Eric Ward
BEHIND THE LENS
1. Amateur or Pro?
- Amateur.
2. Describe your feed in 3 words.
- Faith-filled, Hopeful and Fun.
3. What’s in your toolbox for taking and editing photos?
- I use my iPhone 5 for most shots, but I also have a Canon t3i that makes it's way onto my feed occasionally. All of my editing is done on my phone with Snapseed as my primary editing app, but I also use VSCOcam and Afterlight.
4. What is Instagram for you?
- For me, Instagram is creative community of individuals that long to inspire and be inspired. It allows you to meet and collaborate with individuals from around the world, allows you to see through the eyes of individuals you might otherwise never even meet and it encourages you to slow down and soak up the things around you everyday.
5. Who and/or what inspires you?
- My three children inspire me daily, along with the encouragement and support of my amazing wife. My faith in God plays a major role in my life as well as my Instagram feed and is an incredible source of inspiration. I've been interested in photography since I was very young and for as long as I can remember, I would go to the library and borrow books showing the work of photographers. Black and white, color, portrait, street, macro, or landscape, it didn't matter to me, because I found inspiration in them all. I'll still borrow them from the library, but now I can find the same inspiration in my pocket, on my phone. If I want clean compositions, then @sciencehill_360 and @slowjam98 are perfect. If it's inspiration for photographing my kids, then @adamjoelsmith or @ayanah are incredible. A major source of inspiration is @joshjohnson where I have been involved with their daily forums since my beginning on Instagram over two years ago. Josh, @kevinkuster and the rest of the team have created a community where connecting with others through the creative process is the ultimate goal and I find their enthusiasm incredibly inspiring. I also have to mention @sittingingodspalm and @sweatengine who are two guys from the east coast that decided to take a two month road trip across the country to meet fellow Instagramers and find adventure. I had the pleasure of having Kevin and Joe camp in our backyard and I can say that I'm inspired by their stories.
6. What is your best advice to a fellow photographer?
- Always have fun and be slow to delete, there may be a hidden gem in there!
7. Who is your favourite photographer on Instagram?
- @jasonmpeterson Period. I've been inspired by his black and white feed since the first moment I stumbled upon it. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to call Jason a friend at this point and to know that he has a heart equal to his talent is amazing.
8. Best photography secret?
- Perspective. I'm 6'4" and I see the world differently than my 3 year-old. Change your perspective while shooting a scene and you'll find a whole new scene to shoot.
9. Things you want to be better at as a photographer?
- I always want to learn new things and I have a long way to go to become technically proficient.
10. How much time do you spend on photography?
- When school's not in session, it's probably 2-3 hours a day, but during the school year the time gets cut back significantly.