Although Shem was born and bred in W.A., he really only discovered his passion for photography whilst living and working in Melbourne. “The arts scene in that city is fantastic and at that stage I was shooting with one of Kodak’s first 1.2 megapixel cameras” After organising a work transfer back to Perth his interest in photography grew strong, but felt like he was lacking a basic understanding of photography, particularly the fundamentals of composition.
The first semi-serious step for Shem was the purchase of a Fuji Finepix S5500 – this was a fantastic camera and for a 4mp point & shoot (it looked like a mini SLR) produced some great pictures. “It had semi manual modes such as shutter & aperture priority as well as a full-manual mode on the camera and this combined with a short course with Greg Edwards studios in Northbridge taught me more in 1 year than I’d ever learned previously” Shem went on to add.
He has recently purchased a Canon EOS20D D-SLR and loves it. “It’s very different when moving from a point & shoot, mainly due to a more accurate depth of field, and of course almost-instant auto focus. It’s also taught me more on manual exposure, and manual focusing”. He has been working with an ISP here in Perth for the past year and a half. “There’s always demand here for pictures for use in the marketing department, and this is something I’d eventually love to do down the track”.
In the meantime, Shem is just enjoying getting out there, taking photos and evolving as a photographer. His main focus seems to be on still life, but also has an interest in portraits and street photography. He now lives in Leederville with his wife who is also taking an interest in photography as well. “I’m planning on doing more study to further improve my technique. The ultimate dream for me would be to turn my passion into a fully-paid career”. Small beginnings but big plans lie ahead for this up-and-coming photographer.
Chinatown Kitchen
Chinatown bar
Fun at the fair
Pepper
Checkout Shem’s Flickr stream for more photos www.flickr.com/photos/urbanphotographer