ZB: Mr. Zach Burns, ol' Zachy Burns, Burnsy, The Burns... whichever takes peoples fancies...Frankie or trollop according to my modelling agent haha. Burns however isn't my real surname (mysterious) ;-)
AG: Where are you from?
ZB: The Queens glorious land of England, London in fact and the east end of it at that.
AG: How long have you been doing photography?
ZB: I finally decided last year April to get a camera and get snapping, it's something I've always wanted to do so had to jump on at some point and start learning.
AG: Is photography a chosen career choice or a hobby?
ZB: Um i don't know really, it's started as a hobby but then I'm generally serious in everything i do so slowly becoming a career path so to speak. I had a photographer who i admire say to me that my future really does lie in the photography as opposed to modelling so was nice to know.
AG: Do you possess any formal training i.e. college, workshops, through work experience etc?
ZB: I did apply to my first college for photography lessons but it fell apart on the first day so have really just taught myself over the year, alot of visual research, trial and error, self teaching i reckon is the best way, you always strive to get better and better.
ZB: I'm currently using my Canon 400d slr, pretty easy and simple camera to start learning with, trying to save some cash as i want to move to the big boy and get myself a Canon 4D. A photographer kindly gave me my lighting equipment, a full set of Portaflash flash units with soft boxes and stands, something I'm always grateful for, saved me like 400 quid.
AG: What is your creative process? Do you have one?
ZB: My creative processes and thoughts always change depending on my mood, like now my mind is quite smutty so my mind races with images and ideas for shoots that can potentially have that shock factor, daring and dirty, possibly verging on the porn barrier yet still being publishable to mainstream magazines. Then another day I'll feel quite tranquil and generate ideas of calmness and general beauty. Right now though smut is in for me haha.
AG: What is your main source of inspiration?
ZB: Determination to be as good as can be, be up there with the top photographers who inspire me with their work.
AG: Do you have any favourite photographers?
ZB: Steven Klein's work i love, Mariano Vivanco i think shoots beautiful pictures, my favs also include Pedro Virgil, Dylan Rosser & Marco Carocari to name a few.
AG: If you can photograph anybody in the world, who would it be?
ZB: If i could photograph anybody in the world it wouldn't be staged and really couldn't ever happen physically. Sometimes and even today when i walk down the road on my trips, some of the most ordinary and not always pretty people can catch my eye for that split second and make me think wow, theres something about that person, its that split second look I'd love to photograph but unfortunately it's only a mental image and could never be replicated.
ZB: I've working on a few projects yes, alot keep evolving so many are unfinished but hopefully once finished i can push them for publishing. One is an underwear editorial based loosely on gladiatorial fighters, think barbaric, savage killing machines, it's all quite heavy to some people but i think it's hot. Another project I'm doing came from a t-shirt i bought at a stall, it gave me inspiration to make a series of it so getting a few more shirts and shooting to build up the piece. Got other projects in my mind too, right now i feel really creative and just want to push further to break more into the industry as a photographer.
AG: Has your work ever been published?
ZB: I've had alot of work published online on the blogs and online magazines too, in print I've had work featured in french gay mag MMensuel and Swiss gay mag Display, I'm hoping to have some more projects published on UK soil too, it's all about building the connections though.
AG: Any advice you would like to offer to our aspiring photographers out there?
ZB: Practice, practice and practice. Don't be afraid to ask questions to other photographers, engage and educate yourself mentally and visually, experiment with different photographic styles and just have fun. Be your own p.r guy too, promote yourself to the media's you think suitable and believe in yourself and your work. It is very competitive but the good photographers will support you, the crap ones will try and bring you down in every way possible, believe in yourself and enjoy it.
AG: Cake or Pie?
ZB: both, I'm greedy ;-)
You can check out more of his work at his website and blog.
Images©Zach Burns
Do not redistribute without prior permission!
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