Feeling more motivated to shoot personal work lately and to post on here.
I don’t have much to say today so I’m going to let the photos sit here instead.
Let’s be honest no one moves to Nyc for the weather.
We’re here for the people, the opportunities, the constant bustle.
Nyc doesn’t sleep that’s a fact but with so much of the city in a choke hold from covid this place that once seemed like a post card is being tested in ways it hasn’t been tested before.
Still something about this city and its grittiness feels immortal like a cockroach.
Nyc can’t be stopped and if it can survive 9-11 it damn sure can survive covid.
I remember when I first moved here I thought this city was going to be easy….boy was I wrong.
The only thing easy about Ny is getting a chop cheese at the bodega and even that can be challenging at times.
No matter what you are doing here this is almost always a hoop you have to jump through and that is especially apparent now with Covid.
One thing that sits in stark contrast to where I grew up in Connecticut (Not Greenwhich!) is that very few people have parking here.
So if you shovel out your car and a plow truck plows it back in you’re going to have to break out the shovel again.
When I had a car I hated this but that’s part of the price you pay to live here.
Seeing all the cars terribly stuck yesterday I was inspired to take a walk to get some photos before bed.
Shortly after I started my flash died so I only got a few photos but I guess it wouldn’t be New York if something didn’t go as planned.
Inspiration weans and wanes like the tide and throughout 2020 I have never seen the tide so low for so long.
On a regular day, it is rare for me to not get ideas from everyday life but this year hit me differently I felt my drive and inspiration slipping away.
I’ve been in creative ruts before this is nothing new but what is new is how long this one lasted.
It seemed to go on for the entirety of 2020.
Normally when these lulls happen it only lasts a few weeks maybe a month.
So how are artists supposed to get through these times.
I’ve heard other people say “Oh I’m taking a break I’m going to focus on other things for now.”
I get it we all have other passions besides our chosen medium but stepping away from photography has never gotten me out of a creative funk, it has only left itself there for me to pick it up when I returned.
The only way I’ve ever gotten through a lack of inspiration is by shooting through it.
That means picking up the camera contacting new people and making new work.
That’s when the ideas start flowing when you’re in the thick of it.
Not when your behind your screen planning a shoot based on somebody else’s images.
MAKE YOUR OWN IMAGES.
If you’re a photographer out there odds are you’ve contemplated assisting? Maybe.
I did for a year and although there was some good in it ultimately it was not for me.
I was making more money shooting and was actually getting paid on time v.s. getting paid 5 months later by a millionaire photographer who changed his assistance faster than his underwear.
At this time in my life every shoot I was assisting with filled me with endless amounts of inspiration.
I would see the grand set designs or even the simple ones and wonder how I would have photographed the models there.
It didn’t seem to be that way for the other photo assistants, instead, they seemed to be in a rut.
I could understand why with the payments always being late and some of the photographers treating us like shit but then again I couldn’t understand it.
We weren’t working on a fucking emergency room floor or curing cancer so why was everyone always so flat and uninspired?
Needless to say, I left that environment but there was one thing another photo assistant said to me before I left that will stick with me as the ultimate way to not do something for the rest of my life.
I asked him why he was never taking photos as his work was amazing before he had started assisting.
His reply was “I’m trying to learn everything I can over the next seven years and then when I’m done I’ll start shooting again.”
In my head, all I could think was “Jesus Christ if Michael Jordan had that mindset he’d never had made a free throw.”
The lesson I learned from all of this. ^^^^^^^^
Do not wait to be inspired.
Just make and make and make again and if you don’t like the direction it is going in, correct to a new course and make again.
Below is a sneak peek at a new project I am working on with an Olympic fencer who grew up in Nyc.
It’s not done yet but it’s the first shoot that has really filled me with a burning passion for photography again and it has since lead me to get out and shoot so much more.
All the best,
Atticus
Nothing is easy lately but the important thing is always making sure you are getting the important things done.
To start with a positive I can’t believe how blessed I am to have this little maniac of a puppy in my life.
Back in November when she was just born I bought her as a Christmas for my girlfriend Meg and we had to wait till January 15th to get her.
We are both so in love with her but boy puppies have a lot of energy.
It definitely makes life a bit more difficult having to take care of something else but when you hear those little grones when your puppy is waking up, or you get to have playtime on your lunch break, well those moments are priceless.
Besides the amazingly fruitful and challenging task of raising a puppy, I’m also going through a bunch of transitions in my life.
My roommate is moving to Minneapolis, I’m moving in with my girlfriend, NYC is more dead now than ever, and I’m trying to raise our puppy all at once.
It’s such a weird mix of ups and downs and in this mix of it all, I’m trying to remind myself of what’s important.
My health, my family, my work, and finding time for the things I love to do most.
Stressing too much never makes a situation better and neither does giving in to your vices.
Matter of fact I’ll say that giving in to your vices only compounds a stressful situation into a worse one.
I know this blog is super obvious but we all need a little reminder sometimes to take a step away from the stress and to take notice of what we are grateful for in our lives.
When I look back at some of my past blogs I notice that I work through so many of my own problems here.
Obviously, this blog has fewer views than my Instagram but it feels more like a private platform as if the people that come here to read these keep it to themselves.
In a sense, this is an extension of my journaling, and this year I’ve told myself I am going to focus on what I am doing right instead of always aiming to fix my problems.
With this new aim for 2021 I not only want to focus on those things I am doing well I want to double down on them and I think you should too.
I feel so much more grateful for what I have in my life when I practice a more positive version of awareness.
I’m most grateful for my community right now.
I had no work pretty much all of 2020 until the fall hit and it seemed like the work has been constant since.
When everything changed and I began to work again things became better than they were before the quarantine.
I wondered how this happened and after asking the clients almost every job was from a recommendation.
This is strictly because of the community I have in Nyc and it is one that I am forever grateful for.
A big part of that community has come from supporting other businesses and even some from working at the tattoo shop featured below.
The name Atelier Eva pretty much means Eva’s Artist workshop and it doesn’t feel at all like a tattoo shop.
It’s more of an artist’s boutique for lack of better words.
Each piece in the shop flows from design to functionality.
It’s lined with concrete stucco walls and warmed with wooden accents and benches throughout the space.
Every single thing in the shop was handpicked by the owner and head artist who sees the space as an artist collective rather than a tattoo shop.
Also to note most of the furniture and lighting is all from other local artists or artists from her home country of Turkey.
This is what supporting your community looks like.
The shop has an immediate connection with all the artists who work there as well as the artists who made the fixtures that sit in the space.
I’m grateful to be around people I can learn from each day and I’m excited to double down on my community building this year because we all need it more than ever.
All the best,
Atticus
I didn’t take too many photos this holiday season.
Probably because this is my first year without a car in a long time. (living in NYC you don’t really need one.)
It’s a little hard to get someone to drive you when the sun is rising and that’s typically my favorite time to shoot.
Luckily I was able to photograph some of my favorite moments from this year’s holiday.
Over the past few years, my brother Walter and I have made it a point to go swimming each Christmas morning.
It’s become a tradition I look forward to.
Whether there is ice we have to chop through or like this year just cold as the water it’s an essential part of what makes Christmas fun for us.
The second thing you’ll in these photos below is our trip to New Hampshire for New Years’.
Although this was the first year I spent it outside of the city and without many of my friends it was one of the best new years I’ve ever had.
Looking back. at the past few New Year’s Eve parties we have they seem quite boring in comparison.
This is something I’ve felt about the holidays for a long time.
Why the fuck are they so boring.
You see other peoples family’s having sing-alongs, playing games, and giving each other gifts and I always envied that when I was around my high school years.
I think around the end of college our family holidays. started to get really fun.
The important thing here is that you make up the rules for your holidays.
Once I realized this everything changed for me.
It’s not always easy to get everyone to join in on the fun but fuck it if they don’t want to play trampoline basketball then let them be bored.
This New Year was different than any other I’ve ever had.
Instead of dressing up nice, spending a ton of money, and standing in a room talking to people.
We bought nerf guns and had a nerf war, dressed however we wanted, and before the ball dropped we all shared our favorite memories from 2020.
It just felt perfect.
When it comes to holidays if you want to stick to just meeting up having dinner then so be it do what makes you happy.
Just be aware that you make the rules for your own holidays and if you want to have an egg toss on Christmas then toss your heart out.
I’m going to be posting on here regularly now and boy does it feel good.
When I first posted blogs as a 365 project I thought I would be done as soon as I hit 365.
Shortly after I finished I felt like something was missing after I stopped posting so I continued sporadically over the past 2 years but still that wasn’t enough for me.
It still feels like something is missing from my life when I don’t do this and the same goes for keeping a daily journal.
Without these two things, I notice that my photographic work suffers because of this.
The reason is that practice is everything.
I can’t stress that enough.
In all the times I’ve had success the one common denominator has always consistent practice 6 months prior.
The same goes for working out if you work out super hard for a week you won't see much in terms of results.
But if you work out for 30 minutes a day for 6 months you will see much more success at the end of that process.
All of the good in your life is a direct result of what you were doing 6 months ago.
The crazy part for me here is how the simplest actions compound over time.
For example, I used to shoot and edit every day after I worked a manual labor job.
I let that go for a while because photography is my job now but it is still my passion and the simple act of taking a few pictures a day is everything to me.
This is the simple practice or actions I am talking about.
You don’t need to kill yourself to get good at something you just need to have some consistency with it.
Now onto the pictures, you see below.
If you’ve ever watched the UFC odds are you’ve heard of Royce Gracie.
He’s the first winner in the history of the sport and his family invented Brazilian Jui Jitsu.
Below is Royce’s nephew Rayron Gracie, he just turned 19 years and he’s dominating the Jui Jitsu world right now.
Rayron’s father was a fighter too as well as his uncles and cousins.
While we were shooting these photos he told me about his father’s passing when he was around 5 years old and how that fuels him to be the best in his sport to carry on his family’s legacy.
I didn’t tell him about my father’s passing but boy did his story pull at my heartstrings.
I remember as a boy hearing the stories of how great of an athlete my dad was and it drove me so much to try and be like him.
That same sentiment still fuels me in my photography not wanting to waste the life my parents gave to me.
I think one thing that Rayron and myself both have in common is that we realize that life is really short.
You can either wake up with a passion and work your balls off at what you love or you can waste your life.
I myself waste a lot of time sitting behind a computer and this year I’m trying to change that so I can spend more time behind a lens meeting amazing people as I did for this series.
Thanks for reading this.
With love,
Atticus
Regardless of your feelings on the police and regardless of your feelings on black lives matters we should all care about our fellow human beings.
This has been a year that I find difficult to describe with words.
2020 has been liberating, destructive, progressive, insightful, inspiring, and a complete fuck you to any plans you may have had.
It has forced us all to adapt to the times or face drowning with the ship.
One thing I hope drowns with 2020 is HATRED and how the media uses it for views but its affects on the American people are far too damaging to justify this practice.
Further division is a problem.
Guess what, you can be for Black lives matter and be pro-police at the same time.
Being in the middle doesn’t enrage anyone enough to get views that’s why no one talks about it.
You can acknowledge a corrupt system but still be for law and order and you can acknowledge the plight of black Americans people too.
As much as I didn’t want to make this political I feel that I have to in order to earn the right to grieve my fathers absence.
Luckily for myself I decided to change my sentiment this year and I chose to celebrate my fathers life rather than to morn it.
He’s been gone for 28 years now and although we never met it felt like each year at his memorial we buried him again and again.
What a strange feeling it was but noticing this self deprecating pattern I’m choosing to see the good these days instead of always seeing the problems.
There were too many problems with 2020 and I just don’t give a fuck about that anymore.
One rule my mother said to my entire life was treat people the way you want to be treated.
I’ve since modified that to fit my life and it’s a rule I now live by.
BE GOOD TO YOUR NEIGHBORS.
It’s not hard to hold the door for someone, it’s not hard to keep your stereo at level 6 instead of at level 10.
It’s not hard to put your shopping cart back. (Seriously don’t be that person.)
It’s not hard to treat your neighbor with respect no matter their skin color.
It can be difficult to be nice to cops especially if one is being a dick but at the end of the day we’re all human.
We are all somebody’s brother, son, daughter, mother, etc.
Empathy and a connection to complete strangers is one of the most powerful things you’ll ever feel in life.
Don’t let anger blind you because if you are easily enraged you are easily controlled.
That goes for the die hard republicans and the die hard liberals.
Fuck if you are die hard in anything other than knitting please seek to understand the other side.
It’s always interesting for me to take photos of cops on this day each year because I am an outsider but for this day I’m always welcomed with open arms.
With that here are some photos from my fathers memorial this year.
It was cut short due to Covid but with my fathers closest childhood friends we managed to celebrate the legacy my father left on his home town and it was an emotional day.
With love,
Atticus
Although the world is seemingly in shambles Covid has really unveiled the true importance of so many things in our lives.
It has reminded me of something I learned on my second cross country trip a few years back.
The previous summer (2016) I had driven from Brooklyn to California and back.
This year I had planned to drive up from NYC to Canada and to travel west to road trip a part of the world I hadn’t yet seen.
Well my plans were foiled on the first day.
I got up to the Canadian border after seeing Niagara falls and they wouldn’t let me in after searching my car and finding all of my camera gear.
They thought I was traveling there to work in Canada illegally but really I was just vacationing because I like taking photos.
This wrench was really a huge downer for me so I went to sleep at a camp ground and it was way over my budget to put a tent up.
I then went to a Walmart and slept in my car that night.
It was interesting but I had done it before.
Then after about 3 days on the road and coming up with a totally new route to see I stopped in Iowa for the night.
As I had some whiskey by the fire and was writing in my journal I had the most overwhelming feeling that family is really all that matters.
Wether you consider that by blood or by bond who you spend your time with is one of the most fulfilling parts of life.
When you are locked in your apartment for 6 months it becomes even more apparent how much you can miss the ones you love the most.
Covid also exposed how much of a dump NYC is to me without it’s people.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again no one lives in NYC for the weather, the garbage smells, or the rats.
We’re all here to connect with other. people.
That’s exactly what this trip to Florida was for me.
Spending time with the people I love the most and it was a much needed refresher for sure.
I can’t wait to go back and whoop my Step Dad’s ass in a dance competition again.
When I first started this blog I was writing in my journal every morning and looking back a lot of those writings were letters to the future children I hope to one day have.
They were a series of lessons I was learning at the time and although I felt corny thinking that one day my kids would pick these up and be able to avoid the mistakes that I once made it felt good doing it.
Little did I know I was writing those lessons down for myself so I wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice.
This awareness of seeing life written down has also helped me recognize the actions I was taking when times were going really good.
For example.
Whenever I am shooting personal work often.
Whenever I am putting myself out there and attending events and speaking with my contemporaries.
Whenever I have a morning routine.
When I eat healthy and stay active.
Whenever I am brutally honest.
Whenever I practice gratitude.
Being value driven and mission oriented.
Those simple things done consistently enough over time have always lead to my most successful moments in life.
Whenever work and life was going really. well for me I knew it was because of the work I was doing 8 months before.
This is why I firmly believe in running a marathon in your work and not a sprint.
This means saying no sometimes because you know a client is trying to take advantage of you.
It also means swallowing your pride when someone is a dick to you and just being the bigger person.
(Trust me you will see this person again in your career years down the road and you never know what position they’ll hold.)
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from this journaling is being mission oriented.
It something I don’t do enough but when I have done it I have achieved my goals.
For example when I started this blog my missions was to do 365 blogs.
One for each day of the year.
It took me like 3 years to get it done but when I did it I felt like a million bucks.
Now thinking about this blog and where it stands today I don’t really have a mission.
That’s something I need to think about over the next few weeks but I can’t help to think of how much more valuable this blog would be for people if I had a purpose to it.
If my mission was to teach you about yoga, to spread love, or to inspire people into baking it would be much easier to digest this blog but for right now it’s just me sharing my thoughts each morning.
I guess I like too many things to pick just one lol.
Anyways I think we all need to think about our mission in life a little more.
What means the most to us and how can we share that joy with other people?
Hopefully by the next time I make a post I can have a more concrete mission for this blog.
All the best,
Atticus
Growing up playing sports I always trained myself to be competitive.
There are only so many spots available on the field so you need to be better than everyone standing next to you.
To me this doesn’t exist in photography and that is what I find so freeing about being in this field.
Yet there are some people who think they’re still on the basketball court so they compete with their counterparts and they keep secrets and they don’t collaborate.
Comparing yourself to others is a lonely way to grow in the creative process.
I’ve also found that this tactic doesn’t work.
Before I get to what does work I’m going to explain to another mistake I’m still trying to overcome.
When you’re competing against yourself it’s important to not fall into the trap of only seeing problems.
Eg. Say you’re running a race and you come in second every time and your biggest issue are the straight aways but you’re killing everyone else on the hills.
It’s important to keep your focus on what you are doing well at and doubling down on those skills.
Beating yourself up over what you aren’t doing well at is terrible for your mental health.
The central theme of my journaling this week has been all about what was I doing when things were going well in my life v.s. what was I doing when things weren’t going so well.
The most reoccurring answer for when times were going bad was beating myself up over meaningless things.
When things were going well I had a routine, I held myself to small tasks daily, I created work often, and I put myself out to the world.
Back to the point of competition.
One of my clients is a tattoo artist (Eva) in Brooklyn and she’s one of the most talented giving and inspirational people I’ve ever met.
She is from Turkey so there is a bit of a language barrier but what she may not say in words in always evident in her actions.
With all the amazing tattoo artists in the city you’d think why would you join such a competitive market?
That’s not the way she looks at NYC for tattooing she looks at it as the place with the biggest tattoo community and most amount of clients in the world.
Through Eva’s actions I have seen how she has built a community around her new shop in Brooklyn, Ny.
She hired local artists to build the furniture, she hired her friends who’s work is very similar to work there.
If Eva was competitive in her tattooing I don’t think she would have the shop, or the community that she has in Brooklyn.
Competition has an important place in the world but for myself and for so many other artists you will go further with a tribe than you will alone.
Trying something new today.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I can do to practice photography in the physical world lately.
How can I step away from the digital world and into the tangible with my work?
This is so important because when you work on a screen your images can look so tiny and all the great detail they posses can easily be missed.
You also don’t really get to see all of your work as a whole when it’s on the screen…yes you can make a contact sheet but seeing 150 images that you want to edit down to 12 images on a 15” screen sucks.
The other issue and I’d say it’s the biggest one is Instagram.
It becomes very distracting to curate your images when you are getting instant feedback via likes in seconds.
This is why working with prints blocks out other’s opinions and strengthens your photographic voice. (Confidence)
Below I ordered prints off amazon. (Yeah they sell printing services too.)
I made these prints via contact sheets and when the images came in they were far too small for my normal photo journal, I could hardly see anything in them but I decided to lay them out and glue them into another journal just for the memories.
What ended up happening was that I glued them into this journal and didn’t look at them for 5 months and when I re-opened it I actually grew a liking for what I had laid out.
So even if you are never going to use the photos you put in your photo journal there is so much to appreciate and to learn from this process.
Don’t let “likes” distract you from your vision.
There is something so specific about what nature does to your quality of living.
It's a visceral feeling that brings back the childhood memories of dirt stains on my jeans and growing up in the wooded suburbs of New England.
Seven years ago I moved to New York and I always needed breaks from this amazing city.
Although I crave the smell of the streets when I am gone for too long it never soothed me like the smell of a pine tree or fresh-cut grass.
It wasn't until I started to take advantage of the nature New York City has to offer that this place truly became home.
Now it's August of 2020 and my love for New York has never been put to the test harder than it has been over these past 6 months.
The quarantine hit everyone hard but for those of us without a back yard, it hit especially hard, and finally, Central Park is accessible again.
One thing that I think is unique about New York is that all of our public parks are shared.
That every time you go to central park for a walk, or a picnic you know that whatever you do will affect the experience for the person visiting after you.
This is why it's so important to clean up after yourself and your friends or even strangers who may have left some trash in the spot you’re picnicking in.
(It's not cool to litter.)
I am prideful in New Yorkers' ability to be there for one another when people are in need.
There are countless examples of people helping others whether it's a blind person who needs help crossing the street or a mother carrying her child and stroller out of the subway someone is always there to lend a hand.
That's why it pains me to see litter in any New York City park.
As humans, I think it's important to have space where you can connect with your environment. Nature was something I thought I was losing when I moved to New York but that's not true at all.
Whether it's Rockaway Beach and surfing or Central park picnics there is Nature here if you're willing to look for it.
Thanks to Klean Kanteen I feel a bit easier that wherever I go in this city I won't have to leave any trash behind me.
I recently had the opportunity to shoot a men’s fashion story for Esquire Kazakhstan.
I’ve always had a hard time describing what kind of photography I do and that is still true.
I’m so in love with taking photos that I find it difficult to not shoot something but that doesn’t have to be the case.
It is okay to shoot everything from weddings to your friend’s birthday, sports, and even fashion if you want to.
The important thing is the way you curate your work.
For example, you wouldn’t expect Brittny Spears to have a metal song on her album full of pop hits.
Consistency is one of the most difficult and elusive parts of photography.
I try to find a balance in 3 ways.
1. Similar lighting and editing style throughout my images.
2. Subject matter. (what/who are you photographing)
3. Restricting myself to one lens per shoot. Too many options can make things messy.
The shoot featured below was particularly interesting to me because the model is a US Olympic gold medalist for fencing.
The model Race Imboden also uses his platform to advocate for the end of gun violence which is a topic very near to my heart.
I wish I knew this beforehand because it’s something I would have strived to convey in the images.
If you have time do your research before any shoot but unfortunately, I shot this one a couple of days after I found out about it.
To wrap this up I’m very stoked to be seeing my images printed more often than they ever have been this year and I’m looking forward to keeping this going.
Regrettably the first thing I do every morning is look at my phone.
There was a time when I used to notice how distracted I would be for the entire day if I gazed at my phone as soon as I woke up.
Just 15 to 20 minutes could throw my concentration off entirely.
Now I hardly notice the lack of focus as this morning routine has become so natural again over the quarantine.
This is a problem because all of my best breakthroughs have come from boredom, early morning writing, or late night editing.
This is something about monotony that inspires the shit out of my brain.
Rewind to about 7 years ago I was in college doing anything I could for a few extra dollars.
I got rid of tree stumps in peoples yards, dug holes where machines couldn’t fit, and fabricated marble counter tops.
All of these things took a lot of time and to the hum of a machine some of my best photo ideas were born.
Each day after work in the summers I had 2 hours of sunlight left to shoot with and wether I had friends to model or not I’d go and take photos.
At the time I couldn’t wait to stop doing manual labor but looking back I miss how full mind mind felt after a long day of work.
I still get the same feeling if I have a long hard day of work.
It doesn’t drain me it fills me with excitement.
I can’t say this technique will work for everyone but for myself doing something monotonous like folding clothes, or a long day of yard work seems to fill me with a flood of ideas.
In direct contrast looking for inspiration online seems to jumble my thoughts until there is nothing left but scrambled eggs.
I envy people who can make sense of all that information but for myself it just leads to a dizziness I can’t undo to the next day.
Lastly I find a lot of my photo ideas come from just taking photos.
Walking in itself is a long boring process but it’s one of my favorite things to do.
This is probably why none of my photo composition ideas come from biking, it’s too much information all at once.
I’ve also haven’t been posting much on instagram and over the next few weeks I’m going to try to be more present during my mornings.
Less phone time equals more focus.
Hope this helps,
Atticus.
SHOOT MANUAL - When I first started taking pictures I was constantly getting blurry images in low light or under exposed images in broad day light. Once I realized how exposure worked within the camera than I was able to determine how I wanted my images to look. This is super easy to understand so if you’re looking to figure it out I’ll link a tutorial video here.
SHOOT OFTEN - I take a few photos every single day but when I was getting started I made it a point to shoot at least an hour a day. Reviewing the images on my computer after each session helped me to understand what worked well for me and what didn’t work at all. This practice also helps you make the most of what little you have to shoot so when it comes time to shoot for a client you will be comfortable knowing that you can get the shots you need in any situation.
YOUTUBE EDITING TUTORIALS- We’ve all taken a picture of something we thought was beautiful just to look down at our camera and see that the image does it no justice. This can be because your eye sees better than your camera. If you dig deep into youtube editing tutorials you can get the tools you need to fix this issue and best of all it’s FREE!
PUT YOUR OWN SPIN ON YOUR EDITS- It’s becoming way too easy to copy someone’s editing style especially with all the presets and tutorials on youtube. Copying too much will only make you blend in, in an industry designed for standouts.
Put your own little touch on your editing and remember that clean is timeless and over editing an image may date it or just muddy up the image.
HAVING A COMMUNITY HELPS- I wish I understood or knew this sooner but having friends to shoot with or style for your shoots will make your knowledge of photography grow exponentially. I remember when I first started taking photos and every question I asked photographers was ignored or met with harsh criticism. I really took this to heart at that time and I realized that if I wanted to learn this I’d have to do it on my own. If you want to grow your photography skills super fast do the opposite of what I did. Join groups online (Ex. Looks like film on Facebook) share your images and comment on other people’s images. If you become a familiar face in any photo group people will naturally be inclined to help you when you have questions. Lastly, the most important part about building this community is sharing new things you’ve learned that can help others improve their craft. No one likes someone who only takes but never gives.
PLAN TO TELL A STORY- For me this is huge. My best work has always come when there was a story in my head before I went and made the photos. For example, the photos below are taken on a rainy Sunday morning playing basketball with my roommate. I knew that I wanted to bring the camera to show basketball played in the rain. If I went out with no intention or story in mind you might see photos of people on the street, my coffee, and other random things. Telling a story helps people digest your work.
COMPOSITION- This takes a while but if you look at enough photos you’ll start to see angles photographers often use. I personally love finding my own angles to shoot things so that they make a shape in my frame. Again composition will make your photos easier to understand and more aesthetically pleasing but with that being said composition isn’t everything. The most important part about photography will always be what in the photo and what is it saying.
COPY TO UNDERSTAND- I’ve always strived to not copy while making work. My goal is always to progress my practice to somewhere it hasn’t been that’s better than where it was but…… when you’re learning to take photos and you want to understand light it’s super important to copy. I’m not saying you should add these copies to your portfolio (please don’t) but the skills you can learn from copying an image or an edit is akin to sharpening a chief’s knives.
LIGHT- You have to have a relationship with light to be a photographer. Light is what develops the image onto your sensor or film and it can be your best friend or worst enemy. Find out what time of the day has the best light for you and shoot during that time every day. This will also help your images look more consistent over time. Another thing to note is that your camera does not produce the best images, the light and your vision does. Focus on better lighting rather than the most expensive camera equipment.
A GOOD EDIT ON A BAD PICTURE IS STILL A BAD PICTURE- What’s going on in the image is always going to be what’s most important. I had a teacher who used to like my edits but the images were of nothing so he would tell me you can polish a turd but at the end of the days it’s just a shiny turd. Don’t polish your turds.
KEEP A PHOTO JOURNAL- This is number one for my guys. Nothing has helped me in photography more than keeping a photo journal. If you want to see what that looks like I’ll leave a link HERE.
If you have any questions don’t be afraid to leave a comment below I’d love to discuss.
Yesterday my friend let me borrow his Fuji x100F.
I was pretty pumped on this because one of the most annoying things about taking photos is lugging around a huge camera and tons of other lenses.
With this pocket-size camera the lens is fixed and you can fit it into any bag.
On top of that, you don’t have to edit the photos because fuji has film simulations built into the camera.
Yeah, they aren’t perfect but for snapshots and quick trips out of the city they are great and will save you a ton of time on editing.
Beyond that, this camera is extremely easy to use.
After a few minutes I knew where all the settings were and it’s painless to fine-tune the camera to the style you desire.
The fuji x100f is seriously making me want to invest in fuji.
This camera is 100% a point and shoot camera much like the ones your parents used to photograph your birthday party’s in the 90’s.
If I had to critique this camera it’s really only lacking in the video department but that’s just not what this camera is for.
I’d also say that this is not a camera I’d ever use for client work because of how small the sensor is because you lose some detail in the color if you are really trying to edit your images.
With that being said this camera kicks ass for anyone looking to take travel photos, street photos, or to capture family memories and the images that come straight out of the camera with the fujifilm simulations come out rad.
I give this camera an 8/10
The skin tones are really good.
Greens and blues are a little funky.
Very high usability with a basic understanding of exposure.
Battery life is decent.
Size is everything with this camera, it’s smaller than an iPhone 11 plus but obviously it’s thicker.
This camera can fit in your back pocket!
The final walk from last week.
This one was great because I was able to go surfing with my buddy Herms out in Rockaway beach.
I didn’t shoot a bunch as I was surfing the whole time but at the end of our morning I took a few photos to finish my weekly goal.
For these photos, I wanted to do something a little different as I’ve been having trouble editing my images lately.
Typically I am editing in Capture one and there are some things I love about it and others that I can’t stand.
I hold the same sentiment for lightroom.
It is a great tool but it has its limitations.
If you are having a tough time editing I find that using a different tool can help make you realize the things you may be doing wrong or the things that you are overdoing.
For myself, it’s typically the latter.
While editing I tend to have a photo right where I want it to be then in my doubt I go overboard.
Clean and timeless editing will always be better than a unique edit because what is in the photo is more important than the makeup you put over the top of it.
With that being said here are a bunch of over-edited photos to prove my point.
Whenever I get down on myself about my life it can be hard to want to stay with photography.
It’s an extremely difficult field to make a living in and with such easy access to cameras everywhere day rates are plummeting.
The supply far outweighs the demand.
How a working photographer gets around to making money is a conversation for another day.
My point today is to talk about what to do when facing difficult times in your career.
No matter what we do we all have struggles that can make us feel hopeless but if you truly love what you do or if you receive a fat check every week that can make all the difference.
When I go out and shoot all my problems seem to dissolve, especially when I am trying to photograph ideas I have drawn out in my notepad.
This simple action fills me with hope and makes me excited to one day make a better living with photography.
So why stress now?
Shit gets hard, yeah but you have to keep your head down and keep doing your best.
But what if doing your best isn’t enough?
Your best might not be enough unless you have a specific goal in mind.
This is something I’ve only just realized about my photography.
I’ve always just wanted to make great photos and to make a living off of it.
I don’t think that’s a specific enough question to ask of the universe.
Looking back on my life everything I ever truly wanted I have received, whether it was my dream girl, a job, a car, a trophy etc. I got it but I always saw it first.
If I didn’t get it I really didn’t want it bad enough and most times I couldn’t envision it.
At the point of my career I am at now I know I need to narrow my focus and to ask to be the best photographer in a specific genre.
Whether it’s to be the best documentary photographer, celebrity portrait photographer, or product photographer.
What do you really want?
I find that the more specific I am the more likely I am to get there.
It’s like driving west or driving versus driving to Santa Monica, California, you’ll get to where you want to be a lot faster if you have an exact location.
Ask for what you really want.
All the best,
Atticus
