A Conversation With Espen Rekdal 
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Author: Alex Mustard ( Alex_Mustard )
A Conversation With… ESPEN REKDAL
Welcome to the fourth instalment in this series, to add to the previous interviews A Conversation With Todd Mintz and Rand McMeins, a A Conversation With Martin Edge and A Conversation With the Fotosub boys.
This month you join me with the World Champion! In June, at Jeju Island South Korea, Espen Rekdal of Norway was named the 12th CMAS World Champion of Underwater Photography. The CMAS world championship is usually held every other year and typically attracts between 35-50 photographers from 20-30 nations. The first world championship took place in 1979 and was won my Mario Zucchi of Italy.
Now its fair to say that many readers might be surprised to learn that underwater photography has a world champion. That is not to belittle their achievements it is more a reflection on the press coverage, or rather lack of it, the event attracts. Hopefully, Espen’s success will change this. He is no competition specialist and I have long been a fan of his images.
Stylistically, I believe he is an intelligent and technical shooter, he shoots supermacros with breathtaking control of focus and depth of field, and faultlessly lit wide angle images. But he is also and artist, and has the vision to turn everyday subjects into graphic masterpieces. And finally, his training as a marine biologist means his portfolio contains many rare and unique images, particularly from his home waters of Norway, where he lives with his wife Shanay and daughter Elena.
Since Espen is technical shooter, this interview was a chance to get my teeth into some quality techie stuff on lighting, strobes and techniques. We discuss not just controlling the quantity of light in photos, but also what goes into producing the quality of light we want in our underwater images. We also talk a bit about fisheye photography and supermacro, including one of Espen’s recent specialities, open water supermacro.
Finally, when photographers get together they invariably discuss the work of well known photographers. We all do it and it is often fascinating, but hard to put in print without risking offending. Espen and I get into the Doubilet versus Newbert classic, which actually reads fine, so it makes the edit for once! Hopefully everyone will read it in the respectful tone it was spoken!
Alex: Congratulations Mr World Champion! Was it an enjoyable event? Or only after the results?!
Espen: Thanks. Well, I actually didn’t have any expectation this time. I have had quite a few disappointments down the years, because of the way the points work. Especially when I have won the most categories, but not overall.
Alex: So despite winning this time, it probably wasn’t your best performance in a world championship?
Espen: Yeah, I think I did better in Marseille and in l’Estatit…
Alex: Interesting. So will this be the start of a Carlos Minguell style domination or is this a chance for you to draw a line under competing?
Espen: Who knows? I’d be quite happy to retire now, but there is always the temptation of free trips! But I have three bronzes and one gold from the last four events I’ve entered. It is hard to top, and in all probability I won’t win next time. So maybe it is a good time to give it up.
Competing is a great way to get yourself known, but you might do yourself a disservice if you stay in it too long, because you become too influenced by what does well in competition rather than what is good photography. You might stop playing around with ideas. Some people say you have to be creative in competitions, but I think it is actually the opposite. You become less creative because you are trying to please someone else [the judges] the whole time.
Alex: Most of the judges have similar tastes. Competition shots have to wow, there is no room for subtlety.
Espen: Exactly, if you do a photo story not every image should have that impact. They need to work together to build the story. There is much more to photography than competition photography.
Very enjoyable read, what shots!!
Posted by Alsky72 on 12/14 at 02:03 PMAlex, congratulations for the well done interview.
Espen I hope see you soon again ( I need some backup to talk with Suzy to buy the 200-400 ) :-))).
best regards
Augusto
Posted by Augusto_Valente on 12/14 at 06:23 PMthis is a great series of interviews, very interesting read.
good stuff!
Posted by Steve Jones on 12/15 at 04:32 AMAlex: Great interview and I really like the technical discussion. This is the kind of detail I look for.
Espen: Amazing portfolio and great tips
Brett
Posted by zif2000 on 12/15 at 01:11 PMAnother great article filled with many valuable insights and tips. Thanks guys.
Rand
Posted by randapex on 12/15 at 03:59 PM... “This guy is so good, I am never going to get that good!” ...
That is what I’ve been thinking about all these interviews, but what great inspiration.
I also liked the statement that a diver should be like a visitor or a peripheral subject. For me the diver in the reef scene image worked exactly for that reason, and it is the one thing where many other pros, despite their mastery, manage to annoy me.Bart
Posted by Glasseye Snapper on 12/15 at 08:18 PMThanks so much for sharing!
The starfish in plankton photo is beautiful & amazing!Posted by xariatay on 12/15 at 08:52 PMFantastic reading… Thanks Alex and Espen!
Posted by Wishbone on 12/15 at 11:36 PMA fascinating conversation. It’s certainly convinced me to hold onto my Subtronics!
Posted by Simon Rogerson on 12/16 at 04:15 AMGreat inspiring stuff - especially about the long arms for strobes and Alex comment about exposure on new cameras confirms what I thought about Nikon D90 not needing much -ve comp as per “conventional” wisdom.
Great series keep it upPosted by Geopadi on 12/16 at 11:12 AMGreat article again, Alex!
Posted by davichin on 12/16 at 01:43 PMThank-you, Alex and Espen:
with all due respect to the previous victims(?), this is the best interview yet!
Posted by tdpriest on 12/18 at 02:54 AMThanks for the feedback all. Really appreciated - this is something I am doing without being paid - so encouragement essential!
I think the interviews will slowly improve as I get more experienced getting people to talk and have a clearer understanding of the style of the series.
The next one is with Kurt Amsler - which I am really pleased with. That one will appear first in UWP Magazine at the end of the month.Posted by Alex Mustard on 12/18 at 03:49 AMI remember the elevator conversation as it were yesterday…
We looked at Espen’s equipment, trying to guess what was that, as everybody was hiding the game at that stage when we had the “Creative” category (my passion) on the world championship, and I couldn’t resist:
- Humm, 105mm, and one teleconverter…
To what he answered:
- Maybe two…
With that characteristic grin in his face!!!
Those two words opened up a lot of possibilities in my uwphoto as well!!!
Thanks Espen, and thanks Alex for the intervew - masterpiece!
If you ever drop here in the desert give me a heads up!Posted by Mariozi on 12/20 at 03:15 PMHi everyone and thanks for all the great (and nice) feedback! I’m honored!
I’m glad some of you enjoyed the interview and might have gotten ideas on how to take your ideas a step further or in a different direction.
Augusto, I’ve got your back on that 200-400 acquisition!
Marcelo, I can’t believe you still remember! Thats almost ten years ago!
For you out there that don’t participate in splash inn competitions the greatest reward that can’t be emphasized enough is all the input and new ideas that come out of meeting and talking to so many photographers.
Finally. Thanks Alex for asking and putting in the time for this interview!
Cheers,
EspenPosted by EspenRekdal on 12/25 at 01:28 PMGood article, like the conversational style in the interview series.
Cheers,
Simon
Posted by simonmittag on 01/20 at 04:05 AM
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