Blog Feed

Be Creative and Mindful of your Photography

Taking pictures is a great hobby, it can make you more creative and aware of your community.
Photography should be more inclusive and mindful of the people it is for and we need more pictures of all kinds.
Photography is not just an activity, it is a way of life. And we need more people to be engaged in this passion. There are many ways in which you can take photographs. You can take pictures at home or in public. You can take pictures of art. You can take pictures of food, or nature or architecture. Photography is an art form. As a photographer you will be able to express your creativity and bring your vision to the world. And that will be beautiful.
When I take pictures I take pictures for myself as much as I take pictures of others. I take pictures for a different reason every time. Whether it’s an interesting sunset, an inspiring sunset, a wonderful sunset, or a beautiful bird.

Who Gives Grace?

poor-1775239_1280

When a top photographer takes a photo of a poor child or of a desperate situation and gets the people’s attention to that problem, who is on the side that takes charity and who on the side that gives? Most would say that the photographer, the journalist or the blogger is the one who deserves the credit. I would argue that the opposite is true. Where would the photographer be without these perfect scenes that popped to his eyes, without the perfect compositions that form before his eyes without any effort from his side?
More than the photographer redeems the poor man, the poor man redeems the photographer.

I’m not saying that photography isn’t a noble profession. But when the photographer comes up with a wonderful image of a poor child, he is doing so not to help the child but to make the child himself a beautiful object. The photographer’s image is not the child’s savior but an objectification of that child.

The Best Photo Out There

trophy-152022_1280

What is the most satisfying photo? The one with the best lighting and composition, anyone would say. But what is the meaning and essence of the photo, to you the photographer and the community you are part of? The lighting can have a major impact on the interpretation and subconscious bias arising when we stare at an image.

A lot of people would say that the most satisfying photo of a shoot is the one that will get you the most likes on Facebook. If you have a great composition that can get people’s attention, the whole picture is worth it. And the only problem is that if the photographer does not have that good of a composition, the whole photo becomes unappealing. And if you don’t like the picture of your friend you have shot in the snow with the sun shining on him and his back, what else do you want to shoot that day? Is there a story behind it?

As I’ll explain in further posts, photos can engage and combine different cultures. Clashing and discording ideas and beliefs. As such, there’s a tendency to try and make something “authentic” and to try and find some form of “authentic” style and technique. In my experience, I believe it’s almost impossible to “create” a style.

The reality is, the style and technique you choose to create is the one that resonates with you and the way you relate to the work. If there’s something you feel strongly about, you will make it your own and you’ll make it work with your style and technique.
There are no “rules” of style. It’s an infinite process. You might be able to tell a style from a photo, but you never know for sure.

Just an Observer?

manipulation-4225382_1280As a photographer, are you just a bystander, a scientific observer? Do you have any influence or responsibility for what is happening right in front of your lens? How are you interacting with your environment when you are out there?

I think my role as a photographer is more than just documenting a scene. I am a participant in that scene, but I also have a lot of influence and responsibility as an observer.

When you are looking through the lens and you are in a situation where there are other people there, you have an obligation to take it seriously. And it is important to take it seriously because people are watching you. People may say to you, ‘Are you taking pictures or are you taking video?’ It’s very important to consider what’s going on around you.

If you’re taking pictures and you have your camera phone out and you’re talking to other people, you can never forget that. It’s very important.

Be Wealthy, Help the Poor

What do you do when you photograph a poor child? You want to hold the moment in which he is desperate, suffer of his existence. A child without a home. A child with no one to care for him. A child that wants desperately to stay alive. This image is about my own struggle in the past, as well as what it is like for the children who live in this world. I wanted to make an image that had this quality, and I wanted to tell the story of these children, of what they go through, and how they are able to survive. I also wanted the image to be a reminder of how we can all make a difference in our community, in our city.

But if you only take his picture and go, who will make the profit? For the short term, only you. Can you help him in the meanwhile? Give him some charity, help his community. Photograph him when he’s happy about, when the contrast of happiness and poorness meet. Do this as much as you can, while you can. Then when you have saved yourself, you will not have to be ashamed about it.

It’s easier to get good money than good feelings. I have a very hard time getting good money now because it’s really tough to find a good feeling. I have a lot of money, but not much feeling.

A Beautiful World

Make your pictures a monument for humanity, for the bright sides of the human nature. Take a picture of a young man helping an old lady, of a mother feeding her baby.

A good way to understand the world is to see it through the eyes of another human being. Tell the story that’s not being told, tell it.

The picture is worth a thousand words. A photographer must capture something and tell the story behind it. This is the beauty of the photography. This is the magic of a good picture.

You’re a photographer. Get off the fence and go find that story. To a photographer, the story is the image and the image is the story.

Don’t worry about the quality of your images. Your images needn’t be perfect. You may even want to make your shots in low light.

But the image is the most important part.

Tell the Story of the People

Let your photos tell the stories of the people you are taking pictures of. Photos let the people without freedom of speech speak to the world. They show the world what you have seen and heard. And they let the world know where you are and what you see. This gives us the opportunity to be seen and heard by others.

This is why photographers put their hearts and souls into their photos. So that other people will know what it was like to be there and share their memories with us. So that people can share in the story of a person they don’t know. That the world can be a little bit different, a little bit more alive, for someone who might never have been able to.

And so that your photography can be a tool to bring peace to the world, so that the world can be a little bit less bloody and a little more merciful.

Taking Pictures is Storytelling

What story are you trying to tell?

Your photographs tell a story, a true narrative. This narrative can be your own, or of the community you are photographing. To be able to take a picture in the rain that shows how the community feels about the weather, it is not enough to sit in the water and make a portrait. It is not enough to stand in front of the community and wait for the storm to pass. You must sit in the water and let the community tell the story.
You have to go where the people are and make a photo.

Look on the subject you are taking pictures of as a human being, not as an object. You must feel connected and immersed in his life, his eyes. When you are not immersed in the scene, you may miss what it says about you. I’ve always found that my best pictures come from the inside, the real me.

When you are taking pictures, ask yourself why you are taking them. The moment you begin to feel guilty, or you are trying to make the picture look like it’s your own, you have lost the element of surprise and I think this makes your picture. This is how you become a professional photographer, not a hobbyist.

If you want to be a professional photographer, you must be willing to go to the dark places in your soul, and in order to get there, you must be willing to give up your comfort zone.

Democracy in Photography

Photography can help us keep the world diversified, clean and equal. So, I’m here to ask, how can I use photography to make a difference in our world?
Photography is our primary tool to learn about the physical environment in the oceans, and to protect that environment by protecting marine species and habitats from exploitation. For example, it can help us understand the impact of harvesting species from the wild for commercial fishing.
It can also be used to tell our stories, and share them with the world. Our world, and the stories of those who inhabit it, are changing.
We can be part of the solution and protect our planet. We can tell those stories with photography. For this reason, I’ve selected five photographers that share my belief in the importance of photography in the conservation of our planet’s environment.

Photos is All About People

Taking photos is all about people. It starts with people like you behind the viewfinder and ends with people across the lens. I’ve never been so thankful to be on a camera. it makes me feel alive. I love my life and photography. The most important thing to me is sharing it with you.

When I take photos, I think of the community I live in. I think about my community’s values, how they are expressed and what they are about. I consider who I am and what I represent. I think about how I will use the photos I take. When I take them, I use them to create something that will make the world a better place. I want my photos to reflect who I am and where I come from.

A New Outlook on Life

How photography can make the world better? The most interesting aspect is the reflection and retrospective. If it was possible to show the world, we would see it with our own eyes. If I was able to show this to someone from a different culture, it would change the way they look at the world. It may cause them to have a new outlook on life.

It’s easy to see how the world has improved through the technology we use. The camera has changed the way we interact with each other. With the use of Instagram, we can view the world from a different perspective and get more out of life.


If I could share a photograph with you right now, would you want to get out of bed?