I’m not sure on what day I realized that my street photography work had become overly homogeneous, and sometimes asinine. “Oh look, a red car and a red shirt. click.” I’d been in love with the look of Fujifilm’s Classic Chrome (based off of Kodak Kodachrome) and had begun to shoot a lot of color for color’s sake.
In this article, I am going to dissect how I took an image from both a technical and narrative standpoint. I hope this gives you some ideas for your own photography.
If you're a wedding photographer, how do you serve a client who has absolutely no eyesight? A photographer and videographer over in Australia recently teamed up to create a special tactile wedding photo album for their blind bride.
I’ve always had a fascination with geometry and man-made structures, their perfection has a strong attraction on me. It took me time to realize that what I appreciated most wasn’t necessarily their symmetry or the simple repetition of shapes but the parallelism between the various elements of the construction of an image.
Can photography move you to tears? It seems like human emotions are difficult to unlock as a photographer, especially in our oversaturated world of Instagram; as of 2018, a staggering 95 million photos and videos are uploaded onto Instagram every single day. It’s more difficult than ever for a photograph to have an impact -- we’ve all debated it before, and we’ve probably seen still photography as a dying profession.
If you're looking to expand your skill set in shooting portraits with umbrellas, check out this 8-minute video by photographer Miguel Quiles. In it, he introduces different types of umbrellas and then shares 5 different ways he uses them to create stunning portraits.
After recently sharing a portrait on social media, I was asked by a lot of people to write a breakdown on how I achieved the shot.
No matter how it looks, this is the story of the photographs I didn't make this year. On January 1st, 2018 my colleague, the military photojournalist C.S. Muncy, presented me with a gift: a small, handmade box he'd crafted out of salvaged wood. Muncy, a film lover, had given to me, an unquestioning digital-age professional, a box full of 35mm film.
Photographer Paul Seibert created this beautiful aerial photo that shows how New York City changes between winter and summer. About half the frame shows a snowy winter view while the other portion shows the summer cityscape.
Sometimes one of the best things I can do for my photography, specifically for improving my compositions, is to put my camera down and walk around without taking photographs.
Photographer Greg Sheard has suffered from depression for nearly two decades now, but two years ago he took up a new weapon in his fight against it: his camera. In this 5-minute video, Sheard shares his personal experience in how photography has been helping him combat depression.
Are you a portrait photographer in search of a 2019 New Year’s resolution? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been really stressed over the prospect of another year of not reaching my photography goals.
Just get a new camera for Christmas and/or looking for a New Year's resolution to improve your photography skills in 2019? Here's a 52-week photo challenge designed to get you motivated and to stretch your creativity.
Growing up as a skateboarder and BMX biker, Peter McKinnon never thought he would one day become a creative. But after he received a camera, he was bitten by the photography bug and got hooked. This 23-minute short film, titled "The Bucket Shot," tells the story of McKinnon's life journey to shooting the photo of his dreams.
As I am always looking to improve my photography by learning, part of the process is seeking inspiration from others who create. I don’t, however, confine myself to just learning from other photographers. I cast my net for ideas wide, and look to artists, writers, musicians -- whoever it is that will inspire me with new ways of seeing and fresh ideas.
Debating which camera brand is best is a sure way to create a lively discussion among photographers. It’s easy to endlessly discuss specs and online reviews and to think that the latest model will give us some missing edge. But what about when you really put images to the test with prints?
Finding new ways to create isn't always easy, so you have to keep your eyes open for inspiration. One day while making my way down the rabbit hole of YouTube, I stumbled across a video. These guys had created 3 colored shadows off this pencil while keeping a perfectly white background. What in the world was this sorcery? Turns out it wasn't sorcery, it was science.
The year is coming to an end. It has been a nice year for me and I feel I am still improving in regards to photography. Not only skill-wise but also on the business side of things, which is currently important for me as I am living off of photography. I'm writing out some tips that always help me in becoming better, and I hope they're useful for you as well.
A huge part of my photo practice is not taking photos. Photography is an inner game. What comes out in our photography is the total expression of who we are, how we think, and what we see.
Here's a 5-minute short film by filmmaker Robert Sherwood about the work of Australian photographer Trent Mitchell and his latest project Inner Atlas, a series of portraits of bodysurfers flowing with ocean waves.
To bring some Christmas cheer to sick children stuck in hospitals, the Christmas Wish Project recently assembled 100 volunteers in 10 cities across 4 countries for an ambitious portrait project. The photographers made magical Christmas portraits for over 200+ kids and their families.
I've been using some version of "street" photography as practice and exercise for all areas of my photography since I started taking it seriously in 2015, but I've never been as focused and regimented about honing my approach to street photography every day as I have been since the start of 2018, when I decided to give myself an entire year to "make it" as a photographer.
I'm sitting in the end zone and Tennessee's quarterback is ready to throw for a touchdown against Missouri. There are only three frames left on my roll of film and I think to myself, "That's more than enough."
Alright, I don’t know if it’s the best photo I’ve ever taken, but it’s one of my favorites and it’s been the most popular photo I’ve posted recently on Facebook and Instagram.
National Geographic just announced the winners of the prestigious 2018 National Geographic Photo Contest. Photographer Jassen Todorov stood out from nearly 10,000 entries and was honored with the top prize for his photo "Unreal," which shows thousands of recalled cars sitting in a desert.
Last month, legendary British painter David Hockney's 1972 painting titled “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” (shown above) sold for a jaw-dropping $90.3 million, the highest auction price ever for a living artist!
Alan Burles started as a art director in the early 1980s. After investing in a Olympus XA 35mm rangefinder, however, Burles started traveling everywhere with a pocket camera. Since 2005, he has been a full-time photographer, and his street photos are filled with clever illusions.
Art has arguably been around almost as long as humans have. The moment we learned to mark something for others to see and interpret, the moment art was born. Thankfully for us photographers, we needn’t go quite that far back to begin learning from the history of art. In fact, we only need to go as far as the "Old Masters."
As a toy photographer I am constantly experimenting with new techniques and effects -- primarily practical effects, but I won't hesitate to dive into some digital effects if it helps me tell a story and create the strongest image possible. Some of my more popular images include real liquid splashes, so I thought I'd share some of those images here.
Here's a clip from an old interview in which legendary photographer and street photography pioneer Henri Cartier-Bresson was asked about the art of seeing. His answer probably isn't what you'd expect.
If you love photography but are often afraid to share your work due to a fear of failure and rejection, here's a dose of encouragement and inspiration made just for you. Apple created this 3-minute animated short titled "Share Your Gifts."
Heads up: if you enjoy watching documentaries about photographers and photography, there's a great one that's now free. Cheryl Dunn's highly-regarded 2013 documentary Everybody Street is now free-to-watch on YouTube with ads. You can watch the 1.5-hour film above.
Over the last few years, the photography industry has been growing quite steadily. With the advent of new technologies and price-accessible equipment, more and more people are choosing the photography industry. Smartphones have also played a significant part in the influx of new photographers and creatives.
I don’t have an expensive camera. I use a Nikon D3000, which is one of the oldest entry-level DSLRs and I have only an 18-55mm kit lens. Because of this, I have to be creative to make good shots.
This is the story behind my Han River project. Boredom helped me to become creative, develop a vision and a style. It also made me start my first photo project. If you’re struggling with starting your own photo project or developing your own vision and style, this blog post might be of help to you.
As dry and windy conditions cause raging wildfires in California, there are brave men and women putting themselves in harm's way to document what's happening and serve as the eyes of the world. This incredible photo by photographer Noah Berger shows photographer Justin Sullivan braving wind-blown embers while covering the devastating Camp Fire in Paradise, California.
This is the music video for the song "UnAmerican" by the indie rock band Said The Whale. The stop-motion video was created by hand without digital effects: it features 2,250 separate photo prints rephotographed over a period of 80 hours.
The Ansel Adams Gallery made this 4-minute video about Ansel Adams' Moonrise, Hernandez, a photo the gallery calls Adams' "most famous and iconic image." Sales director Brittany Moorefield shares the story behind the photo while presenting an ultra-rare mural-sized print from the early 1970s.
How do you go about shooting a subject when you know they could die in a split second while your camera is pointed at them? That's the reality filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi faced while creating their documentary Free Solo. The duo followed climber Alex Honnold during his attempt to be the first human to ever climb the 3,000ft El Capitan in Yosemite without safety equipment.
A few years ago I was shooting at dawn in East London for one of my books. I walked past a butcher and thought, "awesome!" Capturing people up at dawn can be really hard as they are either not around or it can be difficult to find people doing interesting things.
Several years ago I developed a technique that I use for light painting in which I take a king size bed sheet and light paint through it to create my images. I recently created this 10-minute video tutorial explaining in detail how to achieve this creative effect.
By day, Yohei Shimada is a Japanese commercial photographer. When Halloween rolls around, Shimada becomes Cameraaman, a human-sized, fully-functioning DSLR camera that roams the streets of Japan to photograph other costume-wearers.
Moises Levy is a Mexico City-based photographer who uses juxtaposition to tell the story of life on beaches and open spaces. His black-and-white photo portfolio is filled with clever framing and compositions.
There are few things in life I treasure more than the photographs I have. Some are on the walls, some in albums and many hundred are in shoe boxes in the cupboard and each one has it’s own story. As I get a little older and maybe a little wiser, the value of these photographs to me has increased. These people, these moments in my life are priceless. And if we had to evacuate due to an alien invasion, they would be amongst the few things I would want to scoop up before fleeing to the safe zone, aside from the wife and kids.
Macro photography has always been a passion of mine, and exploring the universe at our feet can be almost magical. As beautiful as this genre of photography is, it really comes to life when you literally add an extra dimension to it. If you’ve never attempted to see a stereo 3D image before, you’re about to go down the rabbit hole.
Photographer and YouTube star Peter McKinnon decided to do an experiment on whether you can create top-quality content using entry-level camera gear. He had a pro photographer see if he could distinguish between photos from a $400 camera and those of a $4,000 camera.
The Royal Observatory Greenwich prestigious Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest has unveiled the overall winners for the 2018 edition. The top prize was awarded to American photographer Brad Goldpaint, whose photo "Transport the Soul" (shown above) captures Moab, Utah, with a photographer, rock formations, Andromeda (left) and the Milky Way (right).
I have no idea where I first heard this, but it’s extremely true: “the main difference between painting and photography is that the painters need to work hard to put things into their images, whereas photographers have to work hard to take things out of their images.”
In keeping myself motivated as a photographer I love to look for inspiration from all across the creative spectrum. I like to take the advice of my favorite photographer Ernst Haas in this when he recommended to: “refine your senses through the great masters of music, painting, and poetry. In short, try indirect inspirations, and everything will come by itself.” I recently visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and felt really energized by the work.
Bulunkul is a very small and isolated town of 306 people that live deep within the High Pamirs in Central Asia. The people of the town live off of little more than yak and grain but are also some of the happiest I've ever met.