![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/birds-ricoh--scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C787&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe art of observation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What makes a good photographer? Being a keen observer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, seeing this tree that split in half (in order to grow AROUND) the pole lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something that a lot of photographers haven’t explored enough:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using the selfie-mode of your camera to shoot more self-portraits of yourself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n We often do this with our iPhone cameras (selfies<\/a>), but rarely do we use our ‘standalone digital camera<\/a>‘ to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, these selfies from Lumix G9<\/a> while walking up my stairs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In praise of macro mode. See details you find interesting, then get very close and shoot in macro mode. This photo on RICOH GR III<\/a> in macro<\/a> mode:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Short “snap-chat-esque” videos. For example this short video I shot of a flame:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is another lesson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you see something interesting, just shoot it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n For example I was inside my apartment looking out of the window, and I saw someone walking by the parking lot. I just shot a photo:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like this photograph because of the play of perspective– some of the photo is inside my apartment (left of the frame), and some of it outside. I also shot it from a high angle perspective<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another thought:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t always feel the need to “properly” frame all the photos you shoot.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n My recent joy with shooting with RICOH GR III:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoot your camera from all angles. Hold your camera super low, super high, to the left, to the right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Don’t always use the viewfinder. Shoot more randomly– embrace the chaos and randomness<\/a>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, I often see things which I consider ‘visual poetry’. For example, a simple red-caution tape in the streets flying in the wind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another big thing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t be shy in photography.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Better to be assertive and to just shoot it than to be meek and ‘chicken out’ from shooting a scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where you are noble for being a street photographer — 90% of street photography is courage<\/a> and risk-taking<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another useful life lesson:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you see something you find interesting, keep lingering and shooting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n For example a bunch of people at the coffee shop (with a suspended bicycle). While chilling at the coffee shop, I kept taking photos of the scene and monitoring it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoot photos while walking at night. Use AUTO-ISO and autofocus, and embrace the blur!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like this macro photo of Cindy holding up her necklace in front of her face. I decided her to focus on the necklace, not her face:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Practical thoughts on how to photograph:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R0069505-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206525"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206545,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206525\/revisions\/206545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R0069981-scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C787&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSelfie mode<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"selfie\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/P1426793-pick-scaled.jpg?resize=1180%2C788&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/P1426786-pick-selfie-scaled.jpg?resize=1180%2C788&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/P1426792-pick-selfie--scaled.jpg?resize=1180%2C788&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/P1426794-selfie-pick-scaled.jpg?resize=1180%2C788&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/li>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/P1426780-selfie-scaled.jpg?resize=1180%2C788&ssl=1\")
<\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/a><\/a><\/a>Get close<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R0069965-scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C787&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nShoot both still photos and videos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/flame-big-gif.gif?resize=1180%2C610&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJust shoot it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R0069922-scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C1770&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAllow yourself to shoot more randomly<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Selfie\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R0069757-scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C787&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nLook for visual poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/DEBEAD3C-E357-4968-B7AB-2735D40E69DA-scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C782&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDon’t be shy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/5AAC8C73-BC0D-470D-9E4C-60C19685BB6A.jpeg?resize=1180%2C787&ssl=1\")
Linger and keep shooting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"providence](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R0069679-scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C787&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nPhotograph while walking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Blur\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R0069894-scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C787&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFocus on things closest to you.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R0069496-scaled.jpeg?resize=1180%2C787&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"