Simon Bond

His works have been featured in numerous publications all around the world. He has travelled far and wide capturing moments to share and remember. Now Simon Bond has published his first book. We had the pleasure of interviewing Simon who himself was a Gwangju News contributor.

Gwangju News: When did you first start taking photos?

Simon: I first started taking photos when I was a youngster. It wasn’t until I got some more formal education in using an SLR camera that photography became a more serious pass time for me though. Although I use digital these days, I was schooled in the days of film photography, so I know my way around a darkroom.

GN: What advice would you have for a new photographer?

S: As with any hobby be it a sport or a creative pursuit the best thing you can do is get out there and practice. There is a growing trend now to buy a DSLR camera, and some people find these cameras a little intimidating in terms of using the manual settings. The best thing to do is learn one aspect of your camera, such as aperture control, so it becomes second nature. Learning about a camera setting such as aperture will involve some initial study and then practice. The next step is to learn another aspect of the camera, or a photographic technique. It’s important not to take on too much all at once because concentrating on equipment when you should be concentrating on the shot isn’t where you want to be.

GN: How did you get the chance to publish a book?

S: I was approached by a publisher a few years ago to write a book, though the initial contact was an enquiry about using one of my crystal ball refraction photos. I’m fortunate to be in a position to be publishing a book, and I hope those who enjoy photography can learn something from the book. The book, which is titled “Simple Scene Sensational Shot”, divides up several techniques so you can read about them, and then go out and practice. The technical information about camera settings is all there, though the emphasis is more on practicing techniques with the camera and learning about camera settings as you go.

GN: Your crystal ball series is interesting, how did you come up with this idea?

S: As some of you may remember I ran an exhibition with my refraction series a few years ago at the GIC, an exhibition that was quite successful and I got some nice feedback from it. I’m still very active with this series, and have some ideas about some new directions for this series. As for how I got started with it, well I saw a photograph using a wine glass filled with water that refracted the image of an Italian town, and this image gave me the inspiration to build my own series of images.

GN: So talking of inspiration what advice can you give to someone wanting to be creative?

S: You have to work extremely hard and be passionate about what you do. Creativity is also about getting your mind into the right place. In my experience getting enough sleep is all important in this regard. You should also look at other people’s work and learn not to copy them, but be inspired by them. Creativity is often about seeing a good idea, and then making a creative leap to move that idea on and make it your own. If you’re a creative person you’re really at the cutting edge looking to push ideas and concepts as far as you can.

GN: So you’re not in Korea at the moment, what are you doing now, and what are your plans for the future?

S: Ok so apart from running around the world away from men in white coats who wish to have me desk warming again, I hope to have a second book published at some point in the future. I’m also working on publishing in magazines. If you’re interested in photography you can purchase my book through Amazon, and at some point in the future I hope to encourage a Korean publisher to sub-license my book from my UK publisher.

“Simple Scene Sensational Shot” was published in the UK (Ilex press) on Sept. 3, and in the USA (Focal press) on Sept. 15. You can follow Simon at his website: www.simonbondphotography.com