We were lucky to catch up with Eugene Lagana recently and have shared our conversation below.
Eugene, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I am self taught, mostly from following photographer as I admire. I am happy with the pace at which I learned photography. It was an enjoyable journey, I am happy with the results for the amount of time I put in to learning. There are two important components to creating a good image, one is pure creativity and the second is understanding the technical side of photography.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
In my professional life, I was a technology manager, so when I bought my first camera, I was challenged by the technical intricacies of the camera, lenses, and editing software. That challenge motivated me to master the hardware and take better and better pictures. The first lens I purchased was a macro lens because of my interest in photographing small things. Initial success motivated me to take more and more pictures but I needed a way to incorporate more of a storyline in my images so I use little figurines to create the storyline in the macro world.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
The greatest source of knowledge for me has been YouTube. Second, I got a library card for my local library which gave me access to the libraries in the surrounding towns. I checked out every book available about photography across six or seven different libraries. Third, because I had a long commute to work at the time, I stopped listening to music and downloaded podcasts about photography, and that was a great source of information.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
For me, the greatest motivator to create more images is the sale of images I created in the past. I always pay attention to trends, what’s relevant in pop culture and I try to appeal to the inner child of every person. This formula works, when people walk by my booth they get very excited about what they see being exhibited. It reminded them of something in their past and I received comments like “I have to have that”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eugenelagana.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eugenelagana/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eugene.lagana
Image Credits
All images are created by myself, Eugene Lagana.