Shooter Files by f.d. walker

Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides

Shooter Files Series

Why You Should Shoot a
Photo Series Everywhere You Travel:
Tokyo Alleys

shooter files tokyo alley-1
“Tokyo Alleys” | Tokyo, Japan 2014

 

New to You or Interesting?

When traveling to a new city, everything you see is exciting. There’s so much that you’ve never seen before and new visual experiences are around every corner. So you take your camera and snap away at all these new sights that interest you. 

While you’re finding interest in everything you see, you should also ask yourself a couple of questions, though…

Am I finding it interesting because it’s new to me or because it’s actually interesting?

Would somebody who lives here find it interesting too?

Many times we can confuse new with interesting.

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Master Profiles: Joel Meyerowitz

portrait* “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:

Joel Meyerowitz (1938-present)

American Street, Portrait and Landscape Photographer who was also an early advocate of color photography before it was widely accepted.

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Master Profiles: Saul Leiter

portrait

* “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:

Saul Leiter (1923-2013)

American photographer, painter and pioneer of abstract color Street Photography.

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City Street Profiles:
A Street Photography Guide to
Tokyo, Japan

Shooter Files Bicyclist-1
Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

*City Street Profiles is a series of guides on shooting Street Photography in cities across the world. One of the biggest things I found lacking on the internet was Street Photography info for specific cities so you can be ready to shoot when traveling to a new city. Find the best spots to shoot, what to capture, safety concerns, street tips, and more for cities around the world.  (I have personally shot Street Photography in every city that I create a guide for and only include my photos)

Tokyo

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Looking for Light: How Less Can Be More

Portland, Oregon 2015
Portland, Oregon   2015

In these days of HDR and shadow sliders, photography is obsessed with exposing everything in the scene. People want every bit of the photo to be lit up nice and bright. No shadows allowed. Unfortunately, sometimes this actually ruins the photo.

How can exposing for everything in the picture do more harm than good?

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Master Profiles: Elliot Erwitt

portrait

* “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 and knowledge on all the masters. I will also group them together here every time I add a new one.

Profile:

Elliott Erwitt (1928-present)

Advertising and Documentary photographer known for his black and white candid photographs that mixed the slightly comical in with everyday normal life. 

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Where Travel & Street Meet:
A Photographic Journey Through
India – Part 5: Mumbai and Kerala

India Shooter Files-2-3
Mumbai, India 2014

While I focus on Street Photography more lately, I still love photography that would be considered more in the Travel category too. I also try to incorporate much of Street Photography into my Travel work because I love the authentic look of uncontrolled life. Here’s some of my personal travel work I shot in Mumbai and Kerala, while working in India. (This is the last part of the 5 part series)

Mumbai, India

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Why You Should Start a Shooting Strangers Project Today

shooter files miami faces-13

Fear of Photographing Strangers

Fear of photographing strangers is probably the #1 thing that holds people back when it comes to Street Photography.

That fear of a negative reaction can:

  • Keep you from getting close enough and taking the shot you want
  • Cause you to rush and not focus on the shot
  • Keep you from taking the photo at all

Nothing else can improve your Street Photography instantly like overcoming this fear. Unfortunately, simply ignoring this fear is easier said than done for most people. So the next best thing is learning how to overcome it. And the best way to overcome a fear is by confronting it repeatedly.

One of the most effective ways to do this is to take on a personal “Shooting Strangers” project.

What is a Shooting Strangers project?

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Master Profiles: Garry Winogrand

Winogrand portrait

* “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:

Garry Winogrand (1928-1984)

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Where Travel & Street Meet:
A Photographic Journey Through India – Part 4: Rajasthan

India Shooter Files-106
Bundi, India 2014

While I focus on Street Photography more lately, I still love photography that would be considered more in the Travel category too. I also try to incorporate much of Street Photography into my Travel work because I love the authentic look of uncontrolled life. Here’s some of my personal travel work I shot in Rajasthan, while working in India. (This is the 4th part of a 5 part series)

Rajasthan, India

[Read more…] about Where Travel & Street Meet: A Photographic Journey Through India – Part 4: Rajasthan