IN WITH SU KAYE FBIPP

As a photographer, what inspired you creatively?

I really don’t know. I go to exhibitions and love everything from street art to going around galleries in Florence. I find it hard to know what inspires and what makes me do things – I’ll be in the studio, and I’ll think, I’ve got to try something different. I think I get bored quite easily, so I know I can continue what I’m doing and still get clients in, but I’m constantly looking for something different.

I’m probably more inspired by art and 3D art; I’m looking around my lounge now, and every piece I’ve got on my wall is 3D. In my photography, I look more at modern art than at other photographers.

Is there a photographer that inspires you?

When I got into photography, it would have been Karsh - I just loved the quality and the simplicity. Now, I love the work of Pete Souza, which is more documentary-type, just the way he saw things and his composition, and getting all the details you don’t notice until you read the stories behind the photos.

In terms of portraits, now I look at people like Platon, his style is a lot more modern and in your face.

The books I would sit and look through more are wildlife – black and white work like David Yarrow, Nick Brandt – people like that I just think are incredible.

“There is also one of a dog shaking its head; he was the first dog I took from a completely different angle because I was trying to do something different from other photographers, and it started to become a bit of a style I could develop.”

What camera do you use? Do you have a preferred model you work with?

I’m really simple. Every time I go out and see other photographers, I’ve always got the oldest, cheapest camera out of everybody. At the moment, I’m using an Olympus EM1 Mk 2, which is probably about seven years old, and I’d always used Canon before then.

When I work in the studio, 95-98% of the time my camera is on a stand, which is quite unusual, especially for portraits. Everybody is telling me I have to have eye tracking and this and that – I don’t - though it would make my life easier. I pre-focus where I think they’re going to be, use a long cable release or trigger, and very often stand next to the dog or the child and take a picture with a camera on a tripod on the other side of the studio.

Do you have a favourite lens?

I love the 40-150mm, but my studio is not that big, so in the studio, I tend to use the 12-40mm most of the time.

What’s the most important element of capturing a portrait?

Connection.

How do you get that connection?

Hopefully, I treat my clients well, whether that’s the dogs or the people. I feel there is quite a lot of interaction – I don’t have any automated booking system, and I will always talk to people first. I’ll try to speak to all the different members of the family if I can, try and find out what’s important to them and not just the photos they want but what’s important in their family. Obviously, it’s quite different with dogs, but that’s about learning dog behaviour and understanding what they need – it’s the same as working with children.

Whether it is a dog, a child or an adult, you have to understand their needs – maybe my psychology degree helps.

In Conversation With Su Kaye Fbipp

Do you have memorable or proudest photographs that standout from your career?

When I got the highest-scoring print the first time, I entered the National Print Competition, and I entered three travel pictures because I’d just spent four months in Africa, and that’s where I felt my heart was. Then one got 97% that was taken on some sand dunes; the nice things for me was, I’d said to my dad that I felt I should enter, and asked what he thought; he said, “Well, they’re ok,” but I thought I’d give them a chance, so that’s one of the images I’m most proud of.

There is also one of a dog shaking its head, but he was the first dog I took from a completely different angle because I was trying to do something different from other photographers; it then started to become a bit of a style I could develop, which was nice because I was looking for something that was different.

The other one is a shot that ended up on the cover of

Forbes magazine of a Nigeran man. The nice thing was, it was after my dad had passed away, and he came to me and said he’d previously been photographed by my dad, so there was this huge pressure. He was a very important man, and he’d been to my dad’s studio next to Regents Park, which was quite an exclusive address, and I was in a garage working from home – he came to me raving about my dad.

We got on a Zoom call the next day with all his team in Nigeria, and he spoke positively all about my dad and said, “she was exactly the same”. Portrait wise, that’s the proudest moment for me. I also recorded the meeting and sent it to my mum, who was so happy.

What’s your post-production process and workflow like?

My workflow is like a bowl of spaghetti – it is awful! I spend hours on pictures, far too long, I’m incredibly unproductive, I’m very anal with my retouching, and I do it all myself.

I think because I love what I do, I spend too long editing. I don’t care if I spend all night retouching photos, I love it, and I want them to be as good as they can be.

It’s not enough for me to say the ‘clients will never notice’ if I’ve seen something wrong then I don’t expect to leave it.

Is there something you still want to photograph to cross off your photography bucket list?

I crossed one off at Christmas, but I’d love to do it again and do it better. My passion, if I could just spend my life photographing something and not need to earn any money, would be wildlife in Africa.

One of the things I really wanted to do was photograph elephants at ground level, and I did that at Christmas, so I was very very pleased. We put in a lot of hours: days and days of being up at 3:45 in the morning and driving until 6:30pm when gates close.

Aside from that, any travel stuff, I love photographing people, adults, street scenes, and derelict buildings.

What advice would you give to someone starting out as a photographer?

The same advice I’ve given to a few people recently, actually. People ask me which photography course they should do because they want to become a photographer, and I say the first course they need to do is marketing. They need to learn about marketing, everything else I learned through experience, YouTube and courses, but if you get a marketing degree, you’ll do well.

On the photography side of it, you have to feel passionate about it, and with portraiture you have to feel comfortable and confident with your subject.