Photography

In street photography utilizing unique perspectives or vantage points make images have different impressions and feelings. I often find that street photographers don’t utilize interesting perspectives enough– most photos are just from eye-to-eye level.

To make more edgy and interesting photos, try embracing more unique perspectives (shooting from a really low angle, or getting on top of a roof and shooting from a high vantage point).

While reception and dinner may be a bit of a slow part of a wedding for a photographer, everything changes once the first dance starts.

These days we see a lot of LED lighting on events. It makes sense, LED’s don’t get hot, last longer, use less power, … Unfortunately LED stage and disco lights often make the job of a photographer harder. This has to do with frequencies and non-complete spectrums. They are not unworkable but you really need to keep an eye on your exposures, certainly in high iso shots. When you get too much contrast and dynamic range in your pictures, you can get some pretty nasty artifacts like in the picture below.

How have the X100s and X-Pro 1 shaped your street photography?
What I appreciate so much about Fujifilm’s x-series cameras is the analog-like operation, which reminds me of the beginnings of my photography. I enjoy working with my camera, and sometimes it‘s just nice to play around with it.

The aperture ring, time dial, exposure correction dial, and especially the fixed focal lengths, have helped me to approach shots differently. I have learned to see in 23mm (35mm full frame) and I can blindly do my important settings for the exposure. This took me a while, of course, but after intensive use, I now just position myself in the already more or less correct distance to my subject. So I just have to take the camera to my eye, do my composition, and push the trigger.

Making Pictures of People is an online exhibition of contemporary portrait photography produced since 2000 curated by Andy Adams of FlakPhoto. It features 27 photographers who work in long-form serial portraiture.

It is paired with the show About Face: Contemporary Portraiture, co-curated by Jane L. Aspinwall and April M. Watson, at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,  Kansas City, Missouri. About Face will be on display until January 19, 2014. Museum visitors can access the FlakPhoto exhibition via touchscreens in the gallery.

As much as I would like to spend a couple of hours shooting portraits with the couple, there’s usually barely enough time for of a couple of quick portraits. Strangely enough, that doesn’t bother me too much. I believe a wedding day is about celebrating with friends and family and not about doing a photo shoot. I basically tell the couple to give me whatever time they have for the formal pictures as long as it doesn’t interfere with their big day. Sometimes that’s an hour, usually way less or like in this case: a couple of minutes here and there. 

After church we knew the horses would gather at the field behind the couple’s house. We drove ahead, so I could capture some images of everyone arriving. 

Looking back at the career of Magnum Photos' George Rodger allows us to understand the past and present challenges of photojournalism differently.

Raw, unadulterated, unplanned with a underlying uncertainty is every bit part of what appeals to me on the street. Back to the basics, playing with available light and single lens choices revive and cleanse me of the modern organisational stress and complexities of a carefully planned, conceptually executed shoot (hair, makeup, props, location, talent and studio lighting are the stress inducing culprits I am referring to this evening).

The vast streets of the world are full of free opportunities and memories for all who are watching, the only worry is having enough battery capacity and memory card space to continue recording. There is nothing more satisfying than stumbling into bed after a long day shooting. When the time comes and you can barely remember where you parked the car it is time to head home treasuring the memory cards bursting at the molded seams with bits and bytes. 

© Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos. ROMANIA. 1975. In a train.
For today’s street photography composition lesson, we will discuss a compositional rule that is simple enough: the diagonal.