An Interview with Author & Photographer Jeff Wignall

Jeff Wignall is a professional photographer and author of over a dozen books including The Joy of Digital Photography. He is a frequent contributor to a number of photo magazines, including American Photo and Outdoor Photographer. In addition, he regularly works in advertising for several major photo industry clients, including Sony, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and MAC Group. Jeff's latest release is "Winning Digital Photo Contests" and it is published by Lark Books.

DIC: Tell us a little about yourself.
JEFF:  Todd if you knew me better you'd know I'm incapable of telling you "a little" about anything. :) In addition to writing books for many years I've also been doing a radio show on a noncommercial FM station in Connecticut for about 20 years and I've discovered there isn't a keyboard or microphone that I don't like. In fact, while I've been a writer for more than 30 years, I seem to have more things to say, not less. You'd think I would have run out of ideas by now. But to be serious (if that's remotely possible), I think I am a born teacher and communicator and that probably stems from the fact that I have infinite curiosity about things. I'm a terrible person to sit next to on a plane because I'll quiz you about your life for the entire flight. That's a thing I probably got from my mother who, in the first twenty minutes, knew everything about the person sitting next to her on a train or plane. 

But in terms of writing photography books, that has been a real blessing because I never tire of hearing about how or why certain photographs were made. I think that is why the contest book appealed to me so much because I got to ask other people about their photos. Usually when I'm writing a photo book, I'm talking about my own photographs and this book was a welcome change from that.

DIC: What is your radio show about? Is it a photography show?
JEFF:  Actually it's mainly a music and interview show. I sometimes have photographers on as guests, but more often it is musicians, classical conductors, storytellers, actors and anyone that I can convince to sit a microphone with a cup of lukewarm tea for an hour or so and tell me their story. The station I work at, WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport, Connecticut (www.wpkn.org) is one of the last great noncommercial FM stations in the world and I have three-and-a-half hours to do whatever I want with no one telling me what to play or what to say. I've had some awesome guests on over the years, too, including actor Kevin Bacon (who is also a singer), members of Van Morrison's band, members of Bob Dylan's bands, musical legends like the late Rick Danko (The Band) and Ian Samwell (John Mayall's first producer and a close friend of John Lennon's from the early days); it's a blast to just sit there and chat with these people that I've admired for so many years. Noncommercial radio is dying in this country and when it's gone we'll have lost one of the greatest communications opportunities ever created.

DIC: How many photography books have you written? Do you have a favorite?
JEFF:  Funny that you ask that because I was just trying to figure it out myself the other day. I think I've written about a 10 books and co-authored (or ghost wrote) several more. I always hear authors saying that their new book is their "8th book" or whatever and I wonder how they keep track so closely! I have to sit here and write down the titles and count them up--and then I forget the number again ten minutes later. For many years I wrote a lot of the how-to books that Kodak published about photography and so I was fortunate to have a client that had an insatiable need for more books. Once I landed them as a client I never really had to look for a publisher because I would just say, "OK, I'm done with that book, what's next?" and they'd hand me another assignment. 

I have a similar relationship with Lark Books now because they have a very aggressive and progressive approach to publishing photo books and they are very open to new ideas. In fact, Lark has taken chances on publishing very ambitious books with me, like my book "The Joy of Digital Photography" that few other publishers would have taken. It's rare that you find a publisher that doesn't set a strict page limit and that is willing to do whatever it takes to create the best books possible. When I approached Lark with the idea for the contest book and told them I wanted to illustrate it with contest-winning photos from around the world I thought they'd run the other way but, in fact, they loved the idea and supported it enthusiastically. 

DIC: When did you get the idea to write the book “Winning Digital Photo Contests?
JEFF:  Actually years ago, in the late 1980's, I had written a book on a similar theme for Kodak called "How to Take Winning Pictures" and it was illustrated by winners from the KINSA (Kodak International Snapshot Awards) contests. I'm not even sure that contests exists anymore, I don't think it does. That book has been out of print for a long time but I always liked the idea of showing that not all great photos are made by the pros. There are a lot of incredible and amazing photos taken by amateurs and hobbyists. 

About a year ago I was looking for something new and different to write about photography and while I was looking for ideas I spent a lot of time looking at picture-of-the-day contests and other online contests and I was simply blown away by the quality, creativity and diversity of the work. I would flip to sites like Digital Image Cafe (not to plug your site, but it was one of the leading influences on my decision to write the book) and some of the photo-sharing sites like Flickr and I simply couldn't get the quality of those photos out of my head. And I wondered whether the public at large realized that the Internet had created this showcase for creative photography that rivaled anything the pros were doing. While for years and years I turned to the great pictures magazines for photo inspiration (and my father worked for Time and Life Magazines for 30 years, so I was exposed to a LOT of great photography since I was a kid) I now found myself being just as inspired by the photos I was seeing in online contests and other photo communities. 

It occurred to me that there must be some universal truths and qualities to the photos that were winning these contests that could be explored and shared. And, again, it was a great relief to find a book idea where I could talk about other photographers' photography.(Trust me, after 10 or so books of talking about my own work, I was ready to look at something new!) So I started looking at the photos with a more critical and analytical eye, trying to understand what made certain photos so powerful and so creative. Also, while doing this, I started to see a few names over and over again--in particular, Robert Ganz (who I discovered on the BetterPhoto site while I was teaching for them, and Heather McFarland here on Digital Image Cafe.) This convinced me more and more that there must be some universal concepts that were worth exploring. I wanted to know what the qualities were that made these photos so irresistible to contest judges.

The idea of doing a contest book was NOT just another way to write a how-to book, another angle. I have plenty of book ideas, so that wasn't the case at all. I was determined to write a book that would teach anyone with a serious interest in photography how to take photos that would stand out in a crowed. And with millions of photos on the Internet, you have to find an edge if you want your photos to catch someone's eye--whether that person is a contest judge or just a fellow photographer.

DIC: What were the easiest—and the most difficult—parts of the creation process?
JEFF:  Surprisingly, the easiest part of doing this book was selling the idea to Lark Books. When I approached Marti Saltzman, the acquisitions editor at Lark and a longtime friend, I told her that I'd like to write a book about contests but that I wanted to illustrate it entirely with contest-winning photos. I thought she'd hang up the phone and run the other way knowing the logistical mine field we'd be walking into, but she loved the idea from the start. When you get into producing a book with this many potential logistical complications it's tough to find a publisher willing to take the risks, but again, Lark has always been willing to take chances. 

Finding lots of great photos was another easy part. But narrowing down the thousands of photos that we looked at to just 100 or so was the really tough part. I worked with my editor Derek Doeffinger (who has edited many of my books and was my editor at Kodak way back when, we've been friends for 25 years or more) and without his help I never would have gotten through the process. Derek has written many great books on photography (including a new book called "Creative Shutter Speed") and has an amazing eye for what makes a powerful photograph and he and I would make our own rough picks from several contests and then hammer out the best shots during many long phone conversations. We didn't always agree on the best photos, so it was fun and very educational (for me, at least!) to debate the qualities of various photos. No two people will ever see the same things in a particular photo, so even when we agreed on pictures (which we often did), we usually saw different qualities in them. It was pretty fascinating.

Writing the text wasn't difficult but I spent a lot of time on it. I wanted to include as much about the how and why of each photo as possible and so I did email interviews (and some phone interviews) with every photographer in the book. Most of the photos in the book include comments by the photographers, as well as the metadata for the photos. 

Of course, that was the glamour part of the book. I then dumped the logistics of contacting these photographers--and I think there are contributors from more than a dozen countries--on Frank Gallaugher our project manager at Lark Books. The most painful part of the book project was Frank's, but I don't tell him that. Fortunately, neither Frank nor I ever sleep, so many of our most productive conversations happened at 4 a.m. (This is what happens when you spend your whole life hanging out with artists and musicians.)

DIC: Are there any photos in particular that still stick with you?
JEFF:  I can honestly say that I love every photograph in the book--and I envy the talent that created each of them. It's a bit unfair to single a few out (especially since my favorites change day to day), but there are a few that really haunted me throughout the writing of the book. Two portraits by Banhup Teh from Digital Image Cafe, interestingly enough, have really inspired me since I first saw them. These are beautiful, straightforward portraits and I wish I was that good a photographer. There are also some amazing landscapes in the book (Connie Bagot's shot of hay bales is great--I love the lighting) and there are some wildlife photos that are as good as wildlife photography gets (Rob Palmer's shot of eagles in battle just astounds me--and that's just one of many great animals shots). 

But again, when I flip through the book (and I've only had a copy for a few days) I am thrilled with every single shot. There is not one shot in the book that you could point to that I don't thoroughly admire. There are photos that make me laugh, photos that evoke very powerful moods, shots that make you wonder, shots that make you want to get on a plane and see the world--and some beautiful shots of very ordinary things. Heather [McFarland], for instance, seems to find great shots wherever she goes.

DIC: We all have afterthoughts, is there anything that you now wish that you had included in the book?
JEFF:  Just more winning photos. I felt awful not getting to use all of the great photos that I saw, but you can't make a book 1,000 pages long (or can you?). The good news is that there will be more editions of the book and so I'll get to use more photos soon! And by the way, we're already on the prowl for the next edition(s), so keep an eye on the Lark site for updates.

DIC: Canon or Nikon?
JEFF:  You would dare ask me that question and offend half of your readers!!! LOL.  Actually, I shoot with both--and I always have. I have several Canon point-and-shoot cameras (I love my A630) and shoot with Nikon DSLRs. Currently I do most of my shooting with a Nikon D90. I'd love to try one of Nikon's or Canon's very high-end DSLRs, but I'll have to sell a lot of books before I can afford one. Incidentally, I also shoot with Kodak and Olympus cameras. The first digital camera I used, by the way, was a Kodak DCS-14 pro DSLR (the first pro DSLR ever made, I think) and I had to insure it for $50,000 when I borrowed it from Kodak. Can you imagine? I took it to Maine for a week and literally slept with it in the bed. (And I'm not kidding!) I think my favorite digital cameras from the "early" days were my Nikon Coolpix 5700 and an Olympus C5050. I illustrated "Joy" with those two five-megapixel cameras and I never had more fun shooting. 

DIC: You are a professional photographer yourself, what did you learn about your own photography while writing this book?
JEFF:  I'll give you a totally straight answer: The one thing that every photo in that book had in common was that it was taken by someone who had a passion for their subject. That is the secret of great photos: be passionate about what you're shooting. 

DIC: What is the next project for you?
JEFF:  I've got two books in the works: One is a complete revision of "The Joy of Digital Photography" and it's going to be a great book! The original has been out a few years and is one of the best selling photo books ever. It reached the top 50 books on Amazon. The other book is based on one of my blogs (I'll keep the specifics vague for now), but you can look at the blog:  www.phototipoftheday.blogspot.com.

DIC: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to the readers?
JEFF:  Hello readers :)  And please adopt a stray dog or cat at the pound--they need you and you need them. 

DIC: Jeff, thank you for taking the time to talk with us about this great book. Also, thank you for writing this book! This is great exposure and inspiration for photographers all over the world! Cathy and I wish you continued success!
JEFF:  Thanks for speaking with me. It has been a pleasure.