On The Couch with Kris Anderson | Supported by Canon

November 03, 2021

Kris Anderson is a professional commercial photographer and visual artist from Brisbane, Australia. An EIZO Apac Ambassador, Kris has been invited to judge and speak at numerous events. His work has earned him multiple state, national and international photography titles. We caught up with Kris to find out how his interest in photography came about, how it has evolved over the years and his process for creating his intricately detailed illustrative artworks.

Like a lot of people, Kris discovered an interest in photography when he became a parent. He began thinking more about what went into creating a great photo while documenting his children’s early years. Before long, his photography hobby had blended with his other creative interest - live theatre production. The transition from pastime to profession came when he photographed a friend’s wedding. Kris realised he had developed a new skill set that could be a business and began shooting everything that came his way - weddings, maternity and newborn and families in the park. After a while, he found he drew the most enjoyment from the performance work, so he stopped doing domestic photography and focused on commercial work for the performing arts sector.

A longtime performer and musician, having grown up in the performance art space, Kris skillfully works with performers and production companies to create dynamic images rich with stories. Over the years, he has built an impressive commercial portfolio of theatre-based photography, capturing live theatre productions, performer headshots, and dance and theatre branding work.

The onset of Covid and subsequently enforced lockdowns initiated a period where work for theatre companies, musicians, comedians and performers flatlined for a really long time. Nobody was getting headshots, shows were cancelled, so there was no need for branding, and inevitably business for Kris slowed down. But the drastic reduction in work gave him time to consider what else he wanted to do creatively and professionally.

Realising that he wanted to create more art and sell it online, Kris spent some time curating images and getting them print-ready. He also channelled his creative energy into producing more of his incredible illustrative pieces. These low-key, often thematically dark fine-art projects are rich in shadow detail and bend reality to express an idea. Exploring contemporary issues of mental health, social pressures, and the adverse effects of technology and social media, they are both paradoxically surreal and disturbingly suburbia.

‘It kind of feels to me like the ingredients are photographic, and I've kept them in there, but I've transformed it into something else.’

Kris generously offers insight into his comprehensive process of creating an illustrative art piece. Sharing photos and sketches of an image he developed over a few months, we can appreciate the time and levels of detail as he meticulously builds a visual story from the initial concept to the final product. Kris shows us how he draws his vision before going anywhere near a camera. After photographing an initial image, he’ll sketch on top of it before shooting the next piece, sketching on top of that and so forth, discarding elements that don’t work and introducing new details to build dimension and serve the narrative.

‘Especially if you're getting people to be in a shot, and if it's a personal project, then usually I'm leaning on actor friends to be in it, and I want to make sure I'm valuing their time. So I work out the bugs ahead of time with a prototype shoot or sketch so I know when I shoot them, I don't have to get them back later on; I've solved the problems ahead of time to make sure that what we shoot is good.’

Having worked with the Canon EOS 5D III for several years, Kris moved into mirrorless when the Canon EOS R5 was released. One of the things he particularly loves about working with the R5 is being able to transfer images wirelessly to an iPad, which comes in handy when shooting headshots. Kris can calm the subjects' anxieties and help them become more at ease in front of the camera by showing the images in real time.

Watch our live webinar and hear about Kris’ exciting career. He shared about his beginnings in performing arts photography, how he interacts with performers and which photographers have influenced him. He also shared his creative process for a composite shot and his favourite Canon camera, the Canon EOS R5.