Issue 151 of the SNYC Newsletter
Greetings everyone! It’s the first day of March! Spring is near and with it warmer temperatures AND longer daylight hours. (Apologies to readers in the Southern Hemisphere :-))
I’ve been having a look at issues of the SNYC newsletter going back to the beginning in May 2017. In Issue 12 I wrote about the Process of Photography and that’s what this issue will be about.
We often spend more time and thought focused on our gear and planning the day of shooting than we do on what comes after that.
Thank you to everyone for following me on my experiences in shooting street photography and especially everyone who has taken my workshops.
As always, happy shooting! Are you a happy shooter?
The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust
Reader’s Comment
The Shoot New York City newsletter exists for you, the readers. And, your comments and suggestions are always welcome. One of the major issues of social media sites is that there’s no dialogue.
There is much that we can all share about our experiences in photography and it’s so easy to comment on the newsletter. Just hit reply in your email or on the button below.
The following comment is on the previous issue on Minimalism.
Hey Leanne. Minimalism is something I can really relate to. Shadows, silhouettes and reflections are timeless IMHO. Using light and shadow to true advantage. Breaking some rules - "don't point your camera towards the sun" - what? Utter nonsense when we now look at the results!
To conclude I just wanted to thank you for SNYC news and for Curious Frame. I'm a bit late coming to SNYC news for some reason - looks good - but always enjoy Curious Frame. Your contributions have been great in at least helping me to navigate the past 2 Covid years - I call 'em Plague Years!
We've endured lockdowns here in Sydney as you know, including one that was 107 days long where for some of the time we were confined to a 5km radius of home - about 3 miles. My photo mojo has been sorely tested and I've "emerged" a couple of times only to be thwarted by another lockdown or other change. Anyway - enough Covid guff - thanks heaps again.
I am happy that the newsletters have helped you to get through the last 2 years. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. My guess is that many of the readers can relate to your experience.
And, I’m happy that you caught that odd statement in the Further Viewing video about not pointing your camera at the sun. That was very true of early video cameras.
We should question what others say. That’s how we learn. And, shooting into the sun is one of my favorite things to do!
If you like 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 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.
The Process of Photography
Digital photography has changed everything. Everything includes the world we live in and how we see and understand it. For better or for worse, it has made photography something that everyone can do at almost any time.
But, we have lost track of the process of photography. Rather than being able to see it as a series of steps, we see it as an instantaneous process. With film there is a very distinct process and it is something we should really consider with our photography no matter which camera you use.
If you’ve been out on the streets with me shooting during a workshop, you’ve probably heard me say that street photography is an activity for me. That is to say that it’s something that I enjoy doing and if I go home with a handful of photos that I like, that’s great. But it’s not what I’m thinking about when I’m shooting.
So the first step is the activity of being on the street shooting. We spend far too much time previewing the photos that we just took while out shooting. Obviously, this is something that you can’t do when you’re shooting film.
During my workshops we begin by setting up the camera so as to be able to forget the mechanics of the camera as much as is possible. If lightning conditions change throughout the course of the day, we check our exposures and adjust as necessary.
You may even have heard me say to stop looking at the previews because you’re missing opportunities. Street photography is always a moving target. It doesn’t wait for you to be ready. Many of the best shots are pure chance. You need to be prepared to take advantage of the moment.
I don’t delete photos in camera and I typically don’t do very much deleting or processing the same day that I shot the photos. I like to let the photos have time to marinate.
Of course, when you shoot film you can’t do much before the film is developed beyond being impatient and wanting to know what you captured. Seeing a roll of developed film is always exciting. You don’t know what you captured or at least how well it turned out.
I typically don’t know if I’m going to like a shot before I process it in black and white. And perhaps that is why I almost always shoot in monochrome. Lately, I’ve been shooting both raw and jpg in monochrome and I’m liking the jpgs. But that’s a different story.
But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. The first thing is to upload your photos to your computer or to an external hard drive as I do. Organization shouldn’t be an afterthought as it so often is even for me. Yes, my photo library is in desperate need of organization.
I start by adding copyright information and keywords. The keywords that I used for the above photo are; Midtown Manhattan, workshop, monochrome and Always in Vogue. Always in Vogue is the name of the exhibit.
The keywords for the original photo in the background also included; umbrellas and steam. These keywords help me to search through my photo library and find all of the photos that fit into those categories.
When you organize your photos using keywords, you can see patterns and even improvement in the course of your photography. For business purposes, my photo galleries are set up by neighborhood.
If I wasn’t setting up my photos my neighborhoods, I’d likely use keywords like shadows or reflections as a few examples. I think that it’s important to have a method of seeing patterns and how you’ve improved over time.
The next step is culling and deleting photos. I am not especially good at this part of the process. I will be adding keywords, deleting photos and then stopping and processing photos that I like.
I don’t often have the patience for this part of the process. I get tired of spending a lot of time at the computer. So I take a break from the process. It’s maybe a good idea to keep a journal (either written or on an app) of the progress that you’ve made culling and deleting photos.
Processing is a quick process for me. It’s a quick process for many photos. I have a number of presets which I tweaked and will apply to photos and then do minor adjustments. Photos that don’t work in this manner have a tendency to sit for awhile.
In the film days I found processing and printing photos difficult. I never was able to find the time and patience to do it well. So digital processing has become a part of photography that I have been able to do and feel satisfied with.
Yes, processing is a distinctly different part of photography and it’s one that takes a different set of skills. If you ask me, I think it’s not difficult. Using presets and then adding your own adjustments to them is a good start. You can also find a number of tutorials on how to do this.
When I go through all of the post shooting steps of working on my photo library I typically listen to music and create a comfortable and no distractions atmosphere as much as possible.
Yes, I crop my photos. Most often it’s merely to straighten them out as it seems impossible for me to shoot straight. I also crop square like the above photo. A lens is a forced view of the world. It is not a natural way that we see.
Sometimes I even shoot square and when you shoot both raw and jpg you’ll be framing square while shooting and the raw file will be the standard shape of the lens. So part of the processing stage is also about making those decisions about how your photos best represent your vision.
Oh, yes I almost forgot. If you’re not feeling well or your not in a good mood during shooting or processing, nothing will look as it really is. You notice how I always write happy shooting? It changes the way we see.
Finally, I can’t stress enough that you have redundant backups of your photos. I will be writing about this in an upcoming issue of the newsletter. In brief, I have an external drive for all of my raw files and that is backed up every week to another drive and they are also backed up to the cloud.
I’ll also be writing a bit more about social media in an upcoming newsletter and some considerations in how and what to do social media posts.
It’s possible that I haven’t really covered everything there is to say about the photographic process. I’d love to hear about your thoughts on the process. Maybe you have a particular pattern you use or even you’re having problems with it.
Either way, I hope that you are making space between the different processes.
Glass App
I wanted to let everyone know about this new app for photography. I joined Glass last year and they are still in the early stages. But I have to say that I’m fairly impressed so far.
Glass is only for photography. NO ads. No algorithms. It’s on phone and iPad and slowly they are building it out for the web and adding features. You can mark your photos with categories.
You can follow people and appreciate and comment on their photos. And it looks good. It costs $29.99 US per year. Not bad. Cheaper than Flickr and better.
So if you don’t want to use Instagram or Facebook or any of the other social media outlets, I suggest that you try this out. You can also use it and the others at the same time.
But I think that it’s good to have a method to share your work with others and see what other photographers are doing. The above photo is a screenshot of my account. If you join, follow me and I’ll follow you back.
2021 Fave Photos Contest
I’ll be sending out an issue of this newsletter with all the photos submitted for the contest in the next week or so. I realized after the fact that I need to group the images into categories as there are many styles and submissions.
So look out for that and I’ll include instructions with it. There are some fabulous photos in the entries and I think that you’ll agree.
Biweekly Photo Assignment -Framing
There are many different methods of using framing in photography. A few images above, you’ll see one example and this photo.
As usual, you can interpret this assignment and don’t be afraid to post creative photos. I think that it should really be an enjoyable exercise.
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
Looking for inspiration? Okay, Ted has been vlogging since before it was called that. He sounds like he’s had too much coffee! But he has some good ideas. Unfortunately, you have to live with the ads when viewing most Youtube videos. But that’s how the video creators get paid. I hope that you enjoy it
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!
Applied some of your suggestions and starting working on processing my photos, cleaning up the metadata! Thanks for the tips.