Articles written by David Geffin

For those of you who shoot video, want to get better at shooting video, edit your own video, or edit video shot by others, this article is all about you wonderful guys and gals. As someone who is editing a lot, I thought this short video was fantastic. The great hints and tips provided here are totally free, you don’t have to buy anything to get something out of this article, and if you aren’t doing this stuff already, this is guaranteed to make you both a stronger video shooter, and a producer of stronger edits.

Sometimes it's useful to stop, take stock and just remember why it is we shoot what we do, and what we are trying to do with our work. With this in mind, and to stoke the fires of your inspiration, the filmmaking accessories manufacturer, Zacuto, recently released ‘Light & Shadow’, a wonderful 20 minute film by Steve Weiss which asks searching questions from some legendary American cinematographers.

Have you ever found yourself thinking: “If only I had <insert expensive camera body/lens/lighting gear>, I would be shooting better images/be winning bigger jobs/get better and higher paying clients”?

If you’ve never had this thought, congratulations, skip this article and move on because you’re already part of ‘The Enlightened’ few.

Strapping a GoPro to a moving object has become 'the thing' over the years. More recently, we've begun to see spectacular aerial footage of GoPro's mounted to small remote control drones, such as this video shot over New York City earlier this year. But every once in a while someone puts a GoPro on something that just makes sit up and you just go "WOW!" If you've ever dreamt of flying or soaring free like a bird through the mountains, this is the video you've been waiting for.

Grand Theft Auto 5, which launched yesterday, is the most expensive video game ever produced, at a cost of $250 million of production and marketing costs. It also set records for day one sales. Most of the short time I played over the last day was spent inside the house one of the one of the main protagonists. I moved from room to room and realized I’d just spent almost an hour trying to work out how to position the character for best dramatic lighting effect. As I stepped outside and watched the sunset and saw the lighting change, it got me thinking - can Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5 actually help us to improve our photography?

Because most of us fear rejection to some degree, speaking to a complete stranger and asking them for something, let alone asking if you can photograph them, tends to be pretty challenging. I’ve never been one of those naturally confident people but over time I’ve developed some techniques that have provided me with the confidence to work with strangers, which has brought additional benefit when communicating with paying clients.

I grew up as part of the generation of photographers that developed film (or had a lab develop it) and mounted photos in family albums. At the time, I would remember thinking it wasn't a particularly special exercise or the photos themselves weren't particularly amazing. But how many of you remember the feeling - often years later - of finding those same 'mundane' shots and nostalgically revisiting the past? Wasn't that a powerful and often wonderful feeling?