(photo of Kim Taylor)
See the works of Canadian photographer Kim Taylor. Oh and don’t forget to read the article.

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing and reviewing the portfolio of a talented photographer from Ontario Canada named Kim Taylor. Kim specializes in fashion and fine art photography. Self taught, Kim has made a photography come back from a vacation away from the lens. His work is creative, fun, and inspiring to many artists. His work has been featured in magazines around the world.
Kim started photography at age 7. As a self taught photographer Kim joined the school news letter and later participated in the university’s photo arts club. His first serious camera was a fully manual 35 mm Spotomatic.
Working as a photographer became too time consuming for Kim so in 1983 he discontinued his serious photography work, focused on his family and career as an Analytical Biochemist doing Chromatography for the University of Guelph. Kim says photography and his job were very similar, mixing chemicals, developing film; the process was repeatable and fun. But the industry changed.

When asked why he stopped photography Kim said that he just couldn’t justify the time spent loading, shooting and developing film, let alone hunting for jobs. In addition his family was growing and he was tired of looking at the world through a view finder. So he took a break.
A little over two years ago, the camera called him back. Kim found the joy and passion for photography again. New digital photography technology and a little more free time from work allowed Kim to come back.
Digital has permitted Kim to focus on the creative process. During the first few months Kim used a fully automatic Fuji 2800Z. But he longed for the manual features he used so Kim purchased the Canon Digital Rebel with three lenses a 18-55mm, 55-200mm, and a 1.8 50mm lens. Kim favors the 50mm lens most because that is the way he sees the world.
Kim’s come back was not easy; he worked almost exclusively with one model for 8 hours per week for many months. Even when his mind was blank he dedicated the time to the model and the photo shootKim also joined a small CO-OP studio with nine other photographers who renovated one bay of an old car body shop and named the studio 180 degree imaging. Kim has the most fun working with a whole team of designers, models, makeup artists, and assistants trying to achieve the same goal of a great image. Kim tries to shoot in stories meaning he has a story in his mind that he is trying to recreate. The story has a beginning and ending. When I asked him if it was expensive he said not really. Most models he worked with wanted great prints and were willing to work for $10 an hour. The other designers and artists were looking for their name to be in a major publication so expenses were low.
When asked what has been his most memorable photo shoot he said “Probably the last one” He says each session is exciting and gets better each time. Kim is always planning and looking forward to the next photo shoot.
Kim what advice would you give to photographers just starting out?
“Just shoot! Don’t worry about formulas or rules. Rules are changing. Don’t always setup shoots just blast away. Digital costs you nothing. Be your own worst critic. Don’t let your ego get in the way to get feedback. You don’t need to shoot lots and lots of models. Hire a model and work with them for a long time.”

In addition to photography Kim makes and sales his own line of martial arts weapons. Kim is the photographer for most of his products.
More of Kim Taylor’s work can be found at http://180degreeimaging.com/180taylor/