Wayne Muller was born into an artistic family in the small town of Oudtshoorn. His dad studied art and that’s where it all started; examining his dad’s paintings caused him to start looking at things differently, focussing on what is in between those 4 corners and framing everything he see. He later studied architecture and urban design, which forced him to start focussing on urban elements and people within spaces and objects.
How did your love for street photography start?
Watching Henri-Cartier Bresson, Mary Ellen Mark, Steve McCurry and Vivian Maier. The idea of having people in one’s shots gives it scale and life. Street photography for me is freedom, away from props and planning. It’s that instant moment that captures something important.
What is the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is switch on the TV to CNN or BBC.
What is it about black and white photography that moves you to keep on shooting?
Black and white photos always move me, it’s like they tell a story other than a colour photo. Colour can sometimes distract us from what’s happening in the picture.
What gear do you use?
I’m currently shooting with a Nikon D7200 paired with a 24-120mm Nikkor lens and a Tonika SD11-16 F2.8 DX lens. Also, my iPhone 12 is always nearby.
Do you do any retouching, and if so, please take us through your process?
Depending on the picture’s content, the first thing I do is add a black and white filter. Then I do the basics of retouching the brightness, contrast, etc to make the image more attractive. After that, I add a white border to finish off the picture.
Besides photography, what else excites you in life?
Life itself excites me – whether it’s mother nature or us human beings.
Finally, looking to the future. Let’s time-jump to five years from now. Where are you, what are you doing, and who do you think you will be?
I love my job, but my passion is photography. I see myself as a full-time photographer – somewhere in India or Tibet documenting a story for National Geographic or Time magazine.
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