Interview with Antony Northcutt – Photographer

What is your title, and can you explain what your daily responsibilities are?
I am a photography mentor, so my days are spent discussing photographs, writing about photographs, and often arguing about photographs. I teach photographers how to better understand photographs and to express that understanding in their own work.

What inspired you most to become a Photographer? Why did you pursue this as a career?My inspiration comes daily, in the form of the student that suddenly realizes that photography isn’t just about people, places and objects, and that’s it far more than that. That an image has the ability to ‘mean’ something, and that by using informed discourse we can find out what that meaning is.

Why do we photograph ? To show beauty, tell stories, make a statement, express ourselves, and to maybe understand ourselves.

Why do I mentor ? To show you how to get to the previous answer.

What do you think is the biggest obstacle to pursuing a career in the creative fields?
In my view, there are two areas of discussion here, firstly our ability to doubt ourselves through the continuous use of comparison, and secondly our acceptance of critique from a largely uninformed audience, namely, friends, family, and social media. The only comparisons we should really be making is to that of our previous work and although “likes” are very nice, they don’t tend to educate us as artists.

With all the new versions of Photoshop what changes do you personally feel are the most exciting or brilliant?
The introduction of the Adobe Creative Cloud has allowed so many more artists to speak in a new language, it’s given them a whole new set of words with which to express themselves.

What Photographers & Photoshop artists/creatives do you follow, and why do they stand out from others in your opinion?
Danish photographer Asger Carlsen, simply for the way he deconstructs our common perception of photography.

What social networks do you like most? Which present good examples of Photoshop and Photography the best?
Is it possible that a social network can show Photoshop ?

The best social platform for photography in terms of visual enjoyment is probably Tumblr, it has a distinct heartbeat, it feels alive, and unlike many other platforms, no two days are the same. The content is ever changing. And it’s full to the brim with inspiration.

I’m also becoming rather addicted to Twitter, being able to filter out the ‘noise’ to just read and interact with the content I choose is a huge positive. It’s a great place for dialogue about photography.

What is your prediction of the evolution of social networks? How do you think these networks will showcase artists and Photographers better in the future?
I’d like to be able to put forward an answer with some kind of authority, but unfortunately I’m unable to. The future of social is dependable on so much more than what we see on the outside. For instance, how will the internet be delivered 5 years from now ? And have we as users shared as much as we can, or are we just repeating ourselves ?

As for better showcasing, well we’re seeing a change already, with many photographers that I know actually pulling away from the likes of Facebook due to the low reach of business pages etc. Google+ seems to be the latest casualty, Flickr, well that’s a pool, literally. 500px tends to be used by those driven by numbers, so I guess really we are left with Twitter.

Twitter is ideal for creating “a noise”, and when partnered with a Photobook, in my mind, it’s a winning combination.

What predictions do you have for the future of Photoshop and Photography?
I’m scared by what it can do already, and I do wonder what more can be done with a pixel, but I’m sure the boys and girls at Adobe have some ideas up their sleeves.

Follow Antony here!  www.antonynorthcutt.com & on Twitter @antonynorthcutt