Starpics Photographer Interview
Photographer : Sagheer Ahmed Qurreshi
1.Can you tell us about yourself briefly?
My name is Sagheer Ahmed Qureshi and I live in pakistan . I'm a qurreshi and baloochi 24 y'old male photographer that has been around all pakistan for quite sometime now.
2.Can you tell us about what you are currently working on?
I do not consider that I do have a project that I'm currently working on, as I don't see it as a project, but I am documenting the down-town of Lisbon with my Rolleicord and lots of Medium Format films. I plan on continuing this for the next few years in order to document how things looked like when you see it in 50 or 100 years time.
3.What’s your photographic style?
A very good question, which is quite hard to answer. I do photograph abandoned and derelict buildings, that being homes, institutions or even military structures, and I do it according to my own stile and my own vision of things. However, talking of my street photography tendencies, here I do enjoy Diane Arbus, Robert Capa, Zack Arias, Saul Leiter and Vivian Maier's work and I have a tendency to try to emulate the latter with her 1950's work bringing it to 2017's.
4.How do you educate yourself to take better pictures?
I do read a lot, but really a lot, and see several videos from "pro-togs". The rest is just practice, practice, practice, practice and even more practice... Perfection comes with practice and not just from having the knowledge from a previous reading or video viewing.
5.What kind of gear do you use?
I shoot a lot of film, specially medium format, but also 35mm. I Use a Rolleicord VB, a Rolleiflex, a Mamiya ZM and a Nikon F601. In digital I use a Fabulous working horse called Nikon D3, a D800e, a D7000, a D300s, a D5000 and a Olympus stylus 1. For lenses I have a Schneider Xenar 1:3,5/75mm a Carl Zeiss Tessar 1:3,5/75mm, a Nikon 35mm f1.8, a Nikon 50mm f1.8, a Nikon 28-300 f3.5, a Sigma ART lens 50mm f1.4, a Nikon 10.5 fisheye, a 16-35mm f4, a Nikon 18-200 f3.5, a Nikon 28-70mm f4, a Tokina 11-20 f2.8 and a Mamiya 28-50mm f3.5. For flashes I have the Sb800, the Sb600, the Sb700, the Sb910 and a studio flash of 300w. I use Manfrotto tripods and several flash triggers and receivers.
6.When do you feel happy as a photographer?
I feel happy when the image that I imagined is the one presented on my computer screen. The sooner I get to obtain it, that being either in camera or afterwards in the post-processing, the sooner it makes happy.
7.When was the most difficult time as a photographer? How did you deal with it?
I do not have a "when" because there have been several times, but I dealt with it by simply practising more, and more, and more, and more... Eventually you get out of it!
8.What was your most memorable experience in this photography field?
I had already several memorable experiences. They mainly rotate on the idea of obtaining the shot that I thought of, in camera! I also got a good "kick" when a few years ago I saw my work being exposed to the general public for the first time (later on I won several contests but there was nothing like the first time I saw it printed for the world to see)
9.What would you say to people who would like to be professional photographers?
Go for gold! Dont hold back if you think that your skills are up for it. Be prepared to expect lots of posers in the way, people who will criticise your work without nothing to show for themselves, and several setbacks until you get it right.
