Keith Richards wanted to be in the best blues band in London. He ended up being in the best band in the world!
I want to be the best photographer in Denver with gallery and museum exhibitions of my work, to be an influential teacher and
inspiring speaker on photography, and similarly known around the world!
Set your intention. Make goals. Work to deadlines. And you can do anything!
When I was a news photographer, I remember getting a business or personality photo assignment the day before the shoot, and thinking all night about how I could make the photograph. Would I use studio flash or natural light? What were my location options?
Then, I’d arrive at the shoot, and all the thoughts I had were useless as the real world situation showed the actual possibilities and I would use what was in front of me to decide where and how to shoot the portrait.
I was just on a portrait shoot in Denver, and the same thing happened. I knew we were going to be at Union Station, and it would offer some opportunities, but I would have to think in the moment and find suitable locations as we moved through the city. That’s easy for me, because I look for the light.
“We don’t photograph a face. We photograph the light on a face.”
So, we walked and I watched and the locations proved spectacular for this shoot. The subject was amazing. Great light plus a strong subject equals beautiful photographs. (That’s a mathematical/photographic equation.)
I couldn’t ask for more. We worked about 90 minutes, and it’s truly a situation of the more you look, the more you see. (Since the light is changing rapidly at sunset.)
Seniors in Boulder and Denver, they’ve got a lot of great locations for amazing portraits. They just need a photographer who sees the light to create the portrait.
Because cameras don’t make photographs, photographers and light do!
Near to Denver or Boulder? Call me to schedule a session: 720.982.9237
I really believe people at all levels should share everything they know with everyone. Nothing is to be kept secret–there are no secrets when it comes to knowledge. Teach everyone everything. When we share what we know, we empower others while maintaining our place as a fearless professional.
And you have to be fearless to take on the photography profession these days. But for the people who do it for love, even better, and I share with them all I can.
Last week I taught a day-long Street Photography workshop. Wow, was that amazingly fun. My student was in Colorado for a conference, visiting from Tampa, Florida.
She said she had photographed street but she wasn’t comfortable photographing people and capturing their faces. Well, that changed on that day–maybe it was the class setting, but she did great and took on the subject head on, literally. She was shooting a Nikon with a 50mm. And I was shooting a Nikon with a 20mm.
There were some things that one lens worked better at than the other. That’s just the way it goes when you have no focal length zoom and have to work with what you have. There were some subjects that we both photographed, and hers worked out better and vice versa.
But overall, I was so pleased to spend the day pounding the pavement, seeing what we could find and finding plenty of subjects.
The first time I taught photography, I was 18 and was teaching at a night school for a high school program for adults. When I walked in, the students looked at me like, “What’s he doing up there?” Then they found out I was the teacher.
I remember back then thinking I hope I have enough material to fill each class, and we ended up not having enough time to finish, what with questions from the students filling in time.
This workshop went well, too. We met at a coffeeshop to look at some of my street photos, talk about approaches and our backgrounds, then went out and worked up and down the 16th Street Mall in Denver. We took a lunch break at Union Station where we input our photos into our laptops to see which ones were immediate possible selects. Then we worked the afternoon and finished up at another coffeeshop where we input the rest of our shoot and discussed the day.
She was well on her way to many great storytelling photos in her future–she has a good eye and sense for finding her subject. And had some winners from the day’s shoot. I was very impressed.
I look forward to teaching more. There’s something about watching another photographer light up, excited about photographs. I know that feeling well, myself.
Any day photographing is a good day.
Here are some of my selects from the day.
I’m a 28-year pro photojournalist with many awards, but who cares? It’s your photo that matters most. Please see my work: KennethWajda.com
I’d love to be your family or business’s photographer.
I like shooting in urban settings more than in nature. I like the way elements can come together in an instant when I’m walking about shooting street. This shot for me works well only because we can see the driver in the car on the right, and there is a car turning in front of me to help balance the foreground. Plus the bikers, of course. Lovely documentation of life in the early 2000s that will be looked at in 100 years, and they’ll find our modes of transportation primitive, I’m sure.
I make a point when I’m crossing streets to shoot between cars and into lanes that would ordinarily be difficult to shoot in. I love her big Mercedes, and again, that I can see her face.
I need to take a hike on concrete!
