experience

My name is Tomer, and I've been a street photographer for the past 12 years. Over the years, I've done a lot of event photography, shooting weddings, couples, families, and more.

It’s 2019, I’m 80 miles away from land in the Atlantic Ocean, and I just have to laugh. I just got out of the water and noticed that my camera housing is leaking. I couldn’t afford the Nauticam rental this time, so I went cheap and hoped for the best. It’s my third trip to the Silver Bank with Tom Conlin and Aquatic Adventures and once again my photographic luck was left behind on solid ground.

Countless photographs are snapped every day by people looking to preserve their life's experiences, but is the incessant picture taking actually robbing us of them? Travel photographer and writer Erin Sullivan recently gave this interesting 8-minute TED Talk on the subject.

Three years ago, I attempted a 365 Project. About 90 days in, I had to accept the fact that I wasn’t going to make it to 365 days, so I turned it into a 100 Day Project. I know that a 365 Project sounds pretty simple -- take and post one photograph each day. My standards for the images I post on my social media are very high, but in the end, I had to accept the reality that I wasn’t going to strike gold each day. I really did try though.

It’s been around a year since I switched to photographing on 35mm film for the majority of my work. Beyond a couple of false starts and some misconceptions, I think I’ve adjusted well, and I’m really happy to have made the change. Now that I have a good amount of work to reference, I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the adjustments I needed to make in order to adapt to a film mindset.

The ocean is fascinating in every way. We know so little about its mysteries and tend to ignore its importance for all living life. What is it about the underwater world that draws people from all over the world to explore its depths? For me, the allure of marine life welcoming me into their natural habitat rather than the other way around is beautiful.

It is now exactly 2 years since I started uploading stock photos to Unsplash, the "slightly" controversial stock photo platform where everything is free for everyone. I thought this would be a good occasion to share what I've gained from my presence on Unsplash.

On an otherwise quiet and beautiful September morning, my business partner Adam Paseman and I found ourselves speeding down Route 1 in Virginia to take some photos for the Associated Press of the White House which had mistakenly been reported was on fire.

Have you ever wondered why the images you created a few years ago look very different from the pictures you are taking now? Chances are you became a better photographer. You trained your eye and you got better at post-processing. But I am not talking about the craft. I am talking about the art behind photography. The art that feeds off your emotions.

Last week I made the long trip from the UK to Chile in the hopes of capturing my first total solar eclipse. I had experienced a cloudy total solar eclipse from the UK in 1999 but back then I was just 9 years old and certainly no photographer. Now that I’m apparently a professional landscape astrophotographer, a total solar eclipse was a gaping hole in my portfolio.

In September 2016, my photography agents, Vaughn-Hannigan, abruptly closed their doors after 10 years in business. Since then I have been without an agent, representing myself, and I thought I would look back and ask the question which has been lingering with me through this time: to agent or not to agent?

Photography is amazing, but it does require gear. I recently moved from Canon to Sony, so I had to offload a camera body, lenses, flashes, and triggers. I purchased out-of-pocket insurance on all of my gear packages just to have some peace-of-mind.

There are a great number of differences between professional photographers and those that shoot only as a hobby. Surprisingly enough one, of those differences isn’t always talent. There are many amazing and talented photographers that shoot for a hobby and they take my breath away.

Landscape photographer Rachel Lerch spent the past three years selling some of her photos through stock agencies. In this 20-minute video, Lerch shares all the truths she has learned about how the story photo industry works and whether it's worth getting into.

I hate it when I see photographers writing articles like this. I always think, "why bother?… just let it go, this isn’t going to change anything." But here I am anyway, tapping away to release some of this pent up anger. And I don’t expect this to change anything for me, but I sincerely hope it can stop at least one other person making the same mistake I did: buying a Drobo.

I use Fat Llama to loan out some of my photography gear when not in use, and I’ve been very happy with the extra beer money. Well... up until last week, that is, as my camera kit was stolen!