Committee Profile - Candia Peterson ARPS - Magazine Editor
When did you first become interested in photography and how?
I was given my first Box Brownie by my father when I was about 5 and loved trying to emulate what he did with his (without much success). Later, when I was in my teens, I was given an Olympus Trip 35 and an uncle taught me how to use his darkroom. All was forgotten during the years of university and gainful employment. I would - like any parent - record my children’s development but I didn’t really take up photography again seriously until 2014 and on being widowed in 2015, I leapt into it with gusto with the freedom to go where and do whatever I wanted.
What does photography mean to you?
First and foremost, photography is a creative outlet for me. It also fulfils my need to learn, explore and develop in my older years. It is a pastime that keeps me busy and engaged and with a camera at my fingertips, I am never bored.
Image: Cannonsvllle Reservoir © Candia Peterson ARPS
What do you most like to shoot?
I would rather couch it in terms of what do I least like to shoot. I like to joke that I won’t shoot anything with a pulse and the reality is that people and animals hold little interest for me. I simply do not begin to understand the motivation of the wildlife or sports photographer! I’m fortunate in that I have for over twenty years lived in photogenic landscapes - the French Alps for seventeen of them and the Catskills of Upstate New York for the last four. As well as landscape, I shoot a lot of architecture - mostly the minutiae of architectural detail - and my work is becoming increasingly abstract. These days, I seldom find a conventional landscape coming out of my camera as the number of ICMs and multiple exposures (and both together) are fast taking over.
Image: Lone Birch © Candia Peterson ARPS
How do you approach a shooting? Do you choose the location/subject in advance, or do you drive somewhere and start taking pictures?
A bit of both. I certainly have favourite locations close to home and I know where I might want to go given weather or seasonal conditions. I usually formulate an idea and wait for the right day to arrive. For trips further afield, I definitely make a plan and I usually try to tie in trips with my work. I have to go to California once a year on business and always try to have a few “me” days as part of it. I really want to go to the White Sands National Park in New Mexico and my current thinking is that I will go out west via Santa Fe and hire a car to do some exploring.
Are you a member of a camera club?
During Covid, I rather bizarrely - given that I live in America - joined the Edinburgh Photographic Society on the recommendation of a friend. They had an excellent Zoom offering during lock down and I took full advantage of this. However, they are now moving most of their meetings back off Zoom and into their premises and combined with my moving away from representational photography (camera club judges hate abstracts!) I think this may well be my last year of association with them.
What is your favourite camera?
I have been a Canon user for many years, had my first EOS before my kids were born. As I migrated to digital, I stayed with Canon for the lenses I had and then gradually upgraded those too. This year I traded my 5Div for an R5 and am delighted with. Two or three years ago I had major surgery on my right shoulder and there was period of several months where I couldn’t heft the Canon so invested in a little Fuji X-S10. I loved it but as I returned to the larger body, I used it less and less, until this year when I’ve had it converted to IR, giving it a whole new lease of life for me.
What are you working on now?
In terms of Landscape, I’m working on a project - still in its infancy - on silver birches. In terms of indoors (during our brutal winters) I’m developing a body of abstract work involving coloured tissue paper. As I write, I’m building my 2024 calendar which I will be selling at our local craft Christmas markets.
Header Image: Empire State © Candia Peterson ARPS
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