CALIBER

I do not photograph because I see. I see because I photograph.

Ivan (pronounced ee-VAHN) Makarov is a Bay Area photographer that I have admired and loosely worked with over the past year. He strikes a balance of discipline, curiosity, and variety in his work; possibly a function of his continual pursuit of decency. Although stoic in facade, I think Ivan is constantly inserting emotion into his photography. I wanted to probe a bit on a few fronts of his style and inspiration. Read on…

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What is photography for you and how did you get involved in taking it seriously?

I was always snapping pictures, since I was a little kid, but I did not start to pursue photography seriously as a form of art until I was in my last semester of college, burned out from studying and looking for a good excuse to escape the library. As soon as I bought my first SLR (Nikon D40), I knew I was hooked. Today for me photography serves two purposes – first, it’s my main medium of capturing our family history. I’m not good with journals, I struggle to regularly update our family blog, but I take family photos all the time, both that capture our big events, such as new baby or a vacation, as well as mundane everyday life. These are also the pictures I enjoy going back to because they capture memories and relationships. Second, photography is a way for me to see the world with new set of eyes. I know I notice things I wouldn’t notice otherwise, and when I have my camera with me (almost at all times now), I’m a lot more interested in life around me and the world in general.

Can you speak to a photographer or type of image that inspires you? Are their local photographers that you keep up with regularly?

My interests change and/or evolve with time. I started mainly with landscape and nature photography because I was living in Wasatch Mountain Range in Utah before I moved to the Bay Area. However, the weather in Northern California is very predictable and boring for at least half of the year, so I started photographing other things around me. I also look at a lot of work of other photographers. I’m a big fan of fine art type of photography and I’m a devout Lenswork subscriber, who owns many of their print magazines and all of their extended DVDs. Recently I really got into documentary type of photography. I follow a lot of local Bay Area photographers’ work that I have met in real life through photowalks and other social gatherings. It’s fascinating to see that while we all live in the same area, we can see the world so differently.

A photograph can be appreciated for many things, sometimes function over form and vice versa. What do you care about in taking a picture?

I suppose this question can be separated into two – first, what do I care about when I take a picture, and second, what do I appreciate in other people’s photographs.

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When I take a picture, I always try to capture (1) what I see, (2) what I feel.
It’s hard to capture both at the same time, but for me a photograph is not worth saving unless it captures a bit of both. Second, when I look at work of others, I look to see if it generates an emotional response of some kind. I look at all kind of photography on the daily basis, even the styles that I don’t photograph myself, and I enjoy doing that as much as I enjoy reading, my other favorite activity in life.

Serious photographers are at different levels of proficiency when it comes to their camera system, no matter the quality of shot. How versed are you in understanding the in and out of a camera? Can serious equipment make a serious difference?

I currently shoot with Nikon D300 system, and I spent the first 6 months I owned the camera shooting in all kinds of conditions under various settings. I’ve also read all I could on the camera and watched a whole load of online tutorials. Since it is not a simple camera, I did not want to limit my creativity by my technical ignorance, so I think I think I know all there is to know about this camera. I feel pretty confident about my technical skills in other areas of photography. While I did not formally take any photography classes, I’ve read huge number of books on technical aspects of exposure, lighting, etc when I first bought an SLR, and I did the same with Photoshop. Now I mostly read and buy books and magazine that cover the creative aspect of the medium, an area that is a lot more complex and more interesting. While I try to buy photography equipment within my means (for example, most of my lenses are Sigma lenses),  I do believe that latest technology can make a difference.

Do you feel that you are improving as a photographer and if so, what is driving that change?

I do feel that I’m improving, especially now that I’m trying new kinds of photography that I have not tried before. It’s always fun to learn new things and find new ways to capture what I see and how I feel. I buy new photography books every months and I borrow even more from the San Jose State University library that has a pretty good collection of photography books. This year I been reading primarily on the history of photography and the creative side of the medium, as I already mentioned before. Another big boost to me was attending local photowalks and meetups, which I try to do at least once a month. It’s great to expand the network and meet many photographers whose work I been following online for a while. I’ve taken some of my favorite photographs this year at these meetups.

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Can you pick two photographs of yours and describe your intention with the photograph, maybe even point out something you wish you could have changed?

First photo – “Hey Pops!”

As I mentioned before, family photography is a big thing for me, and this is my favorite family photo I have taken. I love it for two reasons – first, it’s very simple, just my family in one frame. Second, it captures raw human emotion, from both subjects in this
photo, and you can see it on their faces. I’ve tried to capture the same kind of emotion from two of them at the same time since then, and have failed every time. I don’t know if this photo means much to anyone else, but to me this photo means everything I cherish about photography. Maybe I’d move my wife a bit more to the left, but capturing a moment was a lot more important than composition here.

Second photo – “Sitting on the Edge of the World” -

This is by far my most popular and known image. It appeared in magazines, on NBC, and I’ve sold licenses to this images to various
outlets, including “Welcome to Utah” brochure you can get in any Utah airport or hotel. It also happens to be one of my favorite because it captures exactly how I feel about nature and insignificance of man. My buddy Brandon McIntosh, who appears on this photo, should get all the credit for it because he was the one who had to sit on the edge of 2,000 feet cliff while I was snapping away exposures, and it was his idea to sit there to begin with.

Thanks Ivan.
More Info: Ivan’s Photo Blog and Flickr Stream