Issue 154 of the SNYC Newsletter
Greetings everyone! April was a very busy month for me. It was like 2019 again! So forgive me for not publishing an issue in the middle of April.
I’m happy that I was finally able to tally the votes for the 2021 Fave Photos Contest and announce the winners. Bravo to everyone who entered photos, voted on photos and to all the winners. (You’ll find a link to the issues with the announcement of the winners below.)
I will finally be sending out the prizes this week. Some people were surprised that there are prizes. I didn’t want to make a big deal about the prizes as I didn’t want that to be the focus.
The winners will be receiving a combination of photo zines and prints. I hope that they are an inspiration to keep up the good work and maybe even find new ways to express yourself photographically.
In the meantime, I hope that you are all working on your photography and thinking about how you want to grow your experience in photography. To keep from getting bored by doing the same old thing all the time.
Welcome to all the new readers and customers and thank you so very much to everyone for taking my workshops. As a small business person it is really important to me and I really appreciate it.
As always, Happy Shooting!
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
One reader wrote:
Hi Leanne, Thank you for all your hard work on this. It was great to meet you and be guided by you in Dec. What you are doing here is brilliant and I always look forward to your newsletter and other communications. I hope you are well. I would love to get back and have another workshop with you someday.
Thanks so much John! I’m so happy that you enjoyed our workshop and yes, putting together a contest was really something and I’m happy that the Shoot New York City newsletter and group can be a dialogue.
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.
Finding Inspiration - Part One
I shoot on an almost daily basis these days. When I’m not shooting I’m working on processing photos or editing my photo library or researching other photographers.I live and breath photography and I love it.
But my photos are not always perfect (that’s another story) and I don’t wake up every morning inspired. Being inspired and motivated are things that always need to be worked on. Perhaps it’s not that much different that a gym or yoga routine. You have to work on it.
To top it all off, I shoot in the same neighborhoods over and over again. Many people who take workshops with me want to always do a different neighborhood. I understand that and it’s really my fault for assigning a neighborhood to my workshops. I think that different neighborhoods require different techniques and styles.
For me, there are a few important steps in finding inspiration. The first one is ironically, boredom. That’s right. I credit my ability to get bored as a source of inspiration.
Boredom typically arrives from repetition. Doing the same thing over and over again. In fact, boredom is a signal that you need to change something. In photography there are many methods of changing your routine. And they don’t even need to be drastic.
Before moving on to some of the methods that I use to conquer boredom, it should be noted that trying to achieve perfection or imitate the work of other photographers is not something that I do or prescribe. It is a losing battle. (Perhaps that will be a topic of another issue.)
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome. You need to upset the cycle of routine. Not so difficult to do.
My mantra is shoot often, experiment and don’t be afraid to make so-called mistakes. Mistakes are in fact one of the most important things that people can do in the arts, sciences and just about everything else in life.
I became a street photographer by accident. I didn’t know what street photography was. I was just minding my own business shooting buildings and thinking I would become an architectural photographer.
One day I lost my patience when people kept walking into my frame and I kept on shooting to see what would happen. Later someone said to me upon seeing some of the images “cool street photography.” My response was “what’s street photography?”
Experiment, experiment and experiment. Don’t be quick to discard the so-called mistakes. I might’ve thrown away many an image just because people were in the photo while my aim was to get a photo of a building.
Experimentation can take a few forms. You can change the settings in your camera and shoot in a different way than you normally do. Change the mode you use. I often shoot Aperture Priority. Occasionally I shoot Shutter Priority. And lately I’ve been shooting in Program Mode which is almost like shooting in Auto.
Try them all out. Try switching up any number of things. I often shoot raw and jpg simultaneously with the jpgs in monochrome and lately in square format. I’ll post some of those in an upcoming issue.
Those are all about the camera and the other suggestion about cameras is that you can also shoot with film. You can often find very cool point and shoot film cameras for $10 and it will certainly change the way that you shoot. Oh no previews!
Point and shoot is fun. I do it a fair amount these days with my digital cameras. I call it lift and shoot. It’s too easy to let the technology rule the way that you shoot. So many bells and whistles just get in the way.
My father was a very good photographer. His photos were very technically precise. but in the end, I find highly technical photos cold. They lack emotion. I think that a photo needs to draw the viewer in and that it’s the emotion that does that.
I really adore the photography of Saul Leiter and what I guess can be best described as abstract street photography. I can spend hours looking at his photography and finding methods to borrow some of his style.
No fancy equipment needed. I think that reflections represent a large portion of my photography. They range from really straight ahead street to more abstract street. In abstract street color and composition are more important than capturing a person’s likeness.
In the next issue I’ll be writing about seeing with new eyes. Yes, that’s from the Marcel Proust quote that you’ll find in every issue and it’s another one of my methods of keeping photography fresh and inspiring. And to stave off boredom.
As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. That’s what the newsletter is here for.
2021 Fave Photos Contest Winners
Because of the length of the issues with the winners of the contest, there are 2 issues that were sent out with the First Place and Second Place winners in each of the 5 categories.
You may want to think about what you think are you best photos this year so far so that you won’t have to figure it out at the end of the year. As well, it can provide some ideas about what you’d liken to work on.
Congratulations to the winners and everyone who participated. Thank you!
The app is a very cool way to read the newsletter.
Biweekly Photo Assignment - Documentary Photography
There’s a thin line between street and documentary photography. But any event is easily a documentary 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:
I really like Alex’s videos. In this one you may find some inspiration and it leads into the next issue of the newsletter. Enjoy!
Upcoming Workshops:
Workshops are a maximum of 4 people. Social distancing and masks are followed in crowded areas and for the comfort of people attending the workshops. 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! The new Substack App is a very cool way to access this and many other newsletters.