"Daniel Murray: Sony World Photography Youth Winner 2024"

[00:00:01] Yeah, I thank Stoney, but I unfortunately forgot to thank my parents in the span of the moment.

[00:00:07] So I was a bit disappointed, and my parents were disappointed about that as well. But yeah, forgot to say thanks to my aunt.

[00:00:14] Daniel Murray So, Daniel, let's set this straight. I give you a chance now, give them thanks. They will hear it.

[00:00:21] Daniel Murray Well, I thank you, my parents and my aunt, for the money and support. Constant support and constant telling you

[00:00:29] that eye on good nuts for photography and everything. I appreciate it.

[00:00:41] Greetings and welcome to another episode of The Camera Cafe Show, the photography podcast

[00:00:46] where you prove inspiration for your photography journey. I'm your host Tom Jacob and on the other

[00:00:52] side of the room are Tatiana Maravana and Richard Clarke. Today on this new shortcast episode

[00:00:57] we're happy to introduce Daniel Murray, a 16 year old photographer from Scotland who made waves

[00:01:04] as the new youth photographer of the year at the Sony World Photography Awards 2024.

[00:01:10] Daniel's journey began with just snapping shots on his phone and has blossomed into a passion that

[00:01:15] recently earned him one of the most prestigious awards in photography. Listen as he talks with us

[00:01:21] how he got to enter the Sony Awards, his experiences, the story behind his winning shot

[00:01:26] and his journey into photography past and future. Folks if you enjoyed this episode please take a

[00:01:31] moderate and review us on your favorite podcast platform. It helps us to reach more people who

[00:01:36] love photography as much as you do. Now let's dive into the mind of this young creator and see what

[00:01:42] drives his remarkable talent. Let's get rolling. Good afternoon Daniel there in Scotland. How's it

[00:01:49] been your day today? Good, good. Thanks for having me. I posted my camera because I was selling my old

[00:01:55] camera so I did that today. And I hope you told all your friends you're going to be on the podcast

[00:02:00] because we need some publicity here. I will. I will be putting this everywhere. Daniel let's dive

[00:02:06] straight into this. Let's go a bit back then. How old are you now Daniel? 15? I'm 16. I'm

[00:02:12] 16. Yeah. Then I suppose like most of kids your age you start taking pictures with a phone.

[00:02:22] How did that evolve from the phone to getting a camera? Well I noticed that this phone would have

[00:02:28] like limitations and I wanted a blurry background like that's the first thought I had. I was like

[00:02:35] I want this blurry background that you can see on the internet and everything so that was my

[00:02:39] initial like yeah because I think that's how most people start they just want a bit more

[00:02:43] like professional looky. Which is so I wanted that and then I did a bit of research. And then I came up

[00:02:50] with recommending like interchangeable lenses, cameras and stuff. And that's pretty much where it started.

[00:02:57] Just from taking quotas with my family. And anyone you looked up to on social media or photographers?

[00:03:05] At the time when I was just photographing on my phone and my little point and shoot camera I had I didn't

[00:03:12] I didn't really have anyone to look up to or any influences at that point but as I got my first

[00:03:17] camera I started taking it really seriously. But that was about a year or some later because I just

[00:03:23] sort of packed my I had my camera and my phone I just I didn't really take it as a hobby. It's more of

[00:03:29] a just like I don't know a side thought something like that yeah. And how you convinced your family to get

[00:03:34] you a camera? Well I was fortunate enough for my Christmas to get a sum of money from my aunt.

[00:03:44] And with that money I researched what camera would like fix this budget. I think it was like

[00:03:52] 600 pounds I got which was something really generous from my aunt. I got 600 pounds and then I had to

[00:03:57] search out what lenses and what cameras I could get with that within that budget. So then I did a little

[00:04:02] of our research and then at that point I had like a few inspiration inspirational artists I had looked

[00:04:08] up to. So I had messaged them asking like I asked them a few questions and they gave me a few questions

[00:04:14] back and we discussed what camera would be good for like what I thought I was going to shoot. So yeah

[00:04:20] he at hgraphic.cal on Instagram he recommended me the Canon 5D Mark II or he told me what camera he used

[00:04:28] and then I was inspired by what camera he used. So and then I just I bought that camera. I just I

[00:04:34] didn't think much of it. I just I bought that camera and then I bought a Sigma lens I think a zoom lens.

[00:04:40] It was a very soft lens so I noticed that as soon as I got it and then I was like yeah I want a

[00:04:46] sharp road hit straight away. So yeah yeah and then I got a 50 millimeter wall weight and that's the

[00:04:52] that's where all started I think. That's where it all started and now you've got a mix of when I look

[00:04:58] at your website landscape pictures street photography some portraits but then there is like a certain

[00:05:04] mood or storytelling know that you have across all of these genres you're trying to do? Well I tend to

[00:05:11] well I cinematic is what I tend to try and get to but I think it's a very broad term like it can mean

[00:05:18] pretty much anything. I mean like I want to tell like some sort of story and it's up to like the viewer

[00:05:26] to see what that story is and then in terms of like colors and composition that sometimes is like

[00:05:34] I can be purely inspired by for example if I watch a movie and it has certain colors in it I will try

[00:05:39] and reproduce that or if I like for example like in cinematography I heard that they use color to like

[00:05:47] evoke emotions and I try and do the same through my photography. I just for example if I added teals

[00:05:53] into the shadows it would get a more moody look something simple something simple style. We will

[00:05:59] talk about editing process a bit later on Daniel but now let's dive into the most interesting part

[00:06:06] Sony World Award Youth Winners. Tell me how did it start and when did you get the idea to submit it?

[00:06:13] Right so I think competitions it's the same guy that influenced me so graphic.cal and Instagram

[00:06:21] I think we're talking about competitions and then he recommended me a few I asked what if they had any

[00:06:28] you recommend they recommended a few and then I searched up like competition photography

[00:06:33] competitions up on Google and then I think the Sony one was the first one that came up so I was like

[00:06:37] why not why not enter this so then I was like I didn't really think much of it because I was

[00:06:44] I was kind of a beginner at that point so I wasn't too concerned about who I was going up against but

[00:06:51] um yeah I just I entered the competition and then I think it was so it was the summer holidays I took the

[00:06:59] photo and then when I got whole so around August I submitted the button so it wasn't near the end of

[00:07:05] the start like people had tactics and everything to try and get the judges attention to enter at the

[00:07:11] end of the competition so that they see it but I'm just I think I'm proof that it doesn't really

[00:07:17] matter at UNGAR. I think it doesn't really matter but it had been wonderful you had told me it was the

[00:07:24] last day of the competition yeah so you send it in and then suddenly I think you will get an email

[00:07:30] from Sony saying you were shortlisted or and what happened next I think and I wasn't responding to

[00:07:37] emails which at that point I was really into all that yeah so they tried to text me and phone me

[00:07:44] so I was in class and in school and I was getting hexing please phone me back on this number when you

[00:07:51] have time we are from crew hours at that point and then I was very curious obviously at that point

[00:07:59] and then as soon as I went home I responded and then they said please check this phone me and there's

[00:08:05] a please check your email and then I checked my email and then I saw that I've been shortlisted

[00:08:11] so that was already like I was already couldn't believe it at that point I was like over the main

[00:08:17] so at that point I think that's how it started and then I searched I didn't know what shortlist

[00:08:23] was at that date to be honest so I searched what was shortlist and then I saw on the red plate

[00:08:29] shortlist have the chance to compete for the title of youth photographer of the year and at that point

[00:08:34] I was just I couldn't believe what I was in for and then what happened next Daniel you were invited to

[00:08:41] London and yeah after that and then I had be told like three months later that I had won

[00:08:48] and I was I was in disbelief so yeah it went really quickly as well now that you say that we did

[00:08:54] but I basically we went from London and from knowing to London in like three days and it was just

[00:09:00] it was incredible I couldn't believe it you had to give a speech there yes Daniel and what minor detail

[00:09:09] happened there in the speech when you gave it minor detail yeah I had to give a speech and then I

[00:09:16] they had like peck talked to it before what we had to say because we were speaking from so many

[00:09:20] representatives and everything and they were saying that we had to like thank Stoney just to show that

[00:09:26] because of their efforts for making the sermon so it was it was great yeah I thanked Stoney but I

[00:09:32] unfortunately forgot to thank my parents in the span of the moment so I was a bit disappointed and I

[00:09:38] cried for a disappointed about that as well but yeah forgot to say thanks to my aunt so Daniel let's

[00:09:46] set this straight I give you a chance now give them thanks they will hear it well I thank you my parents

[00:09:54] and my aunt for the money and support constant support and constant telling you that I am good enough

[00:10:01] for photography and everything I appreciate it there you go the record is straight now Daniel

[00:10:09] there you have it so your winning picture was of a surfer walking on the beach in Cornwall yes

[00:10:15] how I think it's from a higher viewpoint taken how you came up on this scene

[00:10:20] so I had multiple people asking me if I could take it on a drone but no that wasn't the case I took it on a

[00:10:27] cliff thing so it looked pretty high and it was just the beach was really low down as well I think I was at

[00:10:33] the back of a restaurant and I had to squeeze past some bins to get into that a few plates

[00:10:38] that's very much it I'll take it here but did you plan it you know the spot or you just saw no I just saw it

[00:10:46] it was a spur of the moment photo so I saw the beach or well they have probably like the middle of

[00:10:50] the beach and then I would like oh no I need to do all of that and then I ran over past the veterans

[00:10:55] to get a photo of the surfer okay and then there is this prickly point of there were more people on

[00:11:03] the beach I suppose and you decided for your photography to edit them out which for me is fine

[00:11:09] everybody does what he wants but there was a bit of controversy around yeah so at Monaster

[00:11:15] after I had won the award I posted a video on TikTok showing my process of how I edited the photo

[00:11:21] one minute title and then the comments are surprisingly negative actually I've probably received more

[00:11:27] negative than positive so they were all just saying like this is not photography this is art and they

[00:11:35] they didn't approve that I was removing people from the photo to make it more impactful image in my

[00:11:40] opinion but yeah some of them were quite funny some of them were saying that I was like the youth

[00:11:45] photo shopper of the year you always have to believe in yourself Daniel no I mean if not you will go

[00:11:50] crazy that out in the social media yeah I just had to ignore them so didn't but it didn't really

[00:11:56] bother me I thought and what did you feel when you were standing there up giving your speech and then

[00:12:02] realizing that you're all between very good photographers and you won first prize

[00:12:09] I felt like I slipped when I slightly didn't deserve it at the point like it was too good of a prize for

[00:12:16] what I had done but I slowly come to accept that I just I won it so I did deserve it but yeah it did I

[00:12:22] was I was mixed with nervousness and happiness obviously it's very nerve-wracking going up and

[00:12:28] speaking and people in general but then when you take into account that there

[00:12:32] there are Sony representatives and people that you look up to like and you've won but I think the fact

[00:12:40] that they're there for you and the ceremony also makes it a little bit easier so so yeah

[00:12:47] and so for everybody going to enter this year the prize what you got from Sony Daniel

[00:12:53] so this year I gained global recognition they published me on there I appeared on BBC and CNN

[00:13:04] and everything that was surreal they have given me a trophy a certificate and then a lens and a camera

[00:13:15] obviously that's a bit far so I got the Sony a7 mark 4 and the Sony 24-105x4 lens yeah that's what they gave me

[00:13:30] I think the day after the ceremony yeah they gave us the prizes the day after the ceremony

[00:13:34] I met I think it was one of the top Sony people there as well they handed it to me

[00:13:39] as an old little gift bag who was the best yes had on using this camera right now for the podcast

[00:13:46] you see amazing it's very good quality Daniel then you started out with your Canon

[00:13:52] that I suppose is full frame and now you went to the Sony that is mirrorless

[00:13:56] there have been any learning curve switching between both well I think since I keep from the

[00:14:03] Canon 5D Mark II which was already a sort of professional camera it wasn't as late as a learning curve

[00:14:08] I think because I think Sony made things actually easier for me because the auto focus

[00:14:14] in my old Canon 5D Mark II the auto focus was quite dodgy so I had to I just manual focused all the

[00:14:21] time just so I could get the sharpest images because when I used auto focus it used to make my

[00:14:26] images really soft for some reason like it slightly missed it but with my Sony it's like I don't even

[00:14:32] have to think about it anymore I just think about the art straight away so yeah that's the advantages

[00:14:38] I used tanks no I wouldn't say there wasn't there wasn't much of a learning curve no

[00:14:43] and lens wise which is the lens you're using the most now lens wise I only have one lens so I'm using

[00:14:49] the 24 to the noon file all of them okay but I think I want to get g-match the lens from floating the 35

[00:14:55] millimeter worldwide 4 so that I can do more low light stuff because I always have to bulk up my ISO quite

[00:15:02] high when I'm doing like late afternoon stuff and especially in skulls and it is it gets this dark

[00:15:09] like pretty early so yeah I need to get a low aperture lens so I can do some more shoot stuff

[00:15:15] at night and land tape and more astrophotography maybe but then you're a perfect spot for this I mean

[00:15:22] it's it's dark it's five five p.m you can go out fairly early now you touch on on this Daniel editing I

[00:15:31] think it plays kind of a big role in your photography what you're using to edit your pictures so currently

[00:15:38] I'm using the lightroom mobile and for so far it'd be fine for wanting thin I think when I when I

[00:15:44] transition from better file sizes to from like the canon to Sony storage started to become a little bit

[00:15:50] of an issue that then I coincidentally won your subscription from Adobe for cloud storage and like

[00:15:59] I won quite a few things that seems yeah so that helped with storage so I'm still editing on lightroom

[00:16:05] mobile yeah and you're using some kind of presets because I think you also have your own presets on your

[00:16:12] webpage yeah so I I use my own presets that I have created and yeah in most images I just put that on but

[00:16:20] if it's only certain cases or certain images that I just start from scratch so that's sort of how my

[00:16:27] process would Daniel now going a bit to the to the future where do you see yourself going with all this

[00:16:35] with photography I think I see myself doing this maybe full time if I can if I earn enough but I think if

[00:16:45] I I think I'm still going to be doing on the site even if I don't do it full time I think I'll be

[00:16:50] still doing this as long as I left hopefully and don't like lose passion in it over those tangos

[00:16:58] because now I think you're studying in school photography I am right I'm currently studying the

[00:17:05] equivalent to a level photography that's England so I'm studying the equivalent in Scotland

[00:17:11] and what I have to imagine with this is this is like darkroom place or it's all only digital

[00:17:17] no they are we do we do digital photography and photography so they make us use photoshop so that's

[00:17:23] that's probably I'm more used to lightroom so well but you can combine both yeah you've got best of two

[00:17:31] worlds I I suppose you want to be a photographer this I think is clear but where you see yourself going in

[00:17:39] which genre you see yourself going in general you still want to try a bit I still I think I'll be

[00:17:46] one to try everything stuff ever even in the future I'll probably even start trying like automotive

[00:17:50] photography more portraits more maybe even macro still see myself experimenting but maybe more with more

[00:17:59] structure in future so you're open to a lot of genre still and is that something you prefer shooting

[00:18:06] I think landscapes for me are totally more like I tend to create more impactful images with landscape

[00:18:14] I think so and I also enjoy going to these places like and photographing these amazing faces so I think

[00:18:22] landscape for me is something I enjoy most Scotland in the backyard so it's amazing places there too

[00:18:29] got to take advantage of it yeah now most people when they start publishing on on Instagram or

[00:18:35] TikTok and people can see they are good photographers they will follow them but in your case of course you won a

[00:18:42] major world prize so people are looking up to you you think this gives a bit of pressure or just more motivation

[00:18:49] yeah it more like me I think I think I don't see there's nothing negative coming from it so I just even if I do get a few negative comments about whatever that I think that that still more

[00:19:01] with aids me and winning an obsession award more with aids me to keep going yeah

[00:19:05] and you had friends now asking for photography classes Daniel no I did not have friends say that as if not

[00:19:12] a big fan but I'd be willing to give them for free if they thought of too well it's a good start but don't

[00:19:18] give everything away for free yeah to win money at one with one point so then you study photography then you come home and

[00:19:27] then you do maybe some other photography but you see yourself moving all into content creation something

[00:19:34] like on TikTok or YouTube or something like this in the future yes definitely I think I think if I was

[00:19:40] the way I'm going now is I'll probably be a full-time content creator and I think with content creation is

[00:19:48] photography and then I'll probably have to learn videography and it's all these sort of skills are

[00:19:54] combining for content creation so I think that's probably where we're heading at this right well I'm following

[00:20:01] you so I'll keep a close eye on everything that you push out yes Daniel this was a very nice short interview

[00:20:09] and congrats again on winning the thank you very much the youth award from Sony I mean that's

[00:20:15] it's just amazing I have no idea how many people entered the competition but you have to think

[00:20:21] some a few thousands so yeah and then I think a few people you can enter up to three images for free so

[00:20:27] there must have been thousands of images yeah you entered for this year and you have added

[00:20:32] I've added this area again yeah I wish you all the best who knows yes what comes out then have a

[00:20:39] great afternoon I still I still light outside I see so take your camera go out just about to do that

[00:20:45] it is photography later and then I will see tomorrow what you post on on your Instagram bridge yeah

[00:20:51] Daniel thanks a lot for this short interview we keep in touch yes okay perfect I see you around bye

[00:20:59] and that's it folks thank you for joining us for this inspiration conversation with Daniel Murray

[00:21:04] Sony's youth photographer of the year Daniel's journey I think is a reminder that passion can lead to

[00:21:10] extraordinary achievements no matter your age history of success are bound to motivate young

[00:21:16] photographers and anyone chasing a creative dream in 2025 we'll be featuring some more emerging young

[00:21:23] talents on the show because we think encouraging young people to take up the art of photography is

[00:21:28] vital if you're a young photographer interested in sharing your work and story with us we'd love

[00:21:33] to hear from you visit our website where you can fill out the guest form and apply to be on the

[00:21:38] camera cafe show and of course stay tuned for more episodes with inspiring photographers who will bring

[00:21:44] the world in focus through their lenses keep your cameras ready keep on moving your own photography

[00:21:50] and we'll see you all next week here again at the camera cafe show adios