Victor Habbick - The Dream Enclosure

Victor Habbick has been a member of ePHOTOzine for the last five years and photography has always played a role in his life, but he didn't consider it to be something he could make money from until he went to study photography as part of his college education.

“I went to study graphic design between the years of 1978 and 1982. When I left with my diploma under my arm it just became second nature to include as much photography into my graphics as I could,” said Victor.

After working in many advertising and design agencies Victor eventually ended up as a Studio Manager at a large printers in Glasgow.

“In the early years I became so frustrated at the quality of the photography that was being supplied by clients for the design jobs we were working on that I decided to register myself as a part time photographer with the Inland Revenue. My boss at that time was slightly disgruntled that I should also take this avenue but over time I was able to promote my services on the back of the Design Studio which enabled me to pretty well offer the complete solution to many potential clients from design to photography and print.”

Gradually over time Victor gained enough experience and knowledge to run his own design and photography company, which he has now been running for the last twelve years.

“Over-time I was involved in shooting everything from architecture to managerial portraits, food catalogues to jewelery. It was a great learning experience and enabled me to build up a large portfolio of commercial and industrial work. I now supply a full design service to a broad range of clients worldwide but have recently been getting more involved with supplying the photography stock market,” said Victor.

Victor is in the lucky and somewhat enviable position of having an occupation where your hobby is your work, something I think many others would love to have the opportunity to do.

“There are very few professions that enable someone to make a living out of something they would naturally do as a hobby,” said Victor “My art and photography enables me to express so much about life and I cannot imagine a time when I will ever stop. With the advent of digital I can now get so much done within a short space of time, often working on several ideas at the same time. It keeps the grey matter ticking over and gives me a positive direction at times when I need it most.”

His occupation and hobby allows him to experiment with many types of photography some of which can be very eclectic at times.

“If you were to ask me what particular type of photography I like the answer would be surrealist, which sometimes requires a model or models to undertake my strange requests. I seldom use pro models as over the years I have generally had a better experience using friends and friends of friends who are more responsive to my requests and really get into the fun of the occasion, which makes my job a lot easer,” said Victor.

His is love for the surreal however can not be demonstrated all of the time as changes in the market mean his work has to sometimes take a slightly different angle.

“In recent times I have been concentrating more on my conceptual photography for clients such as the Science Photo Library and the stock market which is going through quite a transitional period. This is largely due to the large number of micro sites now online offering top class photography at a fraction of the professional commission rate. It's been a worrying time for many photographers but there is no point in trying to ignore the changes in the market. Instead I am trying to adapt to them.”

The way Victor alters and adapts his career shows he is not scared of trying something different, so it is no surprise to hear that the next step in his career was to produce a book.

“None of us are getting any younger and after spending more than 25 years designing books and catalogues for everyone else I thought it would be a nice time to summarise my own life in art and photography before I move on to the next stage. I was also aware that many kind people on EPZ had over the years requested a little insight into my working methods so I thought this would be an excellent way to do it,” said Victor.

ePHOTOzine announced the news back in March and Victor has received good feedback from the book so far.

“It's just a case of getting the promotional machine moving. As someone from an advertising background I appreciate that you can spend as much time and effort getting your product promoted as producing it in the first place, but its a necessary evil,” said Victor.

The book, which follows the journey of someone who wants to be in the creative industry at any cost, shows Victors development as an artist and photographer, the challenges he faced and an insight into his working methods.

“I did not want a tutorial book as there are so many wonderful books out there already fulfilling this brief, but I felt I owed many people who admire my work a brief explanation of how I approach each of my images. I have also included as many photo breakdowns as possible if only to dispel the notion that there is little in my production methods that most photographers could not have a go at themselves.”

It took about three months for the book to be produced as Victor had to fit it around his other commitments. Due to size and expense the first layout was even scrapped and Victor had to begin again from scratch, something which became very time consuming.

“Being involved in so so many different photographic avenues it was increasing difficult to give the book a cohesive structure both in look and content. Eventually with the help of Rose Taylor, Creative Director at the Science Photo Library, my copy was re-evaluated which helped me edit the book down to a more manageable size.”

With Victor producing a book on photography you would think he would have several favourite images he was most proud of, but as with many photographers, this is not the case.

“I often have a favourite or two only to look at it at a later date and see so many faults with it,” said Victor.

“If I had to chose at the moment I would say The Drowning Pool has to be among my most personal. It was a self -portrait of myself at a time when my depression was at its worse point. It was very much designed and photographed within a few hours with no sketches. I just instinctively knew what I wanted it to look like. This often happens and results in many of my own personal bests but they're not necessarily to everyones tastes. You have to be true to yourself and photography can often catch that inner moment that no other medium can.”

With Victor seeming to be his own worse critic I wondered if there were any plans to produce a second book, to better the first or to improve any parts he felt were not quite right.

In response Victor said: “I am already at the early production stage of another two books. There had to come a time when I said enough is enough on the first book and sent the job to bed. Any mistakes and misguided concepts would just have to wait for volume two to be put right. All in all it was an enjoyable experience digging through all my old files and I only hope my enthusiasm for my profession comes across in my work.”

The second volume will be titled Femme Fatale and deals with the female form. It will demonstrate everything from straight portraiture to the more surreal. As for the details of the third book, well, we will just have to wait and see.

The book is available as a full colour book,CD and direct PDF download. For more information please visit Victor's website.