ePHOTOzine Chats To Photographer Dave Kai-Piper

How did you discover photography?
My path of discovery was though a high Street photography company called Pixi Photo. It was not a great match, and we soon parted was after a blaze of glory in a Milton Keynes office. It was a learning curve for myself and after all it was my first photography job and it did set my photography fire alight. I was a Professional Photographer and my path was laid down. So, as much as they did sack me, I thank them for showing me everything I didn’t want to do with my own photography.

From there I got a few little jobs working for a wedding company called Prestige Photography, then on to the music world followed by the fashion world. The rest is history I guess.

My very first notion how powerful photography could be, can be tracked back to a couple of words my mother once said to me, "you should take a photo of that, you might never see it again". These are words that echo though me today. But, I have kind of changed it "you should take a photo of that, you might never feel that again". Photography is more about feeling a purely visual experience. Over the years I guess the notion that people look with their eyes but feel with their heart is something I am quite interested in.


When did you decide that model and portrait photography was the way forward for you?
I don't think that it is. At the moment, my website has 4 sections. Client, personal, music and landscape. At the moment, working with people and the environments they live in is pretty interesting to me, and it seems to be something people quite like to pay me to do. I might not stay working with people forever, but it sure has my focus at the moment and for the foreseeable future. I think I would love to really push into adventure photography in the coming years and really find some amazing landscapes. I am a big fan of the balance Joey L has with his work.

I have shot weddings, gigs, babies, models and everything in the middle. I find working with other creatives quite fun even if it is a challenge at times. All things said, I just want to make little marks on how I see the world today that will continue to give me a voice long after I am gone.


Why did you choose Pentax Ricoh Gear?
At the moment I am shooting on a range of cameras. The Pentax 645d I have had some what of a love affair with for a number of years. It was more an object of desire at first. Expensive and sexy and something I thought I would never have.

More recently I have 3 cameras in my bag. The super sexy 645d is the work horse at the moment. I guess people usually state the sharpness and color and large files and all the tech that goes into a interview like this. But, at the of the day, the 645d makes me want to take photographs. It has my back, we are a team. At the other end of the scale I am currently using a GR as my pocket camera. The Pentax / Ricoh cameras share many color profiles and tonality ranges. The Kodak CCD sensor in the 645d is one of the most amazing on the market today and the GR, while using a CMOS sensor is one of the best and most compact.

The GR matches the 645d, on the website, at 72dpi, people will never really be able to tell which was which. So they make a cool combo. The GR is light, compact and will go everywhere with me. It lives in my pocket. Oh and it charges by USB and the battery life is amazing. Another great reason why it is the pocket camera of choice.

For more information on Dave Kai-Piper and his photography, take a look at his website, Ideas and Images.