The Copernicus March organised by the KTO theatre passes through the city. The event celebrated the 550th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus and the 45th anniversary of entering Kraków on the Unesco list. About 150 performers took part in the show – actors, dancers, musicians, stilt walkers and extras
Photograph: Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
With built-in manual controls and an autofocus 3-lens system and integrated Lidar ranging meter, the Polaroid I-2 is an instant craft tool made for the tactile, creative pursuit of analog photography.
Polaroid rhymes with instant photography and even if Fujifilm has taken the crown in recent years with its Instax series, which continues to rise in popularity, Polaroid is the reference name for a whole generation and the term used to refer to the photos captured – and developed – by… Polaroid cameras!
[embedded content]Polaroid’s new camera is different from previous models, though. The new I-2, engineered and designed for craft, is the first analog instant camera with built-in manual controls. Pair it with the sharpest-ever Polaroid lens – better than the one used in the classic SX70, the company says – and the unique chemistry of Polaroid film, and you have an instant craft tool made for the tactile, creative pursuit of analog photography.
The I-2 was created completely in-house. Its sleek black form is a direct result of its function, with the camera being built around its manual controls and Japan-team-designed lens. In fact, to build the Polaroid I-2 the company looked at the place that has more history and tradition when it comes to cameras, Japan, and the project moved ahead with two engineers that worked at Olympus – Yusuke Kojima and Toshimasa Akagi – for many years as part of a team experienced in analog photography, trying to create a camera that is iconic, yet original. A craftsperson’s tool, in an elegant design.
An optical viewfinderThe body, created by a team from Taiwan, encapsulates an optical viewfinder – big, bright and clear, says the team – that follows the base idea for the I-2: an instant camera with some of the most modern technology mixed with the experience of instant photography cameras. Together with the analog film and manual control, the aim is to provide photographers with a pure Polaroid experience taken at the highest level possible.
[embedded content]Nick Woodley, director of industrial design at Polaroid, who was responsible for the entire 3D surfacing for the entire external camera suggests adjustments were made along the way, to make sure that “people fall in love with our products”. For focusing the camera uses, besides a three lens system that allows for continued focus with LIDAR, which is gives precise ranging and is a technology we may see in more cameras in the future… Panasonic, for example.
With different prototypes of the Polaroid I-2 distributed around the world, for photographers to test, the results helped to create the final product, which took four years to develop. The final camera offers six exposures modes, – automatic, aperture and shutter priority, manual, multiple exposure and timer – and the camera starts in auto mode, giving photographers the option to compensate exposure in the conventional -/+ 2 EV range.
In aperture priority mode you choose any of seven apertures – ƒ8, ƒ11, ƒ16, ƒ22, ƒ32, ƒ45, ƒ64, to control depth of field and bokeh. Shutter priority mode goes from 1/250 to 30s and then a Bulb mode that can work for 99 hours. A 98mm 3-element lens with continuous autofocus system, capable of focusing from 0.4m (1.3”) to infinity, with its range controlled via stepping motor, is the window to the world, with light metering using a classic center weighted single zone. Polaroid says the metering system covering represents 60% of optical FOV.
A camera photographers may want to tryA tripod mount and a built-in lens filter thread mount – 49mm – are included. The camera has a flash, a classic vacuum discharge tube strobe with a range of 2.5m at ƒ8. There is also a 2.5mm external flash sync. port and a Type-C charging input. Compatible with Polaroid i-Type Film, Polaroid 600 Film and Polaroid SX-70 Film, the camera uses a rechargeable Lithium-Ion Polymer battery.
[embedded content]“Made for the Imperfectionists”, as Polaroid says in its marketing, the Polaroid I-2 has a price of $599.99. It may not be the camera for those eager to post all their photos to social media – some of which will probably get lost in all the control options this camera offers -, but if you’ve always wanted to try a Polaroid camera but aspired for more control of the final product, the Polaroid I-2 may be the answer to all your dreams.
Filmmakers go-to destination for pre-production, production & post production equipment!
Years ago, Alton McDougle — then a young kid from Southeast Washington — asked his mentor Joe Shymanski a tough question: “Why do you trust me so much?”
Shymanski, an effusive guy from Michigan who sold photography in Eastern Market, had made McDougle a market assistant at the tender age of 12. This apprenticeship blossomed into something much bigger. They became business partners, served as one another’s best man and became godparents to one another’s children.
McDougle couldn’t understand why Shymanski had taken a chance on him. But Shymanski was quick to answer: “I know your heart.”
“As a mentor, he was my guy,” McDougle said. “I always looked up to him. I wanted his approval. I never wanted to disappoint him. He didn’t want disappoint me … We grew together in this life.”
McDougle and regular shoppers at Eastern Market who knew Shymanski for more than two decades are reeling after his body was found in Pennsylvania and a man was charged with his murder.
In a news release, the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office said officers responded Sept. 4 to a residence in the 2300 block of Cari Court in Huntingtown, Md., after Shymanski, 51, was reported missing by a family member.
After authorities suspected foul play, the release said, a suspect — Brandon R. Holbrook, 47, of Reedsville, Pa. — was arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with first-degree murder and other offenses. An attorney for Holbrook did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Thursday, the Mifflin County Regional Police Department in Pennsylvania said in a news release that they located human remains in a wooded area “within several hundred yards of Holbrook’s residence” believed to be Shymanski.
“The common denominator we believe between the two men is a common former romantic interest,” Mifflin County Regional Police Department Chief Andre French told WUSA9.
French and Calvert County Sheriff Richard Cox did not respond to requests for comment.
Ted Shymanski said his brother Joe was born in Detroit in 1971 and raised in the city’s suburbs. In high school, he was captain of the football and track teams — but also developed the love for photography he would turn into a career, taking photo classes and working in a local studio.
After getting a degree in teaching from the University of Michigan, Joe traveled the world, teaching English in Asia. After a brief return to Michigan, he set off for Honduras to teach for two years — by car.
“He drove a car down there,” Ted Shymanski said. “He drove a car from Michigan. Everyone thought he was nuts.”
After that trip, Joe landed in the District in the late 1990s and ended up teaching in a D.C. public school. He was appalled by the school’s poor conditions, Shymanski said, and had to wait until November to get his first paycheck.
He built a lifelong connection, however, with his community and his students. Though Joe didn’t last as a full-time DCPS teacher, he stayed in the city, buying a house on D Street not far from Eastern Market. When he had to gut the house, he looked to his former pupils for help, turning them loose on interior walls with sledgehammers. And when he started selling photography in the market, he enlisted some of them as helpers.
One of these apprentices was destined to take over the business.
McDougle said he met Shymanski through his older brother, who was in Shymanski’s sixth grade history class. The teacher from Michigan was in his mid-20s. McDougle was 12. When his brother lost interest in helping out at the market, McDougle stuck around.
At first, Shymanski was a mentor — like Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid,” McDougle said. Soon, however, it became clear that both men had something to learn from the other. They competed artistically, each trying to outdo the other in their signature style: comical, close-up photographs of Legos. The partners even gave themselves a name: “The Dream Team.”
“He taught me photography,” McDougle said. “I taught him how to hustle photography.”
The Dream Team wasn’t just about business. When both men’s marriages ended in divorce, they supported each other, texting messages of encouragement daily. When Shymanski migrated to Calvert County, where he shared custody of his children with his ex-wife, McDougle put in more time at the market.
Now, McDougle said he’s working with Shymanski’s family to create a foundation to honor his former mentor’s memory and encourage kids to pursue photography.
“They might’ve killed Joe, but they awoke a beast,” McDougle said. “Everyone is behind him … we are going to keep his name alive.”
At a candlelight vigil Thursday, more than 100 people gathered to share memories of Shymanski. Joe taking a job shooting head shots for a law firm — then becoming the firm’s official photographer. Joe driving cross-country to meet a friend for a golf match that he won even though he had a broken foot.
Micheline Mendelsohn, who helped organize the vigil, said she met Shymanski in 2001 when she was an intern at the Canadian embassy. After enlisting him to shoot an event there, she worked with him for years, photographing events at her family’s Capitol Hill restaurants and taking photos for her brother Spike Mendelsohn, a “Top Chef” competitor.
Shymanski’s photos went beyond mere portrait photography, she said. He was able to get to the center of a crowd without drawing attention to himself, according to Mendelsohn, creating work that was more like journalism.
“He was just always there,” she said. “He was able to build an amazing community of people around him.”
At Eastern Market Saturday, that center was missing. Joe was gone.
“Everybody loved him,” Ted Shymanski said. “Multiple people said, ‘Hey, I was Joe’s best friend. For me, as a brother, I was lucky just to have him.”
The other day on the street, a man stopped me and asked if I was a photographer because I was carrying around a camera. I told him that I’m a journalist and that we review cameras, lenses, etc. He then asked if I had a YouTube channel, but I instead pointed him to our app after telling him that we’re an online magazine. I didn’t feel like talking to him because the need to educate new photographers is an exhausting task equivalent to trying to help an addict recover from a vice. And obviously, it doesn’t make me want to give up on photography. But it reminds me that we don’t instill the idea of art vs. content enough.
To be a content creator, you either need to be a snake oil salesperson or an incredibly attractive one. But to be an artist, you really just have to create for yourself and learn marketing skills to become sustainable and not have to constantly create to please an algorithm. And the two, creating content vs. art, are not at all the same things.
Besides creating photography for myself, I’m also, obviously, a writer. Earlier this year, I wanted to write a poem every single day. But then I realized that this isn’t sustainable, and instead, it feeds more into the idea of making monotony every single day instead of putting out something really good a bit less frequently.
It’s also why I’ve never done a 365 photography project — the idea is daunting as I realistically don’t have enough time to do something like that. Though I commend the photographers who have done it and have done it exceptionally well. That’s why I commend photographers Sasha O and Bill Wadman, who have done it so incredibly well over the past few years.
The idea that photography is part of content creation has happened because of several reasons. We, as a community, dove really deep into the idea of everything just being online. We forgot how to speak to one another and that we should meet up. Instead, we speak to one another behind screens in groups, in comments, etc. The communities moved online, and therefore so too did the idea of the photographs. And because of that, we stopped printing. The photograph because something that everyone could do with their phones, and we stopped trying to teach people about what makes a photograph artistic.
That, too, has had to evolve beyond what the old masters did.
COVID-19 made the diffraction of communities even larger as we had no reason to meet up in person anymore.
In some ways, the online communities were great because they were very democratic. In-person meetups tend to feature a particular shade — and that has changed as the knowledge has been passed on.
There’s a much bigger problem with only ever getting those communities and information online: and a lot of it has to do with vetting. I’m not speaking about gatekeeping information but instead about finding credible sources. People often don’t know or think to check the information that they’ve gotten. That’s a real problem because it breeds misinformation that can often be quelled a bit more when you’re in person or checking credible sources. And more importantly, it’s a problem with new photographers.
The biggest thing on this list, though, is that there isn’t enough of an emphasis on simply looking at the images. Instead, there’s the idea of blazing through them — and that’s not how art photography is really supposed to be consumed. We’re supposed to be very introspective about the photos and you get better and better at glancing over them as time goes on because you’ve learned how to think about the images. With that said, your mind starts to evolve and change from there.
The photograph can be content. But it can also be art. And we don’t teach enough of the less exploitive side of art.
The U.S. Open, which I have covered for five years for The New York Times, has no shortage of opportunities for staggering visuals. Especially on a sunny day, when the early afternoon light cuts crisp chiaroscuro shadows on the hardcourts, the players are easily transformed — their bodies contorted like ballet dancers and their faces transfigured by effort and focus as they emerge from deep shadow into brilliant sunshine to reach for a ball.
But the event is, and this will come as no surprise to anyone who has attended, absolutely crawling with photographers. All of the major wire services have multiple photographers on site, as do many newspapers and magazines from around the world. And while we all bring something different to our profession that allows us to make unique pictures, I am always thinking of ways to capture the event in a different light. And infrared is, quite literally, different light.
Discovered by the astronomer William Herschel in 1800, infrared resides beyond the visible spectrum of humans and has been used for numerous scientific and industrial purposes since the early 1900s — and for art photography since the mid 1900s. The infrared spectrum itself is divided into near-infrared, which is just beyond red, and far-infrared. Near-infrared imaging is used for night vision security cameras or baby monitors, for example, and far-infrared is what Times visual journalist Jonah M. Kessel used to photograph Methane gas in 2019.
So perhaps it was my subconscious and heavy reliance on near-infrared — I have a 3-month-old and a 3-year-old at home — that prompted me to bring an infrared-converted camera to the U.S. Open this year. A friend and fellow New York Times freelance photographer Adam Kane Machia lent me the camera some time ago, and I had been looking for the right moment to use it.
I usually work with two cameras at the Open — one with a telephoto lens that brings me closer to my subjects and the other with a wide-angle lens that expands my field of view — but I also carried a holster with the infrared camera for those moments when I had some extra time.
The camera’s sensor assigns visible light colors to its infrared photographs, but infrared is essentially colorless. So much the same way that black and white photography strips away the complications of color, I found that infrared photography goes one step further, emphasizing the intensity of light.
At the Open, where tens of thousands of people attend on a single day, the crowds can be disorienting. But in infrared light, the players’ colorful clothes fade away in deference to their figures. Ben Shelton’s white and pink shirt becomes nearly indistinguishable from the green, blue and yellow uniform worn by a ball crew member. The swoop of a spectator’s wide-brimmed hat reflects light by the practice courts with the same intensity of a young fan’s jumbo, neon green tennis ball awaiting an autograph. Even the red, white and blue of the American flag flying high above the nosebleeds in Arthur Ashe Stadium take a back seat to the light itself.
Antony Penrose’s biography of his mother is called The Lives of Lee Miller for good reason. She had so many. In New York, she was a great beauty who became a fashion model, then a fashion photographer. In Paris, she was a friend of Picasso and did art photography with Man Ray. But it was as a photographer during World War Two that she did her most enduring work, black-and-white photos that offered distinct, intimate views of how the war affected lives. She saw that a lone soldier’s boot lying on a street could tell a story.
More like this:
– How a Vogue photographer fought World War Two
– Lee Miller: In Hitler’s bathtub
– The photos of grief that symbolised the anti-war movement
That period of her life is the focus of Lee, with Kate Winslet as the US-born Miller. Winslet also initiated and produced the film, based on Penrose’s 1985 book, and in a lifetime of well-chosen roles, this may be her richest. She gives us a restless, fierce, independent woman who found her voice as a witness to war, and paid the psychological price. To direct, Winslet brought on the great cinematographer Ellen Kuras, who worked with her on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and who shapes the film with supreme authority and intelligent choices at every turn.
The opening plunges us into battle, with Miller in a helmet and army fatigues running through a street trying to escape gunfire, until she collapses against a barrier of sandbags. But that is merely a tease of what’s to come. From there we jump to 1977, where 70-year-old Miller (Winslet in convincing and subtle prosthetics and make-up) is being interviewed by a young man (Josh O’Connor) at her home, Farley Farmhouse in Sussex.
She chain-smokes, drinks in the middle of the day and tosses questions back at the unnamed interviewer. At the film’s end, there is a lovely resolution to the question of what this interview is about, but until then it remains no more than a creaky, serviceable way for Winslet to insert a voiceover now and then to get from here to there in the story. The device is too conventional to match the unconventional Miller, and the film only becomes truly remarkable when its heroine sets off for war.
Director: Ellen Kuras
Cast: Kate Winslet, Alexander Skarsgård, Andrea Riseborough, Marion Cotillard, Josh O’Connor, Andy Samberg
Run-time: 1hr 56m
Before then we see her in 1938 in the south of France. “I’d been the model, I’d been the muse, I’d been the ingenue,” the older Miller says. “I was done with that.” Still, we find her staying with glamorous friends, including Solange (Marion Cotillard), and get a taste of her free-spirited life with artists and writers. There she meets Roland Penrose (Alexander Skarsgård), a painter and art dealer, and in a drastic foreshortening, they instantly become a couple. (In reality, the beginning of the relationship was more complicated, and they didn’t marry until 1947 – although they stayed married for the rest of her life.)
Becoming a war photographer
Living with Roland in wartime London, she begins work as a photographer for British Vogue, whose editor, Audrey Withers (Andrea Riseborough), becomes her professional champion and great friend. And she meets David Scherman (Andy Samberg), a photographer for Life magazine whom she affectionately calls Davey and who later becomes her travel partner as they cover the war. Samberg fits as easily into the drama as Davey did into Miller’s life.
The male roles, Davey’s and Roland’s, are underwritten. That might be because they are not the point in a film that is determinedly from a female perspective. When Miller and Davey go to a British military base and she is barred from much of it because women are not allowed, she photographs the women’s barracks, their stockings and underwear hanging to dry, and a woman pilot posing in the doorway. “Only you could have taken these,” Withers tells her about those shots, and throughout the film we see how accurate that is. Miller arranges some compositions, discovers telling angles for others, and always brings a bracingly fresh eye to her work, which we often see as she hands photographs to the interviewer.
When she becomes accredited as a journalist by the US military, the film truly comes to match the importance of her work, and gives us the measure of its emotional psychological cost. She goes to Normandy, and faces fire during a battle in St Malo, France (that opening scene). Davey joins her as they cover the war across Europe. “We drove for months, didn’t wash for weeks,” we hear the older Miller say as we see them in a jeep driving through dusty streets. After Paris is liberated, she finds her way amidst crumbling buildings to visit Solange, and in one of the film’s most wrenching scenes, learns how horrific the war has been even for those who survived.
Winslet let us see the toll that knowledge takes, as Miller forces herself to look at and document the most unbearable scenes. When the war ends, she and Davey enter Germany and go to Dachau. We do not see what Miller does when she enters one room, but in the interviewer’s hand we see the photograph she took that day, of piles of corpses. Kuras modulates all this in a style that smoothly takes us into Miller’s experience and unique point of view, but with an eloquent understatement.
The war scenes speak loudly on their own, with no need to add dramatic emphasis. Alexandre Desplat’s score matches that style, with a subtle, piercing beauty. If the first half of Lee had been as dazzlingly effective as the second, it might have been a great film instead of a very good one.
Penrose’s biography includes a letter she wrote about her difficulty crossing the border into Hungary in 1945, when Russian guards pointed guns at her. “The adventures were good cinema,” she said. In the end, they certainly were.
★★★★☆
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Each year, a French-American photography commission called Immersion allows selected photographers from each country to work on a project on the other side of the Atlantic. The French photographer Vasantha Yogananthan chose last year to go to New Orleans, taking the notion of immersion seriously and becoming part of a community of kids at a daily summer camp; the heat of Louisiana means that holidays last for three months. With the support of parents and organisers, Yogananthan spent a long time getting to know the kids before he started taking pictures, to the point where they would forget he was there. He was struck by how, each morning, they created their own complex society in a yard the size of a basketball court. Most of the thousands of pictures Yogananthan took were at the end of his time with the children, when the freedoms of summer were coming to a close.
This picture is characteristic of Yogananthan’s images, nearly all of which were taken at ground level to give a sense of the children’s world. He calls the series – on display with work by two other photographers later this month in New York – Mystery Street. It is a place where play is still a serious business. Speaking of the pictures to one of the sponsors of the commission, the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, Yogananthan described how he wanted them to convey some of the fragile and transitory aspects of childhood. This was heightened, he suggested, in New Orleans by the way that the city had been turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina, and was still living with the memory. He thinks of the work as “post-documentary”: none of the images were staged, but stripped of visual clues of location they seem part of the children’s own ideas of time and space.
Immersion: Gregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks and Visantha Yogananthan is at the International Center of Photography, New York, 29 September–8 January 2024
Landscape photography is an art that often balances on the precipice of meticulous planning and spontaneous creativity. As a landscape photographer, I’ve found myself torn between meticulously planning every detail of a shoot and simply going with the flow, capturing the unexpected. In this article, let’s delve into a debate: Is it better to meticulously plan a landscape photography shoot or embrace spontaneity?
One of the primary reasons for meticulous planning is the desire to make the most of the golden hour: the magical time just after sunrise and just before sunset when the light is soft, warm, and ideal for landscape photography. Planning allows you to pinpoint the exact time and location for these moments, ensuring you’re in the right place at the right time.
A well-thought-out plan can help you identify compelling compositions and framing opportunities. By scouting locations in advance, you can assess the potential for leading lines, foreground interest, and the rule of thirds. This ensures that your images have a strong visual impact and you have an idea beforehand of what type of shot you are going to get. For example, when I was putting my photography location guides for Ireland together, I wanted to ensure that I could at least help people find the location, know what’s possible to shoot, and how to plan it in advance, then all that was left was for the weather to play ball. If you are planning a moonrise or moon-set shot, then this is when planning comes into its own.
Detailed planning also involves researching the weather and seasonal conditions of the location. Knowing what to expect can help you pack the right gear, such as rain covers, warm clothing, or filters for specific lighting conditions. It can also ultimately tell you that today isn’t the right time to go shoot as the weather conditions won’t be what you needed them to be. There are some great weather apps out there to give you that edge you need to at least have a stronger potential hit rate.
There are some iconic landscapes require permits or adherence to specific regulations for photography. Thankfully, I don’t have that challenge here in Irelan. However, should you have to get them, planning ahead allows you to obtain the necessary permissions, preventing legal hassles during your shoot. If you are a commercial shooter, then it is going to be almost always the case that you need to let the location know in advance so that they can plan around your needs if necessary.
Planning helps you ensure that you have all the necessary equipment, from lenses and filters to tripods and remote triggers. It also provides an opportunity to clean and maintain your gear before the shoot. By ensuring you take the steps in advance, you reduce the risk of forgetting to pack a key component.
Spontaneity in landscape photography can lead to capturing unique, one-of-a-kind moments that no amount of planning could predict. Nature is unpredictable, and sometimes, the most extraordinary scenes unfold when you least expect them. By being fluid in our approach, we can essentially go where the conditions bring us.
Going with the flow allows you to be more open to creative experimentation. You might stumble upon an unexpected angle, lighting condition, or subject that sparks your imagination and leads to breathtaking shots.
Overplanning can sometimes lead to stress and frustration if conditions don’t align with your expectations. Embracing spontaneity can relieve the pressure of sticking to a predetermined plan and allow you to enjoy the process more. A good friend of mine, Adam Gibbs, once said that having expectations in landscape photography can only lead to disappointment, and he has been right on many occasions.
In challenging environments, like coastal and mountainous areas, where conditions can change rapidly, spontaneity is often a better approach. Rigidity in planning may lead to missed opportunities, as the light can break anywhere, and it can also potentially lead to safety risks because of not being aware of the surroundings.
Spontaneity can result in more authentic and emotionally resonant photographs. When you allow yourself to be present in the moment, you’re more likely to capture the true essence and mood of the landscape. Mindfulness in photography is something that I would highly recommend. Instead of rocking up to a location and immediately hauling the camera out of your bag, grabbing the shot, and heading off, upon arrival, leave the bag in the car if possible or just have it beside you, take your time to breathe in the location, sit down, relax, and look around you. Enjoy the moment, let the landscape envelop you before you even take the camera out. This way, you may spot compositions that you wouldn’t have.
While the planning versus spontaneity debate may seem like an either/or proposition, the truth lies in finding a balance that suits your style and the specific shoot. Here are some strategies that I use to help me to strike a balance:
Even if you prefer spontaneity, basic research and scouting are invaluable. Identify locations, check for access, and understand the general conditions of the area. This provides a foundation for your spontaneous adventure in a scouted location.
Modern technology, such as weather apps, can be your best friend. They allow you to anticipate weather conditions and make informed decisions about when and where to shoot. If, however, you live in an area like I do, you will know that these apps are merely a guide, and the weather can in fact be the total opposite of what the data told you. If you have a fluid and planned approach here, then regardless of the weather, there will always be a shot.
When planning a shoot, leave room for flexibility in your itinerary. Allow for unplanned detours and extra time at locations that capture your interest. I have found that as cliché as it may sound, enjoying the journey as well as the destination is key, far too often, when we are fixed on a timeframe or a destination, we don’t allow ourselves to look around and take in the scenes that present themselves to us along the way. Consider blending planning and spontaneity. Plan for your primary shots, but be open to spontaneous opportunities that arise during the shoot.
Sometimes, the best shots come from following your instincts. If you sense that a change in location or composition is needed, don’t hesitate to go with your gut feeling. Likewise, if you find that killer comp and all you need is the light, look around you and be ready to take the camera off the tripod and shoot it. You can always put the camera back on the tripod when the light kicks in, as the composition will have been locked in.
The debate of planning versus spontaneity in landscape photography is not one that has a definitive answer. Both approaches have their merits and can lead to stunning results. The key is understanding when each approach is most appropriate and finding the balance that aligns with your creative vision and the specific circumstances of your shoot.
Ultimately, whether you meticulously plan every detail or embrace spontaneity, landscape photography is about connecting with the natural world, capturing its beauty, and sharing your unique perspective with others. In the end, the best approach is the one that allows you to do just that. Planning can be just like life: be ready for change and the unexpected.
Have you points to add to this topic or have you examples of when, without planning a shot, it would never have happened, or perhaps because you didn’t plan, you got that banger shot? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.
The Woodland Camera Forum will present a free photography program by photographer Beth Savidge, on Monday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m., at Norton Hall, 70 Cottonwood St., Woodland.
“Photography became my medium for artistic expression as an adult, with my objective focusing on capturing the beauty of the natural world, while evoking an emotional response,” stated Savidge about her show of images, titled “A Journey of Experiments.” “This may be in the form of capturing the story of wildlife, the beauty of a landscape, or the mysteries of the macro world. I continually challenge myself with new subjects and methods and enjoy exploring the creative possibilities that come in post-processing.”
Recent Awards and Recognition include
Beth’s work can be found on her Zenfolio page, https://bsavidgephotography.zenfolio.com/about.html, and her Instagram page, @bethsavidge.
The Woodland Camera Forum meets every third Monday evening.
Anyone interested in photography is invited to attend. For more information about the Woodland Camera Forum and the program, contact Susan Bovey at (530) 219-0955, or email at susan_bovey@yahoo.com.
The WCF also has a Facebook page.
