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3 Essential Street Photography Lessons

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First things first. My name is Marius Vieth and I’m a 26 year old fine art photographer from Amsterdam who loves nothing more than street photography.

After shooting all sorts of things from 2011 to 2012 without ever finding myself and feeling my photography, I discovered my deep passion for street photography in the first month of my 365 project in 2013.

Since then, I’ve not only spent almost every single day on the streets of the world to capture wonderful moments, but I’ve also built my life around it.

Within these two years, I’ve won 20 awards so far, but if there’s one thing that makes me happier than that, it’s sharing my experiences and maybe inspire fellow photographers to fall in love with street photography as well.

So, here are three incredibly important lessons about street photography I’ve learned so far!

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This Collection Of 600 Vintage Cameras Is Currently For Sale On eBay

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If you suffer from GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and would like to sooth the itch for a while, or if you’re simple jealous of your friend’s cameras collection and want to outdo him, this eBay listing is going to make your day.

A collection of roughly 600 cameras, manufactured by Kodaks, Ikontas, Canon, Nikon, Leica, Retina, Voigtlander, Minox, Hit, Polaroid, Revere, Rollei and others, is now for sale on eBay.

The collection represents 100 years of camera history with the oldest camera being from 1880 and the latest is from 1980.

At an average of $60 a piece, these cameras can be yours for $34,900.

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Gear Avoidance Syndrome: It Might Be Healthy For Your Photography

GAS, also known as Gear Acquisition Syndrome, is very common among photographers. It simply means that you just can’t get enough new lenses, equipment and upgrade your cam as soon as possible in order to have more options and – according to the seemingly prevalent opinion – become better. But have you ever thought about the opposite side of this imaginary disease – the Gear Avoidance Syndrome? A syndrome that might even be good for you and your photography. And your wallet.

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What I’ve Learned So Far: Seven; Gear Envy Sucks

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Gear envy takes two major forms;

  1. “I can’t do what I want with this crummy gear.”
  2. “I can’t believe that guy/gal has such great equipment when their work sucks so bad.”

Actually envying someone by what their gear collection is – “I so wish I was him, I would be so awesome with that gear” – is more a sign of needing some professional help. Please see someone straight away.

So let’s look at number one first, the thought that you cannot shoot with your current crummy gear.

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This Is A Good Time To Buy Nikon (D610 At $1,600, Optional Savings Of Up To $800)

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Nikon is trying to be the first horse in the race to cross the line and lock your holidays presents with an impressive discount program. Of course Nikon is not just begin generous for the sake of generosity. They are hoping to get your holidays presents and end of year money. Luckily they are doing quite a good job.

The biggest news is the discount on the D610 @$1600 (or $2245 wit a kit lens, which is about $800 discount) and the D7100 @$945 (or $1,500 with both kit lenses which represents about $630 discount).

Here is the full list of available product. The link above directs you to B&Hs Nikon selector where you can choose a bundle and see the pricing/discount. Like any good thing, there is a time limit and the counter currently points at Nov 22nd. Following below is the full list of discounted gear. We expect Canon to throw a counter punch soon.

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Using Less Gear Will Actually Improve Your Photography

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If you think that getting the next lens, body or strobe will instantly improve your photography, photographer Haoyuan Ren suggests a different point of view (no pun intended).

Ren has been shooting for about seven years and is landing jobs with the big magazines and shooting celebrities (Tilda Swinton, Dean Norris shown above and Taylor Schilling stood in front of his lens). Interestingly, Ren’s advice for photographers is to use less gear.

In an interview with InMyBag Ren’s suggests to throw away as many pieces of gear as you can (or actually not to buy them in the first place). Ren advices that:[Read More…]

Gear Addicts! How Many Pieces Of Gear Can You Name?

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Here is a fun challenge for everyone who considers themselves a Gear Guru.

A while back we interviewed fashion and Urbex photographer Rebecca Litchfield and it was one of the most popular interviews that we ever had. While Rebecca shared some of the gear she was using regularly, she was recently interviewed by In My Bag and shared her entire kit (seen photo above).

Now comes the challenge, in the comment below name As many pieces of gear as you can identify without looking at previous comments. As an (obvious) hint, Rebecca shoots Canon ;)

Why Your Kit Lens Isn’t as Bad as You Think It Is

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One of the things that I try getting across to my students is that despite all of its amazing capabilities, the camera is just a box. Yes, it is programmed with a seemingly limitless number of exposure combinations, but when all is said and done it’s just a box. It has no artistic intent. We have to speak its language, telling it what we see, in hopes that the image in our head matches the image in the box. It is a box with a cylindrical window on the world. It’s the quality of that window that is often the subject of raging debate. Nikon or Canon? OEM or third party? Everyone has an opinion. Interestingly enough, the one thing that many– if not most– agree upon is that kit lenses should be avoided like the plague.

I completely disagree. I say go dig that kit lens out of wherever you’ve hidden it and put it to work. For those of you who’ve somehow been convinced that your photography can’t possibly be of adequate quality until you drop money you don’t have on a lens you can’t afford, I say that nothing could be farther from the truth.

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Got GAS?

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I don’t want to infringe on anyone’s copyright, so in an abundance of caution and professional deference, I’ll just tell you what the graphic said, rather than posting it.  “Phew! I have all the gear I will ever need. Said no photographer EVER.”  Now, we can all sit around and have a good laugh about it, but it does merit a conversation about a terrible, insidious affliction, the very mention of which elicits vehement denial from those who fall prey to the addiction. It may not be drugs or alcohol, but it is still a societal menace affecting a frightening percentage of the world’s creative population.

That’s right. I’m talking about GAS.

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