PM360 recently spoke to Bob Lojewski, Vice President, Healthcare Systems at CSL Behring, about capturing his perspective of the world.
PM360: So you are a shutterbug. What makes you so passionate about taking photos?
Digital photography allows me to exercise my creative side whether composing the picture or editing it with post-processing software. Plus, capturing a moment in time is incredible when matched against how quickly time passes. It forces me to be in the moments of my life.
Did anyone inspire you to take up photography?
My grandfather had old cameras and it inspired me. During a teacher strike, my brother and I were allowed to build a darkroom in our childhood home. We developed film and prints, which was very powerful.
After developing a passion for photography in a darkroom as a child, why do you prefer digital photography today?
We built a professional style darkroom as kids, but we only perfected black and white. Color film and photos required significantly more chemicals and were more complicated when it came to hues, tones and color saturation. Digital photography immediately attracted me as it offered an opportunity to take photos and print them out when I wanted. You can also immediately see if someone closed their eyes or if it was out of focus, which helped me to capture the moment.
I hear you also like to use drones. What kind do you use and what sort of photos do you take with it?
My first drone was the Parrot from Brookstone, which opened my eyes to greater possibilities for the use of drones, but its limitations—too lightweight and poor image quality—had me searching for other options. I found the DJI Phantom and have been using that since. I have a gimbal mounted to the bottom with a GoPro Hero. I like using it for real estate shots in which the combination of video and stills is preferred.
What would you recommend using in terms of cameras?
I started with a Ricoh digital camera, went to a Nikon Coolpix and then bought my first digital SLR from Canon about 10 years ago. I prefer the digital SLR as it offers the greatest flexibility with interchangeable lenses. I recommend researching and choosing the SLR that exceeds your current needs so you can grow with it. Because of the price of the glass, you will forever be tied to whichever manufacturer you choose. It’s extremely expensive to move from Canon to Nikon or vice versa—not to mention it’s like learning a different language as the menu systems of these manufacturers are proprietary and difficult to learn.
Do you have any specific shots that you are especially proud of?
I like family shots at events, candid or sports shots of my kids, landscapes and macro photography. Photography offers me an opportunity to help others see the world from the perspective that I see it—and at 6’7” that is very different from the average person.
