Today's Guest: Jeremy Nako of Nak Photography. in London, England
Today's Host: John Bentley
Listen to this Show
Publish this Show on Your Website
Show Sponsor www.morephotos.com
Nak Photography
Jeremy Nako Transcript Page
Jeremy Nako Expert PageANNOUNCER: This program is sponsored by morephotos.com the online photo sales solution to professional photographers worldwide. Welcome to the VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Today on VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight we have London, England, photographer, Jeremy Nako, of Nak Photography, joining us today via telephone. Welcome to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight, Jeremy.
JEREMY: Thanks for having me, John.
JOHN: Yes it's always a pleasure to talk to somebody from the homeland. I am half English and a quarter Irish so...
JEREMY: Cool.
JOHN: I do walk with a limp though I am quarter Polish.
JEREMY: I'm half Polish.
JOHN: Well, greetings. Let's talk a little bit about your photography business. I went to your website to look at what you've got going on there, and it looks like you've got a lot going on. So why don't you give us a little overview of what you're doing there at Nak Photography.
JEREMY: We're a relatively new business. We started about 18 months ago with me photographing my entire adult life. We do two types of photography really. We do events, social functions, and sports events where we shoot guests or sports participants and we print those photos directly on site at the time and sell them to guests. The other item to our business is that we shoot portraiture where we shoot couples, families, individuals, model portfolios, and that sort of thing. So we're kind of busy down here.
JOHN: Yeah, you have quite a list of different types of photography. Anything from corporate to weddings to proms. Let's talk about...let's just talk about the portraiture side of it. You guys have a studio there, correct?
JEREMY: No we don't. We tend to go out to client's sites or if we have a big shoot, we hire a studio. We shoot for a number of different model agencies so they tend to have their own in-house studios where we get to come in and shoot, or we shoot out on site. We do mostly environment portraiture so we like to shoot in parks, gardens, people's houses, that sort of thing.
JOHN: Ok. Let's talk about some of the different kinds of photography that you're doing. Just give me a little...just kind of a touch on each type of photography that you're doing.
JEREMY: Ok. Our social photography is probably 80% of that is indoors. So we shoot large black tie balls, school proms, charity events, and so forth. We set up a mobile studio, we shoot studio on the studio, and we print our photographs during that session. That kind of coverage, the indoor stuff. For outdoor sports events, we normally have myself and maybe up to 2 or 3 other photographers covering soccer, covering rugby, pretty much any outdoor sport. We shoot more, honestly, back to our base system and again show the photos and people purchase them.
JOHN: You also have something listed on your website called lifestyle photography. What's that all about?
JEREMY: That is pretty much very, very relaxed where we take people out into...we spend quite a long time with them. So if a family asks us to do lifestyle shoots, then we may turn up very first thing in the morning and we try to get to know the family as best we can during the day so they're nice and relaxed, and we shoot pretty much whenever we can during the day so we get some very nice, relaxed photos of the family during the course of the whole day. It may be inside, it may be out in the park with a garden, so the emphasis is really on shooting them when they're nice and relaxed; not formally.
JOHN: Well that's kind of an interesting little twist on photography. Actually spend a great deal of time with a family that one day, huh?
JEREMY: Yeah, it's really the only way that you can get relaxed photos. What we find is that if some families come into studio there's always that anticipation, they can be nervous, the children may be in an unusual situation they're not comfortable with. If we spend time with them during the day at their home, they're much more relaxed in the environment that they understand. You get much better pictures that way.
JOHN: Now what about weddings and engagement? Are you doing a lot of those kinds of things?
JEREMY: We have never done weddings; however, we for 2009 we plan to launch a very up markets and involve wedding service so it's something that we are planning for at the moment, and we keep getting asked to do them, but it takes a bit of planning, it takes a bit of setting up, and that's what we're working on at the moment so that'll be new for 2009.
JOHN: You also touch on babies, maybe pregnancy a little bit?
JEREMY: We do. Something that I particularly enjoy. That doesn't sound awful, but pregnancy form is something that is just so unique. It's not something that happens to often so we do enjoy pregnancy shoots. We try to make the mothers feel very relaxed. We get some lovely photographs from that.
JOHN: Now we're going to take a break here, Jeremy, but before we do that, would you kindly share your website address and contact information for our listening audience please.
JEREMY: Yes, of course, it's www.nakphotography.co.uk and our number in England is 02-08-742-0626.
JOHN: We are in the studio today with London, England, photographer, Jeremy Nako, of Nak Photography, and you are listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. We will be right back after these important messages. Stay tuned.
ANNOUNCER: This VTalk Radio Spotlight is sponsored by morephotos.com, the online photo sales solution for professional photographers worldwide.
ANNOUNCER: VTalk Radio.
ANNOUNCER: Did you ever wonder why the groom is supposed to carry the bride over the threshold? What does the saying something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue mean? Visit www.weddingdetails.com and click on the lore and tradition section. We've got culture and tradition information from around the world. Visit www.weddingdetails.com tonight.
JOHN: We are back in the studio with London, England, photographer, Jeremy Nako, of Nak Photography, and you are listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. Welcome back to the program, Jeremy .
JEREMY: Thank you for having me again.
JOHN: Now we've been talking about your photography business over there in merry old England and you do quite an extensive variety of photography. Let's talk a little bit about the cities and communities around the London area that you do photo shoots.
JEREMY: Well we're pretty much on the road every weekend. So it would be nice to say that's most of our work is in the London area, but actually we can be traveling for 3 or 4 hours to get to photo shoots 2 or 3 times a week so we cover most of England. I've not been up to Scotland yet, so that's a little bit too far for us, but anything within about 3 or 4 hours drive is what we do.
JOHN: Why did you decide to become a photography in the first place, Jeremy? What's your history?
JEREMY: Well, many years ago, I used to run a software business and one of our clients was a modeling agency and one day, they knew I had an interest in photography, and one day they called and said that they had three models sitting in a studio and the photographer hadn't turned up would I like to come along and shoot. And so I packed my gear, went down there and did the best I could and from that I got a contract with them. And several other contracts with modeling agencies after that. So it was kind of default really, but it was something that I always wanted to do.
JOHN: Now are you affiliated with any photo organizations at all?
JEREMY: We use More Photos who deal with our gallery systems and we're sponsored by Mitsubishi Printers in the UK so they supply our equipment and I do some lecturing on event photography for them.
JOHN: Great. What do you think makes your service unique and separates you from the competition, Jeremy?
JEREMY: We offer a nationwide service which is not something that everybody offers, but it comes down to the quality of the pictures that we take. At the end of the day it's very easy to set up a studio and take pictures of people standing there. We do it slightly differently. We make people laugh, we get a reaction from them, and we get photos that are perhaps more unusual than most photographers can get in that sort of situation.
JOHN: And you had mentioned earlier about how like with the lifestyle photography you spend a whole afternoon with a family to get them relaxed and comfortable. You don't always have that luxury. What do you do in a situation where you don't have that kind of time to spend with a client? What do you do to make them comfortable?
JEREMY: When we're doing event photography, sometimes it's a question of literally 2 or 3 minutes. People will come to our mobile studio and they walk off and you've got 2 or 3 minutes to get a photograph that they'll want to purchase. To do that you have to get a reaction. You have to make them laugh, you have to make them think that, you know, they're in a situation they wouldn't normally be in. And it's getting the reaction that seems to be the key to why we've been so successful over the last year was that.
JOHN: Now let's talk about sports photography. That's kind of a different animal, because you know, you have to be in the right place to capture that moment and that shot. When you do sports photography, are you taking more than one photographer with you?
JEREMY: It really depends on the size of the event. We cover tournaments where there can be 35 or 40 teams playing over the weekend where we've got ten matches going on concurrently. So for that sort of thing, you need a reasonable amount of photographers; otherwise, you're not going to get all of the shots. But I only work with photographers and I only accept jobs that are suitable for the size of business that we are. I would much rather turn away a job or pass it along to somebody who's more capable of doing it rather than do a job where I'm having to bring photographers who I'm not comfortable with or who I don't know their skill level.
JOHN: Lastly, before we let you go today. What is your most important goal as a photographer when you shoot an event?
JEREMY: It's always customer satisfaction. It's so nice to see people walking off either a sports field or from your mobile studio or indeed away from any kind of photo shoot looking at the pictures and going wow, I really like that. That's got to be the ultimate goal of any photographer.
JOHN: Well I certainly appreciate you joining us today on VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight all the way from London, England, Jeremy.
JEREMY: Thank you very much for having us. I've enjoyed it.
JOHN: But before I let you go, kindly your website address again and phone number.
JEREMY: Gladly. It's www.nakphotography.co.uk and our phone number in England is 02-08-742-0626.
JOHN: Thanks again, Jeremy.
JEREMY: My pleasure, John.
JOHN: We've been speaking with London, England, photographer, Jeremy Nako, of Nak Photography, and you've been listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. Thanks for tuning in today. Have a good afternoon.
ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight; only on www.vtalkradio.com . Radio for the 21st Century.