Artist Feature #7 – Michael Nette

I am so happy to introduce ART-IS-IN’s first young, upcoming and super talented artist “Michael Nette” – Discover more about him and his art below…

About Michael Nette

Michael Nette is an 18-year-old Photographer based in Melbourne Australia. He graduated High school last year and is now studying Photography at a tertiary level and starting his career as a photographer. He considers himself a portrait photographer primarily , but he also shoots landscapes and more recently wildlife.

Hi Michael…Could you tell our readers a little bit about who you are?

I come from a family of artists. My father is musical but it’s through my mother that I developed my love for photography. My sister is a musician and my brother is also quite musical. One of my grandfathers was a painter and sculptor and my other grandfather was a potter. One of my grandmothers was a theatre performer, and further back in my family tree I have more painters and an author. So artistry seems to be in my genes. It was in Year 10 (2016) that I began taking photography seriously. And as my secondary schooling progressed, photography was really the only thing I connected with. After leaving school, photography has become more about self-expression and creativity, discovering and enjoying colour, shape and tone – as well as the technical side of digital editing. For me it’s all about exploration and emotion, which I feel is evident in my work.

What is your art style or process about?

Portraiture when it comes to portraits is hard to pin my work in one style as I love to express my emotions through creative angles and vivid colours. Part of my process is keeping the essence of my model inside the image so I generally try to keep posing looking natural and maintaining a connection throughout the shoot, otherwise the model can appear cold and disinterested. It is important to stay focused on the image you want while taking it and just as important to keep the model focused. Wildlife Wildlife photography is so fascinating to me because we get to see the sides of animals we would otherwise never get to in day to day life. When I shoot wildlife my aim is to show the animals personality and the individuality of each animal because most people don’t tend to think of each animal as an individual and mainly just what species it is.

Where does your inspiration come from?

My inspiration comes from a few different sources; one being social media – I tended to gravitate more towards portrait photographers when I first started out and since then I have reached out to a few of the photographers that really inspired me and have since become friends. I also draw inspiration from other forms of media such as movies, books and a lot of time I find ideas in day to day conversations.

Have there been other artists/role-models or books that played a key role on your artistic journey?

Brandon Woelfel was the first big inspiration for me as in his portraits he creates a very magical feel in day to day places. When I saw his “before and afters” of his editing it really put into perspective how he does his work and the power of editing. Another photographer I have taken a lot of inspiration from is Drue Schnelle (@druephoto). Drue was one of the first people to respond back to me when I reached out and he answered the questions I had about portrait photography and helped me out a lot over the past 6 months. His photos are very creative, and he loves to play with angles and reflections so I could definitely relate to his style. The third biggest inspiration for me would be David Attenborough’s Earth documentaries (Planet Parth, Our Earth etc.) as the cinematography is phenomenal and it really inspires me to take wildlife photos while also teaching me a lot about what angles are good to shoot from and how to properly interact with animals to help create the image I am after. a few more inspirational Photographers: @brandontonlu – @benjammixn – @rye_whiskey – @BEACASSO – @masashi_wakui

How did you learn/acquire this technique?

I learnt a lot from Kai Wong (@kaimanwong) through youtube and A LOT of trial and error with various types of photography. I started out taking a lot of photos of flowers and nature by experimenting from different angles and environments. After I felt like I had taken enough photos of flowers I began to experiment with portraiture by going to the city with a few of my friends and getting them to model for me, which was a lot of fun as neither of us really knew what we were doing. Since that first shoot I was constantly curious to what I could do with portraiture so I was always asking my friends if we could do a photoshoot together and eventually I started to get the hang of it and in the process I learnt how to work with models and the importance of keeping them comfortable, how to bring out the emotion I want out of my model and how to think creatively about the space that we are in to really get every angle.

Has art impacted your life and how so?

I have always appreciated art and liked going to galleries when I was younger but over the last 2 years art has really taken over my life (in the best way). Photography has taught me how to see differently and how to view art artforms from a creator point of view rather than an audience point of view, and what I mean by that is I will think about how they created it and the emotion behind the art work rather than purely the art itself. I find that once you start creating art (of any form) you begin to see other artforms differently as art is just as much about the artist than it is the art.

Tell us a bit about your last work.

My latest work was inspired by masashi wakui where I went to the city for some street photography and my theme was to have a red umbrella in each image to link them and to tell a story. The shoot was very successful and I found a new love for street photography so hopefully you can see more in the future.

What is your current WIP?

Most recently I am beginning to expand my brand and split my business into 3 sections. I will be starting an online print store where I will be selling my street ,landscape and potentially wildlife photography prints. I will be continuing to do private portrait sessions which will generally be more on the creative side (depending on client) and I will be diving into the world of product photography by doing contract advertisement work for businesses. If you want to stay updated you can follow me on Instagram or twitter @miggmedia or check out my website to which I will be updating over the next few months.

What does the future look like for you and your art?

I am very inspired to work in all kinds of photography (portrait, wildlife, landscape, product) so the future of my art will be very versatile. Hopefully at the rate I am currently learning, the future is bright for my artwork and since I am only 18 and starting my business, I feel as if I have a bit of a head start moving forward in my career. I hope I can continue to grow as a person and an artist and obtain the success that I strive for.

Any words of advice to aspiring artists?

The best advice I can give is to study your artform. Do this by following likeminded people, watch videos on youtube about the aspects you want to learn about and most importantly CREATE! The best thing you can do as an artist is to create, no matter your skill level you must gain experience and the only way to do so is to put in the time and effort to create. Go out and take photos of things that catch your eye. Go into nature and bring a canvas and paints and just paint what you see or even what your feel. You can create art in your bedroom,studio,garden or even at the top of a mountain. Stop creating excuses and start creating art.