Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Just because you might know your own home like the back of your hand, it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing exciting left to shoot there. If you’re not convinced, this video from COOPH will change your mind.
Your home is full of photographic opportunities you can grab on a rainy day or when you simply feel like playing with a camera. And best of all – you can try them out straight away. Check out the ideas in the video below, and I’ll give you a few suggestions of my own, too.
Most of us would think that creating images that look like they’re out of this world would take a lot of Photoshop magic. However, John Dykstra is an artist and surrealist photographer from Michigan who does it all in-camera. He uses his garage as a studio and adds simple props to create optical illusions and capture them in mind-boggling images.
So, you have this great idea, it completely occupies your mind and you can’t wait to start working on it. And then it hits you, or someone tells you: “It’s already been done before.” It’s highly demotivating and I believe it has happened to all of us. Zach Ramelan suggests you take this saying and throw it out the window, and gives you some reasons why you should work on your idea even if it’s already been done before. If you’re looking for some motivation, this video might be the right thing to watch right now.
When my wife and I first met, we spent a week together in Vancouver. One of the things that made me realise that we were so well suited to each other was that we both loved taking photos. While walking around the downtown area, it took us about an hour to cover 30 meters because we both kept stopping to take pictures of various things that we found interesting along the way.
I also soon learned that she had a much better natural eye. Over the period of an hour I could take one hundred pictures and she would take ten, and all ten of hers were better than mine. She just sees shapes and angles that I miss.
There are plenty of opportunities for creative photos all around your home. And one pretty cool idea comes from a Swedish photographer Micael Widell. He uses a glass kettle of boiling water, speedlights with colored gels and a macro lens to get some abstract photos. There are plenty of ways to play with light here. Because of this and the unpredictable movement of water bubbles, you’ll get unique photos every time.
Creativity in any discipline is about finding new and original ideas. When they strike, creative thoughts seem to appear out of nowhere – light bulb moments. Sometimes it seems like creativity is something intangible that we can’t control. But are there ways you can nurture your own creativity? How can we better create the conditions for those moments of inspiration to strike?
In her TED talk, Julie Burstein, an expert in creative thought, offers insight into how creativity grows out of everyday experiences. Her stories revolve around various creative disciplines, but her key four ‘lessons’ are ones that we can embrace as photographers. Her full TED talk is worth watching, but in this post, we wanted to explore in-depth some of her key points and discuss how these may be applicable for photographers.
Photographer Joshua Cripps is one of those artists whose words inspire me to think about my own work. And his latest challenge has definitely made me start thinking and re-evaluating my photography.
The challenge is this: look through the most recent photos in your portfolio and ask yourself: “are these photos the product of my unique artistic vision or could any photographer have done this?” After this question, my thoughts started unraveling. And with the same question in mind, Joshua wrote an interesting article that could also make you reevaluate your work and become even better at what you do.
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Do you have the key to the stars? Italian photographer Alberto Ghizzi Panizza asks this question in a marvelous photo he took one night in his home country. When I saw this photo, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It looks like a keyhole through which you can see a whole other world – the sky full of stars and the Milky Way. DIYP contacted Alberto, and he was kind enough to share the details of how he took the photo with us.
Spanish duo Daniel Rueda and Anna Devis are creatives, explorers, architecture lovers, and photographers. They travel the world and capture what they see in a creative and incredibly pleasing set of images. They shoot interesting architecture, but act as subjects in these photos too. This adds a unique perspective and creates a story that makes their photos even more appealing.
Their photos are pleasing tot he eye and somehow even soothing. When I first saw them, I couldn’t help but smile. Other than being wonderfully and carefully composed, they’re fun and spread the positive vibes.
Ever find yourself needing the inspiration to create an image, but you just can muster up any from anywhere. It happens to all us all, don’t worry. Recently I had to create an image for Dark realm Collectives latest Artpack, urban nightmares. I searched and searched for inspiration, but it didn’t seem to come. This can happen because of many factors. Tiredness, working too much, feeling down. Any of these plus much more. Sometimes the Muse just doesn’t want to come, sit on your lap and stroke……..your face! Godammit people get your minds out of the gutter haha. As the deadline drew closer, I knew I had to create something, so I used one of my inspiration kickstart techniques and came up with the above image. What is an inspiration Kickstarter technique……it’s one of my go-to tricks if no images concepts are popping into my head.[Read More…]
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