The photography critic and historian A.D. Coleman once noted that the most common mistake many photographers make is thinking that what they’re experiencing while making a picture is what’s being captured by the camera.
Not too long ago I entered a PhotoShelter contest that called for entrants to submit a single photo they deemed their best travel image. I didn’t know if the one I sent was in fact my best, but I was certain it would get the judges’ attention. If you’re a regular reader, you might have seen it featured in my column in the November, 2014, issue: the image of trucks, sheep, and goats held up by a landslide in the Zojila Pass in Kashmir, India.
New Yorker Chris Gampat calls himself a “Headshot Photographer,” although his 10 years in the business also includes photojournalism, fashion and wedding photography in addition to portraiture. He’s also a creative, funny guy as you can see in these images from his series ‘The Secret Order of the Slice.”
Jim Harmer didn’t start out as a travel and nature photographer. He was in law school when the photography bug bit him, and, before he knew it, he was traveling the world, capturing moments in time with his camera.
A good friend once told me, “When you’re doing something, you’re not doing something else.” This Yogi Berra-ism is actually great advice. When considering a photo project, think about its commercial potential. You can spend a year photographing the slime left by snails at night, but does anyone want to see that? More importantly in this increasingly web-focused world, will they share it in their social media feeds?
Instagram is, unquestionably, the hottest social network right now for sharing photos. While the service is simple to use, getting your work noticed is not easy considering you’re competing with over 400 million other Instagram users. So what’s the “trick,” if any? We interviewed three photographers who have found success on Instagram to learn more about this social media phenomenon. Along with checking out (and liking) their Instagram pages, don’t forget to visit (and like) Shutterbug’s own page (@shutterbugpix), where we’re sharing our favorite work from readers.
“A mobile device can display still images and video, and it can broadcast audio,” Sciorio says. “The creation point for all three of those is my camera: it shoots stills, video and records audio. So why was I using only one-third of the tools I had? Why was I trying to sell only one kind of product?”
Street photographer Omar Z Robles has spent the past two years photographing ballet dancers among what he refers to as the urban landscapes of New York. Thanks to a grant from the Bessie Foundation, he recently traveled to Cuba—a country with a long tradition of dance—and the images he captured are amazing.
Brazilian photographer Marcos Alberti was inspired by an apocryphal quote that goes something like this: “The first glass of wine is all about the food, the second glass is about love, and the third glass is about mayhem.” Thus, Alberti’s Three Glasses of Wine project was born.
Social media has clearly taken the world by storm and photographers have been quick to catch on. That is indeed true for extreme sports photographer Christian Pondella, who has a strong following on several social media platforms, particularly Instagram.
To say that Art Wolfe is not your typical portrait photographer is quite the understatement. With a career spanning 40 years, Wolfe brings his travels from every corner of the earth to create stunning portraits in his Human Canvas collection, honoring the traditions of Ethiopian tribal culture.
What we look at when we look at a Sandro portrait is an image that is as much about Sandro as it is about his subject. About that he is frank and fearless.
Photographing people for a living can prove intimidating for many photographers. Now add “celebrity” to that and you may find you have to step up your game several notches to stand on equal footing with your subject. You can’t afford to be intimidated and you certainly can’t afford to appear unsure of yourself or to question your decisions. You have to enter the picture with a game plan and be decisive, know which lens you’ll be using, what lights, and where to place those lights. But you also have to be prepared for the unexpected. That’s why they give these jobs to photographers such as Victoria Will.
R. J. Kern is the owner and photographer of Kern-Photo, a Minneapolis-based wedding photography business. He started the company eight years ago after spending five years with the National Geographic Society. His wedding photography locations range from backyards to destinations around the world. He also teaches photography workshops and has won many awards, including making the “50 Top US Wedding Photographers”.
Some years ago Steve Simon took a leave from his job as a newspaper photographer in his native Canada and headed south across the border on a self-assigned project. “I’d loved photography since I was a kid in Montreal, roaming the streets, inspired by Cartier-Bresson,” Simon says, “but I’d been working 10 years at the newspaper, doing the same things again and again. I was looking for a way to get the inspiration back, to explore the power of what photography can be.”