Issue 149 of the SNYC Newsletter
Greetings everyone! January has been a good month for me even if it was a bit slower than other months. I am privileged to meet so many amazing people. From Brooklyn to Mexico City we’ve had great fun capturing fabulous photos while getting to know each other.
I am a very fortunate person to be able to make my living doing what I love. I’m neither rich nor famous and that is not what drives me. Hey, if I become rich and famous one day you can say you knew me back when.
But it’s about a love for what I do. I love to share both my experiences in photography and my love of New York City. The pandemic aside, the love of the city and photography is also very contagious. In a positive way.
Thank you to everyone who has taken my workshops and tours for making this all possible and thank you to all the subscribers of this newsletter. I hope that you are well and enjoying the new year.
Happy Shooting!
Note: All of the photos in this issue of the newsletter were taken in 2022 (except one in 2021) and are the jpgs that I captured shooting both jpg and raw.
The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust
If you enjoy this newsletter you can buy me a coffee. Just click on the link Buy Me a Coffee page
I love coffee and I love it when I get treated to one :-) But no sweat if you’re unable to contribute. The newsletter is still free for all.
Thanks to everyone who has bought me a coffee!!! Maybe one day we’ll be able to have a coffee in person again. Mucho love.
New Year, New Habits
It’s the second month of the new year and I’ve been working on new habits. I’m an habitual person. I like routines. Well, until I don’t like them anymore. That’s usually when I get bored of them.
Back in the days when I was a sales manager I learned about creating good habits. It seems that it only takes 21 days to create a new habit. But don’t try to create too many new habits all at once.
So one of my new habits is to shoot raw and jpg simultaneously. I know that I’ve written about it before. But I’m actually doing it almost all of the time. I do it with street photography that I’m fairly confident that I’m going to prefer monochrome.
Part of the reason that I’m shooting raw and jpg simultaneously in black and white is because I love the Acros filter in the Fuji cameras. I add a preset to it that adjusts the white and black balance as well as contrast. It’s a very quick process.
As I wrote before, the X100V raw files are about 50mg. With a photo library of 300,000+ digital images which fills a 12Tb external hard drive a little more than 50%, I had to rethink why I need to always have a raw file.
The beauty of shooting raw and jpg is that I can see what the jpg image will look like. And I’m quite happy with the jpg images. So it’s not entirely about saving hard drive space.
Years ago I read in Rico Pfirstinger’s Fuji X Secrets book that you should always shoot both raw and jpg to best take advantage of everything the camera has to offer. One because you can use the jpg as a reference when processing the raw file.
And two, because “Checking critical focus is only possible at 100% magnification, which only a full-size jpeg can provide.” Neither of these reasons were important to me for the most part.
But if you’re only shooting one or the other format, you may want to consider trying shooting both simultaneously. It does often happen that when you see a raw file it doesn’t look as good as what you saw when you were shooting.
So the second necessary part of my new habit has to be that I make time to go through the images from a day of shooting and decide if I need to keep the raw files. Yes, that is an additional step, but so far it hasn’t been a burden and I’ve trashed large quantities of raw files that I don’t need.
I’ve always had a preference for monochrome though there are times when the light is just right when I prefer color. There are also rare times when I like a photo in both color and black and white.
If you haven’t figured out yet that I play devil’s advocate really well, this is an important aspect of who I am. There are a lot of preachers in the world of photography that would like you to think that there’s only one correct way. My job in life is to question these beliefs.
Photography is a personal expression and it should reflect the photographer. There isn’t one correct method in street photography. Rather, there are many. So I’m here as a mentor and teacher to help you to discover your style.
Are there any methods that you use that you have become habits and that you like or dislike? This newsletter is here for your comments and suggestions and I hope that you will share with us your experiences as that should be an important part of our growth as photographers.
My New Instagram Account
Yes, my Instagram account was hacked and I’ve started over again. I’m trying to recreate it and if I’m not following you just dm me and follow me. I’ll follow you back.
My new account is ShootNewYorkCity as it should’ve been to begin with. I’m still trying to figure out how I can get control of my old account and especially my photos. Ugh. Life on social media.
Questions & Tips
I'‘d like to start a new section in the newsletter for questions and tips by readers. No worries about appearing amateur. Your name will not be posted here.
If you have a question about shooting street photography or even photography and cameras in general, you’re probably not alone.
I don’t have all the answers by any means. But I’d really like to hear about your tips and your problems or questions. That’s what the newsletter is here for.
Biweekly Photo Assignment - Last Call for Your Favorites of 2021
The new hashtag for the Facebook group is #2021favephotos you can see all the photos in that group by clicking on the link and I made a post with that link. You can add that hashtag to any of your photos that should be included in the group and I’ll be setting up a method for us to vote on them.
If you don’t use Facebook and you want to participate let me know and we’ll work out a method. I can post all of the photos into a newsletter and find a method of tallying votes. I have a few prizes that I can mail anywhere in the world. And a few that need to be for people here in the NYC area.
You can interpret this assignment and don’t be afraid to post creative photos. As well, it’s good to know why you chose the photos you did and it’s maybe best to post them individually so they don’t get buried.
This is a voluntary assignment if you want to take part. You can submit your photos to the Facebook group for Shoot New York City and also on Instagram tag @shootnycity. If you're not a member of the Facebook group yet, all you have to do is request to join.
It would be great if as a group people would comment on photos submitted as well. Let's have fun! Happy shooting and sharing! And you can connect with other people that you share an interest with.
Further Viewing
I really like Alex’s videos. He isn’t selling any products, telling you which camera you should buy or preaching a gospel on how to shoot. He often talks about subjects that are top of mind for me. So you may very well read about why in the next issue.
Upcoming Workshops:
Workshops are still a maximum of 3 people. Social distancing and masks are required. And with fewer people in each workshop everyone can gain even more individual attention.
Workshops are only being scheduled on a weekend day now. If you would like to have a weekday workshop or a workshop in other areas of NYC, let me know with some lead time and I’ll see if others want to also attend it. Otherwise I continue to provide private workshops on weekdays and in other neighborhoods.
For those who haven't done a workshop or photo tour with me in the past I have a number of reviews on my website and also on TripAdvisor! Workshops are both for people who live here and also travelers, as are photo tours.
Photo tours are one-on-one and arranged on an individual basis for both neighborhood and photographic style and can be designed as a workshop as well. They are customized to your interests and level. Thank you for your patience and Stay Safe!
Love our picture together by the park.