These are my favourite photography related web sites and blogs which I followed last year. The criteria for making it to this list are:

1. Must be focussed on showing images or how images are created rather than reviews. I don’t mind the odd review as long as it is clearly based on actual usage of gear.
2. Must be updated regularly, at least a couple of times a month.
3. Must be focussed on one or more of the genres of photography I like so, portrait, landscape, street, art nude.
4. Contain written as well as image content.
5. Not be overly sales oriented. I’m happy that people need to make money somehow out of photography so don’t mind if the site tries to promote the photographers favourite brand of gear or sell me some training but I don’t want that rammed down my throat in every post.

These are all sites I try to follow on a regular basis and look at once a week at least.

Ming Thein – The architecture and street photographer Ming Thein has to be one of the most prolific photography bloggers out there. His blog is updated  2 – 3 times a week at least and his posts are not only intelligent and insightful but contain some great images of both his commercial as well as personal work. His philosophical posts are especially thought provoking and provide a great analysis of the state of photography in today’s digital world. His posts are heavy on images and although he often does reviews these are not ‘funded’ by any manufacturers and are usually based on his own long term use of the gear.

Strobist – The definitive source for anything you want to know about ‘off-camera flash’ or strobism. The site was started by David Hobby, a photojournalist from the Baltimore Sun, and is now one of the most popular photography blogs there is and rightly so. It contains definitive articles on the basics of moving your flash gun or strobe off your camera to create better and more interestingly lit images as well as a whole range of more advanced topics in both written and video form. It also describes what gear you need for doing all this.

Damian McGillicuddy – The principal photographer for Olympus UK, Damian McGillicuddy’s web site and blog has some great posts on how to light portraits and art-nude photographs (using studio, off-camera and natural light). As you might expect his blog also has a good deal of Olympus related news and reviews but is nonetheless useful if you want to understand how to get the best out of mirrorless, micro-four thirds cameras. McGillicuddy is also a popular tutor and presenter and can always be found at events like The Photography Show or SWPP Convention.

NY Through the Lens – This is the Tumblr blog of the New York based photographer Vivienne Gucwa. Vivienne started out in photography by simply posting images she had taken on her way to and from work and other walks she took in New York but soon amassed 70,000 followers on Tumblr. She went on to produce a book, NY Through the Lens and is now a Sony Artisan of Imagery.

Buchan Grant Photography – Neil Buchan Grant is one of my favourite portrait photographers at the moment. I think his images, mainly created with Olympus OM-D cameras, really capture the personality of the people he photographs and show that he gains a great rapport with his subject. His blog posts, whilst not the most frequently updated, often provide some great insight into the art of portrait photography and how to process images afterwards in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Valerie Jardin – I only discovered Valerie Jardin’s web site late in 2015. Valerie is a French photographer living in the US who shoots mainly street with her Fuji X100T and also runs workshops around the world. Her blog has some good tips on how to do street photography well as shown by her various images on this site.

Thomas Leuthard – Another street photographer, this time from Switzerland. Not only are Thomas’s images unique in the way they capture  humans in the built environment but he has also published (at the time of writing) five ebooks available as free downloads from his web site. I have a couple and they provide some fantastic insights into the art of the street photographer.

The United Nations of Photography -Another recent find this site, founded by Grant Scott and Sean Samuels, explores “the new landscape of photography and filmmaking” through discussion and debate. It features some good advice for novice and pro photographers alike and also includes video interviews with professional photographers. Also, if you happen to live in or near Bristol in the UK there is a free talk by a leading photographer in their field at Bristol Folkhouse.

Lara Jade –  Lara Jade is a fashion photographer originally from Staffordshire in the UK but now resident in New York. Her photography is a little more than the usual images of models in clothes as it tries to include elements of narrative in the way she places her subjects in the built environment rather than the relatively controlled atmosphere of the studio. Her blog, updated fairly regularly, also includes some nice behind the scenes information from her shoots.

Steve Gosling Photography – Steve is a landcape photographer and another Olympus user (you may be spotting a trend here). His online portfolio includes many examples of his beautiful black and white landscapes from around the UK as well as other parts of the world. His blog, though not updated as often as I would like to see,  has some excellent advice on creating landscape photographs and the equipment required to do this form of photography.

So that’s it for my favourite web sites currently. Obviously they reflect my own preferences for genres of photography as well as equipment I use but also provide great advice and inspiration for whatever type of photography you pursue. Feel free to share any great web sites you like and visit regularly.

 

philosophy web site