Articles from Sean Molin

Say it with me: "Done is better than perfect." I'm positive I'm not the only photographer on this planet that lets perfection get in the way of "good" far too often. While the concept itself is one mountain to tackle, becoming a more efficient photographer goes a long way in making the realization of a smooth and functional business a reality. The folks over at KISS Books have reached out to 10 photographers to find out the things they would never do — the things that kill efficiency.

Cooperative of Photography has brought us this slick little video that gives us a taste of the evolution of camera technology from the past 200 years condensed down into a sub-two minute demonstration. Austrian photographer Leo Rosas executes this project with a single model and 11 portraits, each representing a significant milestone in the development of photographic capture tools starting with the pinhole camera obscura, all the way to the modern cell phone.

We know, it's another bag review, but we all need to face the reality that camera bags are like Pokemon for photographers; gotta' catch 'em all. There's really no such thing as a perfect bag, as no one bag can really apply to every situation the working photographer can throw at it, but I think I've found the closest thing to being universally useful in the Incase DSLR Pro Pack.

Hear me out on this one. As a concert and event photographer (and music lover), I will argue until my dying breath that the most important piece of equipment we have after our camera is ear protection. In fact, this made my recently published list of 10 concert photography tips for everyone. I've gone through nearly a dozen different kinds of earplugs over the past five years, but the Music•PRO high-fidelity earplugs from Etymotic are something absolutely unique, and I'm thrilled to be able to review them. They're electronic. And they're alive.

If you spent even a moderate amount of time on Facebook back in late September, you likely saw a viral video and photo about a wedding photographer who captured a genuinely heartwarming moment in which a bride's biological father stopped the wedding procession to grab the step-father from his seat so they could both walk her down the aisle. While millions of collective "awws" were emitted then, fast forward six weeks and now the situation has resulted in lawsuits and death threats involving the photographer.

Working in the creative arts world has always involved the struggle of conveying value to clients and educating them that our time has value and that exposure doesn't pay the bills. It's nothing new, and it will likely continue, especially as the barrier to entry in the industry continues to fall, but we all have the power to change it.

You had me at f/0.95. When I saw Fiction Brand's tribute to my favorite lens in the whole world, the $10,000 Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH, I knew I had to have one. But once I got my foot in the door, I realized there's more to this brand than just a novelty tee shirt as I reviewed their camera strap, hat, and pocket SD shirt.

I have mad respect for Swedish independent film outfit Crazy Pictures for their big-budget cinematography skills that are being utilized on a moderately small budget with rigs and labor that are within reach of almost any videographer. They've put together an incredibly informative behind-the-scenes video that covers in detail the massive amount of work that goes into such a short segment of film.

The Internet is my biggest hero. I don't think my business would ever have gotten off the ground in the traditional world of phone books, landline telephones, relying on a brick and mortar studio to show your work, and direct mail marketing. I'm most certainly a do-it-yourself type of person and the web has enabled people like me to really take that to the next level.

There's a myriad of ways us photographers interact with our computers on a daily basis. While Wacom tablets are certainly the luxurious way of editing, many of us still love our trusty mouse for plenty of tasks. One of the most popular and controversial mice on the market is Apple's Magic Mouse, and it looks like the love/hate fest is going to see even more action with the new Magic Mouse 2.

Canadian Designer, Photographer, and Cinematographer Tom Kucy doesn't sleep. Less than two days after we reported on NASA's huge release of over 10,000 never-before-seen photos from the Apollo space missions, Kucy decided to work them into a project that involves taking these almost half-century old two-dimensional film images and converting them into moving, stereoscopic 3D photographs.

Kai and friends at DigitalRev TV have got their hands on the very new and very exceptional Milvus lenses from Zeiss. Their test includes the 21mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4, and 85mm f/1.4 models that make up the core of this new lens system. These new lenses were designed from the ground up to keep pace with the insane resolving power that modern digital camera sensors are capable of.

Demi Lovato is finally at a place in her life where she is comfortable with the skin she is in, and Vanity Fair photographer Patrick Ecclesine was there to capture this very personal and very public experience.

I shoot concerts. Like, a lot of concerts. Since I shot my very first local show back in 2008, I have had the immense privilege and pleasure of photographing over 1,000 bands in the limelight on a lighted stage. And it's not easy. I've argued for a long time that live music photography is an animal; a beautiful, untamed, unpredictable — and sometimes vicious — animal. We go to concerts for the experience. It's the energy, excitement, and of course, the music. But we usually can't take it home with us. So that's where the photos come into play. It doesn't matter whether you're in the crowd with your point-and-shoot or if you've got two DSLRs slung over your shoulders in the pit, there are some there are some tips and concepts you can abide by to make sure you always get the best photos possible. This advice covers everyone from amateur to pro — from the crowd to the pit — there's something for you in here. 

Cinematographers rarely reach celebrity status. Directors and actors get all that action. Roger Deakins is probably as close to a rock star as cinematographers get. If you don't know his name, don't worry, you certainly know some of his movies. Deakins has worked the camera and created the visual style for almost every single Coen brothers movie. That means Fargo, The Big Lewbowski, and No Country For Old Men are included. He's also worked his magic with James Bond on Skyfall, and some other little-known indie films like The Shawshank Redemption and A Beautiful Mind. 

It's a photo so ubiquitous that if you type "iceberg photo" into Google, it's the first two image results. And the sixth. And the tenth. Ralph Clevenger's iconic photo of an iceberg's tip peeking out from the water while the substantial body of it remains below has graced countless publications, from full-page magazine advertisements commissioned by major corporations to the ever-famous "Imagination" motivational poster. It's a photo that is so famous that it's been copied, stolen, manipulated, parodied, and imitated an innumerable number of times over its nearly twenty-year existence. It's even made rounds on the internet as a hoax that Snopes picked up.

Over 50,000 members strong, Japan's Yakuza gangs make up one of the largest crime syndicates in the world. After ten months of attempts, Belgian photographer Anton Kusters was granted a meeting with "The Godfather" of the Yakuza family. He then spent two entire years capturing these dark and moody images that show what life inside the family is like from all sides of the operation.

Photographer and industry analyst Thom Hogan is sick of selfie sticks. He's sick of them poking him in his back and sides. He's sick of the crowds of people who stay in his way after taking said selfies just to show their friends and then try to figure out where they're going to share them. 

When your printer is telling you it's time to change that cartridge, it's probably fibbing about how much ink is actually left in the tank. The folks at Bellevue Fine Art Reproduction had an inkling that their Epson Stylus Pro 9900 large format printer was lying to them every time it said a cartridge was empty and since printer ink is one of the most expensive consumer liquids on earth per fluid ounce, that could equate to some serious coin being thrown in the trash with each replacement. Watch them go step-by-step, weighing the cartridges and calculating how much ink is left inside when the printer won't use it anymore. Not only can you see their results, but you can do it yourself at home with their instructions.