Dave Pelham - Photo Contest 2020 Jury Spotlight

Written by Ilayda Edali

September 8, 2020

Dave Pelham is a British portrait photographer for the modern creative professional. Despite having obtained his bachelor's in classics (Greek, ancient Latin, drama, philosophy, literature, and language), Dave is now a successful photographer based in his Amsterdam studio. 

“In portraits, we come to the foreground and confront ourselves through the photos.”

Ilayda: Why did you choose portrait and event photography? 

Dave: I think I like a challenge and I didn’t realize how much of a challenge it would be to shoot portraits. Particularly because it’s amazing how different our perceptions are of ourselves, compared to other people’s perceptions of us. And in portraits, we come to the foreground and confront ourselves through the photos. The insecurities come out, but it’s not a negative experience. I absolutely love shooting portraits of people and talking to them, hopefully, to help them find more about themselves. I find it an accelerated shot of self-awareness. 

Ilayda: Do you ever shoot self-portraits? 

Dave: Yes, I do. It’s funny how I used to not like the camera. However, taking pictures of yourself in a professional setting feels different because I really want to feel as much empathy as possible for the people who are going to come and see me. So, I can experience with as many angles as possible so I can relate to them as well as just actually get the lights right. 

Dave Pelham, www.davepelham.photography

Ilayda: Can you share an interesting memory with us that happened during a photoshoot?

Dave: I had a few shots last year with a start-up. Surprisingly, it was really an amazing experience for me! I thought it would be a more straightforward scripted shoot. We had a shot list, but one person in the photoshoot had lots of personal changes in their life and they asked for my email address at the end of the shoot. This was a team of maybe ten people. And this one person sent me an email immediately after the shoot to say how thankful they were that we could have a relaxing environment for the shoot. I was able to show some of the pictures from my camera to them and the first headshot of them, they couldn’t speak because it was literally the first time they had actually seen themselves as they are now. To me, it was such a powerful experience, and it surprised me that someone took their time to write such a long message to me on how thankful they were. They felt comfortable in their own skin now for the first time in a while or maybe ever. I felt quite honored that I was involved in the experience. 

Ilayda: That sounds amazing. As we mentioned before, Arty and I both studied Media Communications and we are both interested in photography, but we are not familiar with starting a photography business in the Netherlands and how it works. Could you tell us about that? 

Dave: There is not really one set track or path you can follow. You can go to school, whether you want to study photojournalism or a different genre of the field. So maybe study and ask for the networking options with other photographers and build up your own portfolio in the meantime. For me, none of that happened. I was studying in the UK before I moved back over here (the Netherlands). I was studying master's in history, film, and TV. My plan was to find a way into the TV industry or radio, something in the broadcast. Through that process, I discovered that I loved still photography. I got some great advice and harsh feedback from different people, so my ego was nicely dented ☺. A couple of years later I came back to the Netherlands after working in some different fields. It was freedom and being away from my home country. I felt as if I left my comfort zone every day. It helped me to think ‘OK, in a sense, I’m free, now what? I’m separating myself from who I was in the past to who I want to be now and what’s stopping me now. Three years after I moved to NL, I started shooting for my work, random places – car park on my way to work, or someone passing on their bike. And I started noticing people saying nice things about my pictures. I started to make shots of weddings. And then I started to think, ‘Is this profession, or is this me just playing around with the camera?’ It became obvious to me that this is what I enjoyed the most. I felt like I could play around, create and give people memorable and cool pictures of themselves or the things that I want to capture. And by working at a university, I use it as a playground kind of in some respect. On the side I’m doing my regular job, I’ll shoot portraits for all the departments at the university. That is a lot of people. I got to practice and interact with them, have shoots in the office, and pretend to be a photographer. Practice just kept coming. That for me was and still is the most essential thing. There are some gaps in my knowledge of course, whether it’s the lighting aspect or whatever aspect of photography. I also interact with a lot of Dutch photographers or Dutch creators in general. And expanding your network makes you learn about other people’s past in that profession. There is so much cross-over not just in creative fields, there is a lot of interaction going on between different fields. 

Dave Pelham, www.davepelham.photography

“You never just shoot photos and send them to people, there are so many other factors you need to think about and take into consideration.”

Ilayda: What does the daily life of a photographer look like in the Netherlands? 

Dave: It’s very varied. For me, I shoot a number of different principles, and right now I’m focused a lot on portraits. Because of the situation, we are in, in 2020, the events for portraits (weddings, etc.) are not happening as much. Therefore, daily life is often handling all the inquiries for the upcoming photoshoots. It also includes me reaching out to people and making connections, setting up meetings with people, and getting my studio ready for shooting. You never just shoot photos and send them to people, there are so many other factors you need to think about and take into consideration. To be honest, a large portion of the time is spent working on the business and for the website and improving as well as trying to connect with as many people as possible. Especially as a portrait photographer, I have a brand and I want to represent myself and I also want to meet as many interesting people as possible and think of how we can collaborate. 

Ilayda: Do you have any tips for photography students?

Dave: Practice is the most essential thing. If you can shoot one hundred thousand frames, whether you keep one of them or they are all trash - shoot as much as possible. We have digital technology, so we don’t have to spend money on film but that’s your choice if you want to go analog. Practice, practice, practice. If you can, get some feedback from professionals as well. The more honest the feedback, the more it will hurt, but the more it will help. I personally had very harsh feedback from my mentor back in the day when I was getting serious about starting my business or running a business properly. Practice, get feedback, connect with other people.

Don’t edit your work too strongly. Let me clarify this – choosing pictures and editing them is good; however, post-production – style of the picture, don’t overdo it. There is simply a lot of dials in photoshop and other programs, you can really make your images full of effects, but everyone does it on Instagram or their phone. If you can find your way to try and match the image before you click the shutter, that would really help. But don’t overthink it. Yes, you have to practice editing, it’s a part of your journey and there are no worries about trying new things. But just from my experience, I used to edit the crap out of my images. Like Black and White, it would be so Black and White, it’s like a chessboard, and there is no detail whatsoever, the shadows are completely lost, and there is no subtlety at all. So now, I like to push things, I like to find contrast and color but then I remember that this picture needs to be used by someone, or for me it needs to be artistic or realistic. With time you learn not to break your images during the editing process. 

“When you think of taking pictures, you don’t have to take them literally, but also symbolically. A photo can also represent something else.”

Ilayda: Do you have any more tips for the photo contest contestants?

Dave: Don’t be afraid of expressing yourself in whatever way that comes to mind. It might be a little bit of a cliché, but I think it can help – to think from a different perspective than the one you always thought from. I think it helps if you travel and meet people from different cultures and places that have experienced other than your regular life experience. When you think of taking pictures, you don’t have to take them literally, but also symbolically. A photo can also represent something else. Alongside that, perspective is super important and interesting. For example, I’m a tall person, so when I shoot a picture, I always position the camera down when I angle it at someone else, so my aim is always looking down on them. That’s not the most uplifting kind of perspective. I’m often at ground level when I’m shooting someone who is sitting for example. You can shift your perspective to give the picture some sort of variety. The third thing is very simple – have a camera with you, even if it’s just your phone. Don’t be afraid, just go for it. We are a friendly society nowadays. But if you wanna take a picture of someone on the street, I would probably ask them. Don’t do it sneakily!