So I came across Nadav aka Aimish Boy on 500px. I was immediately drawn to the colours. If you’ve been on 500px you know that there are just countless pages of amazing photographs, so Nadav’s macros managed to stand out. Make sure you check out his other work.
Nadav Bagim aka Aimish Boy
Tell us a little about yourself?
Well.. my name is Nadav, I am 29 years old from Israel, sharing my life with my girlfriend and 3 fat cats. I study Neuroscience at Bar-Ilan University and make a partial income from freelance photography and tutoring. I have always been a curious person who loves to explore, and as a child spent most of the time with my nose inches above the ground tracking and observing little insects and animals. I also love to create and that combination is what caused me three years ago to ‘see the light’ and get sucked into the photography world. I am lazy as a philosophy, an autodidact, and not long ago turned vegan, don’t worry, not the preachy type, you can eat as many Innocent animals as you want 
What made you get into photography?
During my degree I started having doubts about it, and my life in general and opened myself to new experiences. At the same time, I got a present, an Slr-like camera. Before that, I was the average compact camera user, vacation snapshots here and there, no idea about composition, aperture or shutter speed, and for the first time I had the opportunity to gain a little more control over what and how I shoot. I immediately got enchanted by the ability to capture moments in time, create and direct scenes and give my own interpretation to certain events while sharing my point of view ,thoughts and Ideas, with others. These reasons and more cause me to challenge my self each time, develop my creativity and just deepens further my love to photography.
How did you get started?
Buying my first DSLR wasn’t just for the sake of a professional technical development. It was more than that, it was me realizing that I know for sure that this is what I want to do and this is what makes me happy and how I can express myself. Meaning, it strengthened my commitment to photography – the camera is always with me (well, also because I live in a shady/rough neighborhood and afraid leaving it at home…;).
So, just like a smartphone that is always in your hand, my camera is always by my side and every spare time, whenever it was possible I was “playing” with it. This process gave me endless opportunities to explorer it’s capabilities and my points of view and I was and still am questioning and reviewing my shots, over and over, weighting the good vs. the bad, thinking what can be improved for the next time. In addition, I was doing a lot of online research, reading a lot about photography and different techniques.
I also joined a few photography sites that helped me by providing a supportive (virtual) environment; they provide me with reviews, critics and exposed me to others’ work. Some were of course very competitive and I realized that I will have to stand out which was a great challenge for me. I am not known for being someone who would make noise in order to get attention, and here I had to find my way to be noticed. I worked harder, aimed at being more creative and original and think, that paved my road to where I am now.
What sort of photography do you mainly do?
As an amateur misanthrope and a nature lover, I tend to concentrate mainly on nature photography and especially on Macro Photography. I am fascinated by the ability to “create” worlds and fictional landscapes that are not larger than a couple of centimeters while being able to enlarge objects and insects that are usually hidden from the human eye or mind and looks like aliens taken from a Sci-Fi movie. I enjoy “communicating” with those little creatures and finding delicate creative and harmless ways to maneuver them into acting according to the plot in my head. Aside from macro I enjoy shooting Conceptual Photos and sometimes I try to combine between those two.
What gear are you using?
A brand new Canon 60D, I shoot macro with Canon 2.8 100mm Macro, sometimes with extension tubes and a reversed mounted 1.8 50mm lens.
For other purposes I use a Canon EF 50mm F/1.4 and a Sigma 10-20mm F/4-5.6.
In addition, eBay is to be blamed for all sorts of small adapters, ring, tubes, flashes and any other low cost tools that allow me to continue my experiments.
Whats your favourite lens and why
The 100mm Macro. No doubt. It’s razor sharp, fantastic bokeh, fast and sturdy. I use it for macro, portraits, products, wildlife and even landscapes! I’m pretty much in love with it 
How are you marketing yourself?
Officially I am not marketing myself. I am still trying to find the right balance between making a living out of this hobby but not ruin my pleasure from this hobby.
I am however using the internet as a tool to make myself familiar in the photography communities, sites and social networks. I am establishing both professional and friendly connection with other people from the industry and since my art is my card, those who contact me probably like my style and abilities.
Whats your favourite photo you have taken?
It’s like asking me to choose which of my three cats is my favourite! (probably not the one I’m allergic too..)
I really can’t choose so I’ll just go with my most recent photos.
They belong to a new “WonderLand” series I’m currently shooting. It took me some time to get to this setup and figure out how to create it and now I am working on improving it even more. The photos are not digitally manipulated and composed from a single shot.
You can watch more from the series and my favorites on my website.
“Living In a Snow Globe”
“I Wish I Could Fly”
“Wonderland”
Advice for new photographers looking to go pro?
I have seen more than a few professional photographers who shot mediocre photos and on the other hand I have seen some amateur photographers who shot mind blowing ones, so the title pro isn’t a guarantee for being a good photographer or actually being one it’s just means you get paid as one…
Constant reviewing of your work and a critical look into it is important, as well as overcoming the initial of getting paid for a photography job, even a symbolic amount, is important to get you started.
Another important thing is consistency; make sure you can achieve the same high quality results each time. For example, I like to sketch my successful setups or even take photos of the sets, it helps me remember them the next time I need similar results and also help me improve them later on.
Visit Nadav Bagim – website, Facebook, 1x, deviantart and 500px
Thank you very much for the interview Tristan, and for all the other interesting interviews on your site (:
No probs Nadav. Thanks for doing it.
great interview for a very talented photographer!