So I tossed a question up at LoC on Facebook (why aren’t you a fan?) asking about who the photographers that follow me me follow. Got a couple of interesting links out of that and then had the question turned around on me. So…who do I follow?
The short answer is about a million different people and blogs. Sit me in front of Flickr at 7AM and it’s quite possible you still find me there at midnight. That said, it’s not because I’ve been in awe of every image there, it’s because, while Flickr is a great source of good photography, it’s also a greater source for bad photograhy – overdone Photoshop, bad textures, trendy actions. Like anything, you have to pick and choose.
A few of the folks I follow over at Flickr -
Photoplasia – Jim is a friend of mine and fantastic photographer. His work is always clean and bold.
Aaron Van Dike – Aaron is a local guy that is really starting to make a name for himself. His work involved a little lot more PS that I would ever do, but it does it great. It’s like that perfect bowl of porridge.
Jekkika – just fantastic portraits. Great compositions and colors
Wizwow- Don Giannatti also has a blog someplace. I don’t follow that for some reason, but Don take pretty girls to great locations and lets you in on the how and why he made a photo that way he did.
Andrea- Her work is just plain good. It’s very natural looking. Andi and I met because of Flickr and work together a fair bit.
And there are just so many others. I have about 60 contacts on there. I’m sure that’s hardly any compared to some people there, but I think all 60 of these folks are compentent photographers.
Then there this the handful of pro photographers that almost everybody follows because they are hip and trendy right now. Guys like Zach Arias, Joe McNally, Chase Jarvis. I don’t follow them so much for their photography, but rather what they have to say about their photography and photography in general. They give a lot of information about how they work, why they work that way, what they see the industry doing. Don’t get me wrong, these guys take fantastic photos but it’s great to see the process that goes into making those images come to life.
Then there is David Hobby. The man behind Strobist. David talks about light like nobody else. Sure the focus in using strobes, but the lesson to learn is how to manage light because at the end of the day every single photograph taken – good or bad – needs light. There is also a Strobist group and several spin-offs over at Flickr – there might even be one for your city or state.
Finally there are a bunch of other blogs from portrait and wedding photographers that I just stumbled upon somehow and really enjoyed.
