Alice Shum: I love creating photo stories about families to preserve their happy moments

Alice Shum is a talented family and wedding photographer from Ukraine who is passionate about capturing the sincere emotions of her clients and giving them the opportunity to feel the happiness of the moment. The woman understood that her path would be connected with creativity as early as childhood, and for many years she searched for herself in various creative fields. As a result, she found herself in photography. Learn more about the work of a family photographer, past creative professions and the difference between Ukrainian and German photographers in an interview on Drive Music Media.

Interviewer: You connected your life with photography 7 years ago. Tell us, what was the beginning of your creative journey?

Alice: As long as I can remember, I have always been a creative person. As a child I liked to create something with my own hands. When I was about 14 years old, an art class was opened in the music school of our city. Then I realized that I wanted to go there. They didn't want to take me there because I had 2 years left before graduating high school. The problem is that you had to study at art school for at least three years to get a certificate. Anyway, I was accepted and two years later I received a certificate from an art school. After school, I moved to Kharkiv and went to work as a designer. But when I picked up a camera at work, I realized that I really wanted to be a photographer. Although I was very worried whether I would succeed or not. That's why I put off buying a camera for several years. When I bought my first camera, I regretted not doing it earlier and realized that this is the business I want to do.

Interviewer: How did you realize that you want to do wedding and family photography? Why not art photography?

Alice: I have been looking for my style, color and direction in photography for a very long time. Probably, like every beginner photographer, I shot everything: pregnancy, birthdays, portraits, love stories, weddings, September 1 at school, graduations. I conducted many shootings on creative subjects with interesting and unusual ideas. But then I realized that filming the love of two people is what I like more than anything else. I love to listen to the stories of my couples, about how they met, what the first date was like, how they plan their wedding, and then shoot the pregnancy and already do cozy family shoots for them.

Interviewer: What are the important differences between the work of a family photographer and photographers of other styles? What is the complexity of this type?

Alice: I mostly work with Ukrainians, so there aren't many differences. I start working with the Germans, they have a slightly different attitude to photography and to the way the same weddings are celebrated. It's still very difficult with studios here, high cost for terrible studios. Most often, when you rent a studio, you are given an electronic key. Studios without an administrator and most often they are dirty, the white cyclorama is not white or the paper background is torn. These are not all studios, but I've had them and I don't go there anymore. Still weak equipment (flashes, light). But there are also very good studios that you want to return to, and many Ukrainians are starting to open studios with quality services.

Interviewer: What are the differences between the work of a photographer abroad and in Ukraine?

Alice: I don't want to offend anyone, but it seems to me that our photographers give better quality material and try more to be in the trend of modern photography in shooting style, color and processing.

Interviewer: What interesting or unexpected situations happened to you in your professional activities during filming? How were they solved?

Alice: There were no too tricky situations. But once at a wedding my flash stopped working. But my husband brought my old flash for a replacement so quickly that no one noticed. But then I was very stressed. Once again, I confused the shooting date and came to the studio a week earlier - the main thing is not to be late.

Interviewer: How difficult is it for people to relax while shooting? Someone for the first time in general, someone for the first time with you. How do you find the approach?

Alice: In fact, there are many people who come to a photo session for the first time. I had several cases when I understood that this was not my person and it was very difficult to work. If the shoot is in a studio, I can offer to meet before the shoot, walk to the studio, or drink coffee and talk. If it is a shooting on the street, then we can also meet and go to the location during this time of communication, my clients get used to it and relax a little. At the shooting itself, I ask you to do some tasks for me: walk, dance, and the like. I talk a lot during the shooting, sometimes I even worry that it's too much, but it's easier for the clients, they communicate with me and relax.

Interviewer: Considering your extensive experience in wedding photography, by what criteria would you choose a photographer?

Alice: The main thing for me is that we are on the same wavelength and that we have a similar style: feeling, color. In fact, I am very picky about this issue and it is very difficult for me to choose a photographer. My last photoshoots were with my friend Ani from Kharkiv, she shot fashion, but tolerated all my wishes in love story and individual shoots and she took incredible shots for me.

Interviewer: What advice would you give to aspiring photographers in this particular genre?

Alice: The first thing is to choose a genre. If you have chosen a genre, you should shoot more, because theory is theory, but everything depends on practice. It is still necessary to do creative shootings, they help to develop and not to catch burnout. And if you have questions, don't be afraid to write to a photographer whose work you like. If one does not answer, the other will. Now it seems to me that photographers have become a little kinder to each other and many perceive other photographers not as competitors, but as colleagues. And that's how like-minded friends appear.

Interviewer: What are your plans for the future: do you plan to change the genre? If so, which one? If not, tell us about your next steps in your profession?

Alice: The future is such a shaky concept of the word now. But for now I don't plan to change the shooting genre, because I love shooting couples and people's relationships. I don't know how it will turn out, but for now I want to shoot more in different countries, meet new interesting people. And maybe one day, as probably every photographer dreams, I will open my own studio.

Photographers: Alice Shum