK), and while each of them has their positives and negatives, it's pretty hard to argue with all that Vancouver has to offer. It's an amazing place to live, and I do feel privileged to have had the opportunity to live here for most of the past 10 years. I think this is "home" at this point. That being said, I have been able to travel to some amazing places. South Africa, Australia, Florence Italy, Fiji and Hong Kong are all pretty high on the list, but I'm not sure I'd necessarily want to live permanently in any of them. I think we forget sometimes what a great country Canada is, and don't fully appreciate it. This will be my home base, but I expect that my traveling will continue. There's so much of the world left to see, and I do want to explore it fully.
Website: http://warrencartwright.com
Blog: http://warrenc.ca
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wcartwright
