Interview

How are you getting people to look at and engage with your work? This is something we all have to think about constantly in today’s visually saturated market place. It’s why it’s all the more important to look at – and learn from – those producing stunning and engaging work. Let me introduce you to Leonardo Dalessandri, and his latest project “Watchtower Of Turkey”, a video that he worked on over the course of a year and quite possibly some of the best visual media you’ll see in 2015.

I first came across the work of Colorado-based photographer Drew Lundquist in 2013 when he was working for the powerhouse advertising agency Elevendy. Lundquist is a composite photographer who specializes in what he labels "theatrical special effects photography." His composite work is extremely clean with an immaculate attention to detail. Everything from his compositions to his color work leaves you wanting to see more and more. Lundquist's work has been featured numerous issues of Advanced Photoshop Magazine, and his work is the cover image for the current edition of The Professional Photoshop Book. Lundquist is well on his way to becoming one of the big names in the compositing game. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to check out his work.

Brandon Stanton and his blog Humans of New York need no introduction. In recent years, we featured many stories about the success of Stanton's unique project, and HONY is now a household name. About two weeks ago, Stanton went out to photograph new random people in the projects of Brownsville, Brooklyn. One of the people he shot was 13-year-old Vidal Chastanet. His photo and quote went viral, and made a real change to his school and the community.

In the latest episode of The Grid, freelance sports photographer Dave Black and freelance lifestyle and environmental portraiture photographer Erik Valind (who will be an instructor at the upcoming Fstoppers Workshops in the Bahamas) share their views on 10 of the big, often intimidating questions facing rising photographers in the industry. Throughout the episode, Black and Valind share valuable advice for any photographer hoping to enter the fields. While the two photographers come from vastly different backgrounds and work in different areas in the photography industry, their discussion reveals both similarities between varying fields within the overarching photography industry, as well as the differences in approaches that can equally lead to success.

Who hasn’t contemplated the idea of living a simpler life? I know that I certainly have, pondering from time to time what my life would look with smaller bills and rent. What would my art be like if I could downsize just a bit? Could I ever dare? People everywhere are beginning to realize that they have become slaves to their own lifestyles. The need to be better and bigger than the next guy has taken over our lives, and had compromised our ability to live an authentic life.

This month I posted an article asking how you would build a new photo kit from the ground up with only a thousand bucks. The responses were all awesome (if you haven't left one yourself be sure to check it out, I'd love to hear from you), but they had one thing in common: everyone bought used gear. Buying used equipment can be awesome, but unless you're in an area with a nice local camera shop, you're stuck ordering online. While eBay and Amazon were traditionally the go-to sites for picking up used equipment, recently a lot of photographers have turned to buy-and-sell groups on Facebook.

A group of filmmakers from Edmonton, Alberta have been working on a three-part science and nature documentary called The Great Human Odyssey. I recently spoke with some of the crew to learn more about how a production team approaches a project that involves planning and shooting in some of the most remote environments in the world. Check out their behind the scenes video, but read on for more videos and insight into their process.

It is never too late to start a senior model program. In fact, now is the best time of the year to define your program and select your models. Every market is different, but most of us slow down in the winter months. We have photographed the bulk of the senior class in the fall, however there will be a few spring senior's sessions that book right before graduation. This is the time to prepare for the next class. Jen Basford with 3 girls photography and Seniors Ignite joins us for another article highlighting how to plan your senior model program and at what times to execute your marketing for the new year.

Last year a group of time-lapse photographers organized by Shiseido Ruiz produced a video of the New Year's Eve ball drop and other events in Times Square, New York City that made Vimeo's Staff Pick. This year, Ruiz and his crew decided to step up their game and headed back to the rooftops around Times Square to produce an even better one. In a feat of artistic and logistical achievement, The Timelapse Group managed to produce a stunning and truly unique film of the NYE festivities in Times Square that will make your jaw drop. In an interview with Fstoppers, Ruiz provides a look into what it takes to produce a time-lapse film of this magnitude.

When legendary photographer Jay Maisel speaks, people listen. For half a century now, Maisel has been creating breathtakingly extraordinary images, and so it is no wonder why PDNOnline recently filmed some wise words coming from the man himself. In these two bite-sized videos, listen as he offers satisfying advice on becoming a better photographer and how the use of gesture in your photographs can make all the difference.

Heath Bennett, half of the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based wedding photography duo Jac and Heath Photography, is an absolutely avid film shooter. Recently he shared some work he shot while visiting friends and family in Alaska, much of which was photographed while flying high above the landscape in a helicopter. He was kind enough to sit down for a brief interview and supply the images to us before jetting off to Australia for his and Jac's next adventure.

What if God was one of us? What would that look like? Dina Goldstein's "Gods of Suburbia" is a series comprised of visually arresting images of everyday situations, only with gods as the main subjects. Gods of Suburbia offers an iconoclastic interpretation of how ancient belief systems fit with technology, science and secularism, the three main pillars of modernity. She spent two years creating her third large-scale series with a tiny budget, and every obstacle you can think of. But through creativity and tenacity, she was able to bring the project to fruition.

If you’d asked me this question last week, I would have said no. What a difference a few days makes. Ruslan Pelykh, a New York City-based videographer and photographer, is creating outstanding video with a Leica D Lux 6, a 10 megapixel, $600 point and shoot. This post is a kick up the butt for anyone hanging on for a piece of gear as being the reason they can’t create with what they have. Welcome to creating more, with less.

Fred Mortagne, or French Fred, is a skateboarder, photographer, and filmmaker living in France. His images have taken skateboard photography to a place where the line between fine art, portraiture and action sports have beautifully dissolved into amazing works of art. As someone who shares a lot of the same passion for actions sports and black and white photography, I decided to get in touch with Fred to ask him a few questions about his work.

Last week saw the release of ‘Anomaly’, a film that is redefining the approach and model for independent, narrative film making. Co-Director Salomon Ligthelm outlines how he managed the project as it grew from “a 2 minute art film” into the astonishing 38 minute-long final masterpiece, and provides key takeaways for all of us that we can apply to our own stills or motion projects. If you have any interest in what's coming over the horizon for cutting edge, independent, visual media production, this is for you.

Benjamin Von Wong has always been known for his elaborate, fantasy-like photo shoots. However, recreating the fairy tales that he had grown up watching took time, patience, luck, and most of all, a lot of help. These jaw-dropping photographs are bound to generate the customary "Is this Photoshopped?" question. Yet as usual, Von Wong's incredible scenes are all created in-camera, and he goes on to tell us how he pulled off a photo shoot 20 years in the making.

Alamby Leung may not be a household name, but among the photographic community, she has become somewhat of a celebrity. Working with Kai Wong and Lok Cheung, she was known as one of the three individuals that made DigitalRev TV one of the most popular YouTube channels in the world for camera reviews. Over 12 months ago, she made a sudden departure from DigitalRev TV and the internet has not stopped asking about her absence. I got a chance to chat with her and she graciously agreed to do a quick photo shoot for this article (It was Christmas Eve after all!). In this interview, she shares why she left, thoughts on working with some of the photography greats, and that “bloody producer."

I recently read a survey that said the average time a person spends driving a car is 4.3 years. Let me break that down for you. Let's say you live to be 75. That is 37,688 hours spent behind the wheel of a car! Most of us listen to music while we drive, but what if we took that time and devoted it to expanding our craft and making us better photographers? Over the past year I did just that, and the results speak for themselves.

"Mayokero" may be the best music video that came out in 2014, yet you probably never heard of it before. In the video, famous vinyl album covers come to life and they all lip-sync to Roy Kafri's singing. Michael Jackson, Abba, Madonna, The Beatles, Elton John and Bob Dylan are only few of the "collaborators" in the video. Check out the BTS video below and also the amazing final result.

Photographers around this time of the year, portrait and wedding photographers especially, tend to have clients banging down their doors for holiday photos and other must have product deliveries in time for Christmas. While the rest of the world is gearing up for a relaxing holiday, we often experience anything but. From Christmas cards to wedding albums — regardless of the client's procrastination all year — we're expected to produce our work in record time.

Justin Bettman is a talented New York based photographer who shoots mostly for his own personal fulfillment. His ideas are raw, quirky and will make you feel like you're sitting front row in an old cinema. Recently he teamed up with Gözde Eker who is a set designer in NYC to bring his newest, crazy idea to life. That's where #SETINTHESTREET was born.

Before the invention of photography, historical events were depicted in elaborate paintings. Then in the early 19th century, photography came along. But it wasn’t until the 1930s when color photography was used. It’s amazing how good colorization work on a historical image can change your view of certain events. Before I saw the images coming out of Dynamichrome — a company that colorizes historical black and white photography — I did not feel the same connection. With the addition of color, the subjects in the images come to life.

These days it's hard to come by a fashion shoot that's not shot with a digital camera. That's why when Fstoppers discovered on a Facebook Film Shooters group that Indonesian based photographers Wirawan Sanjaya and partner Gaillard Mathieu had convinced the editors at Bazaar Magazine to allow him to shoot the entire editorial on film, we just had to reach out! The stakes were high, but his results were stunning.

Australian wedding photographer Jonas Peterson is one of the best around, shooting extravagant weddings in exotic locations on a regular basis. A recent wedding he shot in Kenya may be the most incredible though, described by Peterson as “easily one of the most amazing experiences of my life.” I recently contacted Jonas to ask for more information about his breathtaking images from the Masai Mara, and he was kind enough to share with me his experiences on the beautiful reserve in Kenya.

“I’ve traveled the world and shot weddings pretty...

Chris Field shot this amazing time-lapse video, but that’s not all he did; he also generously shared with us the BTS video, which is a dream come true for anyone who wants to see how others do it. Chris spent three months of shooting and over 80GB of images and video. As you may realize, putting all that footage together is a process on its own. On his website, Chris shares with readers all of the ups & downs of such an elaborate time-lapse shoot. It is absolutely mind boggling all that went into creating this video. Chris spoke to Fstoppers about the process in great detail.

New Zealand photographer Tom Hollow has an interesting photo series titled "Love Lost." Tom took an old couch, put a bride on it, set it on fire, and took pictures of the whole thing. Tom initially just thought it would be a fun idea for a shoot. It wasn't until after the session he realized he could do something more with the images.

For a while, things looked pretty bleak for the instant-film-loving community. Films that were once mainstays of the film shooter's arsenal (like Fuji FP-3000B) were discontinued and instant camera equipment production slowed to a crawl. Fortunately for us though, like other formats and kinds of film, instant film photography is seeing an unprecedented resurgence (both in niche, hard core film communities and popular culture). This guide is for you, the digital film guy, who's been sitting on the fence and wants to see what all the buzz is about. In this article I teamed up with two of the coolest instant-film-shooting photographers today, Robert Timko and Sandy Phimester.

If you’re interested in getting big budget looks in your low budget indie film, then you should be very familiar with the Shanks FX channel on YouTube. If you’re not, you should get acquainted with it… like now! Joe Schenkenberg aka Joey Shanks is the man with the know-how when it comes to creating Hollywood effects out of simple household items. He teamed up with PBS Digital Studios to bring you quality behind-the-scenes content online and has recently partnered with Red Giant to explain how he created a black hole effect very similar looking to the one in the recent movie Interstellar – all captured in-camera.

As an art director, I get hundreds of emails per week from photographers offering their services. When I received an email from Michael Ray, I was truly touched by the images he shot for Flashes of Hope, an organization where photographers go in and do pro-bono shoots at the local Children's hospital. These shots are gifted to the children and their families. I love the part about being able to do something nice for others as a photographer. Not too many professions have the potential of doing that. It is up to each and every one of us to decide what we want to do with this gift we were given. I spoke with Michael about this project, and here is what he said...

"Looking for professional makeup artists to work on set for ASOS. This is unpaid, but will create opportunities for exposure and portfolio development" - it took no more than two minutes to locate a commercial casting call for an unpaid makeup artist online. Money will be made from product sales, so why isn’t the team also being financially compensated?

As a writer for Fstoppers I hear about a lot of personal projects. This past weekend, my attention was grabbed when I read about how Denver-based photographer Dylan Burr undertook a project to create wet plate collodion photographs. It wasn't his image making process that stood out to me though- it was his subject matter. Read on to see the images Dylan created, but also hear how he is hoping to impact the community through his efforts.

As Director of Photography for Sports Illustrated, Brad Smith is witness to a lot of freelance photographers trying to get their foot in the door. Albert Ayzenberg of A.A. Productions sits down with Brad to talk about what freelancers should be doing to get noticed, and ultimately be hired, by photo editors. Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned professional, it’s worth taking a look at this interview to get a better sense of what employers such as Sports Illustrated are looking for and how best to show it to them.

With one hundred and fifty pages brimming his passport book, adventure photographer and professional climber Jimmy Chin has traveled the world shooting for The North Face and National Geographic. As a man who radiates both inspiration and motivation, it’s worth taking a look at this day in the life of Jimmy.

I’m a big proponent of outsourcing editing in my wedding photography business. There’s probably nothing more painful to me than the thought of trudging through 800-1000 images from each wedding I photograph. However, when it comes to my favorite few images from each job, the ones that I’ll share on social media or use to update my website, I take a dive into Lightroom and Photoshop and enjoy every second of it.

Steve McCurry is one of the most iconic portrait photographers of our time. His photo of the Afghan Girl one of the most recognized images in history. Now in Italy there is an exhibition of McCurry's work from over the last 40 years being featured at the Villa Reale di Monza. In this short 5-minute video not only do we get to see how the art installation came together while preserving the history of the Villa but we also learn some incredible advice from McCurry himself on being a successful photographer.

Excuse me a moment while I try and reassemble my brain, it’s kind of just been blown by the video reel I’m about to talk about. While I collect my senses, feel free to join me as I showcase this piece of artistic genius and the talent of the young lady who put it together. This might just be the most insane, joyous 50 second video you’ve ever seen.

Up next on the TogTools series featuring your very own Fstoppers writers and contributors hosts Jess and Stephen talk with award winning photographer David Bickley. If you are not familiar with the series or David's work be sure to tune in and gain some great knowledge as he talks through starting up, pricing and how some key mistakes taught him valuable lessons in the industry.

In the years I've been in this industry, one of the more pervasive problems I have seen talented people deal with is personal fear: Fear of failure, fear of uncertainty, even fear of success. I think a misconception is that successful people do not experience these fears. They certainly do, but they have learned to overcome them, harness them, and succeed in spite of them.

As a parent and photographer, there is nothing I would love to do more than collaborate on a photo series with my son. Growing closer through collaboration - and a mutual learning process from both ends of the lens - appeals to me the most about this idea. And naturally, the memories and images produced in the process. But until he is willing to cooperate with me, I will have to lurk from behind the sofa, “paparazzi mom”.

Sean Goebel might only do photography in his spare time while working on his PhD in Astronomy, but that hasn't stopped him from licensing work to the likes of Canon, the Discovery Channel, and others. A quick watch of his timelapse works, including Epochs and Mauna Kea Heavens and it is easy to see why. His latest timelapse project is included here, along with a brief look into its creation.

After 17 years in the video game industry, Bert McLendon decided to change things up and become a full time portrait photographer. For the past few years he shot many interesting people and families in the studio and had great local success in Austin Texas. Earlier this year Bert decided to try a fun experiment in his spare time, and the result went viral. Check out his great and unique Caricature portraits and learn how he's creating them.

With hopes of saving at-risk environments and capturing them before they are gone forever, a team of 15 timelapse artists have decided to join forces and create a feature film. Eric Hines, Michael Shainblum, Drew Geraci, and Joe Capra are just a few of the names on the "CodeX" roster. They are crowdfunding to try and make this project a reality, and I spoke with team member Ben Canales on why this project matters.

Tonight at 8pm Eastern, Stephanie Cotta will be hosting a live Spreecast answering all of your Newborn Photography questions. If you are currently photographing newborns, or would like to, and would like a sneek peek into the in-depth Ultimate Newborn Photography Tutorial currently sold in the Fstoppers store then this is your chance to tune in and ask newborn related questions on lighing, posing, composition, marketing, pricing, and everything in between. We will be giving away free tutorials during the event as well so tune in for details.

Everyone gather around and learn how Lee Morris got our San Franciscan features editor, Jaron Schneider, fired from his previous job. In the latest installment of the TogTools Fstoppers series, Jess and Stephen have an engaging chat with Jaron where we learn the interesting tale of how he got started at Fstoppers. More intriguing perhaps are the insights on how he deliberately made his work go viral and how you can do it, too.

Food and lifestyle photographer Annabelle Breakey has an envy-inducing portfolio that features sun-drenched tables crowded with elegantly displayed dishes and bright arrangements of produce against pristine backdrops. I had the chance to speak with Breakey about her work, managing creativity and business and staying creatively inspired.

Elementary school teacher turned shark tour intern, Amanda Brewer, recently took a photo of a great white shark emerging from the depths with her GoPro. After sharing the image with GoPro on Instagram and it being published as their Photo of the Day, the image has received international press coverage, amassed over 360K likes, and already been commissioned for a billboard near the port at which it was taken. In this interview with Jared Polin, of Fro Knows Photo, Amanda tells the story of how the photo was taken and, in Jared's words, "What to do when your photo goes viral, real bleeping viral."

Fstoppers editor and writer Zach Sutton took the time to open up to TogTools owners Jess and Stephen, covering everything from how he got started to in-depth tips on how to begin teaching photography through workshops and diversifying your photography business. While he also contributes to Photofocus and Retouching Academy, Sutton has a strong foundation in his own well-known photography business that has taken him from travel assignments to the most intimate weddings and even well-established workshop tours. Take a hint from those with experience, as this is a rare opportunity for some great, free advice from a seasoned pro.

If you're familiar with Fstoppers, you've certainly have heard of Pratik Naik before. As a contributor to Fstoppers for years now, Pratik has been able to share his own retouching secrets that help make him one of the biggest names in the retouching community. Following his recent trip to Seattle to host a Creative Live series - one of the most watched to date, I was able to meet up with him and talk about his upcoming projects and his path as a world class retoucher.

Sandro Miller was the first photographer to document the ENTIRE Cuban Olympic team since the mid twentieth century. Sandro was once kissed on the lips by Muhammad Ali. Sandro once made Michael Jordan cry. If you call yourself a photographer, you will not want to miss this rare video interview with Sandro from PRO EDU.