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Kilgore Trout

What are you shooting with and what would you like to shoot with?
I use a Canon 450D. It's light and easy to take around. I'd really like some more lenses, though -- at the moment I'm still using the kit lens, along with a 50mm f1.8, because I can't decide on what kind of lens I should buy next. I'd like an ultra-wide angle but also some fast prime lenses.

If you could sum up your style in one photograph what photo would it be?
I couldn't possibly do that. It's better if you take a look at one of my threads, like my most recent Hong Kong one.

Talk about your inspirations and influences.
I'm inspired by the relationship between people and the city -- all the little things that make the city more than a collection of roads and buildings. I'm especially taken by markets, street art, informal development like hawker stalls, shantytowns, etc., signage and people riding bikes or scooters.

I always have a hard time describing my influences because I've never studied photography and I take photos according to what feels right to me. I like Cartier-Bresson, but he put too much emphasis on beauty and composition while overlooking street photography's capacity for satire and criticism. I like Michael Wolf's photos of Hong Kong but I find that he has a tendency to see the city as a machine and its inhabitants as cogs in the wheel, which I don't appreciate.

Where have you not been that you want to photograph?
Istanbul, Cairo and Buenos Aires are three cities that I would love to photograph. I like cities that are big and messy.

Talk about your most popular (in your opinion) photothreads.
My Montreal threads from 2006 to 2008 were always very popular. My European series in 2006 got a good response. My recent Shenzhen thread was surprisingly well-received.

Talk about your photothreads that didn't get the response you wanted.
I stopped coming to the forum very often after I moved to Hong Kong in 2008. It's much quieter here than it was a few years ago, so my more recent threads haven't gotten quite the response that I would have expected three or four years ago. It also seems that there is less interest on this forum for cities outside of Canada and the US.

Any tips or personal wisdom you'd like to pass on to others?
Spend lots of time wandering around. Always think about new and unexpected ways to capture a scene.

Who should we ask these questions of next?
Now that Giovanni Sasso is back I'd like to hear from him.