Donna Lloyd
Name: Donna Lloyd
Camera: Fujifilm X-T2 and Minolta X-370s
Favourite type of photography: People
Location: Denbigh, North Wales, UK
Instagram: @donna_shoots_people
How did you get into photography?
I was in the WRAF on a base in West Wales and my department backed onto the ground photographers’ section. When I was bored or skiving, I’d wander over and fondle their Nikons and Hasselblads. The photographers got fed up and sent me into town to the camera shop where I bought my first camera a Practika TL1000 and I fell in love with photography right there and then.
Do you have any photographic qualifications or accolades?
Nope.
What's the first photograph you remember seeing or shooting?
I took photos with various little point-and-shoot cameras when I was young, but I never thought of myself as a photographer. The first serious image I took was in a local town, capturing the silhouettes of shoppers on a sunny day in autumn on Fujichrome.
What do you love about photography?
I don’t really understand people or their behaviour, so for me, I love how photography stops a moment of time and enables me to see fragments of interaction between two people or how one person is thinking or feeling. It’s quite magical because you can see the non-verbal behaviour. You try to understand and decode, what they’re sensing. Also, how light interacts with them in the environment because photography is also art and has many meanings.
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What do you wish you'd learned about photography earlier?
How to use flash. I’ve been taking photos since 1987 and I am still learning about how to use flash.
Where is your favourite place for photography?
Anywhere where there are people and interesting light.
Do you have a favourite photographic technique?
I love candid photographs but I also love to take street portraits with an off-camera flash or a reflector.
Can you briefly outline your approach to image processing?
A smidge of cropping, a pinch of contrast and a dab of sharpen.
What's your favourite lens?
A 28mm lens is great for street photography, a 50mm is good for close portraits and a 135mm is great for candid shots.
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Do you have a favourite accessory?
A reflector is a lightweight, portable and really effective way of enhancing a portrait.
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Have you found the perfect camera bag yet?
Yes, I use a British military respirator haversack because it is lightweight, waterproof, holds lots of kit and is only £15 to buy. Plus, it doesn’t look like a camera bag.
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Which photographers have influenced or inspired you, and how or why?
Vivian Maier, Don Mcullin, Diane Arbus and so many more.
Please recommend 2 or 3 female photographers to follow on Instagram.
Melissa O'Shaughnessy @melissaoshaughnessy, Lyndsey Addario @lynseyaddario, Emily Howe @thevetiver
Is there a camera, lens or accessory that you don't have yet but you'd like to buy at some point?
I might get a lens adaptor so I can put my Minolta lenses on my Fujifilm X-T2.
Is there a genre of photography that you love but that you haven't tried yet?
No not really.
What's your proudest photographic moment?
I covered a story of a man who carried a hod of bricks to the summit of Snowdon. I walked with him all the way to the top. My Canon EOS 20D shut down due to the cold, but my trusty Minolta X-300 got the shot. Also I have been the only photographer at a Duke of Edinburgh Award Ceremony and photographed HRH Prince Edward.
If you could have one superpower that could help you with photography, what would it be?
Being really ace at flash.
Your favourite baked goods are?
Sourdough crumpets!
Tell us a little about yourself.
When I was young, I lived in Libya with my parents and met Colonel Gadaffi. I’ve served in the military, I left school with no qualifications and now I am a qualified teacher in further education.
I live with my wife Nia and I our seven cats in North Wales. From our house we can see the top of the Blackpool tower. In my spare time, I am a ventriloquist.
I’ve always been drawn to photographing people, because I find human behaviour fascinating and use images as my way of trying to understand what people are thinking and feeling.
