Welcome to Will Not Fade’s Artist Profile series, where we take a look into the people in the music scene who aren’t necessarily musicians.

Who are you?

I’m Lewis, originally from the distant and exotic land of Shannon, Horowhenua, now based in the capital.

How did you start off doing photography?

I have a lot of early memories of enjoying taking photos of family members who were not keen on being photographed with a very thrashed kodak, so I would say that is where I caught the bug. I’m much more respectful now. I later took up photography in secondary school where I took a lot of photos of ink and acrylic paint swirling around in water for my NCEA external assessments. I think I cleared out half the painting department’s supply.

Why do you photograph musicians?

I’m usually disinterested in still life or portrait photography (because I suck at it) so a dynamic environment with dynamic subjects is right up my alley. It ain’t a proper set until I’ve shot over a thousand photos on rapid. It’s also pretty cool to get chummy with people who have a creative skill I lack, and fellow photographers are also cool to chat with and ask basic questions like “hey, how do I turn off the shutter timer on a canon?” IYKYK.

Film or Digital?

Digital, because it’s the best.

Colour or Black & White?

I’m usually shooting nocturnally and indoors so I do black and white almost exclusively. What I do, see, is crank up the ISO to 10k minimum, which unfortunately does makes colour look like mud with my M6 MkII’s sensor, but if I desaturate and then pretend the massive amounts of ISO grain are intentional, then I can get some nice renders ranging from aesthetics perfect for a classic lofi black metal band to a modern black metal with an actual budget. Remember to delete that bit about pretending.

What has been your highlight so far as a photographer?

The chat. Getting back into it after about a decade of inactivity has been a good exercise in outletting creativity and being more sociable.

What band would you most love to photograph?

That would have to be Spiral, NZ’s best 5th wave Emogaze quartet. If they’re not available then it’s a dice roll between Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Deafheaven and Mineral.

Have you got a favourite venue?

Only been there a couple of times so far, but Meow Nui has a gorgeous lighting array, and yet it lacks the sticky, soothing floor of Valhalla. Oh, a boy surely cannot choose.

What do you consider your most essential piece of equipment?

The spare battery I forgot I had. Never lets me down. My very big external hard drive. So many duplicate and write-off RAW files I still haven’t gone through and deleted.

What kind of ear protection do you use?

I had some really good broken in-earphones that connected together magnetically, but I lost them. So good. Now I use some proper earplugs I got from MusicWorks.

Have you got any advice for aspiring beginner photographers?

Just jump in, see what you can get, see what you can make of the shots and repeat and repeat and repeat. Don’t be worried about how good you are before a gig, going is how you get better. Download darktable.

 

How can people contact you if they want to use your services?

I’m on Instagram under SkaldMH. Flick your boy a message.