Photographer: Derrick Santini

In the tenth instalment of our Photographer series, we speak with acclaimed photographer Derrick Santini

How did you start in Photography and decide it was the career for you?
I was working in an engineering factory from when I left school on an apprenticeship and I was already into photography as a hobby from about 14 years old .. thank the lord.. because working at the factory was so hellish, like a bad groundhog day life. I thought at about 17 or so that it could be my way out .. so I did it and it was.

What kind of photographer would you describe yourself as?
By tradition I am most defiantly a ‘Humanist’ Photographer. I love life and I love the people within it. They are the ones that drive my art and my interests and inspirations.

What cameras and equipment do you usually use?
I now use mostly a Canon 5D mk 3. Its like being a kid again, My first SLR was a Canon FE1 program that I got for my 16th Birthday.

Which subject is your favourite to shoot?
People and shapes.

Which photographers have inspired you most?
Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Helmut Newton, Lee Friedlander. There a few other masters I love too.

Is there a shoot or personal project you’ve been working on recently?
Every image is personal. Every day is a project.

Has your shoot or project been Studio based or out on location?
I shoot a lot on both. I love a clean space, I love a interstice graphic to play with and most of all I love light in all aspects and environs.

Can you tell us some of the locations you have shot across the world, what was your favourite and why?
I’ve been very lucky and have shot in loads of fantastic and surreal locations around the globe, but I love Iceland and I especially love Brazil.

What’s been your most memorable moment on a shoot or during your career?
You have to ask me this one on my death bed.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your work or process?
It’s all about Love and being Real. Its a beautiful thing Photography and I feel so lucky that it has informed and shaped my vocabulary for the last 40 years. How shocking that sounds to me. I believe that Photography will show itself to be the absolute uniter of people through our universal use of it as a way to see life and to see ourselves in it.