ABOUT CHRIS PUTNAM
It’s easy for one to say, Oh I’ve always been into photography, but I think the picture below is proof somewhat. This was me at London Heathrow photographing commercial airplanes with my Dad. This was my trusty Chinon film camera which I still have somewhere.
Please excuse the fashion, Ken Done was the 80’s. I wouldn’t say I was obsessed with photography, but I tended to record lots of moments and rack up bills for my Dad to pay in film processing.
Unfortunately my photography skills were not quite up to scratch and often resulted in images like the one below. I would like to say it’s a rare shot of a UFO, but it’s just a football kicked high in the sky at a Luton Town Vs Manchester United game.
Luckily my photo skills gradually improved and I started becoming keener on travel photography. The shot on the right taken in London in 2000. I was very proud of this at the time. Shot on a Canon IXUS panoramic film camera.
It was in 2006 that my photography started to take off. After travelling across the US and not doing too much else, I was lucky enough to start working for a company called Navteq. I was a geographic analyst and I still work at this company, although it is now called Here Technologies. This job enabled me to travel the globe, creating the maps that feature in about 80% of the world’s in-car navigation systems. I have travelled extensively throughout Oceania, Asia and the US.
There was no way I wasn’t going to document my travels so I used a Casio P600 and then a Canon 400D as my first DSLR.
The image to the right was taken on Lake Taupo in New Zealand with my Casio P600.
However it wasn’t until my wife bought me my first DSLR that my photography began to kick off. A pre wedding present of a Canon 400D twin lens kit was a wonderful place to start seriously learning all about photography. Countless magazines, books and online articles helped me along the way. However it was my desire to throw myself into all genres of photography that helped me the most. Practice makes perfect as they say. I continued my love of travel photography, shooting every chance I could whilst on holidays or business trips.
It was around 2008 that I followed other passions, namely the genres of music and sports. I contributed to smaller music press such as FasterLouder and Beat Magazine with tiny gigs in tiny venues such as Prince Bandroom and Northcote Social Club. Soon after this I started working with MCM Entertainment and Take40 shooting high profile artists such as Coldplay, U2 and Katy Perry. By this time I had evolved to Canon 5Ds and ‘L’ Glass.
To supplement this, I moved into the corporate photography space. Working for many marketing companies as well as Nintendo, I still take on corporate work, together with my good friend from Corleve, Mark Peterson.
My wife and I also decided we would begin shooting weddings and children portrait photography together. Despite the stressful nature of these events, we enjoy them, though we don’t get to shoot as much as we used to due to time constraints with a family.
Around 2012 we became accredited members of the Australian Professional Photography Association. For a period of about 3 years we entered many competitions and we were able to win several awards, including a silver with distinction at the National Awards. A very proud moment seeing my photo in the spotlight in front of a panel of judges.
In 2013 I had an amazing family holiday driving across the US. It was on this trip that I purchased a Kindle and an eBook called ‘Step-by-Step Guide to MicroStock Photography’ by Steve Heap. I read this on the flight home and realized this was something I needed to do to maximize all the photos I had taken for years. I have thrown myself into stock photography, uploading as much as time allows. I now upload to 12 libraries globally and work for 2 press agencies Barcroft Media/Getty Images and Rex Features.
Which brings me to Photo Basecamp… The next evolution of my photography career.
