I was in Leica Store Manchester yesterday and they let me take the new Summaron 28mm f5.6 out for a play. In fact, they insisted. I was looking at trading up my 50mm Summarit for a cron and we got chatting about the new lens, next thing I know he’s putting it on my M9 and sending me out to play.
As you know I have had a personal project this year to take as many street portraits as possible. Well, on holiday this year I decided to expand this project to man’s best friend. I actually found this as or more enjoyable than shooting humans! Maybe I’ll do a “Humans of New York” style website. Dogs of New York?
From time to time I like to give myself a project to try and enhance my craft and keep me interested. This year my project is street portraits. It definitely puts one outside of one’s comfort zone.
How do we improve our photography? How do we take better pictures? How do we get past the point we are at? I ask myself this all the time? As a teacher I know the best way for my students to improve is by getting high quality feedback and in today’s digital age that should be easier than ever. But is it?
How many times have you accidentally tripped the shutter and ended up with a random, often blurred picture? What do you do with them? Delete them? Kick yourself for forgetting to turn off your camera? Or keep them? Every now and then there is a shot among them which is a keeper. It doesn’t happen often but when it does there can be very interesting results. Odd angles, features highlighted which may have been ignored.
This is my main problem at the moment. I have a full time (non photography related) job; a four month old son; a new role at work; a new house and a nine year old husky. I kept moaning to anyone who would listen. I’ve got no time to shoot. I’ve not picked up my Leica in months. Even if I did when would I process them? I’ve rolls of film sitting, waiting patiently for me to process them and I’ve not even unboxed my darkroom equipment yet!
But is it really true? In fact when I think about it I’ve still been shooting. Maybe not on my Leica or Fujis or one of my film cameras but I’ve been shooting without even really thinking of it as photography. I’ve been using my smartphone. A Sony Xperia Z5.
Ex soldier, war photographer and Fuji photographer Andy Bush has travelled the world’s hotspots to bring back some iconic images or war. In an exclusive interview Andy tells us about his inspiration and let’s us in on some of his experiences.
Continue reading “In Conversation with Andy Bush – War Photographer”
This month we have a special guest feature by Newark photographer Sheena She. Sheena discusses street photography and using redscale film to give a very unique twist to her photography. Hit the jump to read more.
RP: Hi She, please tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi, Robert. Thanks for having me here. I am honored!
I am a registered nurse, but I am not practicing my profession. I’ve been taking photos since 2006. After giving up on photography and a long hiatus, I started taking pictures again after getting a camera last July 2015. I love black and white photography. I also started dabbling in film photography last year. My focus now is taking portraits and telling stories about the lives of people I encounter during trips.
Robert Poole 