Featured File

Jun 17 2016

Street Photography from 5 Days in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Marco Polo called Sri Lanka the finest island in the world and before the Sri Lankan Civil War, it was a top tourist destination in the world too. Since the civil war ended in 2009, it’s regaining all those visitors too. While most come for the beaches, rain forests, ancient sites and more, Colombo is the biggest city and main way on and off the island.

On some recommendations, I made sure to stay longer than most so I could really get a feel for this city, and I’m glad I did. It was one of the better street photography experiences I’ve had. I loved the mix of urban city, island life, chaos and friendly people. You can check out my 7 first impressions of Colombo from a street photography perspective and stay tuned for an in-depth street photography guide to the city, but in the meantime, here’s some street photography I was able to capture during my time in Colombo…

Jun 15 2016

50 Tips I Would Tell My New Photographer Self

I remember my first college photography course years ago. It was taught by a photographer with over 40 years of experience. Unfortunately, those 40 years didn’t seem to teach him much valuable advice to give aspiring photographers.

For perspective, the instructor’s most repeated piece of advice was that “No great photos have been made without a tripod!” Not joking.

Most of what I’ve learned since has come from experience, time, plenty of photos, studying great photographers’ work and finding valuable information on my own (thank you internet). A lot of time could have been saved if I’d been told a few valuable pieces of simple advice at the start, though.

So here’s 50 things I wish that teacher had told me instead, years ago. And feel free to add any of your own tips in the comments below!

50 Tips I Would Tell My New Photographer Self

1. Photos are Images of Light. Learn Light As Much As You Learn Anything.

2. Focus on the Whole Scene, Not Just One Element.

3. Try Everything, Pick Something.

4. Don’t Waste So Much Time Looking at Gear.

5. Listen to Criticism, But Stick to Your Vision.

6. Learn How to Zone Focus.

7. Don’t Just Show What Something Looks Like. See How You Can Capture More.

8. Your Photos You Think are Good Today, You Might Realize Aren’t Tomorrow. That’s OK, You’re Improving.

9. Learn Three Things Inside and Out: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO

10. Be a Photographer First, Then You Can Think of a Career.

11. Don’t Compete or Compare With Others. Focus on Your Own Improvement.

12. Always Have a Camera With You.

13. Photo Books are a Visual Teacher. Buy Many.

14. Worry Less About Technology and More About Photography.

15. Take Risks at the Beginning, Don’t Jump into Constraints From the Start.

16. Don’t Spend So Much Time Tweaking Edits and Pre-Sets. Take Your Camera and Go Outside.

17. Force Yourself to Learn How to Shoot Manual from the Start.

18. Don’t Listen to Everyone. A Photo of a Flower Would Get More “likes” than Most of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Work.

19. Do Listen to Someone, Though. Find Honest Photographers to Critique Your Photos With.

20. Curiosity & Instincts Work Well Together in Photography.

21. Shooting Wide Open is Not Mandatory.

22. Shoot Every Day.

23. Don’t Give Up. Most People Stop at the Start.

24. Learn One Focal Length Extremely Well.

25. Do What You Can With What You Have.

26. Shoot RAW.

27. Bokeh Can Look Nice, But Only in Certain Instances.

28. Slow Down. Taking More Shots Doesn’t Equal More Keepers.

29. Don’t Worry About Taking Too Many Shots, Though. Take Another Shot, or five, If You Feel It.

30. If It Doesn’t Say or Show Anything Interesting, Then It’s Not a Good Photo.

31. Just Shoot It. If It Grabs You, Capture It. Hesitating Out of Fear Loses Your Best Shots.

32. Get Closer. But Not as a Rule.

33. Substance Over Polish. Substance Will Last the Test of Time, Amazing Photoshop Won’t.

34. Most Camera Features Just Get in the Way.

35. Study the Work of Great Photographers.

36. Photography Looks Much Better in Print than on Screens. Study Prints.

37. All You Really Need is a Camera.

38. Look Longer at the Things Most People Ignore.

39. Write Things Down. Ideas, Thoughts, Goals, Etc.

40. Stop Waiting and Just Do It. It Won’t Go Perfectly, But You Have to Take the First Step to Go Anywhere.

41. Always Believe in Yourself Sounds Cliche. Don’t Listen to Yourself When You Don’t Believe in Yourself Sounds Realistic.

42. Choose Your Own Life. Don’t Let Others Dictate It.

43. Your Eyes Will Always Be More Important than Your Camera. Train Your Eyes to See.

44. Question Yourself & Your Photography. Push Yourself.

45. Don’t Worry So Much About What Others Think.

46. Fear and Failure Come with Success.

47. Shoot What You Love. Photograph What Interests You, Don’t Force What Doesn’t.

48. Walk Everywhere.

49. Don’t Overthink Photography. Capturing a Great Photo is Difficult, But Overthinking Only Makes it More Difficult.

50. There’s Always More to Learn. And to Capture.

Jun 13 2016

7 First Impressions of Colombo, Sri Lanka
(From a Street Photography Perspective)

Colombo is the commercial capital and largest city in Sri Lanka, but most people don’t come to the island for city life, they come for the beautiful beaches, nature, and “Cultural Triangle.”

Before coming to Sri Lanka, I talked to some photographers who found Colombo had plenty to offer itself, though. Maybe it’s more worth it for street photographers, but I ended up staying almost a week in Colombo because of how much I liked it. If you enjoy cities in India, then Colombo shouldn’t be disappointing, but it also has its own character that makes it different too.

So here are my first impressions of Colombo, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…

Jun 08 2016

City Street Guides by f.d. walker:
A Street Photography Guide to
Budapest, Hungary

*A series of guides on shooting Street Photography in cities around the world. Find the best spots to shoot, things to capture, safety concerns, street tips, and more for cities around the world. I have personally researched, explored and shot Street Photography in every city that I create a guide for. So you can be ready to capture the streets as soon as you step outside with your camera!

Budapest

Jun 06 2016

Street Stories: Arrested for Street Photography in Morocco

A little while back I decided to include a few posts/stories about some of the negative experiences that have come about from shooting street photography during my 100 cities project. I want this blog to be open, honest, and hopefully interesting, so that should include the times that don’t go perfectly too. In the first post, I wrote about a physical confrontation over street photography that I had in Istanbul. While they’re very rare, confrontations can occur in street photography, but for this post I wanted to cover something that happened to me that I never would have expected.

Chefchaouen Shooter Files-2 — Chefchaouen, Morocco

During my visit to Chefchaouen, Morocco, I was actually arrested for street photography. But it wasn’t as simple as that. The story behind why and how is the most surprising part, and now that I’m free, it’s also the most entertaining part, for me…

Jun 03 2016

33 Street Photography Photos from 2 Days in Casablanca, Morocco

I finished off my visit to Morocco flying out of Casablanca. While Casablanca is the biggest city in Morocco, not many stay longer than it takes to fly in and out. Most visitors come here for all the other cities in Morocco, but you don’t hear anybody recommend visiting Casablanca. Since it is a large, well-known city, I wanted to see how deserving this was so I decided to leave a couple of days to explore the city before I left Morocco.

While it was easy to see why it’s not high on the list for travelers to Morocco, I did find it worth exploring for street photographers. At first impression, it’s a somewhat ugly, charmless sprawl of an urban city. Deteriorating and dirty without many attractions. There isn’t much info online so I really had to discover the city on my own, by foot. I found underneath this uninspiring exterior, there was plenty of life and interest to capture. I enjoyed the urban city side of Morocco and while it’s not pretty, there’s still some character there for street photography.

I only had 2 days here so it didn’t give me much opportunity to capture as many photos as usual, but I still wanted to keep with 33 photos series theme, anyway. So here’s 33 street photography photos from 2 days in Casablanca, Morocco…

Jun 01 2016

7 First Impressions of Casablanca, Morocco
(From a Street Photography Perspective)

While Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco, it doesn’t get much love. People might fly in and out of the city, but it’s hard to find anyone recommending staying here longer than that. I wanted to find out if there was a good reason for this so I made sure to spend a few days here before flying out at the end of my visit to Morocco.

The truth is, after exploring the city, I can understand why people don’t love it compared to Morocco’s other attractions, but for street photography, I found many reasons that made me happy I gave it a chance.

So here are my first impressions of Casablanca, from my personal Street Photographer perspective…

May 30 2016

Behind the Book w/ Kaushal Parikh:
Fragments of a Spinning Rock

Kaushal Parikh is a street, travel and documentary photographer from Mumbai, India. In 2011 he founded the Indian street photography collective, That’s Life, and has become one of the most well-known names in contemporary street photography in India.

Kaushal recently took almost a decade’s work across India to create his first book, titled Fragments of a Spinning Rock. Fragments is not your typical photo book, though, as Kaushal created a full, artistic and personal experience for viewers to enjoy. Poetry is used throughout the book to help take you along the photographic journey and India’s streets and natural life are blended with his own personal life. This creative approach really helps showcase Kaushal’s beautiful black and white images of gritty and striking contrast.

From the book’s layout to how it juxtaposes the streets and nature, while including a strong touch of Kaushal’s personal relationship with his family and son, everything about Fragments of a Spinning Rock is unique. Since Fragments was released at the end of March, it has only been met with high praise and glowing reviews. So in honor of his new book, I got together with Kaushal to talk about Fragments in a new series here at Shooter Files, Behind the Book.

May 25 2016

City Street Guides by f.d. walker:
A Street Photography Guide to
Bratislava, Slovakia

Bratislava

May 23 2016

Finding the Perfect Notebook for Photographers

Notebook. No photographer should be without one! – Ansel Adams

Notebooks for Photographers

I’m a mix of the old and new. I love digital cameras, but I have love for analogs too. My iPhone is filled with music, but I have a collection of vinyl records at home. Technology and electronics are great, but there’s something special about mechanics that work with you without electricity.

Right now I’m writing this post on my Macbook, but many of my posts actually start in my paper bound notebooks.

Even some of my photography starts in a notebook. I love writing any photography related ideas down on paper.

When it comes to creativity, I still connect more with the old school. Putting the pen to paper gets my ideas flowing, while computer screens can put me in a daze. Notebooks also don’t come with internet access, which can be a very good thing when trying to limit distractions. But the best part is how I can take that notebook anywhere and have it when my next idea comes to me at the most random time, which is usually the case.

Plus computers don’t have that ribbon bookmark. I love that thing.

Featured File

50 Tips I Would Tell My New Photographer Self

1. Photos are Images of Light. Learn Light As Much As You Learn Anything.

2. Focus on the Whole Scene, Not Just One Element.

3. Try Everything, Pick Something.

4. Don’t Waste So Much Time Looking at Gear.

5. Listen to Criticism, But Stick to Your Vision.

6. Learn How to Zone Focus.

7. Don’t Just Show What Something Looks Like. See How You Can Capture More.

8. Your Photos You Think are Good Today, You Might Realize Aren’t Tomorrow. That’s OK, You’re Improving.

9. Learn Three Things Inside and Out: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO

10. Be a Photographer First, Then You Can Think of a Career.

11. Don’t Compete or Compare With Others. Focus on Your Own Improvement.

12. Always Have a Camera With You.

13. Photo Books are a Visual Teacher. Buy Many.

14. Worry Less About Technology and More About Photography.

15. Take Risks at the Beginning, Don’t Jump into Constraints From the Start.

16. Don’t Spend So Much Time Tweaking Edits and Pre-Sets. Take Your Camera and Go Outside.

17. Force Yourself to Learn How to Shoot Manual from the Start.

18. Don’t Listen to Everyone. A Photo of a Flower Would Get More “likes” than Most of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Work.

19. Do Listen to Someone, Though. Find Honest Photographers to Critique Your Photos With.

20. Curiosity & Instincts Work Well Together in Photography.

21. Shooting Wide Open is Not Mandatory.

22. Shoot Every Day.

23. Don’t Give Up. Most People Stop at the Start.

24. Learn One Focal Length Extremely Well.

25. Do What You Can With What You Have.

26. Shoot RAW.

27. Bokeh Can Look Nice, But Only in Certain Instances.

28. Slow Down. Taking More Shots Doesn’t Equal More Keepers.

29. Don’t Worry About Taking Too Many Shots, Though. Take Another Shot, or five, If You Feel It.

30. If It Doesn’t Say or Show Anything Interesting, Then It’s Not a Good Photo.

31. Just Shoot It. If It Grabs You, Capture It. Hesitating Out of Fear Loses Your Best Shots.

32. Get Closer. But Not as a Rule.

33. Substance Over Polish. Substance Will Last the Test of Time, Amazing Photoshop Won’t.

34. Most Camera Features Just Get in the Way.

35. Study the Work of Great Photographers.

36. Photography Looks Much Better in Print than on Screens. Study Prints.

37. All You Really Need is a Camera.

38. Look Longer at the Things Most People Ignore.

39. Write Things Down. Ideas, Thoughts, Goals, Etc.

40. Stop Waiting and Just Do It. It Won’t Go Perfectly, But You Have to Take the First Step to Go Anywhere.

41. Always Believe in Yourself Sounds Cliche. Don’t Listen to Yourself When You Don’t Believe in Yourself Sounds Realistic.

42. Choose Your Own Life. Don’t Let Others Dictate It.

43. Your Eyes Will Always Be More Important than Your Camera. Train Your Eyes to See.

44. Question Yourself & Your Photography. Push Yourself.

45. Don’t Worry So Much About What Others Think.

46. Fear and Failure Come with Success.

47. Shoot What You Love. Photograph What Interests You, Don’t Force What Doesn’t.

48. Walk Everywhere.

49. Don’t Overthink Photography. Capturing a Great Photo is Difficult, But Overthinking Only Makes it More Difficult.

50. There’s Always More to Learn. And to Capture.

Budapest

Bratislava

Notebook. No photographer should be without one! – Ansel Adams

Notebooks for Photographers

So what Notebook do I use? What is the Perfect Notebook?

Footer

For Patreon Exclusive Educational Content:

Donations Always Appreciated

Search the Files

For Exclusive Patron Content: