Jeremy Esland: Real Estate Photographer of The Month

Anyone who has been active in the PFRE photo discussion group recently has seen Jeremy's Esland's work and and seen all the constructive help and advice that Jeremy gives. Jeremy is a real estate photographer that works out of Algarve, Portugal and is my pick for the May PFRE real estate photographer of the month. I find Jeremy's work very distinctive.Jeremy describes his background, equipment and real estate photography approach as follows:

My working life to date has woven its way from electronics manufacturing, through computer sales, via graphic design to computer programming, in Hong Kong, the UK and finally Portugal. All along the way photography was a constant, either as a hobby or as part of my job. Shortly after I first settled in the Algarve, Portugal, I built a website for a UK-based vacation rental company. I was so upset by the quality of the images being fed into it that I suggested I take the pictures for them. The results, from a Nikon 990 with a screw-in wide-angle lens, were better than the existing material, but there was obviously "room for improvement". So I set about learning, through reading and experimentation, how best to capture the interiors and exteriors. I'm a firm believer in letting technology "do the heavy lifting for you", so I quickly progressed to a Nikon D70 with the 12-24 f/4 Nikkor and equally quickly onto a tripod with a geared head. I also trialled every Photoshop plugin known to mankind: anything that might help make the process faster and more efficient. In the same vein, when the Nikon D200 appeared, it was a natural step up from the D70 for speed of operation, durability and image quality. The big breakthrough on the software side was DXO Optics Pro, which automatically and accurately corrects distortion, vignetting and edge softness, the three natural afflictions of any super-wide lens. My on-going efforts were rewarded with a steady increase in clients, keeping me busy full-time for the last few years. I'm lucky to live in an area that is heavy with high-ticket properties. I think there are more real estate agents in the Algarve than there are lawyers in New York, but only a handful understand the value of good photography in marketing properties, particularly when the buyers are not local, as is most often the case here. How I wish I'd had the benefit of a friendly, helpful resource like the PFRE group when I was starting out! Of course, the learning process never stops and I'm grateful to be able to trade some of my experience for the immeasurable value of feedback and fresh ideas from my new friends around the world.

Thank you Jeremy for your all your helpful contributions to the PFRE Flickr photo discussion community!

PFRE Photographer of the Month Winners:

• April 2008 PFRE photographer of the month
• Feb 2008 PFRE photographer of the month
• November 2013 PFRE photographer of the month