I participated in Morten Albek’s Street Photography Workshop in Paris. I found it to be excellent.
There were many I-think-important, but somewhat unconventional topics discussed and emphasised.
Taught in the fashion of
(1) teach it and explain the whys,
(2) show it, demonstrate it, and
(3) now you try it.
Topics such as… Limiting gear, which is to say severely limiting gear, as in one camera, one lens. The importance of beautiful light: finding it out there in reality and using it.
Measuring light to get a good exposure.
Handling the camera so that you control it towards the picture you want, rather than relying on or being locked into automatic settings.
The importance of a small, quiet, simple, easy-to-use and inconspicuous camera which you know well. Handling the camera so that you’re not too annoying or too offensive, so that you’re not making people mad, self-conscious, or scaring the picture or the moment away.
(In a lot of environs, if you are holding a camera, especially a big, complicated, expensive-looking one, you are a threat.)
The beauty of an old-fashioned, long-out-of-production, generally considered obsolete CCD sensor.
I find “Street Photography” a vague term, and also approaches to photography rather vague, with all sorts of roads which can work for all sorts of people. There certainly are a lot of the newest and latest technology roads that people use and like that are way different from the above. That said, I do think that many, even most photographers, can cut and paste and find something importantly useful or inspiring for themselves in what Morten has to say. And I think portrait photographers and Leica M users might find special value.
Apart from the photography itself, Morten’s workshop seems to me to have been a pretty good value proposition. There’s a lot to be said for taking pleasant walks around Paris. The first aim to enjoy taking pleasant walks around Paris. To places you might not run across on your own. While enjoying coffee, food, and drinks with smart, convivial fellow travellers.
There were many I-think-important, but somewhat unconventional topics discussed and emphasised.
Taught in the fashion of
(1) teach it and explain the whys,
(2) show it, demonstrate it, and
(3) now you try it.
Topics such as… Limiting gear, which is to say severely limiting gear, as in one camera, one lens. The importance of beautiful light: finding it out there in reality and using it.
Measuring light to get a good exposure.
Handling the camera so that you control it towards the picture you want, rather than relying on or being locked into automatic settings.
The importance of a small, quiet, simple, easy-to-use and inconspicuous camera which you know well. Handling the camera so that you’re not too annoying or too offensive, so that you’re not making people mad, self-conscious, or scaring the picture or the moment away.
(In a lot of environs, if you are holding a camera, especially a big, complicated, expensive-looking one, you are a threat.)
The beauty of an old-fashioned, long-out-of-production, generally considered obsolete CCD sensor.
I find “Street Photography” a vague term, and also approaches to photography rather vague, with all sorts of roads which can work for all sorts of people. There certainly are a lot of the newest and latest technology roads that people use and like that are way different from the above. That said, I do think that many, even most photographers, can cut and paste and find something importantly useful or inspiring for themselves in what Morten has to say. And I think portrait photographers and Leica M users might find special value.
Apart from the photography itself, Morten’s workshop seems to me to have been a pretty good value proposition. There’s a lot to be said for taking pleasant walks around Paris. The first aim to enjoy taking pleasant walks around Paris. To places you might not run across on your own. While enjoying coffee, food, and drinks with smart, convivial fellow travellers.
Russell