Amateur Photographer – 09 August 2019

ClaireGillospeakstoayoungFrench

photographerandimage-editinggurutofind

outhowInstagramhashelpedhiscareer

Howdidyougetintophotography?

Afterthesummerof2017,a friend

encouragedmetostartphotography,so

I’veonlybeendoingit a shortspaceoftime.

I instantlyfellinlovewithphotography

andediting.It camenaturallytome

andwasa continuationofmyworkasa

graphicdesigner.I’dneverusedLightroom

beforethen,soI startedatthebeginning

bylearningaboutthebasicsofretouching

landscapesandportraits.I didthisby

watchinglotsofvideos.I thenboughtmy

firstcamera:a second-handSonyAlpha 7

withthebasickitlens.I signedupto

Instagramatthesametime,atfirstjust

forpersonalusetosharemyresults.

HowwouldyousayInstagramhas

helpedyourcareer?

Afterspendinga yearonInstagram,

anddoinga lotofreposting,sharingand

formingsomegoodcollaborationswith

famouspeoplesuchastheDutchrecord

producer,musicianandDJDonDiablo,

I wantedtotransformmypassioninto

somethingmoreprofessional.I deleteda

lotofmyposts,changedmyInstagram

profileandbio,andstartedtocontact

brands,lookingforcollaborationsand

partnerships.AfterthisI startedselling

presetsandtutorials.I nowhavejustover

68,000followersonmyInstagramaccount

andamabletoreacha largeaudience.

RISING STAR

ALL IMAGES © SAMIR BELHAMRA

N E W TA L E N T

Shooting at the iconic

lavender fields in France

can be tricky as there

are so many tourists

Samir

Belhamra

26

The nature of your work means that

you are an image editor as well as a

photographer. Do you shoot all the

starting images yourself?

I don’t shoot all of the starting images.

Some of the images are my own, but I also

source material from various stock sites,

and I sometimes use friends’ photographs

in my edits. My work is just as much about

image editing as it is photography.

Would you describe yourself more

as a creator or a documenter?

I definitely feel myself to be more of a

creator, and I describe my photos as art,

rather than photography. Someone who

documents something focuses more on

what people need to see and on what is

factual, while the focus of a creator is

more on what they feel.