Dear potential client, I have no crystal ball, yet I know you will be calling me this week for information about what I do. You might have seen one of my displays or my website or, hopefully, you were referred by a friend. And you will have liked what you saw—otherwise, you wouldn’t be calling me. And for that, I am truly happy.
“How do I grow my Instagram?” … it's a question I get asked often... too often. So I’m writing this article for my own selfish benefit. Rather than spend time repetitively composing a response, from now on, I can just link here when the next person asks me how they can grow their Instagram.
Do you ever wonder why one person gets chosen over another, or how a story comes to be told in a certain way? Well here’s something that happened to me recently that gave me new insights about how choices are sometimes made and what it tells us about the people who make them.
Why do photographers need to market themselves? In a phrase: so that you don't starve to death. No, but seriously. Otherwise, you risk ending up like Vincent van Gogh who (in the words of Steven Pressfield) “produced masterpiece after masterpiece and never found a buyer in his whole life.”
Dear Entitled, I came across a screenshot of your “I have started a photography business” post in a “Classifieds” Facebook group.
Four years ago, I set what seemed like an impossible goal: to make a functional Apollo 11 camera by the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. It was a crazy idea, especially with how inexperienced I was with nearly every process that would be required to do so.
Recently, I worked one of the most frustrating shoots I have ever had to endure. In my day job, I work with amateur prospective models doing test shoots. Most of the people I work with have never modeled and have rarely even stepped into a photography studio before. Despite this, the people I work with tend to understand the relationship and the unspoken code.
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.
Twenty years. They have gone by fast. I can remember the first time I saw a camera with a screen on the back of it at a sporting venue, and now a camera without one is considered vintage. However, the look of modern cameras is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changes.
If you’re wondering why someone who loves Sigma cameras and gets called the ‘Foveon Wizard’ by his peers is writing about the Panasonic Lumix S1R, I need to take you back to 2007.
What does it take to push a farmer to this point? The point where, fed up of thousands of disrespectful photographers, wannabe “influencers” and narcissistic tourists, they feel the only way to get them to stop damaging their business and property, is to damage those people’s photographs?
I have read so many magazine articles, social media posts, and had discussions in which ‘established’ photographers don’t think new and aspiring photographers should be allowed to chart the same course that they once did (and perhaps still do). I’m referring to the general idea of starting with little or no fee to gain experience and establish themselves.
Over the past five years, Sony has done more to push digital imaging forward than just about anybody else. But their incredible pace of innovation is straining an industry that just can't keep up, and the cracks are starting to show.
My name is Liam Hawe, and I work as a video editor. When I started out in the industry I worked for a creative services agency where I had the opportunity to document behind the scenes of commercials. Four great years have passed and now that I am about to take on a new role at a different company, the process of tidying up my old files has brought on a wave of nostalgia.
I, like many of you, watched the Sony a7R IV announcement live stream on Tuesday. I saw them put up the video of the camera and its specs, which I thought looked good as an evolution of their R platform. However, when the lights came back on in the room, the kind man that is the VP of their alpha division debuted the camera to the world with the line: “medium format level image quality”
I've been fascinated with the idea of incorporating the moon into photos whenever possible. And so, with the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s moon landing on July 20th, I was excited by the possibility to shoot something special for the occasion: Putting a man "on" the moon.
I recently arrived at what I think is a worthwhile insight into the lenses I use. The material that follows should become instantly obvious once read, but the several photographers I discussed this with all commented that they had never thought of the matter that way and that it was worth some thought. Those comments inspired me to share my viewpoint here.
I had everything I could ever need, all the dream gear. Broncolor lighting, the latest professional Canon cameras and all the faster canon lenses. I had the latest Apple laptop, tethering equipment, software, c-stands, tripods, light modifiers, Polaroid cameras, all the gear I could have ever dreamed of.
Being an Underwater Photographer I've always been drawn to creating dreamscapes below the surface, it's just part of the allure for me, and trying to build a whole room underwater was one of the goals I'd set myself quite a while ago.
It frustrates me to see so many fake wildlife photographs of amphibians and reptiles on social media. That's because those staged photos of captive animals in unnatural positions and situations go viral on a regular basis, and this “success” can inspire other people to follow them in their footsteps.
Many parents don't realize that anyone can call themselves a newborn photographer; but untrained photographers can make what should be a relaxing experience, incredibly stressful. It's not just about the images, it's about soothing babies and knowing their cues. It is a great job, but newborn photographers really should care enough to invest in training.
It’s 6:30PM on the 4th of July in Boston and I had just gotten off work—one of those poor souls whose job doesn’t care about national holidays. What’s worse is that all of my plans fell through; my roomies are at a private event on Google’s rooftop, the cute gal I’m dating is visiting family in Pittsburg, and all of my climber bum friends are up in New Hampshire making the most of a 4 day weekend.
The Internet is a gold mine of information about cameras, lenses, and other photography equipment, but there’s always a fair amount of BS circulating. There are opinions masquerading as fact.
When you look through your viewfinder and things seem a little bit blurry or lacking definition, it's probably because you are using an “el cheapo” lens. So you read reviews and buy a much more expensive lens, and what do you do next?
When I first learned that Canon was planning on using a crowdfunding website to launch a new product, I thought to myself “this is going to be a PR disaster." My knee jerk reaction was to think that it's unacceptable for a company like Canon to use websites like Indiegogo in order to launch a product. Surely it has more than enough money available to develop products without asking for it from the public.
In the world of photography, you’ll find people generally prefer primes or zooms. The main benefit to zoom lenses is that you can cover multiple focal lengths in one decent sized package. In saying this, there are some prime lenses that can work well for multiple purposes. Two of these are the 35mm and 85mm primes.
UK-based photographer and YouTuber Jamie Windsor recently shared an interesting video about what he calls "The Instagram Problem for Photographers." Namely: that Instagram has quickly become the default method for sharing your work with the world.
You have found your style when you can’t do anything else. It’s your default, your normal, your nature. Style comes when imitation and influence perish. It's something that becomes one... you, yours. Defining your style or finding your style is a life’s journey.
I switched to Sony from Canon on December 31, 2014. Since then, I’ve cranked through over 50,000 frames on my Sony cameras in the past 4+ years of shooting.
Fujifilm is the largest medium format camera manufacturer in the world. Its resources are vast and the experience it has as a company is extensive. Hasselblad, on the other hand, is a tiny Swedish company that solely produces niche high-value cameras. This may seem like a David and Goliath type story, but considering the sheer differences in size between the two companies, this is more of a David and Godzilla type story.
Appropriating Indigenous cultures has been going on for a very long time. Anytime something appropriating Indigenous cultures or racist comes up, it doesn’t matter what Natives might say in protest -- most often the person doing the wrong thing claims it’s to “honor” us. Much the same way people think that Native mascots honor us. It doesn’t.
A few decades ago, Nikon was the number one manufacturer for high-end professionals. If you were a pro photographer who shot with a 35mm full-frame camera, you probably shot with a Nikon.
My name is Justin Barr, and I'm a photographer in St. Louis, Missouri, who was recently hired to shoot the Blues' Stanley Cup victory parade. I'm still in shock over the series of events.
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?
On May 30, 2019, controversial free stock photo site Unsplash announced that it crossed the 1 million images uploaded mark. That had much of the photo blogosphere up in arms.
When it comes to negotiations, as a photographer (or any freelance artist, for that matter) you’ve got to master the art of not being emotionally invested in the outcome -- something that is nearly impossible to do. But without it, you’ll never be able to break free of difficult clients and underpaid gigs.
Being a photographer used to be pretty simple. You had a camera, you had a subject you liked photographing, and you used to go out with your camera and photograph the subject you liked. And apart from perhaps showing off the occasional print at the local camera club to a group of like-minded tragics, that’s probably about as far as it went. Then social media arrived and, as with so many aspects of this modern connected life of ours, everything changed.
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.
Based on a number of conversations I’ve had and a few minor polls I’ve conducted, most people seem to believe that Canon made the right decision by producing a mirrorless system. Now my sample size is quite small so this may or may not be a true reflection, but I have an opposing view to this. I firmly believe that Canon made the wrong choice by developing a new mirrorless system with a new mount.
Hello, everyone. I'm Audrey Wancket, President of Professional Photographers of America (PPA), and this article is a response to recent reaction to PPA's new "Certified Professional Photographer" certification process.
After a many year hiatus, I returned to photography as an avocation. In years past, I had been a semi-pro, using primarily Leica gear and film, of course at full frame. In those days the only significant half frame camera was the Olympus, which in spite of the smaller but more useful format gave a good account of itself. It did not hurt that Olympus glass was at that time some of the best coming from Japan, especially for snappy contrast.
For many years, the only lens focal length I felt comfortable with when doing street photography was a 50mm.
I don’t mean to step on any toes, but... deep breath... here we go…
Being a monk who has photographed monastic communities from many years now, many people have asked me if I have something to share from my experience. Well, there isn't much.
Unlike most types of photography, photojournalism abides a more stringent set of ethical guidelines because truth is paramount to accurate reporting. Many newspapers enforce their own ethical journalism guidelines, which tend to focus on retouching and the use of photo illustration techniques (e.g. compositing, timelapse, panoramic, etc).
I have seen so many posts across various websites and Facebook groups this week all centered around one theme: wedding photography. Wedding season is well and truly upon us and I guess that everyone who’s getting married this summer has already booked their photographer. But their guests who are getting married next year or the year after? They’re the ones probably starting to think about who’s going to photograph their big day. And it’s a huge decision to make.
I always resisted writing artist statements and bios. In school, that part of every assignment or exhibition was the most agonizing. It felt overly simplistic to just describe what the viewer was about to encounter, or why objects or abstract shapes, making my specific image or groups of images, were presented in this way or another.
I’m not your typical conservation photographer. Many conservation photographers and filmmakers spend their careers traveling to infrequently traversed crevices of our earth in pursuit of untold stories of nature and wildlife. I am not so lucky to have traveled the globe, but I have experienced worlds unknown to most. I photograph bugs and share their stories in hopes of changing public perception of insects and spiders.
It’s time to confess. I’ve been converted to Sony! But there’s more. Somehow I converted my best friend, wedding photographer Charlotte Palazzo, at the same time.
I wrote an article in 2017 about bad photography workshops, and I made a promise to the community that I would never speak at, attend, or help promote a workshop again unless it was one I believed in wholeheartedly. I promised to do my due diligence when accepting speaking engagements and I promised that the events I did agree to speak at would be of the highest standards.
