Meghan Moore works as a professional photographer outside Boston, Massachusetts.
Creativebin: What got you into photography?
Meghan Moore:
A trip to Prague in spring of 1992 with classmates. My brother let me borrow his Pentax K1000, and by the end of the trip, me and that camera were tight. I learned how to focus fast, how to pre-set the aperture, how to compensate for shutter speed. Also on that trip, I took the best
photograph I've never taken.
Streetside, I watched as a bicycle, horse-drawn carriage, and Soviet-era taxi came along the road at different speeds. I whipped off the lens cap, pre-focused, set my shutter speed low, and pulled off a series of finger-pumping, thumb-cranking frames as I panned the camera with the traffic. I was so hot. Realization dawned about an hour later that there was no film in the camera. I was so bad.
CB: What is your educational and professional background in photography?
MM:
I took a few classes, and then got really into it in 1997, when I had my first post-college job. For the first time, I had no homework, no long-term projects. So I took photography classes locally, and one of the teachers needed an assistant for weddings she shot. I helped her for a while, learning on the job. I was also exhibiting regularly, trying to put my new skills to use. Then I went to an open studio, met some photographers, and found a job assisting a photographer in his office and at his weddings. More learning on the job! Most importantly, I was learning about the business side.
I also worked for a portrait photographer at her studio one day a week, and we crammed in as much business as we could, plus I assisted her on shoots all over the place, learning about lighting, posing, and learning to anticipate her needs and the clients' needs.
I also worked for an arts council, so I could get to know more of the artists in my community. I'm still very involved with open studios in a couple of communities.
During this time, I was doing freelance photography part-time, or basically whenever I could fit it in around working for others. At some point, while I was spending less than half my time on freelance photography, I was receiving more than half of my income from the photography work. So I quit my other jobs, and became a full-time photographer.
CB: Do you work as a professional photographer full-time?
MM: Yes. It involves a surprising amount of work in the office, and I have an assistant who helps me during the week. I have a slow season in the beginning of the calendar year, and shoot 2-4 times a week during the rest of the year.
CB: What kind of photographs do you take?
MM: Mostly people photographs, with occasional objects or places for established clients. I do work for a couple of magazines, theater companies, some ad agencies and a PR agency, and lots of portrait and wedding photography.
CB: Where do you display your work?
MM: Right now, outside of the walls of my studio in Lowell. Also downtown in some of the windows in Lowell, as part of a community exhibit. I also show in group shows in galleries when my work is accepted, and I sometimes do solo exhibits at cafes or other spaces. I participate in 2 open studios a year, when people walk around looking at artwork. I keep lights and a backdrop set up, and sometimes we'll have an impromptu photo session.
CB: What exactly is an "open studio"?
MM: An open studio is kind of like an open house for artists and their artwork. I'm involved with a couple of them - Somerville Open Studios and Lowell Open Studios. A call to artists goes out months before the event. An artist sends in a registration fee, along with an image to be used on the website and possibly in publicity. The artist's name and description of work goes on a map and on the website, along with a bio and image on the website. The map is published with dots indicating artist studio locations. The open studio is held on a particular weekend, and visitors come - hundreds, thousands depending on the event - and get to talk to the artists in their studios, buy art for good prices, and see lots of art, meet interesting people, and see the spaces where the artwork is created.
CB: Do you use software programs such as Adobe Photoshop to enhance your photos before you give them customers?
MM: Yes, I do use PhotoShop on images before sending the final file or print to the client. In the past, I could rely on my very good labs to do the final color-correction that's done on each image before it got printed from film. Now, I'm my own color-corrector. I also sharpen the digital image and burn or dodge areas that need it. Much like a digital darkroom. And just like when I spent too much time in the darkroom, I wish my ratio of time spent photographing was higher than time spent in front of the computer!
