Ain’t it funny how the world of social media works? Neddy Nyce and I have been
I’ve received his status updates and emails showing his
latest photos from his company- 2Nyce Photography, but still we lacked face to
face interaction.
Since I’m a girl who thrives on meeting new people and making
new connections, I thought it was the best time for us to reintroduce ourselves. So I contacted him.
A few weeks after my initial email, Neddy and I met at
Yorkdale for the interview. I was very happy to see that he was a friendly,
jovial dude—but more importantly, that he recognized me since my Facebook
profile pic is not of me, but a cartoon picture. Lol.
We found a seat in the middle of the mall and Neddy
shared with me his start in photography, his inspirations, and his thoughts on
Instagram. Here’s what he had to say.
How did you get
your start in photography?
I’ve always loved photography. In 1999 I bought my first professional
camera. I went around to different events and took photos. In 2001 a friend asked me to come to his
wedding..... I went and took a whole bunch of photos. At the time I was just randomly snapping,
because I like snapping. I developed them and sent them to him. They liked my
photos better than their photographer’s photos. From there they referred other
people to me. At the time I wasn’t doing it as a business, but then they told
me that I should and I got other weddings from
there. It just started to snowball after
that.
How do you come up
with concepts for your pictures?
I’ll see something in the world and it will inspire
me. Like, I was downtown and I passed by
a Nutcracker display and I saw a doll hanging by strings and I said “let me see if I can recreate that with an
actual person.” I got the shot done, so it looks like the person has puppet
arms.
I see that you
have many “fitness” photos on your website. How did you get into “fitness”
photography?
In 2004 I went to my first fitness show. From there people started to ask me for
photos backstage. I started taking
photos of people and I developed a liking for it. The fitness clients make up a lot of my
business because they are always changing their bodies. If they take photos now, they would need
photos by December because they follow a strict workout routine and diet—their
bodies change so fast in such a short period of time. In 2 months they can be 40 lbs lighter.
Who are some of
your favourite photographers?
One of my favourite photographers was one of my students
– his name is Yao (his company - eDZIN). He started with me a long time ago,
and I saw him start from the beginning and develop and now he’s pretty much up
there as a photographer. We still do shoots together.
What do you think
about Instagram?
In all honestly, I understand the social aspect of it,
and I understand why people are taking photos and editing them and putting them
up – it’s more the connecting with other
people and being creative and showing people what you can do with your photos.
But as a professional, I’m not too interested in it. In terms of butchering and
doctoring of the photos, not too much of a fan.
Taking a pic and warping the colours.... it’s showing you shortcuts, to
me it looks kinda butchered. There are a lot of people that think they are
“big time photographers” because of their Instagram edits!
But it’s open up the door to a lot of different people – I
like that part of it. People who never
did photography before can get into it and start to do stuff to their photos.
Do you do photography
fulltime?
It was my fulltime business for the past 6 years and I
decided to slow it down a bit. I am still doing it, but I am teaching as well.
I teach photography at the City of Vaughan. I have my own teaching business as
well. People will contact me if they want lessons and I take them on as
students.
Although the
interview was brief, I can now say that I’ve had an actual sit down
conversation with Neddy Nyce.
My favourite part
of this interview was that Neddy is a perfect example of turning your passion into a career. He had an interest in
photography a long time ago, and now he’s not just a successful photographer,
he’s a businessman.
It was great
meeting you, Neddy. I especially liked that you giggled as much as I do!
If you’re interested in having Neddy snap some pics of
you, please contact him at:
Email: neddynyce@gmail.com
Website: www.neddynyce.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/neddynyce
Twitter: @2Nycephoto
Michelle
