Art & Life with Drew Williams

Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Williams.

Drew, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Following my father’s interest in photography, I soon began taking pictures on my own. I first began photographing models in a studio setting around 2007. A friend told me about anime cosplay conventions–the first of which I attended in 2015 in the Chicago area–and my passion for cosplay photography developed rapidly. I now attend at least one convention each month from the Midwest to the East coast. Over the past 3 years, I have attended over 40 conventions, accumulating over 40,000 photographs. My passion and skills continue to grow with every cosplayer photographed. For the past 3 years, my hobby has matured to include medium format photography as well.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I am a photographer that takes photos of cosplayers at anime conventions with a Nikon D810 and a Hassleblad H5D-200c.

I enjoy taking photos to the best of my ability and sharing them with the cosplayers. Each and every convention has its own unique challenges to work with. These challenges include lighting, location, convention layout, staffing procedures, and available resources.

At Sketchy Drew Photography, we hand edit every photo using image editing software.

Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
Lighting is very critical for high quality photography. Learn all you can, any way you can about lighting. Many times proper lighting is not provided and the photographer must use their own equipment to achieve the desired results.

The more photos you take, the better you get. Improvement comes with every photo shoot.

In photography, knowing how to pose subjects makes for a great composition.

Continuing education will enable you to stay in touch with the current trends in photography, as well as the photography community.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.sketchydrew-pix.com
• Email: sketchydrew4@gmail.com
• Instagram: @sketchy.drew
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sketchydrewphotography
• Other: http://sketchydrewphotography.zenfolio.com

Image Credit:
Sketchydrew photo by Jon Maxwell of Maxwell Creative
http://www.jonathanjmaxwell.com/

Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.