In Focus: Roman Fox and the Art of Seeing Slowly

What inspires your photography?

For me, photography is a visual journal of my life. Some people write journals; I take photos. With that said, what inspired my photography is life itself. I know it sounds incredibly cheesy and cliché, but photography is my way of journaling my travels, life, events and people. When I am old, my grandkids would be able to go through all these albums and learn everything about my life. From time to time, I look back at old photos and immediately find myself teleported back to those days with fond memories. I don’t need to get inspired to go out and shoot. Just like I don’t need inspiration to have a coffee in the morning. It’s something that I do on autopilot, and if I go too long without taking any photos, I start to feel like my life is out of balance.

How has photography changed the way you see the world?

Photography has slowed me down and forced me to pay more attention to things I otherwise would miss. Before photography, I would skip through a location, have an ice cream, take one photo of the nice view, and move on. Since picking up a camera, I would spend hours in one spot trying to find all the characters, pockets of light and details that make the place unique. Even though I travelled a lot prior to photography, I feel like I need to revisit those places and do them properly with a camera. In short, photography has made me 100 times more present and focused on every location I visit.

How do you stay creatively curious or avoid repetition in your work?

At the moment, I am very fortunate to be able to travel to different places throughout the year. I seldom find myself in one location for more than a month. This keeps things fresh as there’s always something new to explore and shoot. I also like to revisit places I’ve photographed in the past and see how my eye has improved since then. Of course, this won’t last forever, and soon my partner and I will settle down. At that stage, I will move to a slower and more project-focused approach. That way, I have something bigger to work towards if constant novelty is no longer the driving force. The projects will be varied, from specific colours, subjects, motion, or perhaps a more storytelling approach that includes writing or video. I’ve never actively thought about repetition in my work; however, I know it’s creeping in when I find myself getting bored with the photos I take. That’s when I will change something up. If I mostly photographed the sea, I would go to the mountains. Same with gear; now and again I will throw on a vintage lens or use a totally different focal length that I don’t normally use.

What are your must-have tools or gear?

The most important piece of gear is a good pair of walking trainers. I can’t describe the frustration of wanting to explore but being held back by blisters and sore feet. On average, I would walk between 25 - 30k steps each day and have once even hit 60k. Good walking trainers = more photos. As I’ve grown, I also slimmed my kit down. One body, one zoom and two filters. For big trips or if I need video, my Sony A7R + 24-70 is all I need. For smaller holidays and days out, I love the Leica Q3 43. My little Ricoh GRIII is always on me too. As for filters, I have the Urth Magnetic ND and CPL to give me more creative control if I need to. I have a bunch of other gear too, but this is 80% of my photography.

Can you share one of the most memorable shots you've captured?

Often, I take a photo that I think will be rubbish, but later on I realise it’s pretty good. Other times, it’s the other way around. Very rarely do I know that if I get this shot, it would be awesome. This is one of those photos that once I’ve seen the opportunity, I knew it would work. This was taken on the Shibuya Sky viewing platform and it was a total accident. We were on the top that’s open and I was using a 135mm lens to get details of the city below. It got too windy, and the staff insisted everyone had to go into the indoor viewing platform. It was full of reflections from the thick glass and the giant LCD screen behind. To top it off, I only had the 135mm prime on me which made composing impossible inside. As I looked out of the window, I saw this giant orange ball rolling behind me on the LCD reflected in the glass. That’s when the idea hit me. What if I could silhouette someone walking behind me but make them fit in the orange ball. After about 20 minutes and maybe 100+ photos later, it all worked out and I got the exact result I was hoping for.