Featured Artist, Michael Garbutt

Welcome Featured Artist

Michael Garbutt

      I am really excited to share my friend Michael with you! I found Michael on Twitter. He was trying out a great experiment with his Twitter page by NOT talking about his business on Twitter and seeing how that affected things. Well, I would say that the experiment was a success because out of all the advertising going on Twitter, I saw and interesting post by Michael, and as a result discovered his AMAZING Photography!

      My favorite piece of his is "The Dawn of Time", which I plan on having on my own wall very soon! I appreciate his love for the sea being someone who grew up on the Coast and who misses the Ocean terribly. He catches the Ocean in all her glorious moods. After getting to know Michael a bit, I also have to say that he is a wonderful, and FUNNY guy. I hope that you enjoy his interview as much as I did, and you love his photographs even more! Don't forget to stop by his Etsy shop and say HI! He has even more wonderful Photographs there! I had to force myself to stop adding them to this interview! I love them all!

1. Who are you? Where are you from, how old are you? Tell us about yourself.

      Hello! My name is Michael Garbutt, I'm a twenty-four year old gentleman/dude from Sydney, Australia. I'm presently studying to become an English teacher, and beyond that I'm also a self-taught photographer.

2. How long have you been an artist and how did you learn about art?

     I've always had a bit of an artistic leaning, but I only really decided that photography was my thing about five years ago. My first camera was some dodgy film thing. As a poor university student having to spend money on film, you very quickly learn to avoid taking awful photos. From there, it all just sort of bubbled along - I read a few articles about how to improve my photography and then just went out and took as many photos as I could. Five years later, here I am.

3. When did you decide to make the leap from hobby to Profession? Tell us about your first sale.

     To be perfectly honest, I don't really feel as though this is a profession. I do make a nice little profit from sales, but I think that as soon as I start visualising my photography as a business, I'll stop enjoying it so much. That doesn't mean I don't take a professional approach to everything - I just don't think about the commercial viability of a shot when I go out shooting. I prefer to shoot for art's sake, and if I can make a dollar or two on the side, then everything is dandy.

4. Explain your process a bit.

     Well, my process varies depending on the subject. One thing that remains constant no matter what I'm shooting is the necessity of patience. For example: if I decide I want to shoot a sunrise, typically it involves dragging myself out of bed at 4am every morning for a week until I get the right conditions. (Seriously, I wish there was some foolproof method for predicting amazing sunrises. I'd save myself so much misery.) Another example: one of my shots shows a hoverfly in the midst of landing on a flower. That was no lucky shot - I spent more than an hour lying flat on my belly in the grass waiting for just that instant. So there you go - no matter what the subject, patience is always the key.

5. INSPIRATION. Anything, everything. What inspires you?

     As a photographer I feel completely inspired by the beauty of nature. It sometimes feels as though everyone else is too busy to notice some of the simply amazing sights that get presented to us on a day to day basis. I revel in clouds, I love tiny little insects and above all else, I love the fluidity and chaos of the ocean. Hopefully, a little bit of that shows through in my photos.

6. What are your goals and dreams, where do you see yourself in 10 years?

     Well, photographically I have a few dreams. I'd love to get my hands on an underwater housing for my camera so that I can get some shots from the other side of the waves. I also love travel photography, and the spontaneity it creates - I want to get myself over to Easter Island and French Polynesia, and just see what sorts of cool shots I can get there. In terms of my life... well, ten years down the track I'll be satisfied if I'm happily teaching little brats how to read and write properly.

7. Anything and everything else about yourself that you would like to share. Favorite color to favorite food. Family, friends, life, anything. :) Shameless self promotion is totally the point here.

     As an aside, I'm also using my photographic skills to help the powers of good by sharing my know how with fellow sellers with regards to product photography. You can generally find me lurking around in the Business Topics part of the etsy forum, or alternatively, I've got an all encompassing e-book covering everything a beginner product photographer needs to know in my etsy shop. How's that for shameless self promotion?

8. Where can you be found?

     You can find me on etsy at http://elgarbo.etsy.com. I also blog about my life's crazy adventures at http://elgarbos.wordpress.com and, should you feel like hanging out and chatting, try me on twitter at http://twitter.com/elgarbo

And if you want to find me in real life, I'm often hanging out at one of Sydney's many beautiful beaches.

     Thank you for stopping by and getting to know Michael!  I hope that you have enjoyed his photography as much as I have.  Don't forget to stop by his Etsy store and Please, leave a comment below!

Thank you!