Thanks Dave for agreeing to participate in 10 questions to pro, we appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us at MyPhotoClub.com.

Question One:  What would you say keeps the creative side of photography alive in your work? 

A: Giving my creative side plenty of fluids, feeding it regularly and lots of sunshine helps my creative side grow!  Seriously I've always felt that challenging oneself is the best way to stay creative.  Always looking for a different angle or technique.  People often assume because a photographer is a "pro" that it's easy.   Not so young Skywalker, you must still try, and try and then push harder, be self-critical!!!  I often shoot subjects that it takes, many, many frames to finally come to a creative good place.  Ask yourself what or how could I have done that better?  Look for details, study light, ahhh it's an never ending quest to improve and stay alive!

Question Two:  Name one person or group of people you have photographed that has had impact on your photography career? 

A: Probably the two most influential photographers in my career have been James Bartholomew "Jimmy" Olsen and Peter Parker.

Question Three:  Where is the most interesting place or country you would say you have photographed? A: Wow that is tough because everywhere I go, from my backyard to the ends of the world I find interesting things to photograph.   I've been more affected by particular mornings with unforgettable light.  Often when we vacation we open up our minds to everything "new" around us, new colours, faces, culture, nature, etc.  but if we can train ourselves to open our minds that way in our own backyards we would save a lot on travel!  Ooops sorry strike that, we want photographers to keep traveling with Myphotoclub / Stan C. Reade.

Question Four:  Within your camera kit, besides your actual camera and lens, what would you say is the most important item to always have with you on a shoot? 

A: My refillable bottle of 100% creative juices.  Gear is gear, it's the six inches behind the camera that makes photographs.

Question Five:  Images can be very powerful both in journalism and in photographic art, is there a particular image that stands out in your mind that has impacted you? 

A: There are so many, I try to capture beautiful images, but also I spend much of my professional life trying to capture "moments", aspects of life that are fleeting, once in a lifetime split second moments.  The moments are more important to me.   A shot Robert Kennedy lying on the floor with a bus-boy over him, Bobby Orr flying through the air after scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal, Terry Fox back lit by police car at night, Vietnam images, Paul Henderson in 1972, the first real journalist Eugene Atget, Civil war images, The Great Depression images by Dorthea Lange, Eddie Adams, The race riots, ......   As a youngster I remember the first man on the moon, although it was blurry black and white t.v. it still had a huge impact on me, as being history in the making and being photographed!   All of these Life magazine style of historic images have impacted me the most.

Question Six:  What advice can you give to someone who simply wants to improve their photography skills? 

A: Practice, practice, practice, work hard, challenge yourself.  If you shoot nothing but landscapes and your people pics suck, go shoot nothing but people for a month.  Get outside of the comfort box!  and more practice.

Question Seven:  Photography over the past few years has taken on many interesting forms with the use of digital cameras and computers.  Is there anything you miss from the days of shooting film? 

A: Film, film what's that?  I brushed my teeth this morning!

Seriously the best part of shooting film is that you were basically limited to 36 frames at a session without stopping.  I see photographers now shooting that much virtually without changing the image content, exposure or composition.  Wow, edit away Bucky.   THINK before you shoot, LOOK as you are shooting,  STUDY your results.

I do miss the magic of watching the print appear in a tray of developer.

I don't miss the smell of Stop Bath or Fixer stains and the irritation under the finger nails, or nearly electrocuting yourself in the dark.  Oh you modern photogs don't know what you are missing....

Question Eight: What is your process of gaining peoples trust, when assigned to take their photo? 

A: Trust is huge when dealing with people.  I try the old fashion approach of honesty.  Tell them what you are there for, what you want to achieve, why it will work and what it means to them.  No B.S.

Talk to them and treat people with respect and trust comes naturally.  As a newspaper photographer I often say my job was to:  Get to the job, put the person at ease, get a great photo in 15 minutes and leave with the subject feeling good about the experience.  Many commercial / portrait photographers will spend hours, setting up, testing, preparing the subject and on and on.   Wow I wish I had that kind of time.

Question Nine:  We all know you enjoy your work and sharing your knowledge of photography, can you name one point you enjoy the most of the job and one point you like the least of the job? 

A: The point I enjoy the most is pay day.

Least, filing day.

OK, I really like when I shoot for an editorial client and they say "thanks, nice work"  simple things, ....and then they run in on the cover, BIG!!!!!

I actually try to separate Work Photography and Dave Photography,  for Dave Photography I can enjoy a golden sunset in the forest as much as a front page from a big event, so there are different kinds and levels of enjoyment.  I recently photographed a baby fox on at my neighbour's place, one of my favourites lately.  Basically from my backyard.

Question Ten:  If I could send you on assignment any where in the world today, what you most like to cover? A: Wow, another tough question, I love traveling, not necessarily for the photos, I just enjoy the experience and the photography comes with me.  If it were an assignment, as in work, I'd like to go and photograph something that can make a difference, change people's blase perspectives, enlighten the world about some injustice or suffering.  There are so many places of need and requiring attention.  The cause of Global warming, -I'd love to spend time photographing in the arctic, the Polar Bears and native peoples; related is the coral reefs of the world and oceans are dying wow what a tough one to photograph;  the millions of displaced people around the world as a result of war, living in refugee camps;  the continual pandemic of HIV/AIDS in sub-saharan Africa; I'd love to spend a lot of time in Cuba recording the lives of the people;  if I was invincible and could cover conflict knowing I'd live where do we begin??  On a lighter note, the 2010 World Cup of Soccer in South Africa would be an unbelievable experience on and more importantly off the field.  I've never been to China, or the far-east how about there??  I'll take any of them, thanks James. 

Dave’s website ... well worth the visit. davechidley.ca

Great reading Dave. Thanks for the encouragement to challenge ourselves.

Jamie, this feature is such a terrific addition to the site. Keep up the great work!

~patti