Robert HardingA chat with Richard Cummins
Like most photographers in the Robert Harding team, Irish-born Richard Cummins travels the world to capture diverse landscapes, culture and architecture. His route into photography, however, is quite unique. “When I lived in Ireland I was a lighthouse keeper for ten years,” he says. “I wanted to show people what the lighthouses looked like, so I used to do photography as a hobby.”
© Richard Cummins
Richard began to experience success with his photography – selling his pictures and winning photography competitions. Later, when the lighthouses were automated, Richard turned photography into his job. “Now my hobby is taking pictures of lighthouses,” he chuckles. “It has switched things around.”
He currently lives in Southern California with his wife, where ‘bad weather rarely interferes with taking pictures’, and travels every month for an average of ten days. “I go all over the world but its mainly North America that I photograph,” he says.
© Richard Cummins
Outside the US His favourite destinations are Greenland and Bermuda. “In Bermuda I love those pastel coloured houses,” he explains. “And Greenland I found to be such an unspoiled area – its not commercialised at all, it’s just rugged and remote. My ultimate destination is the Antarctic,” he continues, “but I need to start saving for that – it’s a rather expensive trip.”
Richard now spends much of his time photographing cities. Because of this, his biggest challenge is security guards. “I’ve got a lot of hassle in New York after 9/11 from security, while taking pictures of bridges and buildings,” he says. “And in one case in Dallas I was taking a picture of a building and a guy drove his truck across the lawn, jumped out and pointed a gun at me. It doesn’t matter if you have legal rights or not, you just don’t argue with them,” he continues.
© Richard Cummins
To take a good photo, Richard explains that it’s crucial to cut out all extraneous elements with your framing: “Most people have too much wasted space in pictures and too much clutter,” he says. “I keep zooming in and simplify what’s in the picture. I go for a lot of shapes and colours. I’m not great at people though – I get very embarrassed asking people to take their pictures. I prefer inanimate objects. They won’t get mad at me!”
Asked his advice to wannabe photographers, he laughs, “Get a different job! I wouldn’t want to put talented people off, but it’s getting harder and harder to make a full-time living,” he says. “When we travel we’re working 12 hours a day and we hardly stop for lunch. You have to be creative when you’re exhausted.”
© Richard Cummins
Despite all the hard work, Richard considers himself very lucky to have been able to follow his dreams. “I always wanted to be a lighthouse keeper and I did it for 10 years,” he says. “I loved photography and now I’m doing that. I want to keep travelling and taking pictures for as long as I can.”