In todays interview we introduce the stunning landscape photographer from Melbourne, Australia. He bought his first DSLR in 2014 because he was craving a creative outlet and I can’t draw. He was working a retail job in a quiet store at the time and ended up spending most of my shifts reading, watching and learning everything he could about cameras and photography…so let read more about his photography life in the interview…
Hello and welcome to Snaptured.com, please introduce yourself, where are you from etc etc…
My name is Andrew Moller and I am a photographer from Melbourne, Australia. I mostly shoot landscapes but have recently started to work alongside some great friends in exploring their styles of photography as well.
You have amazing talent of landscape photography; can you tell us how you got started in photography?
I started in photography after playing around with a few friends’ DSLRs and really enjoying the feeling of creating an image. In 2014, I bought myself a second-hand Canon 600D with the 18-55mm and 50-200mm kit lenses. I took it out once and put it away for a few months after struggling to capture images that I liked. After those few months, I felt like I owed it to myself to at least try to learn about photography and make use of the camera. Once I started reading, I couldn’t get enough. A few months later, I quit my job and booked flights to Asia to go and photograph my way across Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
What genre of photography you mostly do? What other genre you like….
I mostly shoot landscapes. This was completely by accident. I originally started out shooting candid portraits but, the more often I had a camera in my hands, the more often I would find myself craving the outdoors and being amongst nature.
I find a lot of enjoyment in street photography as well. I recently started a street photography competition, ‘Beat the Street’, to hopefully inspire more people to get out into the street with a camera and take interesting photographs. (https://andrewmollerphotography.com/collectivecapture/)
Which place you like most to do landscaping, what all places you have visited?
My favourite place to take landscape photographs is in the mountains. Mountains are such huge, imposing figures in a landscape and yet, with a camera, much like climbers do, they are entirely conquerable. I find mountains incredibly interesting to capture because they constantly change their appearance under different lighting conditions.
Unfortunately, Australia is not the most mountainous place. What we do have a lot of is coastline. Reflecting on my portfolio, a hefty amount of it is dedicated to capturing long exposures of piers, jetties, beaches, lakes, waterfalls and rivers. I’ve visited and photographed nearly every major waterfall in
Victoria and more than my fair share of our beaches.
What took you to be at this level? As a successful Landscape photographer?
Getting out of my house and into the world. Capturing photographs and revisiting places to see them in a new way. Re-editing old work over and over to push the limits of what the photograph can be.
What difficulties you face in the field of landscape photography?
Travelling. Travelling is expensive and nothing in Australia is close together. People don’t realise it, but we’re the 6th largest country in the world. There are international flights that take less time than flying from my home city (Melbourne) to the largest city in the West (Perth). This seriously limits how far you can go in a day or a weekend.
Waking up for sunrise is another difficulty. It’s always worth it, but that is a hard message to remember when the alarm starts ringing. There is always the challenge of finding the right light and the right composition to capture a location in a way that does it justice.
Typical question, which image is your very best till now? We know all of your images are best but we want to know that one best image
I’m not sure which image is my best. I certainly have my favourites but whether that makes them my best or not, I’m not sure.
Generally, if I love an image it will be featured here: http://www.andrewmollerphotography.com/prints
What gears you usually use for landscape photography?
My current digital gear lineup is:
- Canon 5D Mk III
- Canon 16-35L f/4 IS
- Canon 70-200L 2.8 IS II
- Canon 50 1.8 II
- Samyang 14 2.8
- Sirui W2204 carbonfibre tripod
- NiSi V5 filter system with a range of filters
- Shutter cable
- Panasonic Lumix G7 with 14-42 lens (mostly for video)
What do you do when you are not photographing?
When I’m not photographing, I’m teaching full time at a high school in north Melbourne area. Other than that, I’m often helping out friends with their shoots.
Which programs you use for editing purpose?
Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. I also have the Nik package but I don’t use it all that much.
What is the best advice you can give for the young upcoming landscape photographers?
Read, watch, shoot, review. Learn, learn, learn. It’s easy to feel defeated and to put the camera down for months at a time, but that doesn’t benefit your development. Read books, read websites, watch videos, keep on shooting as often as possible. Review your work, think about how to improve it and revisit places to keep developing your eye and learning to see things differently.
That, and, jump on my website and get in contact!
Finally, what is your goal for life? As a landscape photographer.
I have been working behind the scenes for a few months on a few new initiatives, so at the moment, my goal is to see those come to fruition.
I am working on some video production for YouTube and building the community around an initiative I set up, Collective Capture. It’s about having an ‘open-invite’ approach to shooting and is what I host my ‘Beat the Street’ challenge through. I’d love to build those up and get even more community involvement.
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