Tom Sebastiano
Tom is a British photographer. We talked about portraits, ordinary places and old cars as subjects. Also about the composition of photos and his exclusive preference for analog photography.
Thomas Berlin: Tom, thanks for the opportunity to do this interview. Let us start with a statement: You said that your photography is simply the result of ideas in your mind, waiting for the right opportunity. Could you outline this combination of creating and finding?
Tom Sebastiano: A few years ago, it was winter, I was walking to the supermarket. On the way, I cut through a housing estate and on one of the grass recreation areas were two abandoned shopping carts. I stopped to look at them and thought that; one if I had a camera and two if it were not such a dull grey day there was a possible photo there. I walked past and carried on with my business of the day. Three or four days later I woke to find the early morning was shrouded with a heavy fog, without much thought I grabbed my camera and set off toward the housing estates hoping that the carts had not been repatriated to the supermarket. As I turned the corner, there they were in the white mist unmoved from when I last saw them. That was a magic moment. This is just one memorable example of what I mean by ideas waiting for the right opportunity. It essentially means I’m always looking for possibilities, locations, objects and situations that given the right circumstances such as good light or interesting weather could make that picture in my mind.
Thomas Berlin: In addition to the diversity of your motifs, portrait on the one hand and places on the other, I notice a common signature in your pictures: calmness and great naturalness. In your pictures of places, for example, you show very ordinary places, which are, however, recorded with a high level of visual competence. Can you understand this perception of mine and what does that have to do with what you want to achieve with your pictures?
Tom Sebastiano: Yes, you’ve touched on an essential aspect of photography for me. I like to shoot several different themes and try to address all my photography similar way. That way I hope to create a common thread across my work, for example, if I shoot a portrait of a working man in his workshop and another photo of a dimly lit doorway at night and somehow they are seen as creatively related then that is a big deal for me.
Thomas Berlin: Let's get to your portraits. What makes portraits interesting for you and how do you do them?
Tom Sebastiano: Well for one I love looking at portraits, they are probably my favourite type of photograph. I find myself engaging with them on so many levels and so much more than other types of photography. They arouse my curiosity and allow me to indulge in questions of who, where and why. They can be mysterious, informative, historic or can be documentary, situational and beautiful but behind each is a potential human story. I think that we are hard-wired to enjoy looking at people and that is what portraiture is.
As a photographer, I shoot portraits because I enjoy the interaction with my subject and they offer a chance to capture a moment in time and life. For me, portraiture is unique it creates a three-way communication between the subject, photographer and viewer. An endlessly fascinating combination whereby each person perceives their own interpretation.
Thomas Berlin: How do you find models? By model, I just mean the people in front of the camera.
Tom Sebastiano: In all kinds of ways, but the two most usual are to ask people I know or have a connection with or casting for creative collaborations. Sometimes I approach strangers in the street or people I just come across in everyday life. I would like to do more of this kind of work because I really enjoy looking at the street portraits. Unfortunately unlike the most successful photographers of this type of portraiture, I lack the confidence and outgoing charm to simply walk up to strangers on a regular basis. My fear of asking is a bit unfounded because I have rarely been turned down and yet every time I find it a little difficult.
Thomas Berlin: How can I imagine a portrait shoot with you? How do you choose the location, what is the process, how do you interact, what light do you work with?
Tom Sebastiano: With creative collaborations, it is often simply a case of meeting in a mutually convenient place and fortunately, because most of my shoots are in London, I’m never that far from an interesting or suitable corner. As these are collaborative shoots with no financial exchange, there is always a quid pro quo element to them. I like to work with performers for example actors, musicians, and dancers or somewhat established models who maybe see something in my shooting style that they like. Primarily, I am looking to shoot for my own portfolio but with the right type of collaboration there is a chance that my subject will also have a need and requirement for the work independent of me. In this way the shared photos may have a life of their own in their hands, used for promotional purposes and to hopefully further their own career’s.
Location is important but not critical to me, they are portraits after all. What happens is that the types of locations that I shoot urban landscapes in work well for portraits, it’s a sort of genre-merging win-win. Failing that, I get in closer and open the aperture making the location almost irrelevant, you gotta love depth of field! Light on the other hand is more important and I keep a close eye on my weather app, rainy grey days are not ideal for portraits. But in the end, I can make all the plans I want but the ability to embrace the situation as I find it is always the most important one.
Thomas Berlin: When are you satisfied with a portrait? How important is it to you that the portrayed person likes them?
Tom Sebastiano: Some portraits grow on me over time, but mostly I can tell from the moment I see the scan preview if a portrait has potential. The most satisfying ones though are the frames that during the shoot there was something special, a look, the light, a special pose or a memorable interaction with the location. It’s when these frames come off that I feel the most satisfaction.
One thing I learnt a long time ago is that if you ask someone for a photo and they do not want to pose, insisting that I should try a frame is often a waste of film and it almost always shows in the final photo. Some people are never satisfied with photos of themselves and usually, they are the people who insist they do not like to be photographed. The trick is to sense if a potential subject is reluctant but open to the experience. Confidence and clear direction help to overcome camera-shyness and it’s often these people who when photographed are the happiest when they see their portrait.
Having said that, I don’t tend to ask my subjects if they like their portraits as most sitters express satisfaction quite readily when they see the final work or at least are too polite to say anything if they don’t. Of course, if I see that someone has used my portrait in their portfolio, on their social media platforms or have even framed it behind glass, I find it very satisfying, so I guess it must be important to me.
Thomas Berlin: There are photographers who want to show the personality of the model and other photographers for whom the model is the projection surface of their own imagination, i.e. the model is in fact an actor. What is your attitude towards portraits?
Tom Sebastiano: The former, rather than the latter. Not because this is how I think portraits should be but rather it’s a more realistic situation for me. Often I am working with somebody I have just meet and so I am trying to portray them as I see them at that moment. If we have a successful shot and post communication is good then I’m very happy to work with the same model a second or even more times. Thankfully this happens often and on these occasions, it becomes possible with familiarity and confidence to explore more creative options, ones that might involve a special location, particular clothes and maybe a story, and as you say the model becomes more an actor. It is certainly a direction that I would like to spend more time doing in the future.
Thomas Berlin: How do you work with light on portraits?
Tom Sebastiano: I only shoot with natural light so pools of sunlight, cast dapple and shadows all play an important role. I sometimes use a reflector but that’s about it.
Thomas Berlin: At first glance, the places you are photographing look so normal, as if they had happened by chance. How spontaneously or how planned do you take photos of places? How do you choose the locations and how do you prepare for them?
Tom Sebastiano: They sometimes happen by chance, but for that to happen there has to be some planning! Spontaneity is not my strong point, I mean like most photographers I’ve found myself with a free morning or afternoon and grabbed a camera to go off somewhere just to see what I can find. It rarely works and is usually an exercise in frustration. A better way for me to work is by constantly being on the lookout for locations and storing them in a sort of mental library for future use.
That said the further away I find myself from my front door the easier it becomes to see new things and situations; planning days away in new places or bringing a camera with me when I’m away is a big part of my work. I regularly meet up with fellow photographers to wander around some unfamiliar city and shoot some rolls. Actually, I love doing this, years ago I thought that I would only ever shoot alone. It turns out that walking about in company is much more fun, this and I’ve made some very good friends this way.
Thomas Berlin: Your imagery brings me to the question of what normality is for you and your photography. And whether the normality of your pictures could also be a statement.
Tom Sebastiano: Yes, It is a statement of kind. I am attracted by the ubiquitous places and scenes that we all subconsciously know in towns and cities everywhere. Particularly backstage areas of banal infrastructure like industrial spaces, multi-story car parks, service areas and subways. The challenge for me is to frame some kind of beauty in the mundane and unremarkable.
Thomas Berlin: As I said, I think the pictures of the places are well composed, which is a visually interesting contrast to the seeming banality of the place. Can you please say something about the composition of the picture, also about the light or the time of day.
Tom Sebastiano: The technical essence of photography is ISO, aperture and speed. By balancing these three controls the potential to make a photograph begins. In the same way for me, the creative essence is composition, subject and light. In dull light, a great subject can still shine. In brilliant light, even the most ordinary subject can make a good photo. But composition is the key it’s the one element that I can totally control. I decide where to point my camera, what to focus on and where to stand (usually straight on!) in relation to my subject, so yes, it is very important to me.
Thomas Berlin: Old cars also play a role in your photography. What's it all about?
Tom Sebastiano: When I got my first camera, I was given some advice, by a friend’s father, a photographer. He said: ‘If you want to get good at this [photography] then start by taking photos of the things you love’. It was good advice and I’ve passed it on many times myself. In the spirit of his advice, one of the things I love is classic cars so I photograph them. It’s is a kind substitute to my lottery winning fantasies of owning a beautiful collection of cars, instead, I can find and collect photographs of them.
I shoot cars in almost the same way as portraits and they are for me, automotive portraiture. I try to capture a car's character and stance in a sympathetic location. Classic car owners are very proud of their cars and the opportunity to have them photographed is usually fun for them. Spending time with their owners on the shoot learning about their car's history is always very enjoyable for me too.
Thomas Berlin: You photograph both in a square and in a rectangle. The classic 35mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.5 has a relatively long side. In this respect, your two formats are dramatically different. What does this mean for your image design and your motifs? Do you have a favourite format or when do you prefer the square and when do you prefer the rectangle?
Tom Sebastiano: The format or shape of the final photo is less important to me than the feeling I get when using the different cameras. Shooting medium format with my camera is slow and thoughtful. Using a separate handheld meter together with the cameras waist-level finder, flicking between focus screen and composing screen is time-consuming especially when like me you wear glasses. The process is pensive and with portraiture quite intimate because you can easily retain eye contact with your subject. For me, medium format is more formal and dare I say it, artistic. I do like the classic square format too, it sings to my retro sensibilities.
On the other hand, 35mm is like freedom. Fast and ready to shoot almost in an instant. Looking through the viewfinder is precise and with internal metering, it’s even more straight forward. When I shoot medium format I often find myself looking through the viewfinder at potential subjects and test composing only not to fire the shutter. As well as only have 12 frames per roll there is a sort of subconscious cost-benefit analysis going on, 120 film is not cheap and deserves not to be wasted. Conversely with 35mm not only do I have more frames to shoot, but each frame also costs less. Because of this, 35mm has a kind of why-not feeling, which in turn leads to more creative experimentation. In reality, these 35mm photos are some of my personal favourites and have been shot under these exact circumstances.
Do I have a favourite, well for years my go-to format was 6x6, after all, if I was going to the effort to go someplace new or organise a portrait session I wanted to capture it with the best equipment I had. At that time I sort of used 35mm as a poor cousin. Slowly though I began to realise that although the image quality was not as good as 120, 35mm had plenty of its own advantages. Now I happily shoot all my subjects with both formats equally, the only exception being my classic car photos, which are always square.
Thomas Berlin: When is color and when is black and white appropriate for you?
Tom Sebastiano: That’s a really interesting question. I don’t have any self-imposed rules preferring to go by feel, but over time I have come to realise some of the situations that drive me to load a roll of colour or black & white. Chief amongst them is light, on grey and overcast days I almost automatically prefer black & white. Bright days, morning or evening light leads me toward colour, but this is not set in stone. For portraits, I like to shoot both equally and almost always do. When I shoot cars I mostly use colour film in fact only Kodak Ektar but if the car is black, white or silver I may try black & white.
Thomas Berlin: You take analogue photos as far as I can see. Are you 100% analog?
Tom Sebastiano: Yes, for personal work at least.
Thomas Berlin: Why actually analog photography? Digital technology is simple and good, isn't it?
Tom Sebastiano: I bought my first camera, a Fujica STX1, aged 15 and so I grew up using film if only because that was what photography was. At first, I took the usual photos of friends and the places I went to. In the early 80s, not many teenagers had cameras and I used mine as much as I could afford. As the years passed I slowly shot less and less and it became something I did only when I travelled. Then ten years ago I decided that I would shoot seriously again and at that time I bought a DSLR because by then digital was the way to shoot. I enjoyed digital photography, I particularly liked the ease, immediacy and image quality and being able to use post-processing programs like Lightroom was challenging at first but great fun.
A year after I started shooting again I walked past a camera shop and in the window I saw a lovely Nikon FE. I thought how nice it would be to try and shoot some film again, almost for old time sake. It only took one roll of film and I was on the analogue path once again. I remember when the negatives came back from the lab with a CD of scans, looking at the pictures on the computer I immediately felt comfortable in fact excited at this potential best of both worlds, analogue shooting and digital post-processing. Not long after I bought a medium format camera, it was a photographic epiphany for me, the photos were beautiful and my short flirtation with digital photography was all but over.
So yes, digital technology is great but for me analogue is beautiful and just the way I like to shoot. My reasons are no different to the usual things that film shooters say, it slows me down, I like the look of film, the distinctive colours and tones, it’s more selective and I spend less time post-processing. The cameras are cool too! I would add that in my case analogue photography just feels right because I grew up shooting it and so it was easy to go back to.
Thomas Berlin: Because you mentioned that you photograph both medium format and 35mm cameras, can you please introduce your most important camera from each of the two groups, including which lens you prefer?
Tom Sebastiano: Yes, that’s right I shoot 6x6 and 35mm. I’m not a camera collector with loads of cameras sitting on a shelf that are seldom used. It’s not that I do not approve of collecting cameras, I mean they are beautiful things and I completely understand why some photographers gather and keep extensive collections of old cameras. It’s just that for me, I prefer to get to know my camera, understand it and how it works so that it becomes second nature. When I’m shooting I don’t want to be thinking about the camera and how to operate it. One thing I regularly do is borrow and swap cameras with fellow photographers, that way I can spend a few weeks or months shooting something else. In this way, I have been lucky enough to shoot Leica’s, Rollieflex’s and Mamiya’s to name a few. There are still cameras that I would like to try for example a Pentax 67 or a CONTAX 645.
But to get back to your question I only have three cameras. A Hasselblad 500c/m for medium format and for 35mm a CONTAX S2 and a CONTAX RTS III. With the Hasselblad, I shoot using the standard 80mm Zeiss Planar. For the CONTAX cameras, I have several lenses. Right now I love using the Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 35-70mm on the RTS III. I really appreciate the flexibility and quality and it means I don’t have to change lens mid-shoot, another thing I don’t much like doing.
Thomas Berlin: Are you using a tripod and artificial light?
Tom Sebastiano: I use a tripod a lot, especially for my urban landscapes. After my light meter, my trusty Manfrotto is easily the most important accessory I have. I do have a couple of continuous LED lights but I rarely use them and if I do it’s usually in an interior space and even then only if there is no decent window light. Recently, I bought a flash unit for my CONTAX cameras but I haven’t tried it yet. I’m still not convinced I will use it much, flash photography looks complicated!
Thomas Berlin: What are your favourite films?
Tom Sebastiano: I love trying all types of film, I regularly shoot both colour and black & white so I’ve tried lots of stocks. Most film that is available these days are good in one way or another. It’s not like in the past when there were all kinds of nasty stocks out there, today nearly all film is professional-grade and each has quite distinct characteristics. I have a tendency, in my mind at least, to favour the last film that gave me good results but if I had to choose one film as a favourite it would probably be Kodak Portra 800 for colour. It is so flexible being fast and smooth with hardly any grain for an 800-speed film it can easily be overexposed in bright light and of course, those Portra colours. For black & white my favourite film is Kodak TMAX 400, it’s smooth sharp and tonally exceptional. Even as I write this other films keep popping into my head, Fuji Neopan 400 is great and what about that Vision 3 stuff? Let’s stop this here.
Thomas Berlin: Can you please describe your analog workflow?
Tom Sebastiano: It’s a hybrid workflow. Both analogue and digital and as I said earlier it’s the best of both worlds and the way most analogue photographers work these days. I develop my own negatives both black & white and colour using Kodak TMAX developer for b&w and Fuji Hunt X-press chemicals for C41. For scanning, I use an Epson V800 with EpsonScan for b&w and SilverFast Ai Studio 8 for colour. I finish post-processing with Photoshop. For printing, I use a Canon Pixma Pro-1. It’s a fantastic machine and makes the most brilliant prints, especially black & whites with it’s five different black inks they really are special.
Thomas Berlin: Tom, now it would be interesting to find out something about yourself as a person ...
Tom Sebastiano: I was born in Woking, England in 1967, the town where my Italian parents had immigrated to the previous year. Apart from a few years as a teenager in Reggio Emilia, Italy I have always lived and worked in Surrey, just south west of London. When I am not pursuing photography I like to read, watch films, listen to music, cook and of course, spend time with my family and friends. Professionally I studied reprographics and have mostly worked in the printing and graphics industries.
Thomas Berlin: Do you have another strong passion besides photography?
Tom Sebastiano: Ha Ha! Too many to mention, but anyone who knows me well will say it’s probably cooking and eating Pasta. When it’s time I definitely intend to sneak a packet into heaven, I mean what is heaven without Spaghetti?
Thomas Berlin: Tom, Thank you for the interview!
All images in this blog article by Tom Sebastiano. He can be found on this website and on Instagram. Feedback is welcome here.
