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There is now a website that lets you get (and give!) honest feedback on photographs

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This is quite an interesting idea. ARS is a new platform which allows you to give and receive critique on photos completely anonymously. Created by Eric Kim, the system is designed to help photographers get some genuine feedback without all the smoke blowing and fluff we often see on platforms such as Facebook.

When identities are public, many who respond to images will say something nice just to avoid the risk of offending, than to say what they really think of an image. With the identities of the photographer and the commenter removed, people can say what they really feel.

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Why Sharpness is Overrated

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“Sharpness is a bourgeois (rich person) concept.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

1. Softer lenses often have more soul

I remember when I started digital photography; the sharper the photo, the better.

In reality, a sharper photo is not a better photo. Often, a softer photograph gives you a more pleasing, soft, warm, and emotional aesthetic.

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10 Reasons Why Your Smartphone is the Best Camera

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I want to encourage you — use your smartphone more for your photography.

First of all, what is the point of photography? The purpose of photography is to uplift your soul. To make meaning in your life; not photos.

Therefore, I believe that shooting with your smartphone is probably your best tool for photography. Why?

All photos included in this post are photographed on an Android smartphone, processed with VSCO.

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Why You Should Photograph Your Loved Ones

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There is nobody more important to photograph than our loved ones.

1. Why travel to photograph?

Why is it that we always try to photograph the exotic?

For example, it is more interesting to photograph a villager in some African tribe, than to photograph our partner.

It is more interesting to photograph a Parisian couple at a cafe drinking espressos, rather than to photograph our mother or father.

It is more interesting to photograph an epic sunset, rather than photograph our children, our friends, or ourselves.

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30 lessons Leonardo da Vinci has taught me about photography, art, and life

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Leonardo da Vinci was the ultimate ‘autodictat’ (someone who taught himself everything). He had no formal schooling, yet he didn’t let that get in his way. He was the world’s keenest observer— he would just look around himself, take notes, and followed his curiosity. He stayed like a child his entire life— never stopping learning, writing notes, or sketching.

He is one of the most celebrated artists of all-time, and for good reason. He was one of the first to fuse mathematics, science, and art all together. Many of his anatomical drawings of the human body were used in medical schools for hundreds of years.

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Imitation and inspiration: All of Photography is a Remix

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A lot of us labor to be ‘original’ in our photography— but realize, everything in photography and life is a remix:

One of the biggest benefits I had studying history was this — understanding the root and origin of a lot of ideas which I once thought were ‘original.’

For example, I remember when I started to shoot street photography, I imitated Henri Cartier-Bresson. But then a lot of people said I was ‘copying’ him — which made me feel unoriginal. But when I started to study the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, I realized that a lot of his inspirations came from the surrealists, as well as Matisse, and the image which inspired him to start photography was a black and white photo of three boys playing by the water. Even his idea of ‘The Decisive Moment’ originated from a poem.

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How to Find Your Style in Photography

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Many of us are trying to find our “style” in our photography.

1. Photography style

But what exactly is “style”?

For me, “style” in photography is about consistency of subject-matter and consistency of aesthetic (how the photo looks).

For example, if you want to build a definite “style” in your photography — seek to work on a photo project, where you focus on a specific subject-matter. You can focus on a specific person (personal documentary), you can focus on a certain city (your own hometown), or you can focus on a certain social issue.

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