Issue 144 of the SNYC Newsletter
Greetings everyone and welcome back international travelers! A regular customer from Berlin was here yesterday! And the day before I had a sold out workshop in Chinatown with people in the tristate area.
Forgive me for being a little late. I haven’t been so well keeping up with things lately. I don’t know if it’s a hangover from the pandemic and everything slowing down including energy or maybe it’s just part of the aging process. Ugh.
Either way, it’s been great meeting new people on my workshops AND seeing repeat customers! Thank you, thank you, thank you! While we may not ever get back to normal, whatever that is, it’s possible that the new global order of things might be even better than before.
As a solo indie business owner, the pandemic was not only scary in terms of health. It was also rather challenging business wise. I do hope that the worst is behind us and that we can continue with some kind of normal.
If you bought a gift certificate from me last year and you’ll be in the neighborhood, let me know. I am of course honoring all gift certificates. They don’t expire!
As always, happy shooting and stay safe!
The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust
I have created a Buy Me a Coffee page and I’m still trying to figure out how to create the button with the link on it. I’m a little challenged with some of the technical stuff
In the meantime, the link above should work. 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!!! Mucho love.
Statistics, what are they good for?
People often get hung up on statistics. How many good photos do you get during a day of shooting street? I don’t really think about that. I’m not certain if it’s even important.
When we’re out on a workshop, we will typically stop at one point and sit down for a coffee and chat about what we’ve achieved so far and what they’ve learned and/or need help with.
When I ask people how many good photos they think they might have captured, most of the time the answer is that they probably have at least 5 photos that they like, but they don’t know until they upload them to computer.
Yes! That is a really good answer. That is the same thing that I would answer. We only really know when we can sit down and take the time to have a good look to see what we’ve captured. Of course, uploading them is an important part of that process.
During the worst parts of the pandemic, I wasn’t taking nearly as many photos when I was out shooting. It took awhile to adjust to having fewer people on the streets and to try out new things.
Then more recently, I sprained/fractured my ankle and I was out shooting workshops with a cane. That of course slowed me down both at the pace I was walking and having the cane get in my way. I had to stop and switch my cane to my left hand so I could shoot.
Both of these events had an influence on how I was shooting and also how many photos I was taking. This is not a bad thing by any means. Slowing down is good.
Recently I noticed merely by chance that I’ve been taking fewer photos when I’m out shooting. It’s possible that I’m taking maybe 100 or more fewer photos during a workshop or tour.
I can’t say that there’s any particular reason why that is so. Deciding to take a photo is always based on a number of factors. Many of the photos that I take are during a group or private workshop. So some of the time it’s just a matter of how much time is focused on others.
But the fact is, it’s really easy to shoot quite a few photos when shooting digital without actually having to think about it. Sometimes I take 2 or more photos of almost the same thing in hopes of capturing something in particular. You can’t predict what people will do.
I have been trying to spend some time deleting photos from photo library. But I have attention deficit disorder. Deleting photos is an activity that I’m not able to do for any length of time. I often get distracted and start processing photos instead. Or adding keywords.
Part of the reason that I’ve been spending a little more time deleting photos is because my new camera’s Raw files are 59mg and they’re taking up a considerable amount of space on my external hard drive!
But in the process I’m also finding some gems as well. Nevertheless, I don’t really know what ratio of photos are keepers versus those that are destined to get trashed. It is sometimes a strange feeling to delete a photo of someone who is looking at the camera. It’s like deleting a person. Strange.
As I’ve mentioned before, street photography is for me, an activity. It’s an activity that I enjoy. So getting 5 good photos in a day is a bonus. It’s not the thing that I’m thinking about when I’m shooting.
Maybe this is a glass half empty or half full situation. But it’s really not a big deal what your ratio is. If you aren’t getting any good photos on a number of occasions, that is a different story.
I’ll be writing more about different ways to capture good photos in an upcoming issue. What we used to like and what we like now is often a moving target. I am always surprised when I still like a photo that I took years ago.
While you’re going through the photos that you took this year, don’t be so hard on yourself. Some people that I know have put their cameras down for a bit as they’ve become dissatisfied with their current work.
I almost always let my photos marinate for awhile before I have a good look at them and decide what to keep and what to trash. Frequently, I find photos that I took ages ago and passed them by only to discover that with a little break in time I discover that I like them.
Sometimes all I need to do to like a photo is process it. We often skip a step when we view our photos before processing them and then decide we don’t like them. Our current photo assignment is to choose the photos we took this year and share our favorites.
I look forward to your comments, suggestions and even different opinion. Happy choosing your photos from the year!
Are You Curious Yet?
The most recent issue of Curious Frame is about how photography is always a work in progress as are we as well. Here is a brief excerpt from that issue.
Nevertheless, all those photos that we took and don’t much like anymore helped us to arrive where we are now. We tend to discount those photos that are no longer relevant to where we have grown.
When we view a photo, we all see the same image. But we will likely come away with a different understanding of it. We see an image through our experiences in life. Our eyes are our natural lenses.
Curious Frame is about my thoughts on photography. It compliments the actual processor shooting street photography. You can subscribe to the Curious Frame newsletter here.
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Did you know?
You can like the newsletter at the top and at the bottom of this issue? You can also share it on all of the usual platforms. And, best yet, you can comment! Yes, your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Dialogue is cool. Just hit reply.
Shoot New York City Facebook Group
I don’t know what’s going on with Facebook. But they changed quite a few things and I’ve noticed that people aren’t posting their favorites from 2021 to the group.
Announcements have changed and it’s difficult to keep the assignment up top. So I don’t know if the problem is Facebook or if people don’t have time or interest. But I was really hoping that we could keep the group going.
Please let me know what your thoughts are about this. Thanks!
Biweekly Photo Assignment - Your Favorites of 2021
It’s that time of the year again when we post our favorites of the year. We can look back and see what we liked and how we would like to improve or just new methods we would like to work on. And for extra points you can write about why you like it.
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:
Ted Forbes is the original photographer video blogger. This video is from 6 years ago. But it’s still very relevant.
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!