It’s no use shooting like crazy if your lens is out of focus. It is always wise to take a step back to evaluate where you are and where you are going. It helps evaluate your priorities and how well you have stuck with them.

Luck favors those who are prepared. The blog is increasing in rapid numbers and it is not where I want it to be yet. I have to fix broken links, images, tags, etc……but it’s also about to get a whole lot more awesome. Design wise only the right part will change, I like it the way it is overall so there won’t be anything drastic.

It’s the perfect time to stop and sharpen my saw (vs using a toothless saw), if the high praises of the gleanings posts are of no indication. I had the first gleaning post a while back but I guess it was only a matter of timing. I have hundreds of them and more in my drafts.

I have plans for Youtube videos and a documentary…. I also have big plans for Inspired Eye. As you can guess this will take tremendous efforts and my focus has to be laser like in order not to waste my efforts.

I would have never imagined the blog taking off like this a year ago. The starting posts were “me-too” posts lacking originality. But as time went on the personality and tone of the blog changed to be quite unique. I was worried for the blog because of the lack of gear talk, but if you think about it gear gets boring because it’s only the first step. You got yourself a Fuji X20, you are enjoying the talk but what about after, when it falls of the radar to a new camera?
This blog will always be about something more rewarding than a shiny new camera, it will always be about photography. The motto of Inspired Eye has it right, it’s all about the eye, heart and mind. There’s going to be the occasional gear post (no camera=no photography) but the camera will always be in it’s place.

I’m working on a master page and a few guides. What I am really exited about is putting all of the blog’s philosophy down in one place: gear minimalism, focusing on your work, etc.

It’s your blog too
I do care about what you have to say dear reader! If you want to request something specific or have an idea or comment, I’m all ears! please leave something in the comments, I will read them all

See you in a few, Olivier

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Inspired eye issue two is out. It’s way better than the first one and I believe I outdid myself design wise. It’s a great photography magazine for only for 5 bucks. Get it here - First issue is still free!

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We all have dreams, but not all have the willpower to follow them because dreams are linked to fear.

My Dream is my Inspired Eye project. There’s months and long days of work behind it. That’s my dream, but at the same time I’m afraid of it. Following your dream means going out of your comfort zone, making you vulnerable. I’m a fighter, I won’t give up my hopes on my dream, but at the same time I am afraid. Afraid to fail. Everybody is.

Fear of failure is in all of us, but only a few feel the fear and do it anyways. You do this by looking forward, marching on. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m hopeful. Sure it can fail, but nothing in this world was accomplished without hope. Hope is the only thing we got as humans.

Hope is what gets you through, because it’s what allows you to fight. It’s what allows you to get up when you get knocked down for the fifth time. I have a dream, you have a dream, Martin Luther King had a dream…..look at it now. I hope your dreams and aspirations come true, all I know is I’m fighting for mine, feeling the fear and doing it anyways. Be blessed!

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Rarely our sole occupation is photography. We have complex lives, and most likely than not photography is not your life but it is integrated in it. Some are businessmen and photographer, musician and photographer but also parent and photographer. This post is dedicated to Claire Dupuis and all the Moms and dads out there.

Being a parent rocks your world, almost loosing a child rocks it even more. It puts things in perspective.

As he was laying down recovering sometime in February, I took this photograph:

I took zillions of pics of the little guy before but this time a thought came to my head: “God forbid if I were to loose him, the only thing I would be left with is photographs”. That event is the backbone of this post. I believe that every parent DESERVES great photos of their child, and that they are the most meaningful photos you will ever produce.

The most meaningful work
As photographers, we can get caught up in photography, especially if you have a stiff definition of what photography is. We often dream of going outside to photograph things while the most meaningful work is right under your nose. The most meaningful pictures you will ever take is about the things you care about. Lots of online photographer’s best work is actually their family’s portraits yet most do not see that. You have to know where your heart is! The best work is personal you see.

The Golden Rule

If photography had a golden rule, I suggest it is this: Make pictures for your eyes only. Make pictures as if you will never show anyone. This will free you from the burden of pleasing other people. You have an internal voice that represent others hammering you every time you make a picture: Not good enough, not sharp, etc. Start from the heart when taking pictures of your kids, not other’s preconception of what it should be. I was working on night and apparently there was one of the world’s most renown psychics there. She said she saw light coming from my heart and going into my camera before taking a picture. We can debate the interpretation of it all but that is photography. There’s two kinds of photographs, the warm ones and the cold ones. You know which is which if you have an emotional response to them.

I’ve got some tips here and there, but if there is anything to get out of this article, it is this question: Are my children’s pictures in sync with what I am feeling, or not? Your Vision doesn’t stop after the street and landscape shots, it should be in full force when your family is involved.

Photography and Appreciation
Let’s face it, God made children to test your (in)sanity threshold. Sometimes we get burned out. Nothing fixes that than looking at some past photographs of your child. Photography puts you in the situation but at the same time gives you a step back to appreciate what you have. I love my kid, but nothing makes me feel so blessed than looking at some of my photographs of him.

Pay it forward
If you can take great photographs of your kids, and you know how you feel when you see them, pay it forward with your friend’s kids and see their eyes light up.

Tips
Again, these tips won’t do anything for you if it doesn’t start with the heart. It’s so true it rhymes.

Point and shoots
I was a DSLR user and my wife was really angry a me because she said I never took pictures of the family! The reason why is because every time I picked up the double battery DSLR it felt like work and just didn’t feel like shooting with it. Mirrorlesses are better but a pocket camera is even better. After all, will you want to drag your regular camera to the park or ice cream shop?

The best shots can happen anywhere, at the mall, in the car, and you need to be ready!A point and shoot will always be in your pocket. Plus it’s good to just slip back in he pocket and get out of the way of you and your child’s bonding time…we don’t want a camera to ruin the moment would we?
I recommend the GRD IV on the high end and the Canon S90 on the lower end (Go up the numbers like S100, etc for more money). The Galaxy camera is also nice because you can put some apps in it and edit and share right in the camera….very useful for the full time parent.

There is no such thing as picture time
Pictures happen whether you are prepared or not, there is no such thing as picture time. I never went out with my son for a photo session, it’s photo session 24/7, 7 days a week. Sleeping? Snap. Crying? Snap. Doing nothing? Snap. The best pictures happen can happen at all times, be prepared!

Watching a program on the Laptop

The documentary mindset
Do you remember when you were a toddler? No. But when my son grows up he will know what he did because in senescence I am chronicling his life. Document your child, what he does. Be there when he or she is playing, eating, making sounds, talking on the phone. These make the best moments. Also be sure to be aware of certain favorite facial expressions to capture. Also try to capture everything, the good moments and the bad, the laughs and the cries.

How would you feel if you parents handed you 30 nice prints of yourself growing up? I don’t know myself but my kid sure will because it’s what I will do.

Diversity
Here’s a big one, make sure you have a diversity of pictures of your child. Make full use of different angles, exaggerate features with a wide angle, etc, etc. It’s the diversity that will make you come back for the next best shot. Keep at it, it’s highly rewarding

Light matters

Window light….I get the fuzzies when I see it. Always look out for light and reflections. Beautiful diffused light is….beautiful and reflections (especially glass doors) create interesting photos with kids. For the shot below, there was natural reflectors out (clouds):

Movement
Look out for movement, kids are active, sometimes a slower shutter speed is perfect for the shot.

Bond moments
Look out for moments that scream “love”. Your kid holds your fingers, rests his head on you, etc.

Projects
There is two great projects for parents that will surely please the inner photographer.

The photobook
With services like blurb, you can get very nice hardcover photobooks for cheap. It creates the perfect gift for grandparents (you know they have something about holding photos   ) and other family members.

The hook line
This is by far my favorite project, it is fun to do! Buy these at Ikea:Dignitet wire: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60075295/#
And the hooks: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80212201/
I moved and cannot find the photos I made of mine, it was a line of only BW photos of my child and some family shots. Here’s what Marco, the creator of Instapaper did with his:

You get the idea………..it’s addicting I tell you!

Anybody can know how to shoot a photo, but nobody has your heart, shoot with your heart…..it’s like the Psychic said. It’s your life, shoot is the way you feel it.

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Is it possible that we love our cameras depending on what great shots we got with them?

It’s been a while since I got a Galaxy camera I really didn’t like it at first, but for the past week or so, after shooting with it over and over again and especially after getting some great shots I’m really starting to love this camera. So it made me wonder is it possible that we actually love our cameras depending on if we get great shots with them?

If you think about it, when someone ask you about a camera and you have it, the first thing you are having in the theater of your mind is the pictures that you did with such camera.

Of course you know that you took those pictures but you cannot help to associate the picture making process with the specific camera that you took it with. So that basically means that the more you shoot the more you will love your cameras because the more you shoot them the more chances you will have great pictures that you’re fond of and that in turn will create a link between you and your camera.

I know more than one photographer who hang on to their pretty much obsolete and not really needed cameras just because they have sentimental values to them. That is why I think you should not really judge a camera without really going out and shooting with it. Some people dismiss cameras from day one.

I remember when I sold my Olympus OMD….I sent the buyer his camera and he started to ask me for a refund. He was acting weird, saying that the camera was not wrapped right, that the wrapping scratched the lens (?????), etc. After a heartfelt prayer (I had already bought the replacement camera), I explained my case to Don. He use to deal with Leicas, and you can really get screwed with such high value gear….he told me to ask the guy to send me some sample pictures taken with the camera…..I never heard of him again. He judged the camera on sight, without even giving it the chance……

That creates a problem for review sites because most of these people don’t take their time with the cameras that they’re reviewing……just look at the sample shots. Whoever the reviewer is, there’s fire up their butt to pull out the review before the other website in order to get traffic. Since I think you get emotionally attached to the camera when you start creating great work with it, most reviewers only scratch the surface of things. I think the best reviews are the ones of people who used the camera to death. I will be a while before I put out my review of the Galaxy camera, and I think it will show a perspective of someone who actually used it, not had it for a few days. Cameras open up to you or you open up to them, but it takes TIME.

I remember when the Epson RD1 came out, a website called Trusted Reviews bashed it. When the guys at Rangefinder Forum cross-examined the review, they found out that the guy admitted that he didn’t understand even how to use the camera! The opposite must also be kept in check, we must allow our positive feelings for the camera to cloud our judgment, and that also happens.

I wrote this post because I am starting to realllly dig the Galaxy camera as a serious camera. But if I went with my initial feelings of disappointment (couldn’t get the shots I wanted) I would not have liked it. If you just got a camera and don’t like it, stick with it and try to get great stuff with it for a while before sending it back….your opinion might change!

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Here’s a few photographs taken with the Samsung Galaxy Camera….nothing groudbreaking there. Everything shot, edited and blogged from camera.

de

I still don’t have the hang of it for Street Stuff, but it is slowly opening up. There’s some extra apps that are useful like apps to calculate the hyperfocal numbers and that can tell you the distance between you and an object.

Its by far the most beautiful screen I have seen, something an iPhone would have, huge and crisp.

This camera has lots of potential coupled with Snapseed. I’ve installed a bunch of apps, nothing comes close. Snapseed is also opening up as I am discovering tips and tricks for it.

The 16 megapixels (or 14 if you do 3:2) give you nice files to work with but right now I am really exploring what I can do in camera. The biggest flaw of the camera is the built in software but I’ve found some workarounds.

There’s more to explore about the Samsung Galaxy Camera but that will have to be another day, so far we get along fine.

Blogging ain’t fun on the device, just like any phone but a bluetooth keyboard would make this the perfect device for the photographer blogger.

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As stated before, I don’t think you should direct your attention on other’s work, but on yours. But where to direct that gut level longing to compare? Well on yourself of course. What I am telling you in a sense is to become your own rival.
As I am writing this, the new issue of Inspired Eye is almost under wraps, but the thing that struck me is when I looked at it I tought “I’ve outdone myself”. Who did I outdo? Not all of the magazine designers out there out there, but myself. I’ve outdone myself, and by doing so I’ve grown.

There’s just something about rivaling the self that just works. It’s the guiding principle of Tetris and more recently Angry Birds. I’ve watched a nonchalant lazy person apply themselves diligently at Angry birds to beat the game. If you think about it players of games like Tetris are not really playing a game on a console, they are playing a game against themselves. Only you know yourself, how far you can jump…..but at every inch higher you reach, you always ask if you can outdo yourself.

Tetris is the most addicting game there is. The newcomers like Angry birds and Temple run only repeat the basic premise of Tetris: Pit the player against the player. Take temple run: you can spend hours watching a character run endlessly in an Inca temple but what really keeps you going is not the goal of the game (Get the lost Idol) but it’s the score. At first, you are happy if you can get a score of 3000, but you keep coming back and back after each try, until you get the score of a million. If you’ve played any of these games, you set your limits low, but then gradually go up and up until you are an expert. This is what I am telling you to do for your photography, set your own bar high and every time you reach it, challenge and outdo yourself.

It’s not about winning, it’s about outdoing yourself score wise, level wise and lines wise

Looking at other’s work and comparing yourself is the surest way to being depressed and feeling sorry for yourself. But nothing equals beating yourself at something. Only you know what you had to endure, what you had to do, making the results ever more satisfying. I like the quote “My Best Picture Is The One I Will Take Tomorrow” by Imogen Cunningham. It embodies the Tetris philosophy: Rival yourself, oudo yourself and grow. The worst thing you can do as a photographer is thinking you’ve arrived, you’ve got nothing to learn…. Wait for heaven, this side of the fence it’s always time to improve.

To me the image above is reflective of her quote. Physically she’s old, but inside of her mind she is like the young woman on the left. Old age is always assimilated with wisdom (Don’s the exception to this rule) and youth assimilated with leaning, the path to wisdom. The young woman leans towards Cunningham, she’s looking up to her, but Cunningham herself is stable, looking at the young woman. The image gives you the impression that the young woman seeks to go towards the older woman, to be done in a sense, while Cunningham seems to be both at the same time herself, but also the young woman, always learning. The day you say “I’ve got nothing to learn” is the day you might as well hang up the camera. Complacency is your worst enemy, and to combat it, you can only rival yourself. It’s thrilling to beat yourself in some way and very fulfilling and you focus on your work, not others.

If you’ve done an ok photograph for today, challenge yourself for a greater on tomorrow. The only requirement to rival yourself is always to put the bar higher every time you reach it. Since it’s only focused on the next small step, you will never realize how much you have grown until you take a step back.

Every single one of my skills that I have learned (Deign, web, photography) has been learned this way. It’s like markers around a road at night, you might not see the road but you know you are hitting the markers. I outgrow myself everyday because I always seek to outdo myself, I’m my own rival. I’m not special, if it worked for me, it can work for you.

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This gleaning is from an episode in the life of Friedrich Nietzche, famed philosopher of the west and how it relates to the relationship between photographer and his camera.
I love Nietzche, he is one of the very few philosophers that fully understood that ideas have consequences. He is the secular prophet of this century, he successfully predicted that it would be the bloodiest because he forsaw the logical consequences of certain ideas…..but let’s not digress into philosophy, I’ll never get out of it. Something very interesting happened in his life around 1882 that can be bridged to cameras: He got himself…..a typewriter.

On technology

Technology changes our lives more than we would like to admit. Before cell phones we could remember phone numbers but now we ask the person to repeat the number to have time to put it in our phonebooks. When writing was very expensive (both in education and the tools) people remembered right about everything. Talebearers in India today come to vilages and tell stories 24 hours long (Not in one chunk but still!)…why would we do the same when we can just pull out a microphone and record it? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing but we must realize that tools are not inocent, we have a relationship with them, and it changes us. An example is form the life of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Nietzsche

Nietzsche’s typewriter

Nietzsche’s vision was failing, focusing on a page for to long would give him great headaches. To continue writing he got himself a Malling-Hansen Writing ball (Highly collectible item nowadays) and mastered touch typing. He could type away and not look at the page, but something very subtle happened: His writing style changed.

Nietzsche’s typewriter. Copyright: The Goethe and Schiller Archive, Weimar, Germany

One of Nietzsche’s friends, a composer, noticed that change. His stiff prose became even more so. He himself admits that ” “Thoughts” in music and language often depend on the quality and paper”. Nietzsche agreed and replied “Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts”. A german scholar noted that the philosopher’s prose “changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style”.

It is a large admission to state that the tools you use take part of the creative process. You ARE dependent on the tools because without the tools you can’t do anything. The most basic definition of the tool is that it’s an extension of the self. The most basic tool is the stick, allowing you to reach further than your arm, now the stick in it’s most glorious and complex form is the space shuttle, allowing us to reach beyond the moon. As a photographer, the tool that we must use is of course the camera, and it affects the creative process.

The camera and the creative process

Like it or not the camera is an integral tool to the photographic process. Your camera matters because you are limited by it, just like your reach is limited by how long and good your stick is. Your camera also takes part in the process (it affects you, it isn’t just a tool) not only because it allows you (or disallows you) to do certain things but also because of it’s looks. The low down is that there is some pictures you just can’t get because your camera is limited and you will want to use your camera more if it’s enjoyable to use and pleasing to your eye.

Ergonomics are important because you will be stuck with the camera for a while, and it’s as simple as having the pleasure of owning a beautiful thing. Trust me when I tell you that the looks sold more cameras than any other aspect.

Photographer-camera relationship

Expressing your Vision trumps everything, but like I said before, not every camera will let you express yourself the same way. Some cameras have idiosyncrasies, shortcoming and other quirks that you must learn to live with or do without them. The most important thing is not to let the camera lead the relationship, but you do. Or else the camera will own you but you don’t own the camera, the difference between a camera owner and a photographer.

Remediation

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Pop quiz: What camera was used for this shot? Jump in to find out.

Answer: Samsung Galaxy Camera. Got it. The RD1 is going out. Prepping an article on the camera from a serious perspective, stay tuned.

The post Single Photograph: Street Shot appeared first on F8 | Wedding documentary photography | Fort Lauderdale.

My previous post on Street Photography with the Nex7 and Zeiss 24mm could not demonstrate the power of the lens and camera. This post is to demonstrate that and includes full size samples to play around with. Formal review in a future post.

Click on any image for a the full size contact JPG of a RAW file. Enjoy

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