Luke Beard Exposed

We dive into the mind of Luke

Beard, Designer co-founder

of photo story network, Exposure, and all around talented photographer. We pick his brain to see where the future of photography is going in this social media driven world and let you see why we felt the need to

partner with him on the coleford HipstApAk.

Me: What’s your first memory with a photograph or camera?

Lb: Some goofy Fuji Finepix my Dad had bought as our first family digital camera. I was fairly obsessed with it and in retrospect it was actually quite terrible. I ended up scratching the hell out of it and my Dad was pretty mad for a long time.

probably slightly less romantic than finding some old 35mm camera in the attic or something.

Me: When did you first pick up a camera to intentionally create something?

Lb: Somewhere around 16 I think, during my big phase of learning Photoshop and graphic design basics. I wanted to start playing around with image manipulation and I had no stock images to play with so I took a bunch of photos of a flower in our family garden and did all sorts of crazy Photoshop nonsense to it.

it ended up being this glowing crazy mess. My mum has in hung in her bedroom to this day.

Me: I met you as a front end developer and have seen you embrace you’re photography side. When did you decide to become a professional photographer? Lb: Tough one. I don’t think I’m a “professional photographer” by my own standards. I don’t know enough to call myself that yet. I struggle with imposter syndrome up to the nines and there is a level of fundamental basics around photography that I only just got my head around and continue to understand in more depth.

if there was a defining catalyst to taking photography seriously it was around 3ish years ago when I joined Elepath (http://www.elepath.com/)

and started working on Exposure (https://exposure.co). Working on a photography product gives you a lot of reasons to build on the skill itself.

As with anything, you can kinda fake it till you make it, but once you make it, you can’t fake it. I’m in the middle somewhere. Basically, I hold my own understanding and skill higher than what they might be preserved as.

Me: In your words, tell me what Exposure is and how it came about?

Lb: Exposure is a publishing tool focused on narratives or stories that are photo centric. A blogging tool of sorts that leans towards very light touch design and big photos. Members get a website for their photography and in the coming months we are expanding from just photo stories to other fun stuff. Very exciting!

we started it during my time an Elepath, it was an experimental studio that let you work on all sorts of software ideas. Exposure came to be after I took a trip to Estonia. I had a bunch of photos and a narrative around them but felt there was no dedicated place for the thing I wanted to publish. I needed a simply designed tool to throw photos at, have them laid out nicely automatically and craft a linear narrative around them. That was just what we built and this year we enter our 4th year of business with thousands of customers and over 100,000 members.

Visit https://exposure.co me: Has Mobile changed your definition of a photograph?

Lb: Totally, there is a whole new breed of mobile only photographers and that’s a shift that is important to the the industry. The tiny computer in your pocket gives you the ability to learn so much about photography and even give you an income if you work on it hard enough.

it’s changing the definition of how you are introduced to photography and that’s very cool for a whole generation of people dipping their toes into what might end up being their career.

Me: Has social media (ig Stories, Snapchat) devalued the worth of a photograph? Im curious your opinion on what these “sloppy” pixelated quick-shares are doing to photography or is content and time more important than quality which pushes the boundaries of photojournalism.

Lb: I don’t think so. If anything its changing the way people perceive “good” photography. Like the iPhone changing phone design in the general conscious of the population. The more exposed to photography everyone is via whatever network they are consuming it, the more it’s elevating the craft overall.

this will also lead nicely into the ever growing uptick need for photographers and that’s awesome. Me: In the last year, what’s the biggest trend you’ve noticed in the way people take/share photos? Lb: Probably Instagram stories. Big fan of the portrait fullscreen format and that you can play around with posting stuff you might not share usually.

Me: What do you think we’ll be seeing more of in 2017? Whats your trend forecast?

Lb: As I mentioned, probably more Instagram stories. Crafting whole experiences around that with your photography.

I saw it a lot last year but I think a shift towards light touch editing over hyper stylized filters will also become far more popular.

oh, and more people publishing with Exposure ;). Me: Anything you want to add (future updates, ideas, shout outs, etc?)

thanks to you guys! Very happy to be interviewed by old friends.

Subscribe to Luke’s stories on Exposure.