Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Alavi.
Hi Daniel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I first started doing photography after finding an old film camera, an early model Pentax K1000, at a local thrift store. For a while in the beginning I was all about only using film and nothing else, a real film die-hard. I think starting that way really helped me be a better photographer in the long run. After some time I slowly started taking it more seriously, which is when I decided to take a dive into digital photography. Slowly but surely I’ve continued to do photography because I really love and enjoy it. Things like money and fame, if I never find any of that through photography I would still do it and take it just as seriously. There have been few things in my life that have expanded my horizons as much as photography has and I’m grateful to have that.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part it has. Of course life has it’s obstacles and difficulties, personally when it comes to photography the biggest struggle is doing the stuff after taking the picture, editing, posting to Instagram, creating a website. Sometimes it can be difficult to find inspiration, but I try to bring my camera with me everywhere I can so I don’t ever miss a shot. I’d rather look like a weirdo with a camera than see something beautiful or one of those once in a lifetime moments and not have my camera.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Although I like to consider myself a documentary photographer, a lot of people know me for my black and white photography and my photos of local bands performing at many of the smaller venues around the palm beach area. One place I often find myself at is Respectable Street. I’ve taken some really great photos there, of the musicians, the crowds, or even when I’m just hanging out with my friends.
As far as what sets me apart from others and what I specialize in that would have to be my usage of fisheye and unconventional lenses. For example one of my favorite lenses is a CCTV lens I bought brand new off Amazon for $30, it has a C mount which is somewhat of a universal mount nowadays but I think comes from the lenses used for 16mm motion picture cameras from the pre-digital era. I attach it to my camera, a Fujifilm X-T3, by using a C mount to X mount adapter which is a lot less complex than you might think, and I have gotten some truly amazing photos with that lens. The imperfections of the lens can create an dream like swirl in the bokeh, the out of focus background of an image, when used correctly. While it certainly isn’t the only lens that can do this, it definitely is one of the most inexpensive that you could find brand new.
How do you think about happiness?
As far as happiness derived from photography goes I’d have to say that the excitement and happiness of the people who are in my photos when they see the photos I took of them. I really appreciate the fact that anyone at all finds my photography interesting, being able to see how happy something I’ve created can make those around me is more fulfilling than I could even describe and I’m grateful for it.
Also when someone uses one of the photos I took of them as their profile picture on Instagram, there are few honors greater than that!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://danalog.blog
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/man_the_danalog/
Image Credits
Dan Alavi
