Shooter Files Series

Apr 06 2016

7 First Impressions of Berlin
(From a Street Photography Perspective)

Back before I started my Eastern European Street Photography trip, I first had to stop in Berlin to drop my Leica M9 off for sensor replacement (A whole other story). After being told via email that this would be a 10 day fix, when I got to the Leica store, that quickly changed to an 8 week fix.

So I ended up shortening my stay in Berlin since I’d have to come back anyway. Another reason for the shortened stay was the Berlin weather. I was blessed with one nice day, but the rest were dark, grey and very rainy. So my Street Photography plans for Berlin didn’t go as I’d hoped. I wasn’t going to post about Berlin until my next visit, but I decided to at least write one of my Street Photography First Impressions posts for Berlin so it wasn’t a total waste.

So here are 7 first impressions on Berlin, from my Street Photographer perspective.

Apr 04 2016

20 Questions in Bangalore, India with Arindam Thokder

I’ve decided to change up my photographer interviews and create a new series for the year. It’s a play on “20 questions” and I’ll try to mix them up with some different questions than you might get in other interviews. Some serious, some not so much. I’ll also be focusing the series on some of the best street photographers from the cities I visit around the world.

I just finished up a few weeks in India that included a stop in Bangalore, home of the very talented photographer, Arindam Thokder. Arindam is also a member of one of my favorite photo collectives out there, That’s Life, which I highly recommend checking out. Arindam’s work is full of life. He uses color, light, shadow and an observant eye to capture the special out of daily life in Bangalore.

So a big thank you to Arindam for being the first to participate in the new series! And now time for 20 Questions in Bangalore, India with Arindam Thokder…

Apr 01 2016

The Friday 5
(April 1st, 2016)

5 Photographic Links For Your Weekend

Mar 30 2016

City Street Guides by f.d. walker:
A Street Photography Guide to
Krakow, Poland

*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!

Kraków

Mar 28 2016

33 Street Photography Photos From One Week in Budapest, Hungary

My Eastern European Street Photography Tour ended in Budapest, Hungary, which was a great city to finish it off. I enjoyed all the cities I worked and photographed during this trip, but if I had to choose, Kiev and Budapest would be my favorites. Budapest has become a top spot for travel in Europe, and it’s easy to see why. The city has so much to offer that it would also be one of my top cities to live in Europe. Check out my 7 first impressions of Budapest to find out some of the reasons why.

And as far as Street Photography goes, the city grows on you the longer you spend exploring all it has to offer. So here’s 33 photos that I was able to capture during my time in Budapest…

Mar 27 2016

Street Shot Sundays
Photo of the Week:
“Setting Up”

Street Shot Sundays Story & Stats

Story:

This Sunday’s Street Shot of the Week was taken at Jaama el Fna in Marrakech, Morocco. Jaama el Fna is the main square in Marrakech and it’s really like no other square in the world. It is truly gigantic and can be overwhelmingly chaotic with so much going on. It fills with juice and food stands, street performers and hustlers, tourists and locals, monkeys and snakes, and everything else you can imagine.

Just before sunset, the square’s outside restaurants start setting up for dinner. They put up the poles and temporary rooftops, set up the tables and get everything ready for the night, which is when the square gets especially packed.

I was walking around the corner of one line of restaurants when I ran into the scene in the photo. The light, shadow and layers of all that was going on immediately caught my eye, but when the boy’s hand pointed up, I quickly reacted by taking the photo, without time to think. Fortunately, instincts composed well enough on their own.

For anyone visiting Marrakech, I’d really recommend visiting the square around an hour or two before sunset. Not only is the light the best, but you get plenty of activity and life without it being too crowded yet. The square’s so big, you can easily spend hours exploring and photographing the area.

Stats:

Camera: Fujifilm Xpro1
Lens: Fujinon XF 18mm
Focal Length: 18mm (27mm full frame equivalent)
Aperture: f/8
Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO: 800

Mar 23 2016

Master Profiles: Constantine Manos

Manos-cover

* “Master Profiles” is a series profiling all the great photographers of uncontrolled life. Unlike the rest of the blog, I’m doing these in a straight profile format to make it easy for quick access to facts, quotes and knowledge on all the masters. I’ll also group them together here every time I add a new one.

Profile:

Constantine Manos (1934-present)

An American photographer with a long history in photography, but more recently known for his work capturing American life in vivid color.

Mar 21 2016

7 First Impressions of Budapest, Hungary
(From a Street Photography Perspective)

After Belgrade, I made my way up to Budapest, Hungary for some work and decided to stay longer than planned, while also making a short trip to Bratislava. When I first arrived in Budapest, the weather wasn’t good, the light was bad, and I wasn’t finding much to shoot. So why did I stay longer? Because there’s something special about Budapest that I didn’t want to leave yet. Fortunately, the weather and light got better, and I started finding photos too.

Living in Istanbul and traveling around Eastern Europe, I was constantly hearing about how great Budapest is from travelers. It had the feeling of the “new european city” being added to every traveler’s list. Everyone’s always trying to find the new city in Europe that has so much to offer, but hasn’t been overrun with tourists or inflated prices yet. And Budapest is that city right now.

I remember my first time in Prague years ago, before everyone found out about it. Budapest has that similar feeling. And it’s great.

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

Mar 20 2016