Nice to see a photography thread, lots of excellent stuff here. I shot film for many years but now use a Ricoh GRIII
Been using my camera more often lately. Mostly pictures of my puppy. But its fun to take some photos again. Makes me want to upgrade my camera to something with animal eye autofocus! 
Some really cool imagery in this thread.
I work in branding and art direction and photography has been a massive part of my life. I love the process and I find that it really compliments my interest in music in a big way.
I’m influenced by a lot of contemporary photography, but I really like the work of Luigi Ghiri, with his almost surreal, and graphic deadpan frames. His book, Kodachrome is a good place to start…
Anyhow, I’ve been fortunate enough to have my photography on the last 3 Shinichi Atobe albums which I’m really appreciative of.
I’ve had a break for the past few years, but I’ve been getting out more recently and shooting again which is a good feeling (except for the price of film these days).
These are mega. 100% my kind of stuff.
My photographic playtime sees me trying to create an image that stands alone and is interesting but without containing anything of interest. It is hard.
Thanks, appreciate it
Yeah, it’s so difficult, and it can be so demoralising looking through rolls and rolls of crap Although, I suppose it’s similar to music production, in that it can sometimes feel non productive, but you always learn something from the experience.
It sort of reminds me about the back story around how photographer Trent Parke got his famous moving bus image… insane commitment.
“Light is magical: it changes everything. A scene can look incredible when it’s lit up, and then 10 minutes later it’s completely changed. It’s the searing sun that defines Australia and Sydney. You get an incredibly sharp, harsh light.
This bus image came about because I’d started to slow the shutter speed down while photographing Martin Place, the main business district in Sydney. In the corner of one of my pictures was a white van , and you could see someone’s shadow cast onto the side of the vehicle. I couldn’t work out how it had happened, so I kept going back to the same spot.
I went each evening, for about 15 minutes, when the light came in between two buildings. It happens only at a certain time of the year: you’ve just got that little window of opportunity. I was relying so much on chance - on the number of people coming out of the offices, on the sun being in the right spot, and on a bus coming along at the right time to get that long, blurred streak of movement. If I didn’t get the picture, then I was back again the next day. I stood there probably three or four times a week for about a month. I used an old Nikon press camera that you could pull the top off and look straight down into, because I was shooting from a tiny tripod that was only about 8cm high. I had tried to lie on the ground, but people wouldn’t stand anywhere near me. I finally got this picture after about three or four attempts. I shot a hundred rolls of film, but once I’d got that image I just couldn’t get anywhere near it again. That’s always a good sign: you know you’ve got something special.”
just got a used x100F to learn photography.
I’m often outside with my dog so I thought I can use that time to make pictures as well.
Total noob! Any tips on how to start? Any great books?
nice to see that topic here. thank you @theartistisirrelevant
Start with books that predate digital. The basics are still the foundation of good images.
One thing we did at Uni regularly was to tear a photo out of a magazine and challenge each other to reproduce it. It gets you thinking about and practicing techniques.
Great camera, and loads of flexibility. Learn as much as you can about controlling light and what your aperture and shutter settings are doing.
Always aim to shoot your frame/composition in camera rather than thinking of cropping afterwards. That way you start to see things with more in context to the frame and the limits of your focal length. It’s great that the Fuji x100 has a fixed lens. I think it’s better to learn on a fixed lens.
Anyhow check this amazing photographer, who shoots dogs with his Fuji x100 in a street style aesthetic …. amazing, might give you some inspiration!
So good to see that this thread has really taken off on its own with great input from other photography enthusiasts!
@paulito the x100F was the camera that had the most impact in my photographic journey, I wrote a whole article about it here if you care to read it. And I’ve also used dog-walks throughout the years to capture images, it’s a great excuse to go out with a camera and document whatever captures your eye.
As for tips to start, here are a few:
- shoot, shoot and the shoot some more. No amount of training (formal or informal) can replace experience, trying out different things and seeing what works for you and what doesn’t;
- figure out which photographers you really like and then study their work through books, interviews and whatever you can get your hands on;
- regarding books specifically, one that was really helpful to me was the “Magnum Contact Sheets” because you get to see the thought process behind some of the most iconic photographs of the XX century.
wow that pictures are awesome! had to laugh so hard 
great inspiration, thank you
I find that approach also really good to learn music.
This is worth a watch. BBC doc on Tom Wood… an absolute amazing photographer from similar background as Martin Parr. It’s a great insight in to classic visual storytelling, and also his mindset and approach to his lifetime commitment towards photography. He’s shooting with a Leica and the X100. The cool thing about the X100, is that it’s really discreet, and there’s few instances where it shows.
Tom Wood - What Do Artists Do All Day
Part 1
Part 2
Totally agree on the Magnum contact sheets book - there’s some good insight in that. It all depends on where your interest lies with photography, but have a good look around the Magnum site, as it’s rammed full of of some of the best reportage photographers in the world.
You can’t really go wrong with some of the classic books from their classic photographers.
Alex Webb - The Suffering of Light
Harry Gruyaert — India
In terms of photography book sites, it depends on where you live, but I use these a lot. Even if it’s to see the releases and if you like something you can read up more.
