Archives for February 2015

Streettogs Academy No. 9

Here we go with another assignment over at streettogs academy. Cheers to Harry Fodor for bagging the editor’s choice for Assignment no. 8.

In his email to me, he gave a pretty nice explanation/rationale on why he chose his theme. He made a good observation of what the group is doing and I think it is a great way to continuously challenge ourselves.

In Harry’s words:

Well, what’s my idea for the next assignment?
Hmm, last assignments themes were all about interactions, interactions between people (7th “Opposites”, 3rd “Foreigners” ) or interactions between people and the environment (last one, 6th “Directions”, 4th “Strong Light”) or themes about emotions (5th “Fear”, 2nd “Friendship”). Only the first one (“Square”) was about “technical” aspects – so, why not doing something like a “rhetorical loop“ and going back to the beginning?

How to Overcome Self-Criticism in Street Photography

I think in photography it is good to have some self-criticism. If you want to be the best photographer you possibly can, you want to be more discerning about your images. You want to produce better work. You want to see the extent of your limits.

But every once in a while we get a lot of these voices in our head that tells you that you’re stupid, you’re dumb, you’re untalented, nobody loves you, and that you will die and nobody will care.

Just one more photo

My mom recently came back from an epic backpacking trip through Nepal for about 28 days. She is an incredible woman. At the age of 59, she was able to withstand the freezing cold, the difficulty of breathing in high altitude, and the challenge of keeping her motivation up for nearly a month in which she hiked 8+ hours a day.

[Read more…] about Just one more photo

Video Interview with Blake Andrews from In-Public (#2)

In 2011 I did a video interview with Blake Andrews, and a lot has changed since then. I recently did an interview on Blake’s blog (Q&A with Eric Kim) and wanted to see what he has been up to since the last time we chatted.

In this hour-long interview, we talk about his trip to LA, how it is to shoot in Eugene and Portland, the philosophy and psychology behind blogging, shooting in color vs black and white, as well as his advice for street photographers.

Also as a note, there are some parts of the video where the audio is scratchy, and the video isn’t the highest quality. But I hope you enjoy this feature as much as I did! You can follow Blake below:

Follow Blake on Social Media:

Photography:

10 Lessons Blake Andrews Has Taught Me About Street Photography

I want to write this article on a photographer, blogger, and overall cool guy — Blake Andrews.

I first saw Blake’s work on the In-Public website, and was amazed by his surrealistic street photography— and his sharp eyes for shapes, forms, and visual elements.

Free E-Book: Letters from a Street Photographer

I am excited to announce that I finally put together my free ebook: “Letters from a Street Photographer“. This book is much more philosophical in nature– and combines the philosophy of stoicism and street photography. If you seek more purpose, happiness, and meaning in your photography, this book is for you.

Here is a breakdown of the chapters:

Chapter 1: How to shoot and live without regrets
Chapter 2: How to deal with negative critics
Chapter 3: How to focus on your life’s work
Chapter 4: Fuck fame
Chapter 5: How to be happy
Chapter 6: How to live a purposeful life

Free Download:

This book is “open source” — meaning it is free to download, share, and remix. I hope you enjoy this fruit of my love:

Other free e-books:

Book Review: The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson

“A bible for photographers” – Clement Cheroux

Wow— where do I even begin? I would say that “The Decisive Moment” by Cartier-Bresson is one of the most beautiful photo books I have ever handled— and it is a book that brings me extreme joy and happiness (you can see all the photos from the book for free on the MagnumPhotos website here).

Sure I have seen many of these photos by Cartier-Bresson before, but to see them in a physical manifestation is a different experience. Not only that, but the original version of “The Decisive Moment” was nearly impossible to get (second-hand copies before the reprint were around $1000+). However now with this re-print by Steidl, “The Decisive Moment” is now open to everybody.

Streettogs Academy No. 8 “Space” Results and Analysis

All systems go as our Space assignment wraps up! Thank you again to Kirk Lothian for the interesting idea and letting me play with Space and Star Trek Puns like nothing else! Let’s lift off and head on to the actual entries everyone in the streettogs academy group sent in.

Street Photography Aphorisms, Heuristics, and Sayings

I’ve just put together this list of street photography aphorisms, heuristics, and sayings. This is a distillation of all of my current thoughts and philosophies on street photography. Many of these sayings and ideas are heavily borrowed from others, and none of these ideas are original.

Don’t take everything in this list as “truth”. Rather, take everything with a grain of salt. Take the sayings which resonate with you, and discard the rest.

Free download

Free E-Book: “Street Photography 101: An Introduction to Street Photography”

Update: I re-edited this book with new images and design / April, 2016

Hey streettogs, I am excited to announce that I’ve finally published my free e-book: “Street Photography 101“. If you’re new to street photography, want to learn the fundamentals, or refresh your existing knowledge– check it out. As always, this book is “open source” — meaning you can freely edit, remix, and distribute this information as you would like.

Below is an overview of some of the chapters I will cover:

Chapter 1: What is street photography?
Chapter 2: Why street photography?
Chapter 3: What to look for when you’re shooting street photography
Chapter 4: How to overcome your fear of shooting street photography
Chapter 5: Lessons I’ve learned from the masters of street photography
Chapter 6: Street photography equipment, technical settings, technique
Chapter 7: Street photography exercises
Chapter 8: Conclusion

Free Download

PDF (Normal/91MB)

PDF (Small/15.9MB)

iBooks Author (353.MB)

If you want to edit, translate, or remix the book, below is the original “iBooks Author” file (free to download for anyone with a Mac):

Also check out the Portuguese translation.

You can also “read more” to see the full text of the book below.

How to #BuyBooksNotGear without breaking the bank

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There is no doubt that we are in an age where information on the web is fast and oftentimes free but despite that, we can’t discount the value of books. This tangible medium has helped teach men and women for centuries as it was and is one of the best way to pass information and/or stories. We are in a great era since we are seeing a great number of photo books come out year after year after for the past decade from self published ones, to reprints, and experimental approaches. Having a photo book from a photographer you look up to or a photographer whose work you admire is a treasured material. Based on my experiences, here are some ways you can build your photo book collection:

The 5 Elements of Effective Street Photography

My friend Todd Hatakeyama recently gave me a superbly refreshing book titled: “The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking”. It is a basic primer on how to think more effectively when solving problems– and can help students, teachers, and anyone trying to learn or improve their skills.

Like always, I took away a lot from the book– and thought about the principles and how we could apply them to street photography. Here are some of the ideas I learned from the book:

Angkor Photo Workshop 2014 Notes

(A.g.’s note/Disclaimer:

The following are the notes I have jotted down during the Angkor Photo Festival last Nov. 28-Dec. 6, 2014. I have organized my thoughts and the lessons so that it would be easy to comprehend for others.

The notes I have is most likely different from the other participants since we had different experiences based on the mentors we had, the skills we wanted to develop, and things we encountered while photographing. These notes are not a substitute for the entire experience during the workshop. I’m sharing it here since you may be in the same situation that I am in or perhaps see something different with regard to the work you are doing. I also share in Eric’s philosophy that information should be open.

With that said, I will say that the time, effort, and everything I put in working through the workshop/festival, meeting other photographers, and just overall looking and doing work made me mature and more confident about what I do. All thanks to the festival organizers, my mentors Kosuke Okahara and Ian Teh, the photographers I met who gave me tips and a few pints of beer, and my batch mates who as I type are already making great leaps in their photography.

Other notes: All in brackets [ ] are my personal opinions and notes on the things that were said or what I think is related to the lesson.)

For more info on the Angkor Photo Festival and workshops, click here.

Free E-Book: The Street Photography Project Manual

Dear streettogs, I am really excited to share that I have (another) free e-book for you guys (because I love you) titled: “The Street Photography Project Manual”

The concept behind the e-book was this: I wanted to put together all the information I knew regarding coming up with ideas with street photography projects, how to shoot it, how to edit and sequence it, and how to publish it. Here is a quick overview of the chapters in this e-book:

Chapter 1: Why pursue a street photography project?
Chapter 2: What makes a great photography project?
Chapter 3: How to come up with a street photography project idea?
Chapter 4: How to stay motivated when pursuing your photography project
Chapter 5: How to edit/sequence your photography project
Chapter 6: How to publish your photography project
Chapter 7: Conclusion

Free download:

This book is “open source” meaning you are free to distribute, edit, change, remix, or share this with your friends (freely and openly). Enjoy:

If you want to read the full e-book on this blog, “read more”:

Here are some other free e-books I published:

Video: How to Use a Leica M Camera for Street Photography with Craig Semetko

Check out this new helpful video by Craig Semetko (author of “Unposed“) on how to shoot street photography with a Leica M camera. Here are some of the tips he shares in the video:

Know the camera well enough to not think about it. Then pure seeing and personal vision takes over.
Study the masters, in photography and painting, movies, literature, etc. Looking at Cartier-Bresson’s work never hurt anybody.
Practice observing and spend a great deal of time roaming the street. You don’t need an assistant to start.
Every situation is different. Work fast. Act like you’re looking elsewhere and don’t know how to use the camera.
A sense of humor is fundamental to me, as I believe it is for most people. In my opinion, a story without humor is not being truthful–at any given moment, someone is laughing about something somewhere.
Do what you are passionate about. The rest takes care of itself.

Archives for February 2015

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