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FireFlyz | 45
photographers on Instagram and find new
ones every day!
What are your future ambitions?
I would like to reach to a point when I
don’t have to shoot for others to make a
living. I would like to shoot purely to fulfil
myself and my creative urges.
Photography is …
All things to all people. To some an art
form, to others a journaling tool, to some
it’s technical, to others it’s magical, to
some it’s all about the gear, to others it’s
all about the emotion. For me it’s a bit of
everything.
Base Camp and the finish at the Sherpa
town of Namche Bazaar. Inmost races
the key picture is the winner crossing
the finish line, arms raised. In this
instance I thought the start line would
make a far more compelling image so
that’s where I headed, and it’s not an
easy process as Base Camp is at 5,364
metres. A couple of weeks of trekking
at altitude, carrying my gear, and that
year the weather was not great. But
what an experience to be walking
on the roof of the world among the
Sherpa people with nothing on my
mind except to take pictures!
What is the biggest challenge about
yourwork?
The relentless march of technology
that makes it necessary to upgrade
your equipment every few years.
Computers, laptops, monitors, hard
drives, compact flash cards, SD cards,
cameras, lenses etc. Apart from the
monetary cost, where does all the old
gear go ultimately?
Howdo youmaintain awork-life
balancewith three childrenwhen you
have to travel for your job?
One of the good things about my work
is that when a job is done it’s done.
When the photography is done, when
the images have all been edited, toned
and sent and received at the other end,
there are no meetings, no reports to fill
out, so that’s the time to hang out with
the family, to go to the pool and help
with the homework.
In fact recently we have been going
on holidays to places of interest rather
than just beach resorts and that gives
me an opportunity to shoot travel
images with my family around.
Why are photos so powerful?
A photo reveals all in one glance. In
a great photo you are assaulted by all
the elements at once – the emotion,
the light, the composition. A photo
also gives the viewer the ability to
draw their own conclusions about the
scene laid out before them. That is not
to say that a photograph cannot reflect
the point of view of the photographer
because what a photographer chooses
to photograph, the way they frame a
scene, very much reflects the point of
wiew of the photographer.
Read more about Char l es Pertwee and vi ew some more of h i s images at
www. pertwee . com
What advicewould you offer others
interested inworking as a freelance
photojournalist?
Don’t feel like you have to fly to some far
off hell-hole to find strong pictures and a
compelling story. The best stories are often
right under your nose, in your city/ town/
neighbourhood.
Who orwhat inspires yourwork?
Inspiration can and does come from ev-
erywhere all the time. Every film, every
photo, every cloud in the sky, every face,
every person, every rock, every shadow.
The photographers I look up to are end-
less; I follow hundreds of great unheard of
A devotee during
Thaipusam, Batu Caves
The pinnacles of the twin
towers emerging from the
clouds in Kuala Lumpur