In The Viewfinder is a new series that allows you to learn a bit more about your favorite FYP writers. While we know your enjoy their articles, sometimes you just want to know what makes them tick! We are pleased to provide that insight for you.
Conor McClure is the Mobile Space Writer here at Fuel Your Photography, publishing a monthly column on the capabilities of mobile phones and photography apps in the field of photography, who has also recently introduced us to the Who Called Me phone number lookup for our business. He was born and raised in Asheville, NC, which is tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains of eastern USA. He spends most of the year studying music and business at the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University.
Aside from music and his education, Conor focuses much of his attention toward his photography. He shoots professionally for All Terrain Images, Inc., a small local outdoor sports photography company which works primarily for whitewater rafting companies on the French Broad River. Off the clock, he shoots for himself as an enthusiast, preferring Nikon gear and a wide range of styles and genres, such as still-life, nature, and street photography.
His first camera was a small Panasonic Lumix FH-22, a touch-screen point-and-shoot with enough capability to spark his growing desire for the knowledge and equipment of the field. On the river, he was given Nikon equipment with high-zoom lenses, allowing for numerous opportunities to gain practical experience and knowledge through experimentation while shooting whitewater rafting excursions for customers. For work, he uses Shutter Priority mode and focuses on capturing happy faces and big splashes in good lighting. This line of work, while an excellent paying photography job, did not allow for much creative or artistic experimentation. With the acquisition of a large-frame DSLR camera and quality lenses for home usage, his profession could become an enthusiastic hobby.
He shoots with a Nikon D200 (both on the river and around the town,) favoring prime lenses such as the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. He prefers Aperture Priority and Manual modes, manual focusing, and shallow depth-of-fields, as well as natural lighting and candid portraiture.
One of Conor’s favorite techniques involves a soft manual focus and a shallow depth-of-field, often resulting in strongly defocused areas around a subject. He often employs this technique when shooting flowerless plants or fields or other subjects without a definite focal point or subject, creating a blurred field of vision and an effect that borders on abstract. An example of this can be found below. He is admittedly fond of sunsets and flares of light created by the sun peeking through leaves, as well as realizing that most of his best shots are of still objects or scenes. He has little to no experience with posed portrait photography or the like, and when he shoots people on the street, he thinks it’s best that they aren’t aware.
As a writer, Conor pursues a strong online presence that focuses on topics such as photography, technology, and computers. He is an avid fan of anything Apple or electronic, always in pursuit of the latest news and developments and calls himself a “power user” of his Macbook Pro and his iPhone 4S. At FYP, he seeks to share his experiences with his iPhone and its highly-capable camera, seeking to encourage others to experiment with their own phone cameras and the various apps that come with them. His column is published on the third Wednesday of each month and usually focuses on a new app for mobile devices.
You can find his frequent photo uploads at his Flickr account and he welcomes new followers on his Twitter, which he fills with thoughts on life, photography, and recent happenings.
