Question #3: About Travel Lenses

Q: "Hello Valerie, I see that you are a frequent traveller to France, and your photos are beautiful! Thus you seem like the perfect person to ask my question. We are leaving for Paris next week, and I'm wondering what lens you would suggest as an all-around to go with my Nikon d90? I have a 28-200mm 3.5-5.6, 50mm 1.8 and a 35-105mm 3.5-4.5. I love street photography, but also would like to try some interesting Eiffel Tower shots, etc. Merci!" Dianna M.

A: "Another great question, and one that I get asked often! Many would answer that the travel lens of choice, in the selection that you gave me above, is the 28-200mm. It is true that it will give you the range you need to shoot pretty much anything during your travels. Many of my photo workshop participants choose to travel with a similar lens so that they don't need to change lenses during the photo walks. Depending on how long you are staying, this may be the lens of choice. If you have a few days, I would highly recommend walking for a day or two with the 50mm only. I give that advice to my students and, when they do, they often shoot their best images on those days. Limiting yourself to a fixed focal length lens will make you think more, it will slow you down and you will take better care at composing, you will also be more creative in your framing. 50mm is also a great choice for street photography. A faster lens will also allow you to photograph indoors without a tripod and it will serve as a great food photography lens when you eat at those wonderful Parisian Bistros. Your back will also thank you for traveling lighter for part of your trip. I hope this helps. Bon voyage!"

If you have a question, please use the contact form to send it. 

Question #2: About Sharing Knowledge

Q: "What are your suggestions for finding people locally with photographic interests who will share knowledge rather than be threatened by our interest?" V. Tiffany

A: "Great question! Since I am not sure whether you are talking about photography as a hobby or a profession, I'll do my best to answer it generically. I do believe that the photography community at large is very generous at sharing knowledge. Yet, when I was breaking into the business of commercial photography years ago, I also noticed that local photographers were not particularly keen on sharing. I also thought that it was probably because they were threatened by new competition entering the market place. What they failed to realize is that if they were not responsive when I approached them, I was certainly not going to send work their way if I turned down a client for one reason or another... This business is about sharing. As a pro photographer you give 80%, you receive 20%, that's how it works.

Why not share knowledge? There is no secret to photography, every possible piece of marketing advice or technical information is out there on the web and free! Also, although every one thinks they are a photographer, your work will stand out and your personality will shine in the end. If you're a pro, the client buys your talents, your expertise and your personality. 

Okay, now back to the question... If you are thinking of joining a photo club to meet like-minded people and share ideas, there are some really great ones out there. Unfortunately, there are also many whose members seem to be more interested in the gear and the pixels than the craft and the story, those have been a turn off for me. Check your area for photo walk groups or clubs. Attend a meeting or two to get a feel for the community.  If all else fails, start your own!  That's what I did when I started my Passion & Vision photo walk group. As photographers, we NEED to hang out with like-minded people. For me, it's a necessity and part of the reason why I love traveling the world teaching photo workshops so much! When I'm not traveling, I lead photo walks during my time off. They are not workshops and everyone is very respectful of that. We get together to shoot and talk, and sometimes share a drink along the way. We learn from each other. We all have different levels of expertise and experience. Some members show up with $10,000 worth of gear, others show up with an iPhone. No one cares, because it's all about vision and passion.

We all have something to bring to the table as we continue to learn this beautiful craft. Attending photo workshops is also a great way to meet other photographers and share ideas. If you still feel like there is tension among pros locally and a certain fear to share knowledge, then social media may be the answer. I often do Google Hang-outs with colleagues to share tips about marketing, etc.  I hope this helps, good luck!

I wrote quite a few articles on the subject which are all linked on the publications page of my website.

If you have a question, please use the contact form to send it.

I would love to read about your experience on this topic, please leave a comment below. Thank you!

Valerie

Question #1: About Printing

Q: It is nice to see photos digitally, but I am from the time that actual prints were held in ones hands. Top photographers will tell you a lot sometimes about their process, but what seems to be lacking, is how but ( mostly ) where they get their digital prints done on paper. I know you can do quite an acceptable job at home with colour prints and labs are plentiful for colour. but what about black and white digital prints. what do you do? Merci, Ronald

A: I do not print my own images but I also do appreciate holding a big beautiful print in my hands. When I need high quality prints in color or B&W for myself, an exhibit or to sell a fine art print, I use White House Custom Color (WHCC) here in the US. I had the chance to visit one of their labs and was really impressed. The quality is amazing, service is very prompt (printing and shipping usually done within a day if the order is sent in the morning) and the prices are hard to beat. You can get free test prints done to try them out, they will also send you paper samples. Also the packaging is the best I've ever seen in the photo print industry. Your images will always arrive in perfect shape. Even better, two-day shipping within the US is usually free. The lab will also ship all over the world. 

If you want to print your own work, I would recommend a book by my friend and fellow photographer Martin Bailey: Making The Print or the newly released book by Jeff Schewe The Digital Print Jeff's book will take you step by step through the process of preparing your color or B&W images in LR or PS for printing.

I hope this answers your question!

Valérie

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If you have a photography related question, please use the contact form to send it. It can be a general question about photography, about the business side of it, etc. I look forward to hearing from you, thanks!