Peeps–meet Adam King. Adam is first and foremost an artist. His mind is consumed with thoughts of photography, music, travel, and the like. Photography is a passion of his, but it’s not his career-focus. He just loves using a camera. I asked Adam to share a little of his story with all of you. Check it out, below. Thanks, Adam.

Between The Swells -- Image © Adam King

I credit my love for photography to my father, who always seemed to have a camera in hand. I have fond childhood memories of hearing the shutter click wherever I went. Whether it was summer vacations playing on the beach, or just candid shots around the house, those special moments were always being recorded.

Photos that possess a unique warmth and feel are my cup of tea. I guess you could say that I hold film photography in high regard. My appreciation for film stems from my love for my parents’ old silent movies, which I feel have perfectly captured the moment. Watching them evokes nostalgic feelings. When I watch them, I feel like I was there even though they were recorded long before I was born. My hope is to take photos that do the same.

Kiss The Sky -- Image © Adam King

Crowd Surf -- Image © Adam King

I like playing with the tone curve in Exposure to get faded blacks. If you pull the bottom left corner of the curve up about 10-15% makes a deep grey the darkest tone, which can give shots a cool feel. I used a faded black for this shot.

I recently traded in my full frame DSLR for a Fuji X-T1. I love this new little rig just like my favorite guitar. Some of the biggest contributing factors to it are the analog controls on the top, that it’s sized perfectly for travel, and it handles colors beautifully. Don’t just take my word for it, there are plenty of other photographers that feel these systems are the new rage. Alien Skin recently published an article about switching to mirrorless cameras. Check it out if you’re considering a gear change. 

Over the years I’ve learned a lot of lessons about photography. One of the most important things I learned was to save all of my photo’s as RAWs. The first poorly exposed sky recovered in Lightroom blew my mind, I had no idea what I was missing by shooting jpegs. Don’t be concerned with HD space–it’s totally worth it! There’s just so much more that you can do with RAW format images.

Pepper -- Image © Adam King

My retouching workflow is simple. I dump images directly into Lightroom for basic touch-ups, color balance, and cropping, and I’ll add tags and change filenames. Organization is key. Then, I’ll bring it into Exposure 6. I have a couple of favorites: Fuji Neopan, Kodacolor, or Kodak 200 Gold, but I don’t have a standard look that I apply to everything. I prefer to tailor each look shot by shot. The best part–I rarely touch Photoshop.

Groms -- Image © Adam King

Clarity adjustments can do some wondrous things to water, especially smooth water. It can produce a beautiful reflective blue or black-mercury look. It might not be for everyone, or every shot, but when it works, it looks really nice.

Check out more work from Adam on Flickr, Instagram, or his website.

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