Photographer Richard Gary – A talented photographer, he has the ability to balance commercialism and artistry in photography. He has photographed for many famous magazines and brands such as BlackBook, W, and Zink magazines, Neiman Marcus, and Andrew Morgan Collection…

Recently Fstoppers.com had an interview with Richard Gary. I would like to summarize the content of this interview.

Fstoppers: How did you start photography?

Richard Gary: I started out like many others. When I was in College, my major was not photography. But out of curiosity, I spend every summer vacation interning with different photographers in Virginia. Some of them specialize in wedding photography, others specialize in portraiture. Then I got a job as a photographer at the museum. I take pictures at museum events and artifacts in the museum. This first job introduced me to still life photography.

Fstoppers: Your still-life photography concepts are really special, how did you come up with that idea and can you talk a little bit about photographing fashion products?

Richard Gary: I worked at the museum for a few years and was promoted to curator, so I can decide how the budget is to pay for the photography work here. But since then, I don't take many pictures anymore. After a while I decided to leave because it was not what I wanted to do. I left Virginia and came to New York about 11 or 12 years ago. I think working as an assistant here really helped me a lot when starting out with still life photography.</div><div>I learned many skills from working at the museum, but working as an assistant to professional photographers I honed my skills. After the photo session, I asked the photographers to let me stay for a while so I could see the light and I drew it up into charts. If they allow, I'll go to the location where they just took the photo to see how they feel about everything placed in the frame. That's how I feel about light, to me light isn't just the most important thing. It is all.

Fstoppers: Who were you working for when you started?

Richard Gary: My first assistant job was with Steven Hellerstein. I work as an assistant to many people at a time because about me I want to experience many situations and learn about the work of a professional photographer working in New York. I also worked as an assistant to Rubin, Gregory Heisler, Grant Delin, Elizabeth Watts and Gabriela Penn, which took me about 3 years as an assistant. After gaining the knowledge and skills I started to learn about the business so that I can support my photography business later. Especially while working as an assistant to IIlan Rubin and Gabriela Penn, I started to learn about still life photography, when I watch them work something flutters inside of me, it goes beyond the techniques they use to shoot. The photos that I often take, it's an indescribable feeling in front of my eyes, they give me a great sense of their own work.

Fstopper: What do you take pictures with? Do you still shoot movies?

Richard Gary: I only shoot films with my own projects. There are several personal projects on my website where I take pictures of Southern Virginia, where I grew up. I started taking pictures with a large format camera and I plan to continue using it. But when shooting commercials I use a back P45 from Hasselblad and when not shooting with Hasselblad I use a Canon EOS-1 DS Mark III.

Fstopper: How many people assist you in taking pictures, and how much time do you spend on lighting setup?

When I see the context, I start to plot it. I know where the light needs to go when shooting, so I can explain to the assistants where to put the light and the power. Drawing things out is really a time saver, and it can help me figure out what's causing the problem. I usually work with an assistant who just moves the lights and a sylist. If it's a big shoot with a big client then I'll need more people. I really don't like too many people because few people create more intimacy when working, sometimes I work just me and the stylist.</div><div><br></div><div>Fstoppers: When you shoot cosmetics, how do you use lights?</div><div>Richard Gary: In many cases, I'll just use a main light source and a reflector. Or you can use two light sources coming from different directions, a few small mirrors or white reflectors. It is these pieces that create the catchlight from the main light source and compensate where there is little light on the product. It is the decentralization of light in product photography, which is essentially to make the product stand out.</div><div>Fstoppers: Your image looks clean and perfect, how much work do you have to do for the picture and do you have to do it alone?</div><div>Richard Gary: What you see in my picture is all light. I'm really, really important about lighting. Like most</div>