Hi Eric, Russ,
Thanks for your replies! again very helpful!
Russ
To fill you in a little on my background, I'm 32 and living in Dublin Ireland. I run the Engineering and Model Shop departments at a small but internationally recognized design consultancy specializing in consumer electronic and medical device design called Design Partners
http://www.designpartners.com. So I'm lucky enough to work with and be surrounded by a highly talented bunch of creative people on a daily basis.
I got married 3 years ago and with little previous interest photography, wanted to pick up a camera to grab some snaps while on honeymoon in Malaysia (where I took the shot of the kids on the bike from my other post), so I bought a Nikon D90 and the kit lens 18-105.
I quickly realized that I loved taking photos of interesting people going about their daily lives and found myself wondering what they were thinking at that particular moment. I loved that momentary connection you have with your subject when you get "caught" taking that shot. I didn't know this was called street photography until a year later.
that first year I probably took maybe a couple thousand shots - and at least 2/3 of them were at friends weddings(I'm at that age!), and at least 90% of them terrible!
but I found my approach to wedding shots was the same as my street shot, never posed, in fact it was better if they never even saw me and always facing the other way to what the paid pro was. I always gave a copy of my shots to the bride and they were always well received, but they are friends and it was free, and complementary to the hired pro so it's easy to be praised... there was a consistent theme to the feedback however, my shots were described as candid, but telling the story of the day, and often capturing moments that the bride and groom had missed. I took this as encouragement and continued to take my camera with me.
I subscribed to kelby training and watched literally all the videos on there, but one caught my attention - a day with Jay Maisel. I absolutely loved that video. I hadn't been exposed to professional street photography before that, and it gave me permission to intrude into these peoples lives, if only for a moment. it also inspired me.
a year after getting my D90, for our first anniversary we went to New York for 10 days. My first trip to B&H ended with me leaving with a second hand 70-300 and it opened up a whole new world to me (I dropped it the day after but that a different story) all of the shots above were taken during that trip, 2 years ago. I arranged to join two paid photowalkes organised by freelance photojournalist. it was the first time (and last until yesterday) I had real feedback on my shots and by far and away the best $40 I ever spent.
over the next 2 years, I continued to drag my camera along to the 10 or so weddings/year we were invited to. I learned more on composition, exposure, long lens hand holding and dealing with low light. Excluding holidays with my wife, I could count on one hand the number of times I specifically went out shoot street. But on my once a year holidays, I was never without my camera and always made time take a walk looking to recreate what I experienced in New York. But more often than not, these walks were mid day while my better half was shopping, which means mid day light.. again a learning experience!
last year I was given a present of a tokina 12-24 and once again - a whole new world. what a difficult lens to use (not the tokina, but wide angle specifcally) but I love it.
also over the last year, in work our very talented in house photographer (who was a full time designer with a passion for photography, not a full time pro) left. So I started taking studio product photography with continuous tungsten lights, but was never really happy with the control. Then 6 months ago, we invested in a very nice full elinchrom RX Strobe kit with some very nice modifiers. I'm still learning to exploit these but getting better at it!. We also bought an Epson 9900 which I get to play with!
So that takes me to today. I've no desire to turn pro or become a wedding photographer, or a still life/product photographer. But you are right, I want to take this seriously. this year, I'm going to put in the effort!
a bit more of essay than a summary, but I hope it helps you help me!
I look forward to exploring the works of Bresson, Evans, Wrwitt et al, it's going to be a fun few months!
I genuinely appreciate your help and advice.
James