Jean-Sébastien is a long time member of the community. Not only is he an excellent photographer, but he generously shares his skills and advice with others through some excellent tutorials. One day…I’ll be this good.

<sub>Frozen wastes _ or waists? by *FleetingImageUK


THE BLIND SPOT by ~polpope


Remember the Thorns by *calliopeiasmiles


Inadaquecy by =Gilthanas279


lifeless by *hemodope


Elbow to Head, Knee to Chest by *drinkdecaf</sub>

The next in my occasional interview series; this time I was lucky to be able to speak to an artist I hold in very high esteem, and who produces some of the most imaginative work you’ll see on the site. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Scott James Prebble…

Scott; a lot of us who want to be able to call ourselves photographers look at your work and find inspiration. Who has inspired you in your art, and why?

Inspiration comes in many forms for me. Sometimes it’s as simple as seeing a style of image I like and not being able to produce it, so I try and come up with how they did it and perfect the style myself and then adapt it in my own way. But along with that I’m very inspired by film makers and video clip directors, because I am always trying to push my work in more real and emotional ways I often look to old suspense films for inspiration, and even a bit of Mtv helps sometimes to get the creative juice flowing.

As far as photographers go, I have a few people that inspire me for specific reasons. Spencer Tunick is a New York photographer who now does huge nude installations but when he started he was doing simple fine art nude images on the streets of New York, and on seeing a documentary on him years ago inspired me to pick up my camera again after putting it down for many years. Masters like Herve Lewis + Helmut Newton inspire me no end because they were thinking outside the square before the square was invented, and any time I think I’m getting good I just look back at one of there many books and it puts me back in my place again and I knuckle down and go back to bettering myself as an artist. But recently I have been inspired by American photographer Gregory Crewdson who has shown me that it’s okay to put more effort into creating a mood and scene in your work, and so I have invested in a little more gear to get the exact look I want in a scene rather than put up with what was there on the day.

There are those who think that nude and fetish based art is somehow immoral or wrong. What do you say to those people?

It’s always a question isn’t it, where do you draw the line, and everyone has there own line, so it’s difficult. Someone will always complain about your ideas when they involve a naked body, but what I say is look at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, naked people everywhere, and that’s in a church people!!!!! The line I draw with nudes and fetish is having people come across as strong, confident, in control and as beautiful creatures. I never degrade someone for art, I always try and lift someone up, on a pedestal, to be admired, and if people don’t like that, move on to something else, it’s that simple.

We’ve spoken about creativity and inspiration. Given that, what advice would you give to somebody just starting out as a baby photographer?

I think that, and I have always thought this, that good photography comes from having the eye for it. It use to be a lot harder to be a photographer years ago because you use to have to know so much technical knowledge it was almost like being part mad scientist and artist in one. Now with the advent of digital cameras anyone can purchase a half decent DSLR and call themselves a photographer because the technical side has been taken away.

But to me the aspects are still the same, you need the eye for it and the creativity to bring an idea into the world that wasn’t there previously, and that is the difficult bit. So what I say to people, is the gear doesn’t matter, it’s the ideas you have, and if you’re head is so full of ideas, angles, concepts that it’s about to burst if you don’t get them made into photographs you are half on your way. If you buy a camera thinking it’s going to make you a better photographer or give you ideas, give up then and there.

You have a number of books to your name. Do you approach a shoot differently if you intend for the images to be printed rather than viewed online?

Each idea and shoot I do is done for fun, I don’t have set ideas about where they are going to end up, I have never worked that way. Each image is number 1 in my mind until I get it right and down, it is planned and created without a final medium in mind. It’s only after something is done that it’s decided where to release it, online, or save it for a book. The book images are often slightly different to what I show online, so it’s makes it a bit more exclusive owning a book because you are seeing images not seen yet, and I like that.

Where do you see yourself in five years time? Do you plan ahead or just take life as it comes?

Artist wise I hope to still be learning my craft and not getting bored with it. I can see myself with several more books released, a gallery show or two, and hopefully working on a project of portraits of famous faces.

But most of all I hope photography still inspires me as much as it does today, then I’ll be a happy man. Oh, and I’d love a sexy girl by my side and Porsche, is that asking for too much Santa ? lol……

I think a Porsche 987 would be rather fun! Scott, thanks for your time; I appreciate it. Final question - if you had to showcase just one work in your gallery here that sums you up what would it be and why?

It’s probably going to be ‘The List of Wants’ mainly because it’s me, bare. As much as I love my work with other muses, and there is always a piece of me in the images, you are getting someone else’s perspective as well, with images of myself, with my writing, you are getting to see the real me with nothing else, I think they sum up the real man, with his flaws and faults, and as hard as they are to come up with, and to write about myself, they cleanse me as well of the stuff that builds up inside me that if I don’t let out my head will just explode. So yes, this particular piece I think sums up me as a person, the person behind the images.

_{Surprise Phone Call by *Niansa}

Come ride with me
Through the veins of history
I'll show you how God
Falls asleep on the job

And how can we win?
When fools can be Kings
Dont waste your time
Or time will waste you

No one's gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive