Page 29 - Amateur Photographer - August 5, 2017

STILL LIFE

‘Editing in Photoshop
is like working in the
darkroom… shading
and balancing the image
to match my vision’

discovering the magic of the
printing process in a home
darkroom. ‘There was one thing
about photography that I really
liked – you could do the whole thing
yourself, bar manufacturing the
film. You didn’t have to be reliant
on anybody,’ he says.
Things soon became more serious
when Tony enrolled on a course at
the Regent Street Polytechnic in
London. ‘I was a pretty poor
student, and I don’t know whether
I got much out of it,’ says Tony.
‘They just didn’t teach you how to
survive. My first job was working
in a darkroom for a guy who
learnt his trade in the 1930s
photographing fine art, glass,
jewellery and pictures. It was
very formal photography, but he
really knew how to paint with light,
with his four-minute exposures at
f/45 on a plate camera with me
wiggling a curtain behind the
subject for a smooth background.
It was hardly the last word in
creativity, but the key element was
that it taught me that quality is
paramount. This set a benchmark
that’s always stayed with me.’

Trade secrets
This excellent grounding in the
trade soon led to Tony setting up
on his own at a time when film
was still king, but what I really
wanted to find out is how he has
adapted to the digital age and
achieved a standard of imagery
quite different to that of others in
his area of specialisation. ‘Editing
in Photoshop is very much like
working in the darkroom for me,’
admits Tony. ‘I’m assembling a
finished print in a gradual process
– not so much correcting as
perfecting, shading and balancing
the image to match my vision.’
As I enter Tony’s fantasy-factory
studio, I’m surprised that it isn’t
at all as I expected. There are no
pristine white walls in a high-tech
environment, but what I’m
immediately struck by is the
collection of backgrounds lining
the walls that must number in the
hundreds. It’s not a large studio
by any means, but clearly it’s
one that has evolved to suit a
© TONY HURST
subscribe 0330 333 1113 I www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 5 August 2017 29