benjaminjenks

Benjamin Jenks offers creative strategies to help you live, work, and travel, like an adventurer at AdventureSauce.com.

Event Photography: How To Take Electric Photos of Rock Bands

Do you remember the photographs that inspired you to want to take photography more seriously? If so, you must have a better memory than me. 😉

I don’t remember the specific photographs that made me want to keep me camera with me at all times. Maybe it was Henri-Cartier Bresson’s street photography, or maybe it was Andreas Gursky’s Rhine which sold for more than 4 million dollars.

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7 Tips for Shooting Alluring Photos of Your Girlfriend

What can I say…I’m a sucker for a pretty girl. Not so much the super-airbrushed models who look inhuman as much as real women in everyday situations, just being themselves. This is why I’ve often photographed the girl I was dating.

At first though, I remember being to shy to ask. Too worried about offending her, making her feeling like an object, or just thinking I was some kind of perv. But I wasn’t able to resist and I’m happy I now have some meaningful photographs of people I still care about, even if we’ve parted ways. Plus, in some instances, it’s helped us grow closer.

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How to Become a Photography Icon: Inspired by Henri-Cartier Bresson

On the 30th of January in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was killed by three bullets fired at close range. And while the world lost one of its greatest men (arguably), one man gained even more status as one of the most important photographers in the world.

Photo by Henri-Cartier Bresson

Henri-Cartier Bresson had photographed Gandhi just about an hour before his tragic death. He also had firsthand access to the funeral proceedings and the grieving people of India, showing a unique look at Gandhi’s last days.

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5 Steps to Shoot a Simple-ish Time-Lapse Video With Your DSLR

If you have a new-ish DSLR, then you can probably “train” your camera to make a little movie for you. I’m talking about a time-lapse video, and while it might not be the next Hollywood blockbuster…it could spread like a virus on the Youtubez. 🙂

Read on to get started, and if I’ve done my job well (and you have the right sort of camera), you can make your first time lapse today.

If this technique is new to you, here are the basics:

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How to Take Pretty Photographs in Bars & Nightclubs

There’s something about a dimly bar that gets my muse excited. The old guys hunched over their beers, talking about the weather. The tattoo-covered dudes confidently working over the pool table. The colorful ladies, often wearing their most eye-catching clothing and makeup…For most people, it’s the highlight of their week.

Whether they are kicking back, cutting loose with friends, or dancing the night away, everybody wants to have a good time, and everyone has a story.

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How to Relax Your Photography Subjects

Do you ever pull out your camera and point it towards your friends, just for the thrill of watching them tense up? Or is that just this pseudo-sadistic guy? 🙂 There’s something about the dark depths of a camera lens pointing in your direction that can intimidate even the most seasoned, confident individuals. If you’re a photographer trying to capture their essence and tell a story about your subject, then this lens aversion can really make your job difficult.

Unfortunately, helping photography subjects relax isn’t as easy as following a series of technical steps.

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How To Shoot Unique Travel Photos Like You Wouldn’t Believe

In our world of digital photography, it’s tough to take one-of-a-kind travel photos. For example, let’s say you’re visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Tuscany, Italy. With your camera around your neck, you stroll into the Piazza dei Miracoli and are struck by the strange bell tower’s architectural beauty.

But you also notice the crowds of tourists snapping pictures like the paparazzi at a red carpet event. Many of them contorting themselves in weird ways, pretending to push down or hold up the tower, as a friend crouches to take the photo.

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How To Finish the Photography Project You Started

It’s inevitable that, at some point, your motivation will lag on that photography project you started. Whether you’re working on a popular photography project, such as taking a photo every day for a year (the 365-day project), walking the streets shooting strangers (the 100-strangers project), or working on a custom project you dreamt up…no matter what, one day you can be sure that you’ll want to quit.

It usually happens after your initial excitement has faded, but before you’re more than halfway finished. Often, you’ll be hit hardest on a day when you think your photos stink. Or maybe when you stumble across a “better idea” for a project.  Then, that little voice in your head will do its best to convince you to ditch your project and move on.

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Master Easily Taking Candid Photos of Your Friends

Taking photos of your friends is an accessible way to improve your picture-taking skills. But it can be difficult to do this well and get good photographs, improve your skills, and not offend your friends. It seems simple, of course… most people with a smartphone take photos of their lunch like it’s the top of a scenic mountain.

As a budding photographer though, you take awe-inspiring photos though (or at least, you’re moving in that direction) and are fascinated by life, wanting to capture every gorgeous or even mundane moment you experience; including your friends in their most raw moments.

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