We had the privileged of connecting with sparatcus images to talk about photography and how he does what he does.
ARTISTIC VIGILANTE – Why the name Spartacus images?
SPARTACUS IMAGES – I wanted a name that was not commonly used in the photographic world and one in which people respect especially the women
ARTISTIC VIGILANTE -You happen to be based in the UK and Spain, they are lot of photographers within these regions. How do you set yourself apart from other photographers and maintain your customer/client-base?
SPARTACUS IMAGES – I live 50% of my time in UK and 50% in Spain , I find the markets very different in the UK, models base is massive and very competitive both for models and photographers, Where in Spain the country is 4 times the size of the UK the models there are more spread out and often demand many more edits than the UK models, I guess because they are not so busy. I always shoot for beauty, so the requirement is the same in both. In Spain you have to work with very bright light so you need to be fast and competent on your feet.
ARTISTIC VIGILANTE – You happen to be featured in a lot of other publications, what steps do you take to get your works published?
SPARTACUS IMAGES – I am afraid I am a bit lazy and leave it generally to the models to get my work published, however I do submit my work to stock libraries and on line magazines such as Vogue IT. You have to always do your top work to get published, they want good images and equally as good edits.
ARTISTIC VIGILANTE – You seem to do surrealism and nudity. Can you explain to us your inspiration and what it requires to get a shoot ready behind the scenes?
SPARTACUS IMAGES – My inspiration comes from my dreams and looking at art in galleries. I love surrealism and I love to mix both, not all models can do both but when you get one its like magic things click into place. I always keep nude work classy and totally respect models. Most of my surreal work is done in post but need a model who can act and pretend.
ARTISTIC VIGILANTE – Can you explain your preferred light set up and give us a list of things you shoot with regularly (Gear).
SPARTACUS IMAGES – My main camera is a Canon 5D MK4 and lotS of lenses but I stick to mostly 50mm F1.2, 85MM F1.2, 24 to 70 F2.8 and 70 to 200 F2.8 However I am also now running two Fuji cameras an XT3 and XT20 with similar lenses as my Canon stock, I am moving more to Fuji its ability to cope with fast light changes is superior and so much lighter, but mainly because WUSIWUG (what you see is what you get)
ARTISTIC VIGILANTE – When you are doing surrealism, where do you get your overlays from?
SPARTACUS IMAGES – I either create myself or use my son who is a graphic artist, but generally I spend time and create myself , I may at times ask a friend also who is a graphic artist to give me guidance.
ARTISTIC VIGILANTE – What would a Spartacus image photo shoot cost and how can you be reached?
SPARTACUS IMAGES – I try to offer 2 Free TF shoots a month and the rest of the time if not for publishing I charge £50 ph much more when being published, I actually get lots of work via Instagram its seems to be a very good way to make contact nowadays.
ARTISTIC VIGILANTE – What will be your advice to photographers in the UK who want to do exactly what you are doing.
SPARTACUS IMAGES – My advice is always before you buy new equipment train yourself well, understand the technical stuff and get lots of editing training as well, then you upgrade your equipment but always spend money on glass. Then pay the top models to shoot and after a while your portfolio will be great.
you can find spartacus images on instagram here