Photography

ryanlikealion

Senior Member
Any photographers out there? I bought a dslr last year to do a local course - it went well and now im doing the nesxt level. I've had a bit of a mental block though. Anyone got any good ideas for photography projects?

Anyone got any photography work they'd be willing to post up to give me some inspiration!!
 
Do a series of a dozen portraits of only elderly people. Keep the composition the same for all portraits and no smiling subjects. Try to also keep your lighting the same for all shots.

Insisting that your subjects not smile will give an interesting tone to the series of portraits and having to convince twelve elderly people to do it will improve your photog to subject skills.

You'll be surprised what you learn and it may inspire a different project.

You can check out some of my work here. Just a small selection of old work but you might find something there that interests you.

http://www.ttnw.com/philippejenney.html
 
My hobby is doing photos of rock bands. I have a lot of fun with it but actually I trained at University using film and I used to be a pro.
The nice thing about a DSLR is that it does not cost you anything to take pictures. It no longer costs a week's pay to experiment.
So, the route to improvement is to take lots of pictures. What sort of mental block do you have? Take pictures of anything and everything. No matter how surreal or ill-lit, it's not going to cost you anything to try it so just hit the button.

Study other people's photographic work in a critical manner.
What do you like about it? What do you hate? Why? Think about your responses and take it from there.
Accept that you can't be a genius all the time. Some shots will flop. Can't win them all. Shrug and move on!
 
Ahh yes photography, one of my other expensive hobbys. I mainly got into it because I live in Colorado and there are a bunch of beautiful things to photograph here outdoors, mountains, wildlife. All I can say is always take your camera with you because you never know where a photo op will turn up . Another thing we have just started to dabble with is astro photography, its fun but a major PITA.
 
Insisting that your subjects not smile will give an interesting tone to the series of portraits and having to convince twelve elderly people to do it will improve your photog to subject skills.
http://www.ttnw.com/philippejenney.html

Good suggestion. I'm just starting to think about where I'm going to find 12 elderley people and how i'm going to convince them not to smile. I think i need to learn some lighting basics first - although I did that courser last year i did nothing with flash gun or studio and want to get confident with this before involving ppl (flah gun that is - can't afford studio lighting!)

Love the work by the way. Good going.
 
Ahh yes photography, one of my other expensive hobbys. I mainly got into it because I live in Colorado and there are a bunch of beautiful things to photograph here outdoors, mountains, wildlife. All I can say is always take your camera with you because you never know where a photo op will turn up . Another thing we have just started to dabble with is astro photography, its fun but a major PITA.

I'd love to see some of your shots of Colorado - a place i'd like to visit one day.
 
What sort of mental block do you have?

Just a lack of inspiration at a time when I need to be getting some photography done for my course. But I think you hit the nail on the head by saying check out some other photographers work. Any good pohotographers you can recommend - pro or amateur?
 
I'm mainly a portrait photographer, my blog is here:

http://mattederblog.blogspot.com/

Not sure how inspirational it would be, but there it is.

I keep trying to expand my business but it's hard when you play drums and do audio for a living. The people that I've noticed that have gotten good at their business, have usually lost everything first ;)
 
Good suggestion. I'm just starting to think about where I'm going to find 12 elderley people and how i'm going to convince them not to smile. I think i need to learn some lighting basics first - although I did that courser last year i did nothing with flash gun or studio and want to get confident with this before involving ppl (flah gun that is - can't afford studio lighting!)

Love the work by the way. Good going.

Just like in drumming, learning your craft is important and so is integrating and applying it to the context in which it lives. When you push yourself to master the mechanics of making good photos while managing the personalities and logistics it accelerates the process of you developing your own point of view with your photography.

I'm mainly a portrait photographer, my blog is here:

http://mattederblog.blogspot.com/

Not sure how inspirational it would be, but there it is.

I keep trying to expand my business but it's hard when you play drums and do audio for a living. The people that I've noticed that have gotten good at their business, have usually lost everything first ;)

I was the most inspired when I was doing primarily editorial assignments. The irony is that journalism is a brutal profession and can often be very uninspiring. I don't know if I've LOST everything to get my commercial career stable, but it did COST everything. I've had to reoutfit (or turnover) all my gear probably 5 times in over 20 years in the biz.

I've said it before. I'll say it again and my back agrees with this. Being a photographer and a drummer is stupid. I should have been a writer and a flute player. ;-)
 
You just have to get out there and shoot, nature, people, landscapes etc.
You can also play around with lighting and settings, for example focus on shutterspeed one day. Find some waterfalls, moving objects and try to achieve the sense of motion by using slow shutter speeds. Or focus on composition, challenge yourself to find anything and everything and try to make it an interesting subject. Go out and work on manual focus, turn off auto focus and challenge yourself to shoot everything manually....you get the point.

Everyone gets in ruts or has creativity block, but sometimes its really about just doing something different than what you normally would.

I have some shots on that thread pollyana shared...I'm currently revamping my site so the pics on their isn't my best, I just used them to see how the gallery worked.
Jeminimedia.com
 
I've had to reoutfit (or turnover) all my gear probably 5 times in over 20 years in the biz.

I've said it before. I'll say it again and my back agrees with this. Being a photographer and a drummer is stupid. I should have been a writer and a flute player. ;-)

Thanks to the current marketing strategy and attitudes, now people tend to get new cameras every 18 months or so. It's a boom to the camera manufacturers!
 
I recently bought a new book titled "Learning to See Creatively" by Bryan Peterson. I recommend getting a copy, it's been a real eye opener for me.
 
The two most important things I learned in my photographic journey is:
1) It is all about the light.
2) Use a tripod as much as possible.

Enjoy this art medium.

Photo 1: Drumskull Drums
Photo 2: Drum Room: African Bells
Photo 3: Drum Room

GJS
 

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I always loved photography and my parents bought me my first film camera as a 1st grade graduation present, lol. I started making money with photography by doing portraits,weddings and some commercial when in my teens. When I started in television in 1974 I took this craft one step further with doing film commercials in both 16 and 35mm and later video including doing most of the studio lighting at the station. Through the years I've shot just about everything, from charging bulls to alligators to perfume bottles and expensive precious stones. I was enlisted to shoot on still film, an outdoor concert by Maynard Ferguson and Chubby Checker back in the mid seventies, so I've been around for quit some time. I still shoot a lot of pictures mostly with a dslr, although I still love the film formats that obtained over the many years such as 4 x5, 2 1/4 and 35mm and I still have my darkroom to accommodate film processing and enlarging.

Photography in one way or another, always had a big influence in my life.

Dennis
 
The two most important things I learned in my photographic journey is:
1) It is all about the light.
2) Use a tripod as much as possible.

Enjoy this art medium.

Photo 1: Drumskull Drums
Photo 2: Drum Room: African Bells
Photo 3: Drum Room

GJS

Love these photos. Nicely composed/ "made."

I am going to do a project on musical instruments around my house for a course i'm on, so this is good inspiration. In terms of lighting I have a Canon speedlight which I hope I can utilize - other than that its just natural light. Do you use flash or studio lights for your pics at all?

I am also interested in African music - playing a gig tomorrow night as a 3 piece with 2 African ladies - im playing guitar and doing backing vocals as they are both better percussionists than I!!!
 
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It's great that this post has stayed active.

What about your photographic influences? I like Charlie Waite for his landscapes. Another photographer who has been particularly influential has been William Klein for telling great stories in his photographs.

Which photographers have inspired you and why? Come on, inspire me!
 
I have several whose styles have inspired me a lot over the years.

Albert Watson
Michel Comte
Isabel Snyder
Mark Seliger
Gregory Heisler
Spike Jones
Thomas White
Brigitte Lacombe
 
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