I'm giving at talk on light painting at the Photo East Workshop, here's the profile I wrote for them:
*
* *
I
didn't fill the questionnaire like I was asked. I did at first, but
my answers were not insightful at
all. I don't have a favourite lens.
I don't care what brands my computers
and cameras are—neither should you. And then I got way
too philosophical trying to answer when I'd known I was “meant
to be a photographer”. So I figured I'd just tell you a bit about
myself.
*
* *
My
name is Adrien Veczan. I got
this weird name because my dad was born somewhere
far away where people used to get killed a lot, and they got out of
there. I was born in Montreal, grew
up, then moved to Toronto. Nobody was trying to kill me; I
just wanted to learn photography. Why not?
In
college they taught us about design, we studied art history, they
talked about business, Ms. Kanurkas said my English sucked,
we had a creativity class, and so on. One teacher showed us
how to light and photograph a Rubik's Cube. (That damn unsolvable,
Hungarian cube...)
Later,
he said what we did with the Rubik's Cube we could do with
just about anything else too. Made sense.
Another
teacher told me what photojournalism was and what a photojournalist
did, and I figured I'd go and do that. Early on I worked for small
newspapers, then bigger ones. During my last year in school I did an
internship in Australia. I
missed a whole semester. To make up, all I had to do was write a
report about how much fun I had travelling. They even gave me a
grant. What a racket, eh?
Over
there, on assignment at the
Sydney Opera House, I photographed Air Supply—famous in the
'80s for hits such as “Making Love Out of Nothing at All”. You
don't hear that everyday.
And
if you think that's bad music: back in Canada, I photographed Justin
Bieber. I also shot a Manchester United game, got pepper-sprayed
while covering a riot, and photographed the Queen (the lady on the
money—how cool is that!), all within two weeks.
My
job has since taken me to shady spots and amazing places. I've seen
people do great things, I've seen people do stupid things. In a
nutshell: I'm a professional witness. That's what I do to make money,
which I use to buy happiness. Not a bad racket either.
*
* *
Outside
work, I use photography to
make art. The best way to describe my genre is
“light-painting”, but it shouldn't be confused with the sort of
flashlight graffiti currently in
vogue. That was innovative and original back when Dali and Picasso
and Curie did it. (Now that I think of it, I'm not sure that's why
Marie Curie was glowing.)
We'll
do a bit of that during my presentation and I'll show you a few
tricks. Waving flashlights and sparklers around is a fun technique,
but it should be used parsimoniously. (How do you like that
six-syllable word, Ms. Kanurkas?) We'll actually go a lot deeper.
I'll talk about the many ways we can use various light
sources—including some unexpected ones—to bring out textures, to
shape highlights, to create moods... We will... see the light!
Not
in a dying way of course. Actually, I should emphasize that: nobody
will die. Hopefully.
*
* *
If
you want to see my images go to veczan.com, you can
also follow me on Twitter @veczan. See you at Photo East on April
11th.
And
if you want to know more about Air Supply, they're still touring. On
April 11th, they'll be in French Lick, Indiana. So you've
got options.