Episode 3 – The Photographers

Episode 3:

Download Episode 3 (right click and choose Save Link As…)

In this, the third episode of We’re Gonna Make It, we tackle one of the most prolific hobbies in the world. With the dawn of digital cameras and the rise of interactive Web 2.0 culture, photography has become a medium in which anybody with a cell phone and a Flickr account can become an artist.

But has this inundation of the form weakened its merits? Today, to reflect the huge audience for this medium, we go broad and talk to five different artists, some professional and some amateur, and we try to learn what it is about photography that makes them passionate.

Andrew Dodd Clippingdale is an event and promotional photographer in Victoria, BC, who also juggles the life of a filmmaker, graphic designer, and DJ.

His company, Dodd’s Eye Media, can be found at facebook.com/doddseyemedia and you can see some of his choice pieces at flickr.com/photos/doddseyemedia/

He takes pictures using a Canon EOS 7D. He describes it as “pretty okay.”

Kristy Westendorp is a lifestyle photographer who operates out of the greater Victoria area. She dabbled in the field of boudoir photography before moving on to more family-oriented work.

She is on maternity leave right now with her second child, so she doesn’t have a current website of her work, but you can find her by searching for Kristy Westendorp Photography, and we’ll be sure to update her profile here.

She uses a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, typically with lenses ranging from a 50mm 1.4 to an 85mm 1.8 (I don’t know what these numbers mean.)

Ally Butler works for the provincial government in Vancouver, BC. Her most fond memories of photography are from its unseen technical side, from when she worked as a photo technician.

She uses a Nikon D90, but also has her old film cameras: a Nikon F80, and the Canon AE-1 her dad gave her to get her interested in photography.

Justin Holmes is a Vancouver-based programmer with an education in photography. He takes pictures as a way to simply document life, without artistic ambitions.

He uses a Nikon something-or-other, a broken Canon SD600, and his phone, which is actually his best camera.

Jennifer Cook is still an artist in Victoria, BC. (Nothing’s changed there since our first episode.) She believes in a creative approach to photography, staging elaborate scenes with an air of theatricality.

She uses a Nikon D5000 these days, which she prizes for its swivel screen. She also has a toybox full of cruddy old film cameras, including her prized Holga.

This pantheon of artists gave the hosts, Moss and Taylor, a series of photo tasks that harrowed their very souls and drove them extremely close to the edge of reasonable sanity. To see the pictures they took, and to get a detailed breakdown of how the judges voted, follow the link (Warning: Major Spoilers for Episode 3.)

The We’re Gonna Make It Episode 3 Photographic Portfolio

With Judging Scores!!

This episode’s soundtrack includes the following tracks by OLAV:

(Andrew and Kristy’s theme)

(Ally and Justin’s theme)

(Jennifer’s theme)