My very good friend and cosplayer, Blossom Fox, has shown some beautiful photoshoots of herself on her social media. You can read her interview, as well as see some of the photos, here.
When Blossom came to me about interviewing her dear friend and photographer, I could not say no! Ignis Umbra's work is extraordinary and I wanted to take a moment to highlight him and his work the best I know how!
I sat down with the talented photographer to discuss what his favorite shoots were, as well as his least favorite. He also shared some advice for anyone thinking of becoming a photographer!
It was an honor to conduct the interview in his studio, which has some pretty interesting things for anyone interested in photography, shoots, games, and even podcasting! Read the interview down below:
At what age were you when you discovered you had a passion for photography?
Really late! I was thirty-eight years old. I was watching all these people talk about board games on YouTube and I picked up a nice camera. Then I had to learn how to use a camera and while I was learning how to use the camera. As I was using the camera, I ended doing as much, or more, photography work than I had ever did talking about board games. I do have a big, successful board game channel but that’s like ten percent of my time, compared to my work in photography.
Where did you learn it?
YouTube University. (We laugh)
I know that one! I have been there for Adobe products! (I laugh) What kind of photography is your favorite kind?
My favorite is artistic works where I really try to show their faces and I really try to get emotional responses. So, a lot of time I have people like yell. They try to yell quietly and I’m like, “No, YELL!” I want the neighbors to be upset. (I laugh) I want to capture that emotion in their faces. So, big make-up, big costumes, and the scrunch lines around your eyebrows. I want you to tell that there’s this intense sadness and anger. Whatever it is—that’s what I want to capture! I feel I’m not very emotionally expressive, myself, so being able to capture that in photography means something to me.
That’s awesome to be fascinated in something you’re not good at expressing yourself. What kind of photography do you not like?
I have to be careful about answering this. I don’t want to offend but my least favorite kind is OnlyFans Girls photography. OnlyFans Girls typically want their photography to look amateur because it’s supposed to make their customers feel like they’re getting inside of their personal life. So, they don’t want it professional, but then they want all imperfections blurred out. All they’re doing is using an app! I mean, I would take the money but it’s boring!
That makes sense because your favorite kind of photography is capturing the real person. That kind of photography is not capturing the real person. I would also take the money. (I laugh) How many shoots have you done, so far?
I’ve done about seventy-five shoots.
Oh, wow! And which shoot was your favorite you’ve ever done?
My favorite was actually about three years ago, and that kind of makes me sad. It was three years ago, somebody asked me, “Can we do a vampire shoot? I love vampires. I don’t want to do superheroes. I just want to do vampires.” I said yes. I made five gallons of blood, and we did this whole bloodbath shoot, where we poured gallons of blood on these girls! That is both what I liked the most, and it’s also my least profitable product. The blood looked so realistic because I made all the blood! I made intentionally as realistic as possible. It had a texture and consistency! I felt so good about it! It was everything I visualized! If you remember the first opening scene of the movie ‘Blade’, it was that level of blood! That’s what I captured, and I felt so good about it! But on the internet, it doesn’t do very well, for some reason, because the algorism or it triggered some people, and they don’t want to see blood. It’s whatever! When people are a little bit more goth, like my people, they usually love it. They want to know how to do a shoot like that. They love it and they want to make their own shoots like it. That’s another problem: they don’t want to buy my product. They want to make their own! (I laugh)
Now what was it about that shoot that was your favorite? Was it the fact you got to make the blood or was there something more?
It was bringing my vision to life. From start to finish, just everything. I have some prints in my reception area. They came out exactly how I wanted and that’s a big thing. I started in the tech industry, so everything I programmed, I never saw in real life. It’s just back in code, that I’m paid a lot of money to do but I can’t see it. The world can’t see it. But in the shoot, I imagine something, and I did all this work. I made it happen and that’s the thing I loved the most out of it.
That’s beautiful. I hope you get a similar shoot like that one day. Without giving anything away, what was your worst shoot?
So, the way that my project normally go is that somebody has an idea, and somebody leads the project. They say like, “We need make-up; special effects; smoke bombs; blood; whatever!” Somebody came up with an idea and it was kind of clever. It was a Disney based theme. When it came time for the shoot, there was no plan. There were no props or set up. There were no instructions. And everyone who showed up for the shoot, came with mix-match outfits that were vaguely Disney themed. There was no consistency to the vision. It was so frustrating and disappointing to me, that I decided that either I’m going to manage projects, or I will support somebody else being the photographer. But I don’t want to be the person behind the camera, showing up, and just taking photos. I need some input here, because if I don’t trust the people to actually manage the projects—It’s just a waste of my time and theirs. I typically get ten to fifty great photos from any given shoot. And in that shoot, I think I felt good about like five. Something like that. There were three models, so I should’ve gotten a minimum of thirty good photos. It was horrible. They felt good at the time! It made me feel sad because the models are so pumped, because they look good! But I’m looking at these photos, behind the camera, and I’m like, “I’m not feeling it guys!” (I laugh)
That’s exactly what happens to any creative process. When one doesn’t bring their A-game, it can throw off the entire project! I’m very impressed you got five! I just wanted to point out, I scanned through a lot of your photos. It was fun to know a few of your models. One photo that stuck out to me was a Star Wars themed photo. It was a lightsaber battle. Were you a part of that shoot?
Yes! I did that shoot!
I really enjoyed those photos a lot! You should feel proud. What would be your dream shoot?
One shoot I have wanted to do for about four years now, is a Seven Deadly Sins shoot. My idea is Seven Sins, over probably, seven days. It is where I have the models come in to a big set up. I really am fascinated with this idea of combining my love of facial expressions, with this very gritty, sexual but disgusting at the same time, look. I want to show a lot of skin. I want the set up to be pretty extreme. Like gluttony, I want to order five dozen donuts. I want three cakes. I just want to fill up the set with all this food and, my mental picture for example for gluttony, is like skintight, oversized costume. Probably someone curvy. Man or woman, I shoot them both! I want their hands dug into the cake. One hand in the cake and the other crunching a donut. I want them stuffing their face. And I really want to make people kind of not want to look at the image, but then to be intrigued by the level of detail. That would be the biggest thing. I want to put so many layers of symbolism over whatever sin it is I’m trying to capture. So, I’m really going to try and do this. At this point, I feel like I have the skills to bring it to life, but it is something I going to have to set aside the studio for like a whole week. It’ll take so much work to build the set for one sin! And there’s things with like rage, where I really want them to have this bat and they’re shattering somethings. I want to set up plexiglass and let them shatter it while I’m shooting.
Are you wanting seven models to do this, and like one model a day?
My thought is to have about four to six models per sin.
Would you do a sin a day, with four different models?
I think it would be different models!
Yeah, that’s a lot of work! Is there a particular sin you would be exciting to shoot?
Each of them would have their own different challenge. I want people to look at these photos and immediately think, “Oh, this is that sin!” But I’m Buddhist, so I’ll have to do some research.
Yeah, they’re a lot to research. I barely know the sins, myself, and cannot name them off the top of my head. (I laugh) What is one misconception that people, who are not into photography, get wrong about the line of work?
I think the biggest thing I have noticed people have this idea that the images they love or the movies, or shows, are just like dominoes. It’s not like directors or photographers put people in position and say, “Hey, do this thing” and just start taking photos. Each image or show, or movie, is staged—it’s framed. You have to pause people(actors). Obviously, there’s event photography and other photography that are spontaneous, to a degree. Even those, photographers are like, “Oh, that was amazing! Can you do that again, real quick?” That’s the kind of stuff that is the reality that people don’t see. Some people get disillusioned by it. They don’t want to know that. They don’t want to think to pull, like an A/B conversation in a film, to pull that off requires multiple takes. Some people have told me that there’s like five cameras on set. If there were five cameras, you’d see the other cameras! (We laugh) It makes no sense. There’s one camera, most of the time. When I try to work with amateurs, they get frustrated. They just want to move to the next pose, but it takes time! It just takes time. It makes me not want to work with somebody that’s new. A lot of time, they just want to rush.
I get that. I have done my fair shares of indie films and shows. Many people don’t realize all the work you have to do. (I laugh) It can be frustrating. Who inspires you?
This changes all the time! So, I can’t really say somebody that has inspired me years ago, or anything like that. But my current inspiration is Eli Infante. He is another photographer. He is doing a lot of things that I like to do. Seeing somebody, that I feel like, is four steps ahead of me (hopefully my path) and I’m just picking up the breadcrumbs. He is a teacher—he teaches on YouTube on how he does his photoshoots. I love to do that, too. I love to share how I am doing things! Being able to learn from somebody who, while he’s not in cosplay photography or superhero or anything like that, the type of images he creates is very much the kind that I like to create.
Bringing up your cosplay photography, I was looking at your photos, I did see a lot of Marvel characters, etc. I wanted to ask you, what do you think of the direction that Marvel has taken, in the movie business?
Full disclosure, I am a huge fan of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). I love the MCU. I am a huge anti-fan of the Murder Verse, or Zack Snyder’s version of DC. I generally don’t like directors who might be amazing, like Zack Snyder is an amazing colorist—I can’t take that from him. (I laugh) I dislike his directing skills and more so, he doesn’t like superheroes. He doesn’t like comic books. So, I don’t generally like directors, who don’t like the source materials, that end up stuck with the source material. Now, a lot of people eight years ago were like, “There’s too many superhero movies!” That was eight years ago—and now, there’s a whole bunch! People say, “There’s too many superhero movies” and I’m like, “What are you talking about?” They explain, “Well, there was just one like four months ago!” Okay, there’s an average of 20-25 romantic comedy movies released, every year. Even now, there is like three or four superhero movies, per year. It sounds to me like we need a lot more superhero movies! We need like ten or more to catch up to how many romantic comedies there are! What I find interesting is that Disney is spreading the MCU. They’re spreading the genres within the MCU. Like “She-Hulk” where it’s just a comedy and people are like, “Where’s the action?” It’s not really happening! It’s a comedy. It is only a comedy. If you’ve been waiting seven episodes to finally see the “big combat scene”, it’s not going to happen because it’s just a comedy! It’s like a sitcom. I get when people watch something from the MCU, and they think it’s going to Iron Man, because it’s always been Iron Man, or Spider-man, or whatever. I like that they’re entering all these other new genres! I love how bright it is, all the easter eggs. I’m a huge fan. The only thing I’m not a fan of is the people who complain and whine so much about them. Just don’t watch it!
Okay, the best question to ask right now is what is your favorite comic book?
(He thinks a moment) I think I really enjoy—actually, the first thing I knew how to read was comic books. I grew up reading tons of comic books, from all different publishers. I enjoy the Fables series! That is everything that I love. It is dark, gritty—it’s sexual. It’s a mix-match of mythology and fairy tales. I love when you take these things and blend them into our world.
Apparently, it’s back! They just released new issues and it’s just as good as the originals!
I’ll have to look it up.
Yeah, I’ve heard many great things. I haven’t read them yet, but like that series.
I’m a big fan of graphic novels. I’ll probably wait for the compilation and then pick it up.
So, going back to photography. (I laugh) Do you have any advice for someone interested in that field?
So, I have people that ask me that all the time. Recently, I had somebody who bought a camera, and they did it in exactly the wrong order! They bought the camera and then asked me for advice on photography. The advice I gave him and would give anybody: to choose only one or two related forms of photography and to wait several months before going into a different type of photography. Like my friend, he bought this camera because he wanted to take pictures at Zion—okay, landscape photography. It’s very profitable. If you can create beautiful images of nature, you can probably sell them. If you can create beautiful images of people, you cannot sell them. That’s how it works! If people can see their eyes, they don’t want to buy them because it’s like buying somebody else’s photo. It’s not a celebrity, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to do that. But then (my friend) immediately spends days, asking me questions about portrait photography. Portrait photography is the opposite of landscape photography! It requires entirely different lenses and skill sets. It makes no sense! It is the most expensive way to get into photography. The next thing you know, he’ll get into macro photography. Macro photography has nothing to do with portrait photography. It has nothing to do with landscape photography. It makes no sense because they end up wasting so much money buying so many things before, they finally learn what actual thing they like doing and then they end up having to sell all the other stuff. How do I know this? Because I had to sell of my stuff! (We laugh) Don’t do it! It makes no sense!
I wasn’t expecting that, that’s a good one! (I laugh) When you’re not working, what do you like to do for fun?
I’m either playing board games or hanging out with my two girlfriends.
Nice! What do you guys like to do?
We travel a lot. We do a lot of costuming. We do a lot of photos, but we also like to dress up and go to cosplay events. We’ll drive to Utah or California and do different cosplay events. I like to cook for them. I’m really into cooking. We have a cooking channel, that we share a love of going and trying new foods, cooking foods, or whatever.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Don’t commit to projects that do not have an end date. I think that is the best advice, that I wish I had listened to earlier. I’m getting better about it now. But if you commit to projects that don’t have an end date, you can never pat yourself on the back for being successful, because it never ended. In fact, you can only fail because it never ends.
How can people find your work?
If they search for Ignis Umbra, which is the name of my studio, they can find my content all over the place. I used to be really worried that some people can’t pronounce it. It’s not that complex, but I get it. Some people don’t know Latin. But recently, I started working with some other people and their names are very generic and I realized, there is only one Ignis Umbra out there! It’s all me! There’s value in that. I thought about changing the name and then I realized, this is all me. I’ve built it over years and that is how they should find me. It will almost assuredly be me, until someone starts copying me—great!
So, I don’t know any Latin. Why Ignis Umbra?
“Ignis” is fire, and “Umbra” means shadow. So, in the very beginning, I was doing mostly boudoir and I really liked it. This goes back to OnlyFans Girls versus boudoir. I really like the highlights and the shadows. I just like playing with light and shaping the light. OnlyFans Girls often really dislike that. They’re beautiful and they want people see everything, where boudoir, I’m like, “You know what, let’s hide your body!” (We laugh) So, fire and shadow. That’s what I like to work with.
Do you have a website? Social media?
You can find me on my website. They can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I’m everywhere.
So, I’m interviewing you in your studio. Is this just for photography? Can people rent out the space and what can they rent it out for?
So, primarily, people rent either the room we’re in (the Recording Room) and typically it’s podcasters, voice actors, or youtubers. Or photographers, who need a space with lots of lighting options, I have a space for that. Those are the two I primarily rent out.
And your website is where they can rent out the space? Or where would someone go?
Yeah, from my website, they can click on “Studio” and book from there.
The last question I have for you, if you could describe yourself, using three adjectives, what would they be and why?
Oh, wow… (He thinks) I would say inventive, passionate, and dedicated. Inventive, because my favorite thing is to solve new problems. I want to do something new. I never like doing boring things. Passionate, because I love doing the most! I want to give 110% to anything I am doing! I want to create new things and help people become the most they can be. I love making their visions come to life. Dedicated, because it’s easy to start new things, but it’s hard to follow them through.
Like previously mentioned, the whole interview was conducted in his lovely and awesome studio. His photos I have seen and the ones he provided to me blew me away as photography is not my strongest area of expertise! (Haha) But seeing his studio and seeing the passion in his eyes as we talked, is inspiring. Ignis Umbra has a true talent for this that will go far!
If you or someone you know have a story that you would like to share, please contact me. This is all experience for me. I would love to share any and all stories I can!
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