Sometimes as creatives, we lose sight of what originally attracted us to the creative process of photography and videography in the first place. We get lost in the noise while we are busy juggling social media, websites, managing shoots, pitching to clients, and constantly reinventing our work. Every now and then we need an image or a video to really put in perspective why we feel the way we do when we raise our cameras to our eye. The wonderfully directed short film "Too Far Gone" does just that.

At this point, we should all know that almost all jobs and opportunities to find success in photography are built off networking. Now there are tons of ways to network and the path you pick will depend solely on the niche you associate with. Either way, the main goal is to meet people with the same professional interests as yourself to feed off each other creatively and to broaden your reach in the community. We tend to forget about the community aspect as we get caught up in chasing money or companies but what we sometimes need to go to that next level is support system built off our love for photography.

While strolling aimlessly along downtown streets this weekend, doing a bit of photography just for fun, I was reminded of one of the reasons I fell in love with photography in the first place. I was also reminded that this simple reason still provides benefits, both professionally and personally.

Rania Matar moved to the US due to the Lebanese Civil War, pursuing photography after September 11 when she became interested in telling a different story from the Middle East. She grew up surrounded by the civil war in Lebanon, whereas her daughters are being raised in the United States. Despite growing up in a different country at a different time, she noticed a universality in being a young woman. This served as the inspiration behind her new series, featuring portraits of mothers and daughters from different cultures.

If you’re starting out in product photography and you’re not working with a props stylist, it can feel overwhelming when it comes to building out a props collection. Here are my go-to props for laying the foundations of a versatile collection so that you can save money and space and speed up your workflow.

Sometimes the who, what, and how is surpassed by the when. Timing can be everything. It’s a fact of life, even if a rather cruel one.

A British photographer has been documenting New York City since the day she moved there. With her archive now including photos during all seasons and from both the street and the sky, we’re showcasing some of her best work.

"A Book of Beards" is exactly what it sounds like. Dudes and huge gnarly beards documented in black and white by photographer and art director Justin James Muir. What started out as a simple idea, evolved into something much much bigger.

New Orleans, Louisiana. If you’ve been following along, you may remember me mentioning at some point that starting around the beginning of July, my girlfriend Holly, our dog Olive, and I, will be giving up our apartment, putting almost everything we own into storage, and hitting the open road for at least two to six months.

Inspiration comes from a variety of sources, but I'm guessing that seeing the works of others has always been big for you. Seeing someone else's work probably is what got you interested in photography to begin with. So what gets your creativity flowing? For me, though my work in photography resides in the Advertising / Editorial realm, inspiration for my work comes in the form of photojournalism.

These intensely raw and intimate photos are documented by professional birth photographers around the world. I sat moved almost to tears sifting through these beautiful images that so profoundly capture the miracle of life.

Creative genius rarely erupts onto the scene full force and in your face. Its entrance into the world is often quiet, gentle, allowing only a few to see it and recognize its brilliance. Such is the case with Portland, Oregon-based Kate Woodman, whose use of color in her work produces an instant halt to the ever scrolling feed of images - causing even the average user to stop and appreciate the story unfolding before them.

Gnarly Bay, the guys who brought you “Rambo Day,” are back with a compelling story aptly titled “The Important Places." The story follows lifestyle and adventure photographer Forest Woodward who sets out to reunite with his father and a sense of youth after unearthing a poem. I will not give away more, as the story needs to be watched to be truly understood and appreciated.

This is not an article supposed to inspire you. It’s not written to be thought of as something light hearted and full of heart-warming messages. It’s a call to arms. We’re heading into 2017. 2016 was a rollercoaster. We’ve had unexpected Brexit, US Elections, the death of icons who gave us music that gave us purpose. Musicians like Leonard Cohen, Dawid Bowie, Prince, and George Michael will never be again. That time has past. In the film industry we’ve just lost Carrie Fisher who played Princess Laia in Star Wars, and we also lost the great Mohammed Ali.

You may be a wedding photographer thinking of ways to secure additional future jobs, or you might simply want to focus on doing a wider variety of shoots other than just weddings. So, in what ways can you branch out?

Lately, I have been attending more events to cover as a photographer, especially anime and comic conventions. My approach to most of my convention coverage is walking around the event and trying to take as many photos as possible of the cosplayers there, kind of a run and gun approach. Sometimes the cosplayers are on a tight time frame so I don’t want to take too much of their time, or there is just a lot of things going on and I want to try to capture as much as possible. Some of the cosplayers outfits are just amazing, so it's best to slow it down and take the time to give the cosplay and their outfit justice with the photo. So where do you start?

Fstoppers is adding a little something extra to this week's episode of "Critique the Community." We are inviting everyone to submit your lifestyle photography images for review. This means your images shouldn't just be portraits of people, they need to be images of people in action or living some sort of life. Like we've done in the past, we will be choosing 20 images give our thoughts and feedback to. In addition to our normal critique, we will also be giving away two camera bags to two individuals who will be randomly chosen from the critiqued image pool. Submissions must be made by Sunday, December 13th.

So many behind the scenes videos we come across are nothing more than boring, overly glamorized music videos. Skateboard photographer Michael Burnett's latest video is anything but boring. Anyone who has photographed extreme or counter culture sports know that there are certain rules to be broken...and certain rules that must be followed. Michael goes through a ton of great skateboard photographs and explains what makes some stand out while others get lost in the mix. So grab your fisheye lens, a few speedlights on stands, and put yourself in harm's way!

If you’ve been following along, you may remember that back in July, I packed up my apartment, loaded up my car, and set off on a month-long cross country tour of the southern United States with my girlfriend Holly and my dog, Olive. Along the way we met and hung out with some incredible people, had the opportunity to take great photos, ate at some great local places and most importantly, got to experience first hand the freedom of the open road.

Traveling and photography are a perfect match. It’s so fun to photograph in a new place. Yet, for portrait photographers, locating models while abroad can be a challenge. There's nothing more disheartening than finding yourself in an incredible place with no one to photograph. Here are some tips for finding models while you travel!

It is well known that if your client can hold the photograph, whether in an album or print, they are more likely to purchase it. They can feel it in a much more intimate way than just being on a computer screen. This idea was the very reason one photographer decided to step away from the traditional museum curation and create a pocket version that can be in the hands of art lovers everywhere.

I have to say that on many days, I find myself using a DxO product—most frequently, their PureRAW software, which looks at my image metadata in my RAW files and gives me a near-perfect image, correcting my sensor/lens combination, sharpening, and removing imperfections like vignettes and ringing. DxO has more than 100,000 camera/lens combinations covering almost any gear. Even both my DJI drones are covered by DxO.

Are you starting to book in clients for when the lockdown restrictions are lifted? Why not give your posing technique a quick refresh before photographing people again?

The New York Times published a video about photographer Philip Toledano's fear of growing old. Philip decided to grow old as many times as possible. Joshua Seftel produced the short film by following Phillip's process of "seeing" himself ageing, and even dying.

It’s one thing to plan a restaurant shoot or a client brief for a particular project, but how do you go about planning and photographing a much longer project, like a cookbook? In this post, I’m sharing my tips on how to photograph a self-published cookbook, but the advice holds true for a longer project like an e-book too.

I'm excited to announce a new weekly segment, where you the Fstoppers community can submit your favorite image to be edited and retouched by me, Lance Nicoll. Post an image you recently shot, that hasn't been retouched yet, in the comments below. On Thursday I will retouch it an post the recording of the entire process! If you guys love it, I will continue to do this every week! – And maybe in the future even do it as a Live Retouch with Q&A. The rules are as listed below. Really excited to see everyone's submissions. Submit your image by Wednesday at Midnight to be selected.

Everyone is dealing with this new normal in different ways. A lot of people have been finding all sorts of creative ways to keep themselves busy. Not wanting to be outdone, photographers all over have been sharing amazing and humorous photos often shot within their homes.

How many of us picked up our first camera because it was a way to make a buck? For most videographers, the hustle of media production work gradually evolved from a passion for filming into a business formula based on our strengths, reputation, and market necessity, but fun was the kickstarter.