Every change that Instagram has introduced since it went mainstream has been a step backwards for photographers. It's reached the point that, although I still post a few times a week, my love for the platform died a long time ago, and watching it stumble towards nothing but selfies and adverts is heartbreaking. Here are my biggest gripes, in no particular order.
When the idea for “Trans Atlantic” came up between me, Isma, and the crew from Pekat Photography, we quickly fell in love with the concept and decided to make it a joint effort. Since slavery is a sensitive topic, we decided to do our best to approach the topic from a more academic and historical reference point. We hoped our joint effort would offer a new, fresh narrative told in a three-part series that would be presented without bias, social commentary, or cultural or historical analysis.
GoPro is trading at a dismal 6.5 percent of its $98.47 all-time high. It had dropped even more following a disappointing earnings call that announced lower-than-expected performance and upcoming layoffs, but before an unnamed source shared news with CNBC of GoPro's request to JP Morgan to help it find a buyer several months ago. With its inability to turn sales around, it's not a surprise GoPro is looking for a way out. But who would want the company? GoPro CEO Nick Woodman seems to think Facebook might.
Wider was always better when I first began photographing landscapes. As an amateur photographer and outdoor enthusiast, all I wanted to do was cut down on weight in my pack when heading off on long, adventure-filled days in the mountains. But slowly my focus shifted from going out to hike, while maybe capturing beautiful moments, to fully focusing my time and attention on capturing beautiful landscapes. Hiking became the mode of transportation while photography became the reason for heading to the mountains.
The long-running battle between camera companies is something that will always exist. Forums and article comment sections will always have some type of argument about who has the better high ISO or dynamic range, how Canon has better color than Nikon or why full frame is better than a crop sensor. But when it comes to how a camera company treats the end user, I think everyone could learn a lesson from Fujifilm.
Every time I post a story on Instagram of me flying in the snow, I tend to get a couple of people reaching out to me with questions. “You can fly in the snow?” “Does the cold weather affect the drone?” “Is the drone waterproof?” and so on. When I first flew in the snow, I was definitely worried about how the drone would do up there, but after a few flights in it, I now know that I can trust it as long as I take the right steps while flying.
Since we’ve propelled so far forward, so fast in gimbal technology, it seems that shooting on a gimbal is almost a necessity for most videographers or filmmakers these days — but it shouldn’t be that way. The convenience that’s provided by most gimbals can’t be understated and I would be 100 percent wrong if I implied that they’re not useful tools. They are absolutely powerful tools that we’re lucky to have, and in such small packages. But because of that convenience and functionality, we’ve lost the importance of the decision making process when lining up a shot.
While approaching the end to my holidaze, I stumbled upon the blog post of a friend I met at a photo workshop years ago. The title caught my attention: “Why I Ended My Nikon Professional Services Membership.” His reasoning behind it wasn’t what I expected, but in the era of information hacking, it kind of makes sense.
Welcome to the new year. As a new set of days arrives, I wanted to share a quick thought on one thing all photographers should remember, but can be easy to forget.
It's the time of the year in which rankings appear all around the Internet spotlighting the best performers of the past 12 months. But what about the worst? As the French writer Beaumarchais once said, “Without Freedom to blame, there is no flatterer's praise.” Here is my take at the worst 2017 camera, the Canon 6D Mark II.
Clichéd new year resolutions are as much of a tradition of the holidays as building snowmen and eggnog. Why not change things up a bit this year and set yourself a resolution which is related to helping you grow as a photographer. Here are 10 promises worth trying to keep in 2018.
By the time you're reading this, it may already be or soon will be 2018. So first of all, I hope that you have or had a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. I hope that creatively, its been a great year for everyone out there and I hope that 2018 has only the best in store for us. This is a fun time of year that offers us a chance to relax a bit and reflect on the year that has past. We create, we grow, we change, and we get better. This is the time to look back over our work and simply enjoy what we've done in the year 2017.
Photography can become very expensive, especially if you like collecting a lot of gear. So who wouldn’t like to receive discounts, or even better, free gear? I have spent a good amount of money on my gear and I would've loved to save some money on those purchases. So how do you go about saving money?
We all know the term, and as cringe-worthy as it can sound, it doesn't negate it's importance: networking. Along with "entrepreneur," the word "networking" gets thrown around a lot in today's millennial-run world full of social media highlight reels and "try-hard" antics. But networking, in the purest sense of the word, is an absolute necessity in our industry of creative entrepreneurship. There are opportunities around you that you will never be privy to unless you start cultivating genuine relationships with the creators in your extended circles. Not only that, but there is a vast pool of resources and knowledge that you could be tapping into.
We all have a different bag setup. Some prefer to travel light and mobile while others go for a more heavy duty option. Some people want a stylish option that shows off some personal flair while others just want something practical. We each like a different layout and store our gear and accessories in a different way or in a different pocket. In spite of our different preferences when it comes to our camera bags, there is one universal truth. One item that, regardless of your specialty, you positively need to have somewhere in your bag. You must keep a few up to date business cards in your bag at all times.
On virtually every front, 2017 was a year of change, turmoil, and upheaval. A year comprised of moments that affected our every day lives in ways that societal and political movements haven’t in recent years past. The tension that has defined this year has found itself mirrored in the art that we create, and in more obvious ways in the documentary subjects captured by filmmakers across the globe.
With Christmas solidly in the rearview mirror and that shiny new camera that Santa brought screaming for some action, it is all on you to shake off that excess holiday cheer and head outside to see how you and your gear performs.
As photographers, our friends, relatives, and significant others sometimes despair at trying to find what may appeal to us and be within their holiday budgets. We may casually let them know that we are super excited about this new gadget that will "really" improve our photography if we only had that one newfangled gizmo. Whether it’s a brand new piece of kit or something that’s been in our bags sitting from a few years ago, we still need to learn what that "new" tool can do.
Two days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, I posted a tweet about his use of a low-resolution, potentially unlicensed image being used as his header image on his preferred weapon of choice, Twitter. On technical and professional levels, it was a fail (you can see it at the top of this article). I should have realized it was a sign of things to come.
I hold these truths to be self-evident. One, things don’t always go the way we’d like them to. And two, how we respond to failure is equally, if not more important than how we deal with success.
Pripyat, once a town of 40,000 people and now a short distance from the world's single most deadly object, stands inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. As I waited to get a coffee at the tiny shop alongside the Zone's checkpoint, I cringed slightly at the array of glow-in-the-dark knickknacks on sale. Chernobyl, the site of the biggest nuclear disaster in history and now a slightly Disney-fied tourist destination, is a reminder that photography's "truth" is always a little suspect.
In theory, crowdfunding seems like one of the beautiful perks of the Internet: any entrepreneur with an idea and the will to bring it to fruition can receive the financial support of interested patrons from all around the world, and in return, those patrons get early and/or discounted access to an exciting new product. The reality is rarely so rosy, and as a consumer, you need to be aware of that.
You've probably seen thousands of articles on screen calibration and you may strive to deliver perfect images and videos. Unfortunately, in the end, your client views them on their non-calibrated way-too-blue or way-too-orange screens. Sometimes they say "looks good to me." Other times the response may be "it's too dark," or "it's too blue." They may even edit your photos to make them look "better." How do you handle these situations and is it really critical for you calibrate your monitors?
2018 is coming up fast and Tony Northrup has uploaded his latest video with his camera predictions. Although predictions can very often be wrong, it doesn't stop us from trying. On occasions, many of us, including myself, tend to make predictions based on what we hope to see in the future.
Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between a technically accurate photograph and one that has been modified, enhanced, composited (you pick the word) in order to give it a broader audience appeal. Nature is both stunning and surprising in its raw magnificence which begs the question: why should we mess with it at all in photographs?
There aren’t many brands that have been so thoroughly lambasted over the past few years as Canon, and for good reason. Despite their reputation as a manufacturer of durable, functional camera tools, they are notoriously tight fisted with their technology. But what has looked like antiquated engineering is starting to look more like a calculated long-term strategy to play the field as it lays. With rumors emerging about a new 6K cinema camera to rival Sony’s Venice, Canon looks like it might be ready to play a new game.
Adobe announced yesterday their 6.14 update for Lightroom is now available. The new update addresses bugs that were introduced in the previous release as well as additional camera raw support and profiles. Good news, right? Well, this will also be the last update released for perpetual customers.
As the year draws to a close, I'd like to share a personal story of my own journey. While everyone's story is different, I hope that you are able to find some lessons in both my wins and losses that will help you to push forward and make the coming year even better than the last.
The times have changed. It isn’t 1980. It isn’t 2008. Even 2012 feels a century ago relative to how the world is changing. Which in my mind renders the question: why are we still submitting to “vanity” magazines for exposure?
What do you do when worst-case scenario hits? When even after doing your best to prepare for it, it cripples you, and you feel like you're stuck in a depressive "Groundhog's Day" of going through the motions?
