Ethan, welcome to FujiLove! Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Hello! My name is Ethan Barber and I’m a born-and-raised New Jersey native that grew up just an hour outside of Manhattan. I pursued a career in Marketing Graphic Design & Art Direction while simultaneously building my own small business centered around my photography. I have since transitioned from my career in corporate America to pursue my photography and business full-time.
How did you get started with photography and how has your photography evolved to where it is now?
Let’s go back to the mid-2000s…on my 13th birthday, my parents gifted me a neon blue Nikon Coolpix S210. I religiously captured everything about my (very boring) life. I remember going for walks in the woods near our house capturing flowers, trees and whatever I could find that caught my eye. I would come home and almost immediately upload them to Google’s Picasa to then edit and share on Flickr. I soon switched over to a Nikon Coolpix P-520 that I got during a Best Buy Black Friday deal and began to experiment with the built-in telephoto lens and manual controls. I didn’t have access to any photography classes, so I’d watch YouTube videos about photography. I learned the majority of what I know through video tutorials, and trial and error.
Over the years, my family and I would take day trips to Manhattan. I’d always bring my camera to capture the towering buildings and historic architecture. At the time, I didn’t realise how drawn to those structures I was. Looking back on it now, it’s clear that they were speaking to me on a much deeper level. I found myself drawn towards the inanimate. I didn’t crave portraiture. I wanted to capture structure and geometry in my photos. This is what eventually drew me into my early passion for architectural photography.
I eventually moved to Orlando, Florida for college where I invested in my first entry-level DSLR (a Nikon D3300) for class projects. While I look back fondly on this time, I found myself completely uninspired by the endless summer heat of Orlando and the lack of towering architecture. It was during this chapter of my life that my desire to move back up to the northeast, and specifically to New York, really began to manifest. Growing up with the privilege of going to Manhattan multiple times a year, I learned how much I missed having that access.
My childhood is filled with the memories of a romanticised view of New York City through a rose-coloured lens. From my own personal memories to movies and TV shows like You’ve Got Mail, Home Alone 2 and Friends. I accredit a large part of my creative inspiration and style to the way movies and TV shows were shot in the 90s: the romantic nature of 35mm film, warm autumnal tones and the lush, timeless feeling.How did you come to start using Fujifilm gear and what are you shooting with these days?
After moving back up to the New York area in 2017, I was still shooting with my Nikon D3300. I had the opportunity to try out an X-E2S, which I was given to review for BH Photo. I jumped at the chance and almost immediately fell in love. Shortly after that, my ex gave me an X100F to use. After we broke up, I had to give the camera back and went on to purchase an X-T4, which I now shoot with almost exclusively.
Other Fujifilm cameras I’ve recently acquired are a used X100V and an original Fujica AX-3 from the 80s. While I’m currently very happy with my Fujinon XF16-80mmF4 ‘kit’ lens, I also want to explore more with new ones in the future. I’ve loved every single Fuji I’ve had the pleasure of capturing images with. The way these cameras capture colour, contrast and soft details, and emulate a film-like style is something no other camera brand comes even close to.
I always strive to capture elements of the past and present in all of my photography and videography. I want to bring you into my timeless world of New York City. My biggest hope is that you feel something when you look at my work.
I think I mentioned to you that I first discovered you on TikTok and I know you’ve gained a lot of popularity over there and on Instagram with your beautiful photos and videos of New York. What is it about NYC that you think resonates so much with people?
Thank you so much! I think there’s true magic about the city that draws you in. I grew up getting to know that magic and energy so well. It’s still alive here in so many ways.
Of course, the city has changed over the years; as we all do, it’s evolved, but it hasn’t lost its magic. You can feel it when you walk down the street, when you look up at the towering skyscrapers, when you are swept up in a rush of pedestrians. It’s something that I could spend hours trying to type out but I’d much rather just capture it in photos.
This city also has so much character. The diversity of people, cultures, expressions of self and so much more. There’s something for everyone at every single street corner. You have this overwhelming feeling of being alone, while simultaneously NEVER being alone. Every single thing you could ever want is just within a few blocks. Coffee? Two doors down. Dry cleaners? Right next to the coffee shop. Leather harness? Head up the street, turn left, look for the glowing red light and go down the stairs. If you need it, you’ll find it here!
It’s almost as if the city becomes a human subject in your work. Is this something that you’ve been conscious of as you’ve been shooting in NYC and why do you think it translates so well in photo and video?
I never really thought of it like that! I don’t find people as interesting as the architecture that surrounds them. Perhaps my perspective has been shifted by the over-saturation of influencers and content creators churning out content only using the city as a backdrop for their latest fit pic. I think in the way portrait photographers are drawn to the emotion in eyes or faces, I’m drawn to the details of buildings. Their facades tell a story and are full of history. I think that’s something worth capturing and sharing with the world.
I visited New York for the fourth time last year and found myself a bit overwhelmed with trying to photograph everything while I was there. Do you have any tips or advice for people travelling to NYC and wanting to capture the essence of the city, whilst avoiding feeling completely overwhelmed?
Don’t plan your route. (Unless you really want to see one or two specific landmarks.) The magic of a photo walk in New York is that you will find something captivating on every street. I love just taking my camera out with only my wallet, keys and AirPods. Just take your camera out, zone into whatever music fits your mood and wander.
Look around. Allow yourself to melt into the background while the city moves around you. Capture that sweeping arch in the window. Look out for the mascarons carved into the facades of buildings. Try capturing that group of people as they all convene on the street corner at that exact moment in time.
Shoot downtown in the morning, uptown in the afternoon. If you want to shoot a neighborhood like Soho or somewhere in Midtown, try going early in the morning before stores open and the masses infiltrate the streets. If you want to capture a residential area like the Upper West or East Sides, shoot in the afternoon before the afternoon rush of residents returning home. This way you can still capture the magic of the city before the crowds overwhelm you.
I know that you have an online store selling prints and some lovely gift items featuring your work. How did that aspect of your business come about and what has the experience been like?
I started my shop back in 2018. Originally, it was just prints, and then I branched off into postcards and notecard sets. In 2020, I decided to make my first calendar. Being a graphic designer, I was able to design and create one from a completely blank canvas. Flash forward just a few years later and I have now self-produced jigsaw puzzles, tote bags, collage kits and many more prints, and currently have some exciting new products (like coloring books) in the works!
Do you have any words of wisdom for anyone trying to decide whether they need to go down the route of investing in formal photography education?
Everything I know about photography and videography has been self-taught. I’ve taken a few courses in college but they didn’t cover much beyond the basics that I had already learned from countless YouTube tutorials, and trial and error!
Sometimes I feel like my photography is ‘less than’ because I’ll try to convince myself that learning something on my own makes it somehow less valuable than if I went for formal training. I’ve had other photographers make weird comments about how my journey into video somehow ‘devalued’ my photography. I think that’s a shitty opinion to have, let alone to tell another creative. I’ve actually seen an objective improvement in my own photography since introducing video into my daily photo walks. I approach scenes differently. I allow time to breathe into my photos before I snap the shutter. Photography is what allowed me to become a videographer; video is what has allowed me to become a better photographer.