Not shooting people

Hi everyone. As most of you know, I'm a people photographer. If I'm not shooting people at a wedding or event, I'm working on my fashion skills with models. If I'm not doing that, I'm shooting my family. I took a good hard look at my images 6 months ago, and noticed it was seriously lacking in shots that didn't involve people. And the images of other things that were there, weren't very good. So I tried to figure out what I could do to remedy that. I didn't want to set up lights at the house and shoot still life, I wanted something that could help me in my actual line of expertise, shooting weddings. Which entails shooting the rings, shoes, dresses, centerpieces, flowers, cake, the interior of the banquet and church, the exterior of the church, maybe a beautiful bluff overlooking the water.

You get the point, wedding photography is so much more than just the "wedding couple", that if you want to do it right, you need experience and a bag of tricks to draw from to help you get all those shots. Now that's not to say I wasn't shooting those things, I do. I just thought I saw a little room for improvement.

The great thing about digital photography, the practice is free, and results are instantaneous. No more shooting a roll, then off to the lab to see what you got. If you see an area that needs improvement, you can focus on that and practice to your hearts content. So, I determined that I needed to focus on randomness. That should be easy, right? That could include ANYTHING. Way to focus and make a decision Frank. But I really want to improve at a lot of things in my photography.

So what did I do? Back in May I set off with a 2 other friends to photowalk Olvera Street. I had just gotten the new 5D MKII and wanted to put it through it's paces. It did admirably, and I walked away with several keepers that had no person in the frame.

Then it was off to Scott Kelby's Worlwide Photowalk in July that took place in Chinatown. My account of that is here: Frank's Blog on Chinatown. Now we were up to 50 people. The image I shot of the lanterns reflected in the pond won the local event, and was entered into the worldwide contest. To say I was hooked is an understatement. Photowalking with friends is a great way to remember what you love about photography in the first place. We shoot because we want to share. But why start sharing at the end of the process when the image has been printed? Why not start sharing at the beginning of the process? You know, at image capture?

Why not go off with a friend to shoot something. You probably have lots of other friends that also like photography. Maybe you both have kids. Take your kids to the park to shoot. The kids get some fun and exercise, and you get to share your excitement and passion with a fellow shutterbug. Your kids also get to see you doing something passionately. what a great thing to pass along to them. Even if they don't get the "bug" they will remember fondly that you were doing something you loved.

Like old cars? Head off with a buddy to a car show. Lot's of photogs there. Like beautiful sunsets? When was the last time you sat at the beach and waited? That is also great practice. One of the nuances of photography that needs to be learned is patience. Capturing the decisive moment. Wedding and sports photographers know this and practice patience.

The next step is to share what you each shot. I love looking at images that someone shot who was standing right next to me. What a great way to learn what types of things are appealing to other people. They may be shooting over your shoulder, but with a different lens, different framing, a different aperture, the image looks nothing like yours. What started off as a need and way for me to improve my images, turned in to a very fun endeavor. So if practice and work become fun, what's not to like? And by sharing with a fellow enthusiast, you are making friends. And that may lead to something else. Like shooting a wedding together for some $$. Or shooting the kids sports teams for $$. Or creating still lifes and having a gallery. Who knows? The possibilities are endless. Maybe you could put together a calendar to raise money or awareness to a cause you are attached to.

In the last few months, I've come across several Pro photographers willing to share their passions too. Maybe they aren't telling you what f/stop to use, or what mode to shoot in, but they do share their passion. They can be found here:

David duChemin He also has an excellent ebook available for $5 here: 10
Zack Arias
Chase Jarvis
Joe McNally

They all want the same basic thing. To share their passion.

It led me to wanting to share my passion with you. That's why Jeffery Saddoris, Nicole Rae, and I started this: Faded & Blurred We want to share our passion with you. We want to walk with you, and stand next to you and see the twinkle in your eye. We've got that twinkle. We want to share it. We want us all to grow, experience, shoot, live, breathe, and share. Have a question? Ask it. Don't know how to do something in Photoshop? Post the question. Have a charity that needs some assistance? Tell us. Need some exercise? We have walks coming up. Our 1st walk last weekend had almost 70 participants. Info on our upcoming walks are here: Photowalks. What's the worst that could happen? Meet some new, like minded friends? That would be horrible. Just remember, we want everyone to share what they've taken away from it.

So have I shot anything new that I'm proud of? That doesn't include people? Yes, I have...

Just shoot!

As photographers, some of us spend an awful amount of time obsessing about the latest and greatest cameras and equipment. 21mp's in this one, and 24mp's in that one, 10 frames per second, facial recognition, and the list goes on and on. Fact of the matter is that if it's a crappy picture, than it is taking up more space on a hard drive than the crappy pictures we took with last years model.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a new camera. It's a beast that shoots 21mp images and will shoot video in full 1080 hd. I love the images it captures, and it has the most film like quality I have seen from a camera. So why am I writing this?

2 reasons. The first reason is my iPhone. Barely 1mp images. But it is always with m

e.

My DSLR isn't. And that is the key. It is ALWAYS with me. I use it all the time. It has no zoom, it has no flash. It forces me to be more creative to get the shot I really want. And it has some really terrific applications to tweak those tiny little images. Camerabag and Photogene are my 2 favorites. Little teeny, tiny versions of photoshop "lite". Really "lite". Did I just say I even tweak my cameraphone images? Yes, yes I do. My name is Frank, and I am battling a disease. Again, you are really limited with what you can do with these programs, as the images are small, so you really think before you shoot. I find myself being reinvigorated by trying to get decent shots from it. And it won't do 10 frames per second, so it forces you to slow down.

The 2nd reason is Twitter. Twitter has applications like twitpic that make it really easy to share your shots from your phone, and get them on-line fast. Take the shot, email the shot, friends view the shot. I have several friends that share images on Twitter shot with their phones. I see what they are shooting, it makes me want to go shoot something. I want to impress them, they want to impress me. We are always pushing each other to get better, more creative shots. And then there is Chase Jarvis. He is in a league all by himself. Go look at his website. He has a whole portfolio dedicated to shots only taken with his iPhone. It is here: http://www.chasejarvis.com/ . Almost makes you want to put down your DSLR, and use it for a doorstop.

So why is all this coming up now? I was going through my Flickr photostream, and had to laugh when I realized that many of my recent images have all been shot with the iPhone. All of the images posted in this post have all come from my iPhone too. Do I recommend you go out and get an iPhone? No, but if you did you wouldn't regret it. No, I am writing this to remind you that if you have don't always leave the house with your DSLR and a bag full of glass, make sure you do leave with some type of camera, a cameraphone, a small point and shoot, just always have a camera with you. You never know what you might see...


And here are some good uses for your small camera you may not have thought of. At a theme park you aren't familiar with, and hate carrying a map? Take a picture of it, and you can look at it on your LCD and scroll around or zoom into the image. See an item at a store you like, but thimk you can find it cheaper on line? Take a picture of the item and the SKU tag. When you get home, you can use that info to search the web. Have a husband/wife that is a bad gift giver? Take pictures of things you like and send it to them in an email. Ever been in a car accident? Take pictures of the damage. The list goes on.

I have a throw away point and shoot I always carry in my glove box. It is powered by AA batteries, so I never have to worry about the rechargeble battery going dead, or accidentily leaving the battery on the charger when I leave the house. Why? Because you never know when you will be in a hail storm in Baldwin Park in May!

I will leave you with a couple more iPhone snaps I took. Are they great images? No, not really. But I wouldn't have taken them if I didn't have my iPhone with me, and I am glad that I took them.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Frank