I really like your editing style and how you're not afraid to push the highlights. It's very bright and clean looking as opposed to people crushing the highlights making the image look dull and muddy.
For what it's worth James, as a newbie photographer I found this style of video very helpful - seeing on video how you were trying to get a good composition and then seeing the photos that resulted. I guess the reality is that landscape photographers try different subjects and compositions and some will never quite work, while others end up as keepers. I found the honesty of the whole approach very informative. Thanks.
As an mixed analog and digital photographer, I find that the focus and intention applied to each photo comes very naturally when shooting film. Its incredible hard to replicate that feeling with digital. Every photo with film feels more intended. I would encourage you James to give analog photography another try, just to get that feeling! A video about it would also be just amazing!❤
Here's an idea: start showing your before shots before showing your fully edited photos. Not just before/after editing, but the shots it took to land on the composition you like. One of the best exercises for my own photography is to look at the dozens of photos I didn't pick. The first shots, the ones where the composition isn't quite right, etc., all of which lead up to the winner that gets edited and posted. It's helped me grow a ton over the years, perhaps showing your process that way could be beneficial for us (and you!) too.
I disagree with this, I prefer James’s method of the way he presents his videos, too many UA-camrs take you through the entire process, for one, all this does is teaches you their process, secondly, what are going to learn from that, too many things get spoon fed to us and most of us don’t think and create for ourselves, I myself don’t want to see how he came to his style or final edit, I’d rather be influenced by my own process instead and achieve my result There literally thousands of videos on here on how to do that and do this, we don’t need another one
Regarding your data storage: get a friend who also have such a unit and mirror each others stuff to both. That way, if you house burns down, gets burlged or something you still have your data.
I have a synology NAS and it's great. However just having a NAS on it's own isn't a backup. That shouldn't be the only copy of your data. I got a 2nd one and it lives at my parents house and it syncs. Anything important stays on a memory card until it's also online.
I use Amazon Photos as well, they don't have a restriction on how many photos you can upload (for now). So I use the desktop app. to watch my Nas Photo folder to upload my photos
I’m impressed with the interesting images you get out of such a sloppy place using color and space to organize your scenes. FYI. I’ve had a Synology for over 10 years. Never had a drive failure. Of course, I’ve now updated to a larger one, but the older one is still kicking with a redundant backup of my older images.
I have a rule that really works for me - I am only allowed to keep 24 photos per day from a location in a given month. I.e. if I took photos in Brighton 3 times in November, I have to get my 11_Brighton folder down to 72 photos. Its not about pretending bad photos didn't happen, but learning why you don't like some of the photos that you took and letting that lead to you being more focused about what you do take photos of in the future.
Received your books the other day. All are great, pretty insane value for money and thanks for the fast shipping. Love your videos too bud, keep me entertained every time.
James, this was a really interesting video and I love the concept of leaving yourself vulnerable to criticism by sharing all the images. Cheers and have a great weekend.
It's a good idea to break bad habits. I have an awful habit of pressing the shutter more than once without changing anything: angle, exposure or position. I don't know why I do it. Its almost a reflex from doing events but hardly necessary for landscape etc. I just need to get into the right headspace and take my time more. Think about what I'm capturing more rather than just shooting.
It's strange seeing this. I'm in Tasmania and it's at 41S while NY is at 40N and we do not get this kind of snow. Sure a lot in the highlands, but rarely ever in the towns and cities. Not particularly unhappy about that, just very occasionally envious. But, what an amazing place to visit in the snow. I actually liked that earlier photo with all the housing units in the background because it gave a real sense of the parks place in the environment.
I find it fascinating the power of colour. The turquoise/aqua colour is being used all over. I’ve seen it in TV adverts and some programmes. It has a real draw to it. Also amazed at how the birds parted when you asked them, ha!
It's always fun to see you guys over in my neck of the woods. As a street photographer and UA-cam creater newbie, this video helped me by providing insight and inspirations to my own compositions. Great work as always sir.
School’s out - just ordered it. First ever print I bought, an absolute favourite! Been following for a few years now and you’re getting better by the day!
Hi James, if you aren’t backing up your NAS you should consider doing so, although RAID is more fault tolerant a separate backup would secure your data better. Which is what I do, with the main NAS in my home and a backup one in my office/shed in the garden
For me there is a lot of value in seeing photos that didn't quite work. And the simplest photos in the video were the best to my eye. The palm tree on the snowy beach for example. Very Wes Anderson. Thanks.
I primarily shot film from age 12 to about 25, and I still shoot a few rolls a year. I also have a digital camera, which I use like a film camera, choose my shots, compose well, take meaningful shots and if I go on holiday for a week I wont come back with more than 50 pictures, but of them I would be happy to print 30 to put in an album. Not because they are all good pictures, but because they are memorable moments, events, people, interactions, etc. I also snap a lot on my phone, and have a huge scroll of pictures that I rarely look at or use, because they don't have the same significance to me. Everyone is different, but I like my way of doing things.
I found myself looking at the video footage every time you stopped to take a photo and trying to picture how and what you might frame... and often being very wrong! But that was useful in and of itself.
I really enjoyed this video James! CI is my hometown and I’ve been on that boardwalk innumerable times, mostly in the warmer months, for obvious reasons. Thank you for bringing this to all of us 😊 Ps I also enjoy the smooth/cool jazz music as well.
I’ve found that using my M10-R makes a lot of difference. It forces me to slow down in a ‘natural’ way. Not because I have to restrain myself. With any other camera it helps to set it to manual focus and use spot metering. That requires careful selection of your focus and metering area, before you compose.
My workflow (as a hobbyist, not a pro) is take a photo of anything that catches my eye and then cull the results later. I already know I won't edit all my shots and don't worry about it in the moment of actually shooting. But I also don't delete the unedited shots because 5 years from now I might look at them again and find something I really like. So yeah, take the shot and worry if it's a great one later.
I'm new to your channel. I've been an amateur / hobbyist photographer for over 15 years. As a person that is always very interested in how people think about their next shot, this was very informative. Especially when you mentioned things about how you never try to cross lines in a frame. That might have been obvious to some but it was something I never really thought about. Appreciate this video and would welcome more thought-provoking videos in the future.
I still love to shoot film, which is a type of photography where you try to maximize your keepers. So I think your video is a very good idea and I enjoyed watching you figure out what to shoot and what to let go. I think your idea of finding the happy medium by not hesitating to shoot; but also trying to maximize keepers is brilliant. By the way, I live about 60 miles south of Coney Island and thought the video was wonderful. Next time you are in the New York area, I invite you to come down to the New Jersey shore and I'd be happy to show you around. Look up the New Jersey Pine Barrens. That is the general area where I live. Some cool nature and man juxtapositions that I'm sure you would enjoy.
We may have been in nyc at the same time. I moved to CA and came back for a funeral. There's plenty of great coastal spots not only in BK, but all 5 boroughs, and the eastern (nyc facing) part of neighboring New Jersey. Hoboken and Jersey City offer great opportunities for composition and bright colors with their many large murals (including a giant david bowie, near the holland tunnel) and architecture.
I love this concept of showing what it actually like to be photographing: testing, thinking "why did I take that photo" and "oh no, that wasn't good", being happy by a fortuitous moment when things come together, being cold. I tend to treat digital the same as analog, in that I "save" film, I mean storage space (and work deleting a bunch of photos,) in being (maybe too) parsimonious about when I press the shutter button. Have a lost shots due to this? Don't know really.
Prefer videos like this to gear videos, seeing how you work, what photos you took. Also just want to say again, love the school buses image, right up my street ❤
I spent last night standing under a street light trying to photograph microbats as they darted around the sky. If I had to show them to someone they'd probably think there was a load error as almost all were blank black frames with the odd out of focus and clipped wing.
There' a before Popsys, and after Popsys. After has shown to often be better. I find myself attracted to populated areas on gloomy days, compared to out in the nature hugging a pine. Brilliant expansion of opportunities.
There is no such thing as bad photographs but there is such a thing as bad photographers! don't worry about that statement though I liked most of those pictures that was a great location, nice one I think you done very well! I hope you enjoyed yourself in the cold! Thank you....
New York in Winter has its own charm, despite the cold. And an amusement park out of season even more so. Question: Do you print your photos yourself or do you go to a printer?
I'm not sure I would describe what you are doing as "spraying and praying" as you did. I was recently in Charlotte on a work trip and had time for a downtown walk about on a rainy afternoon. I did a lot of similar shots, but it was a matter of working a subject from slightly different angles. Sometimes the keeper is not the frame I expected it to be. Spraying and praying is what I did when my daughter, a welder, asked me to do a portrait of her welding. If I'd known she was going to ask this, I would have brought some appropriate filters. Since I had to wear a helmet that went dark as soon as the welding torch came on, put my EM5 in burst mode and fired away. Got one of my most outstanding wow-factor shots ever.
Haha, HCB as the basis of all of your work. That’s a statement. I‘ve been to Coney Island in November and find it quite exciting to see that place in winter. Great. Don’t mind if you show all pictures or not , like your videos anyway. And now I’m going to order a big print 😀
Hi James. Really enjoyed this video. I wonder if you could answer a couple questions I've had watching your UA-cam videos? 1) Do you always shoot with the camera over your head- isn't that difficult to keep level? 2) Can you share some of the basic edits you do to make your photos have rich color but contrasting light sky, foreground, etc.? Thank you.
I wish I could afford to go travel around the world like you to take photographs. Unfortunately I am just stuck at home with little to no opportunities to go anywhere and it has put quite a dampening on photography for me and kinda thinking about putting the gear up for sale as its been months since I've felt motivated to take photos. It's hard watching photographers on UA-cam get to experience things I'll never get to but I appreciate you taking us along with your journey.
I found that (at least for landscape, action stuff is a bit tricky) when i limit myself to 36shots, or no double taps (one shot per subject/composition) and such. I take it much slower and also having less „clutter“ in editing to fikter trough speeds up my workflow and enjoyment of editing. Thus whenever i find i start to take too many „clutter“ shots as i call em, i force myself on the next few walks to go in slow and limit my ammount of shots. Specifically also bought the tiny fuji xt30ii along with some primes to teach me a more thoughtfull approach (and to have a camera with me when i usually would not take my Canon R5 with me)
I really enjoyed this style of video I wouldn't do this anywhere special the hesitation might make you miss something but it's a cool challenge where you put artificial constraints on your situation. The content I enjoyed most was the stuff you did in Switzerland for the tourism board those videos were incredible. I'd love to see another one of those maybe even some sort of you coach a few different subscribers or something would be cool.
This place is quiet surreal in the winter and seems kinda heard to focus on a subject. I would probably go with a longer focal lenghts to pick out details
I started shooting in the days of film (Minolta X-700), so I was more picky about the photos I took. I would have a roll of 24 or 36 pictures and when I got them developed I would hope to get one or two good shots. I even tried slides for a little while in order to save money.
Mad dogs and Englishmen … only it’s cold. I like the way james is developing his style! Finally my compromise between digital and analog shooting methods is to spray and pray with a purpose while working a scene. I move left right , right , zoom in and out, stand on a small step ladder or sit on the ground. Somewhere in this process I figure the scene out composition wise. I can then make finer adjustments. This can be done very deliberately as a sort of formula… the key to the whole thing is to find a scene you give a damn about and show up for or hang around for light. I prefer to hang around for good light as I can use the time to explore other scenes weather etc.
That was the advantage of 70-80's film cameras. You had to compose in-camera with the right settings, or close to, unless you had your own darkroom or a lot of money to get the perfect print. Now anyone with a ten year old camera and an hour on the computer can win awards. In another 15 years the cameras will have enough AI and no manual settings that will put the pro's out of business., and probably Photoshop too! But, that was a perfect time to shoot that subject area!
do you use the same presets when starting to edit your photos? showing a RAW vs ‘finished’ image would be a really interesting layer to add to this type of video. 😎
Did you find that using the Hasselblad 907X helped you be a bit more selective in your shots? Personally I’ve found that using some medium format cameras like that (and Phase One’s massive things) force a slower, more methodical way of shooting that means that every shot has to be more considered. On those cameras I’ll come away with maybe 50-100 shots from a day - and like almost all of them - rather than the 2000+ I might take on my R5.
A comment on backing up data: Even if having a local backup like this obviously is already great I would still recommend having some sort of off-site backup like cloud storage or a hard drive at a friends house. Reason is that if for example your house burns down or gets broken into all your data could still be gone. If you dont like the thought of your off-site data being able to be read by anyone, which I perfectly understand you can somewhat easily encrypt it. Only problem you might have with the tons of data you probably have, is that it could take a really long time. If you were already aware of this I apologize for presuming you didn't know. Maybe it can help someone else :)
I started photography pre-digital and still have the mindset that every photo counts. When you always had to pay to have your 24 or 36 exposure film canister developed and printed, every photo did matter. Glad I still think like that, makes for a better composition. Perhaps an idea for a video if you haven’t already done one? Nice location and only allowed to press shutter button 24 times.
I started with film cameras which had 8 oblong shots or 12 square ones, so definitely every photo mattered. Trouble is, i wish i had taken more. Now on digital I have managed to take far more - but are they better?
Concentrating more does not have to mean you don't take tons of photos. I would much rather come home and only keep 1/5th of my photos than to miss potential photos, but with time and experience, you learn when there ARE potential photos at all and THEN you "spray and prey".
In the opening scene of a Popsys video. Made it.
You two are cute and I'm jealous.
The moment when you don't understand why James is speaking in Romans voice. And after a while it gets you :D
I really like your editing style and how you're not afraid to push the highlights. It's very bright and clean looking as opposed to people crushing the highlights making the image look dull and muddy.
James speaking to pigeons - "Space yourselves out"
Pigeons - "you got it boss"
The Welsh sheep got the message out before his arrival.
For what it's worth James, as a newbie photographer I found this style of video very helpful - seeing on video how you were trying to get a good composition and then seeing the photos that resulted. I guess the reality is that landscape photographers try different subjects and compositions and some will never quite work, while others end up as keepers. I found the honesty of the whole approach very informative. Thanks.
Totally on the same page
As an mixed analog and digital photographer, I find that the focus and intention applied to each photo comes very naturally when shooting film. Its incredible hard to replicate that feeling with digital. Every photo with film feels more intended. I would encourage you James to give analog photography another try, just to get that feeling! A video about it would also be just amazing!❤
Here's an idea: start showing your before shots before showing your fully edited photos. Not just before/after editing, but the shots it took to land on the composition you like.
One of the best exercises for my own photography is to look at the dozens of photos I didn't pick. The first shots, the ones where the composition isn't quite right, etc., all of which lead up to the winner that gets edited and posted.
It's helped me grow a ton over the years, perhaps showing your process that way could be beneficial for us (and you!) too.
I disagree with this, I prefer James’s method of the way he presents his videos, too many UA-camrs take you through the entire process, for one, all this does is teaches you their process, secondly, what are going to learn from that, too many things get spoon fed to us and most of us don’t think and create for ourselves, I myself don’t want to see how he came to his style or final edit, I’d rather be influenced by my own process instead and achieve my result
There literally thousands of videos on here on how to do that and do this, we don’t need another one
Regarding your data storage: get a friend who also have such a unit and mirror each others stuff to both. That way, if you house burns down, gets burlged or something you still have your data.
Excellent advice, it is essential to have an 'off site' backup
I have a synology NAS and it's great. However just having a NAS on it's own isn't a backup. That shouldn't be the only copy of your data. I got a 2nd one and it lives at my parents house and it syncs. Anything important stays on a memory card until it's also online.
I use Amazon Photos as well, they don't have a restriction on how many photos you can upload (for now). So I use the desktop app. to watch my Nas Photo folder to upload my photos
does it work for RAW files? I heard it didn't and I've spent all my money now but would be good for others :D@@minarge
I’m impressed with the interesting images you get out of such a sloppy place using color and space to organize your scenes. FYI. I’ve had a Synology for over 10 years. Never had a drive failure. Of course, I’ve now updated to a larger one, but the older one is still kicking with a redundant backup of my older images.
Most of scenes are so dull at winter... A cry of the soul from a photographer who lives in the north.
I have a rule that really works for me - I am only allowed to keep 24 photos per day from a location in a given month. I.e. if I took photos in Brighton 3 times in November, I have to get my 11_Brighton folder down to 72 photos. Its not about pretending bad photos didn't happen, but learning why you don't like some of the photos that you took and letting that lead to you being more focused about what you do take photos of in the future.
Why 24 specifically? I'm curious.
I went with number of shots on a small reel of film as a starting number and it just kinda worked so I didn't change it
@@henrypenton7190 Of course! I'm so used to thinking about 36 shots instead.
New York looks beautiful in the snow and the view from the apartment is perfect
Still can't believe we didn't fall, was absolutely treacherous out there.
James, I love your photos from New York, especially Coney Island in the snow. Nice and quirky and well-composed. I had only been in the summer.
Received your books the other day. All are great, pretty insane value for money and thanks for the fast shipping. Love your videos too bud, keep me entertained every time.
You picked the best time for Coney Island, at least, that’s what your pictures show… beautiful!
Thank you!
James, this was a really interesting video and I love the concept of leaving yourself vulnerable to criticism by sharing all the images. Cheers and have a great weekend.
Really enjoyed this. Loved the shots you got. The colors really popped with the snow.
I really enjoy your videos that demonstrate the decision making process
It's a good idea to break bad habits. I have an awful habit of pressing the shutter more than once without changing anything: angle, exposure or position. I don't know why I do it. Its almost a reflex from doing events but hardly necessary for landscape etc. I just need to get into the right headspace and take my time more. Think about what I'm capturing more rather than just shooting.
No it's about doing what you feel less about stressing and do your style ❤❤❤. Brilliant work by the way!!!
It's strange seeing this. I'm in Tasmania and it's at 41S while NY is at 40N and we do not get this kind of snow. Sure a lot in the highlands, but rarely ever in the towns and cities. Not particularly unhappy about that, just very occasionally envious. But, what an amazing place to visit in the snow. I actually liked that earlier photo with all the housing units in the background because it gave a real sense of the parks place in the environment.
I find it fascinating the power of colour. The turquoise/aqua colour is being used all over. I’ve seen it in TV adverts and some programmes. It has a real draw to it. Also amazed at how the birds parted when you asked them, ha!
Your style is inside ...just before it is about to be overexposed but perfectly exposed 🥂
It's always fun to see you guys over in my neck of the woods. As a street photographer and UA-cam creater newbie, this video helped me by providing insight and inspirations to my own compositions. Great work as always sir.
School’s out - just ordered it. First ever print I bought, an absolute favourite! Been following for a few years now and you’re getting better by the day!
Hi James, if you aren’t backing up your NAS you should consider doing so, although RAID is more fault tolerant a separate backup would secure your data better. Which is what I do, with the main NAS in my home and a backup one in my office/shed in the garden
Loved this video James. As usual a pleasure to watch.
For me there is a lot of value in seeing photos that didn't quite work. And the simplest photos in the video were the best to my eye. The palm tree on the snowy beach for example. Very Wes Anderson. Thanks.
Totally loved the photos of Coney Island! I enjoyed this type of video, very relatable. Hope you make more like this in the future.
I almost fell from my couch when I saw your hotel room and view. Hope you enjoyed the Citizen M. I had the same view in September 2023 🙂
I primarily shot film from age 12 to about 25, and I still shoot a few rolls a year.
I also have a digital camera, which I use like a film camera, choose my shots, compose well, take meaningful shots and if I go on holiday for a week I wont come back with more than 50 pictures, but of them I would be happy to print 30 to put in an album. Not because they are all good pictures, but because they are memorable moments, events, people, interactions, etc.
I also snap a lot on my phone, and have a huge scroll of pictures that I rarely look at or use, because they don't have the same significance to me.
Everyone is different, but I like my way of doing things.
I did enjoy it, thank you, as always
Yep liked the video good to see the different approach.
Quite enjoyable. Coney Island is a great subject for your style of photos.
Cool shots of Coney Island!
Nicely done James, always love your honesty, hats off. Oh and your photography is pretty good! Love it
I liked this video! It really helps us all see how you shoot and what works and why. Thanks! Never been to New York, so really enjoyed the photos.
I found myself looking at the video footage every time you stopped to take a photo and trying to picture how and what you might frame... and often being very wrong! But that was useful in and of itself.
Great images James, nice to see someone nailing exposures, many can’t do snow properly, lol. Enjoy your trip! 😀👏👍
I love my Synology and your videos of course. Cheers 🍻
I really enjoyed this video James! CI is my hometown and I’ve been on that boardwalk innumerable times, mostly in the warmer months, for obvious reasons. Thank you for bringing this to all of us 😊 Ps I also enjoy the smooth/cool jazz music as well.
I have to come clean about something. I live/grew up in Brooklyn and i've never been to Coney Island during snowtime. Great set of photos you got.
I’ve found that using my M10-R makes a lot of difference. It forces me to slow down in a ‘natural’ way. Not because I have to restrain myself. With any other camera it helps to set it to manual focus and use spot metering. That requires careful selection of your focus and metering area, before you compose.
My workflow (as a hobbyist, not a pro) is take a photo of anything that catches my eye and then cull the results later. I already know I won't edit all my shots and don't worry about it in the moment of actually shooting. But I also don't delete the unedited shots because 5 years from now I might look at them again and find something I really like.
So yeah, take the shot and worry if it's a great one later.
Your works are amazing! 🙏
I'm new to your channel. I've been an amateur / hobbyist photographer for over 15 years. As a person that is always very interested in how people think about their next shot, this was very informative. Especially when you mentioned things about how you never try to cross lines in a frame. That might have been obvious to some but it was something I never really thought about. Appreciate this video and would welcome more thought-provoking videos in the future.
I still love to shoot film, which is a type of photography where you try to maximize your keepers. So I think your video is a very good idea and I enjoyed watching you figure out what to shoot and what to let go. I think your idea of finding the happy medium by not hesitating to shoot; but also trying to maximize keepers is brilliant. By the way, I live about 60 miles south of Coney Island and thought the video was wonderful. Next time you are in the New York area, I invite you to come down to the New Jersey shore and I'd be happy to show you around. Look up the New Jersey Pine Barrens. That is the general area where I live. Some cool nature and man juxtapositions that I'm sure you would enjoy.
That was fun. I remember getting a hotdog at Nathan's back in the mid 90's.
8:53 very nice.
The best part about your videos are the everchanging titles :D
Liked this very much. More please ❤
We may have been in nyc at the same time. I moved to CA and came back for a funeral. There's plenty of great coastal spots not only in BK, but all 5 boroughs, and the eastern (nyc facing) part of neighboring New Jersey. Hoboken and Jersey City offer great opportunities for composition and bright colors with their many large murals (including a giant david bowie, near the holland tunnel) and architecture.
I love this concept of showing what it actually like to be photographing: testing, thinking "why did I take that photo" and "oh no, that wasn't good", being happy by a fortuitous moment when things come together, being cold. I tend to treat digital the same as analog, in that I "save" film, I mean storage space (and work deleting a bunch of photos,) in being (maybe too) parsimonious about when I press the shutter button. Have a lost shots due to this? Don't know really.
Really enjoying your trip!!
Bit of a flex that opening! 😮😊
Prefer videos like this to gear videos, seeing how you work, what photos you took. Also just want to say again, love the school buses image, right up my street ❤
My approach has become, that when in doubt take the photo, at least you’ll have something. I miss 100% of the photos I don’t take.
another great video! great job.
10:16 - more evidence that James is the master of timing wings
Go on James, be brave. Show us the unedited one
Cool place, much better in the 60’s. A shadow of its former glory days is how I remember it as a child of the 60’s
For some reason I think the shot at 10.33 really works.
I would love to watch more city content. The video with the cheap mFT camera was brilliant. Guess it was a Panasonic GX.
Glad I could admire that snow art right before you commanded the pigeons to disperse, haha.
I spent last night standing under a street light trying to photograph microbats as they darted around the sky. If I had to show them to someone they'd probably think there was a load error as almost all were blank black frames with the odd out of focus and clipped wing.
There' a before Popsys, and after Popsys. After has shown to often be better. I find myself attracted to populated areas on gloomy days, compared to out in the nature hugging a pine. Brilliant expansion of opportunities.
There is no such thing as bad photographs but there is such a thing as bad photographers! don't worry about that statement though I liked most of those pictures that was a great location, nice one I think you done very well! I hope you enjoyed yourself in the cold! Thank you....
Liked the barricade one the most.
New York in Winter has its own charm, despite the cold. And an amusement park out of season even more so. Question: Do you print your photos yourself or do you go to a printer?
Excellent shots, great concept. Have you done a video on camera settings, metering modes, etc. keen to hear what your go to is!
I'm not sure I would describe what you are doing as "spraying and praying" as you did. I was recently in Charlotte on a work trip and had time for a downtown walk about on a rainy afternoon. I did a lot of similar shots, but it was a matter of working a subject from slightly different angles. Sometimes the keeper is not the frame I expected it to be. Spraying and praying is what I did when my daughter, a welder, asked me to do a portrait of her welding. If I'd known she was going to ask this, I would have brought some appropriate filters. Since I had to wear a helmet that went dark as soon as the welding torch came on, put my EM5 in burst mode and fired away. Got one of my most outstanding wow-factor shots ever.
Haha, HCB as the basis of all of your work. That’s a statement. I‘ve been to Coney Island in November and find it quite exciting to see that place in winter. Great. Don’t mind if you show all pictures or not , like your videos anyway. And now I’m going to order a big print 😀
8:14 got an “oooooo” from me
Hi James. Really enjoyed this video. I wonder if you could answer a couple questions I've had watching your UA-cam videos? 1) Do you always shoot with the camera over your head- isn't that difficult to keep level? 2) Can you share some of the basic edits you do to make your photos have rich color but contrasting light sky, foreground, etc.? Thank you.
That bus photo is cool.
I've been there, but not in the winter!
I wish I could afford to go travel around the world like you to take photographs. Unfortunately I am just stuck at home with little to no opportunities to go anywhere and it has put quite a dampening on photography for me and kinda thinking about putting the gear up for sale as its been months since I've felt motivated to take photos. It's hard watching photographers on UA-cam get to experience things I'll never get to but I appreciate you taking us along with your journey.
I did enjoy it.
so, you be you.
but. James James James. the baleful January sun...
how could you not have got it in...
I found that (at least for landscape, action stuff is a bit tricky) when i limit myself to 36shots, or no double taps (one shot per subject/composition) and such. I take it much slower and also having less „clutter“ in editing to fikter trough speeds up my workflow and enjoyment of editing. Thus whenever i find i start to take too many „clutter“ shots as i call em, i force myself on the next few walks to go in slow and limit my ammount of shots.
Specifically also bought the tiny fuji xt30ii along with some primes to teach me a more thoughtfull approach (and to have a camera with me when i usually would not take my Canon R5 with me)
I really enjoyed this style of video I wouldn't do this anywhere special the hesitation might make you miss something but it's a cool challenge where you put artificial constraints on your situation. The content I enjoyed most was the stuff you did in Switzerland for the tourism board those videos were incredible. I'd love to see another one of those maybe even some sort of you coach a few different subscribers or something would be cool.
This place is quiet surreal in the winter and seems kinda heard to focus on a subject.
I would probably go with a longer focal lenghts to pick out details
I started shooting in the days of film (Minolta X-700), so I was more picky about the photos I took. I would have a roll of 24 or 36 pictures and when I got them developed I would hope to get one or two good shots. I even tried slides for a little while in order to save money.
Mad dogs and Englishmen … only it’s cold. I like the way james is developing his style! Finally my compromise between digital and analog shooting methods is to spray and pray with a purpose while working a scene. I move left right , right , zoom in and out, stand on a small step ladder or sit on the ground. Somewhere in this process I figure the scene out composition wise. I can then make finer adjustments. This can be done very deliberately as a sort of formula… the key to the whole thing is to find a scene you give a damn about and show up for or hang around for light. I prefer to hang around for good light as I can use the time to explore other scenes weather etc.
That was the advantage of 70-80's film cameras. You had to compose in-camera with the right settings, or close to, unless you had your own darkroom or a lot of money to get the perfect print. Now anyone with a ten year old camera and an hour on the computer can win awards. In another 15 years the cameras will have enough AI and no manual settings that will put the pro's out of business., and probably Photoshop too!
But, that was a perfect time to shoot that subject area!
Good images!
Love to shoot in Coney Island. It’s a great time
do you use the same presets when starting to edit your photos?
showing a RAW vs ‘finished’ image would be a really interesting layer to add to this type of video.
😎
Did you find that using the Hasselblad 907X helped you be a bit more selective in your shots? Personally I’ve found that using some medium format cameras like that (and Phase One’s massive things) force a slower, more methodical way of shooting that means that every shot has to be more considered. On those cameras I’ll come away with maybe 50-100 shots from a day - and like almost all of them - rather than the 2000+ I might take on my R5.
Fantastic images. Could you replicate this at some UK seaside amusement park?????
aha love me some roman fox
I find for me looking for opportunities doesn't mean I have to press the shutter release but I can decide on the fly if I want to take one or not.
A comment on backing up data: Even if having a local backup like this obviously is already great I would still recommend having some sort of off-site backup like cloud storage or a hard drive at a friends house. Reason is that if for example your house burns down or gets broken into all your data could still be gone.
If you dont like the thought of your off-site data being able to be read by anyone, which I perfectly understand you can somewhat easily encrypt it. Only problem you might have with the tons of data you probably have, is that it could take a really long time.
If you were already aware of this I apologize for presuming you didn't know. Maybe it can help someone else :)
This is a great idea. A related idea is "pretending" you are using a roll of film. Only allow yourself 36 shots before you must "develop".
How are you taking your POV shots now-adays? When you do the vlog portion do you just use your sony?
I started photography pre-digital and still have the mindset that every photo counts. When you always had to pay to have your 24 or 36 exposure film canister developed and printed, every photo did matter. Glad I still think like that, makes for a better composition. Perhaps an idea for a video if you haven’t already done one? Nice location and only allowed to press shutter button 24 times.
I started with film cameras which had 8 oblong shots or 12 square ones, so definitely every photo mattered. Trouble is, i wish i had taken more. Now on digital I have managed to take far more - but are they better?
Yes, bought a vintage Polaroid camera recently. 8 shots for £18…..
Come back to NY!!
11:11 they listened 😦
If often wondered about this with the pov street photography Chanels I follow, what about all the shots that didn’t make it
Concentrating more does not have to mean you don't take tons of photos. I would much rather come home and only keep 1/5th of my photos than to miss potential photos, but with time and experience, you learn when there ARE potential photos at all and THEN you "spray and prey".