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Bash, Please (the organizers) and I needed a good excuse to party together. And I needed an excuse to visit Austin.
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Perhaps because I'm lazy. Perhaps because on a gut level I don't think my ideal client is going to find me by searching in google.
Perhaps because I'm busy as-is.
Perhaps I'm wrong. I think I need to have European Dutch Holland Netherlands Italy Amalfi Coast Hipster Elegant Romantic Whimsical Wedding Photography Photographer in invisible white tags all over my posts so that I get my dream weddings. Or I maybe even better keywords, like, I am Jonas Peterson's Shadow. Or something like that. I'll have to rethink my strategy. -
I remember really enjoying reading the following three books during my university years: Roland Barthe's Camera Lucida, Susan Sontag's On Photography, and John Berger's Ways of Seeing. So, I'll recommend them. But I honestly don't remember what they said.
Essentially, you should be looking for books that expand your vision and expand your skills. I personally don't look to books for technical camera knowledge - for that I'd much prefer to go play with my camera with some photographer friends and experiment away (websites/blogs too: creativelive, strobist, etc…).
I like to collect nice photography books / coffee table books. But you don't have to buy if you are broke - you can borrow from the library. I still do this. Find classic and contemporary photographer's books to expand your vision: from Brassai to Avedon to Dukoff. Take note of where they shot, why they shot, when they shot, with what they shot…
A few from my shelf:
Annie Leibovitz at Work
Annie Leibovitz Women
Tim Walker Pictures
Robert Frank The Americans
Robert Frank Come Again
Magnum: Contact Sheets
The New York Times Magazine Photographs
European Fields: The Landscape of Lower League Football by Hans van der Meer
Noma (a cookbook, but photography by one of my favourites: Ditte Isager)
Lauren Dukoff Family
Autumn de Wilde Beck
Mark Borthwick Not In Fashion
Richard Avedon Portraits
Manuel Alvarez Bravo Polaroids
Uta Barth The Long Now
Andrew Zuckerman Wisdom
To be successful, one needs to develop as an artist (vision), technician (camera and lights), and as a businessman/woman. I say if you are able to develop as an artist and technician, you will have a product/service to sell. You can then pick up John Harrington's Best Business Practices for Photographers to skim over and forget, and more importantly talk to other photographers about industry standards. Continue to feast on the work of the great photographers and reverse engineer and learn, learn, learn. Phone up your friends and collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. -
I want my cake and I want to eat it too. This sounds like the camera we all dream about - for the price we all want. To be honest, I'm not very good about taking everyday photos - so take these answers with a grain of salt: I have recently purchased the Fujifilm X100 (digital) to hopefully fill this void; and I have a Konica Hexar AF (film) point and shoot - both have essentially 35MM F2 fixed lenses. Other film cameras I would look into would be the Contax G2, or a Leica / Bessa / Zeiss Ikon rangefinder. Digitally, the Leica X2, Canon G12 and S100, Fujifilm X10, and Nikon P300 (all but the Leica have too small of sensors for my liking which is why I went with the X100).
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We used these:
http://www.rocketfireworks.ca/60gsmoke.html
Probably should have gone cheaper with this:
http://www.theincensestore.com/online_store/holi-coloured-powder-assorted-colours-7-x-50g-packets.cfm
We played. We experimented. -
I've only been once, two years ago, and I didn't attend any classes. I went to see product at the tradeshow, and see photographer friends from around the world. It's simply a convenient way to connect in person with photographers I talk to daily online: flights to Vegas are cheap, as are the accommodations, and WPPI is a good excuse.
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I have many ideas of what I would like to do, but I have not actually set any real tangible goals to venture in any other direction outside of weddings: it's the world I know, people keep inquiring, it continues to pay the bills.
As far as photography goes, I'd love to, and plan to, experiment with still life photography, studio (and more solo editorial) portraiture, fashion look books / catalogs, maybe even stock photography…
Outside of photography, I'd love to: open a neighborhood & online general store / mercantile, purchase rural land for a hobby farm (I like this idea, my wife Katherine likes the actual practice of farming), design cabins, open a bed & breakfast, design/branding consulting, live in Holland for a year+ … these adventures could still be done while shooting weddings (perhaps a select number per year?), but again, I haven't made any real investment in these ideas beyond talking about them with friends and family over and over and over again.
I'm forever curious. Which is one of the reasons photography, and especially wedding photography, has been a good fit for me. Weekend after weekend I am introduced to different personalities with their unique love stories, family backgrounds and friendship dynamics, all within new and interesting locations/settings. I am asked to encounter this honestly/courageously/lovingly, and make a story with my cameras. This really hits my inner anthropologist.
For the past few years I have only set goals on a one year basis: Creative, Financial, Family, Travel, Lifestyle, etc... and essentially put on horse blinders to accomplish them. It's worked out fairly well, but I may have lost some perspective on a larger scale.
I currently feel the need to set three or five year goals that includes more brave exploration outside of weddings, and could use some encouragement here. Or perhaps a slap on the wrist and be told to just focus on simply becoming a better wedding photographer.
I used to say that I was vocationally challenged and fell into photography. I still don't feel a real certain "calling" to wedding photography, but find it rewarding work.
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Could I do this for the next 15 years? Perhaps. I'm taking this journey one year at a time. Each year has been fresh, and each year I've learned knew languages within my photography and business practices. The clients I had at 23 are different than the clients I have at 28, and these differences would probably hold true when I'm 37 or 43.
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Well, that was long winded. -
I think one answer is already in your question: a) Get close to subject! This may be the greatest virtue of the 24MM lens. It encourages brave intimate interaction with people for the most compelling of images; the other tip would then be to: b) Step way back with the 24MM, don't work about bokeh, but think negative space and composition. Inbetween these ranges, switch to the 50MM or the super versatile 35MM.
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Yes & Yes. It's not an either/or.
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Two bodies (Canon 5DMKii). Lenses: 24MM F1.4Lii, 35MM F1.4L, 45MM F2.8 t/s, 50MM F1.2L, 135 F2.0L - I gravitate towards a 24 & 50 pairing, but use them all for different situations.
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A 28 or 35 sounds about right. To be honest, I haven't really thought about outfitting that hypothetical Leica system too seriously. I'm pretty happy with my Canon system and I plan to pay off student loans and invest in a house before dropping $20K on Leica gear. So, yeah, not a priority right now. Unless you can convince me otherwise.
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Digital Leica Rangefinder system would be really nice, and really stealth, for everyday and weddings. I'd also like to explore more large format film (and polaroid) cameras for portraiture, studio or otherwise: 4x5, 8x10.
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I make my own in InDesign. In college, I did layout for our newspaper so I'm quite comfortable using InDesign. Just keep it simple is my philosophy.
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Thanks.
The MKii's ISO range (much better above 400ISO than the orginal's) and the brighter LCD (although potentially misleading) do it for me. It can be argued that the original 5Ds colors are nicer SOOC (especially shooting JPG), but I'm still happy with the MKii's files, know how to work with them in post, and am happy to be shooting two of them all day long. -
I don't know your work or your experience shooting families, so it's hard to say. That said, here are few things to remember: a) It is totally okay to receive money from friends; b) being upfront with a fair price is better than doing it by donation since when asking for a donation you will probably have a internal general idea of what the expected donation should be - so receiving a different actual amount can get awkward with internal expectations not being met or fully exceeded; c) construct a price list for family portraits in general (with disc or just a session fee with prints/downloads extra) and then offer your friends a discount (how generous that discount is up to you). Everyone wins.
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I've used colour gradient layers in both PS and LR, but PS offers more subtle options. I'm often working in the 10-20% ranges (whether in normal or soft/hard light overlay). I've been resisting gradients as of late and trying to do as much in camera, but it is fun to play with post-processing.
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Pray. And find covered areas, small overhangs, natural forest canopies, etc... Also, just be patient as there are often clearings throughout the day: then take advantage of these!
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James Moes’s Bio
Photographer.
