Photography Resources
Books
Photo Therapy Motivation and Wisdom: Discovering the Power of Pictures by Rick Sammon
If you’ve read any of the articles I’ve posted on this site you know I tend to discuss a lot of the creative aspects behind our work. When I read a couple of condensed chapters that were posted to PetaPixel I picked up on the thread that Rick might think in ways that I do. I picked up a copy of the book and there were quite a few things Rick mentioned that I had thought about as well. One thing about the book that helps sell what he’s talking about: there are absolutely no photos in this book at all. It’s all text. I highly recommend this book if you want to try to grow creatively as a photographer.
Websites/social media channels
The big thing about Kihmberlie is that her creativity is absolutely mind blowing. When we found out about her a few years ago we were like “OH MY GOD!” She’ll just come up with an idea and run with it. The other thing about her: she’s pretty much a one woman shop. She’s the photographer and the model. She builds her own sets in a spare bedroom and does all the prop making. Also she doesn’t shoot on top of the line gear. Kihmberlie just really thinks through how to make an idea work and it shows.
Panoptic Chopsticks/The Chopstick Guys
The big thing I like about Steve and Mark is that they’re two normal guys having fun with photography. They do a little bit of gear/tech discussion. But most of their material is them doing photo shoots or workshops. And normally there is a good bit of conversation regarding what’s happening and why it’s being done. Also with the workshops they sometimes show results from people who attended. There’s something about that I like.
Not only does Irene take some really great photos she’s also really thoughtful when it comes to putting an idea together. She thinks through things like overall presentation, color scheme, location scouting, set building, etc. She also does a lot of DIY prop making and clothing/hair accessories. Her YouTube channel has a lot of behind the scenes material where she talks through what her thoughts are when putting together an idea for a shot. There’s a lot of ways people can learn from Irene.
One of the things I like about Daniel Norton is his easy going manner in his videos. That is something I appreciate versus the “YouTuber personality” you sometimes run into elsewhere. With his photo tutorials he talks through not only what he’s doing but WHY he’s doing something. And he does it in a way that is easy to understand. He also offers short discussions on the business, creative, and philosophical aspects of photography.
Pretty much if you want to know anything about Photoshop, then Unmesh Dinda is your guy. Not only does he show off some neat creative techniques but he also deep dives into how exactly they work. His channel can get somewhat technical but it’s totally worth it so you can get more power out of Photoshop.
While Joe has some really good photography tutorials I started following him for two reasons. One: he was able to succinctly state some things regarding photographers I had in my head for some time but wasn’t sure how to frame them. Two: his podcast is pretty much a bullshit free zone. He barely discusses gear. And while his podcast is for people to ask questions to become better photographers he is not a fan of the ones that just want a quick answer and really didn’t put any thought into what they were asking. There’s something about that I appreciate.
