Desert Island D-SLR

Dougie Wallace

Which photographer (living or dead) would you like to have round for dinner?

Bruce Davidson. Or Winogrand, Gilden, Parr and Klein.

What’s your favourite place on earth?

India.

What’s on your memory card right now?

Images of my Harrodsburg project from Knightsbride and Chelsea.

Who would you most like to thank for getting you where you are today?

Dewi Lewis. He’s publishing my new book about Mumbai taxi drivers in November. And he published my Blackpool stags and hens project.

To crop or not to crop?

I crop more now, as I do more rangefinder, shoot-from-the-hiptype pictures. What features at the top of your bucket list?

To photograph more rich shoppers in Paris, Tokyo and New York. What kind of photography are you bad at?

Still-lifes.

Tell us a secret about your photography that you haven’t told anybody before…

It’s all a trick.

What’s in your kit bag right now?

I am sponsored by Leica, so the new Leica Q. A great street camera.

If you weren’t a photographer, what would you have done?

I’d still be selling camper vans.

How would you describe your photography?

Expressionist, with emotion.

Which book should every photographer read?

Pictures on a Page, by Harold Evans.

Whose work do you most admire?

Bruce Davidson again! His Subway book. [Bottom right in our montage.]

What’s the most you’ve ever sold a picture for?

I don’t do any commercial photography work. I am represented by Institute and sell stories, so a few grand for a story...

How many pictures do you shoot?

Lots, as it’s a long editing process. I have 147 in my Harrodsburg folder, and I’m still shooting.

What words of wisdom can you give to aspiring pros?

You need to find your own style in photography – just as you pick up an Irvine Welsh or a Stephen King novel, read a couple of lines and know who it is.

Any regrets?

None that I can think of.

Do you have any unfulfilled photographic ambitions?

I’d like to tour the UK in my camper van for a year or so.

What is your desert-island D-SLR?

My old Nikon D700, which changed a lot for me, and the new Leica Q. Dougie Wallace’s latest book is Road

Wallah, published by Dewi Lewis.

www.dewilewis.com