Now on it’s 10th year, the Angkor Photo Festival has always been a great showcase of photography in the Asian region. This year, they keep doing what they do best by giving everyone the best photography in Asia has to offer. If you have nothing to do on Nov. 29 to Dec. 6, I suggest you head on to Siem Reap and feast your eyes on what the festival has to offer. Everything is open to the public and free of charge.
Josef Koudelka is one of my favorite photographers of all-time. I love how he has been able to craft his life around photographing only what he wanted to photograph, how he is able to capture emotional and empathetic images (especially in his “Gypsies†project), his ability to continue to re-invent his photography (switching from 35mm to panoramic), and his absolute dedication to his craft.
I recently came across a superb interview with Koudelka titled: “We Are All the Sameâ€: A Conversation with Josef Koudelka†via my friend Karl Edwards from StreetShootr.com.
I will share some personal lessons that Koudelka has taught me about photography and life below. If you want to learn more about Koudelka, I recommend you to read my article on him: 10 Lessons Josef Koudelka Has Taught Me About Street Photography.
At Gulf Photo Plus, as a part of the “Street Photography Series” in November in Dubai, I gave a free talk on street photography yesterday (11/24/2014). The title of my presentation was: “10 Lessons Street Photography Has Taught Me About Life” in which I share some of my personal philosophies about street photography (and life).
Tonight at 7:00pm at Gulf Photo Plus is the opening exhibition for “STREET.” — an international street photography exhibition curated by me and the team at GPP. If you’re free, come join us! :)
You might also like to read my article, “26 Lessons Life Has Taught Me About Street Photography” and check out my free presentations on street photography on Slideshare.
Disclaimer: I was given a free Fujifilm X100T for this review.
It is a beautiful Sunday here in Dubai, and it is my day off “workâ€. I arrived last Wednesday from London after 2 weeks of teaching workshops, and I ended up doing a few workshops for Gulf Photo Plus (a photo organization in Dubai). I had a great time teaching the workshops here in Dubai, and also ended up shooting a lot of personal photos for myself (around 5–6 rolls of medium-format Kodak Portra 400 on my Hasselblad and a Mamiya 7 I borrowed from my friends Imraan and Mo.
Recently for my trip to Stockholm, London, and Dubai I brought along my Hasselblad 501c and 80mm lens (and about 20 rolls of Kodak Portra 400 120 film). I had been shooting a lot of medium-format 6×6 photos back home, and I had the natural gut feeling to bring it to my trip and make some photos. But at the same time I’m glad I brought along my compact 35mm camera, the Contax T3.
The streettogs academy page is growing and bustling as we continue with our 6th assignment. To those who joined and have been there since the 1st assignment, thank you all! Our editor’s choice for Assignment No. 5, Enamul Kabir Rony got a simple theme for us today. It is straight forward but there are many possible interpretations:
There is no better time in history to be a self-published photographer. There are so many great options out there— like Blurb (print on demand), and even getting books printed in China (it seems most publishers are printing overseas, which is much more affordable, with great quality).
In the past, there have always been lots of “gatekeepers†— people who prevented you from achieving your dreams. These gatekeepers are the editors, publishers, and media moguls who control the stream of information. They had all the power whether your work would be shown or not as an artist.
Now with social media (and modern technology), the tables have flipped. As photographers, we no longer have excuses for not publishing a strong body of work, due to financial constraints or outside forces. What matters the most now is the quality of our work (and effective marketing to get the word out).
Our assignment no. 5 themed “Fear” came at an excellent timing. The Halloween period was ripe with opportunities on how to show our theme and it manifested well with the entries for this assignment. Excellent choice for an assignment from Assignment No. 4 winner, Florin Ghebosu.
I put a twist on how I present the selections for this assignment by identifying what type of fear is being shown or manifested on the images selected which may or may not be correct but hey my mistakes shouldn’t take away from the good images for this assignment. I think it would be fun so let’s check it out!
In Vietnam I recently learned a saying, “Cai kho lo cai khon†which means: from difficulty, emerges the wise. (Note I didn’t include diacritics).
Another saying in Vietnamese (can’t remember it) is “The resourceful man might go hungry, but won’t starve.â€
Even Steve Jobs said, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.â€
I recently picked up a copy of “Photographers’ Sketchbooks“, an excellent book written by Stephen McLaren (co-author of “Street Photography Nowâ€) and Bryan Formhals (founder of LPV magazine and the popular Tumblr: Photographs on the Brain).
Alongside “The Photobook: A History Volume III†by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger it is the best resource for photobook making, the philosophies of editing and sequencing, the importance of collaboration, explaining the working methods of certain photographers, their philosophies, and advice and thoughts on publishing via the printed medium (and on social media).
It is a beautifully put-together book, with tons of great “behind-the-scenes†materials, via photocopies of the photographers’ actual “sketchbooksâ€, contact sheets, and personal notes. I highly recommend everyone to pick up the actual book — and use it as a great reference when putting together your own book or body of work.
I personally learned a lot from the book, and I wanted to share some of the personal lessons I’ve learned from ingesting this beautiful tome of information:
Check out this fun little interview I did with Ola Billmont in Stockholm. We talk about where he is with his street photography, his projects, and a little tour of his sweet apartment!
Related Links
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(A.g.’s notes: Out of the 4 Assignments we have finished over at Streettogs Academy group, Arnold Despi got into the Honorable Mentions list 3 times. He is a very active photographer always shooting and always looking for suggestions on how to improve from other folks. I decided to talk to him to get some feedback on how he keep things consistent, his style, and the things he enjoys most with street photography. I hope you all enjoy! Photos by Arnold Despi)
Here at the Photographer’s Gallery in London, I recently picked up “The Photobook: A History Volume III†by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger. I’d heard about the book before (the previous 2 volumes) but never had the chance to actually sit down, crack one open, and analyze it.
In Stockholm I had the chance to catch up with Damien Vignol, a street photographer who has traveled through Europe, Asia, and now is in Stockholm. See my past interview with Damien here, and read more to see his new photos from Japan:
The best camera in street photography is the most expensive one.
If I gave myself advice in street photography if I started all over again I would tell myself, “Eric, buy yourself the most expensive camera out there for street photography. You are a newbie and not very good at shooting street photography. You are nervous. You don’t know any technical settings. You are afraid. You aren’t inspired. You don’t have any good work. Buying a really expensive camera will make you great.â€
I always think about the meaning of life— and you can probably notice that this blog has become heavily philosophy-based the last few months. This is due to the fact that I have been thinking much more about living a purposeful life as a photographer. Not only that, but I have also had a few close encounters with death— which always prompts myself to ask why I shoot photography, and what kind of life I want to live.