robvisual - photography

Back in my Nikon days I had to do some planning for each trip. When you're exploring a a different landscape or city you need to pack your backpack carefully and do some extra exercises at the gym to avoid neck pain etc. In 2009 me and my wife did a trip to London and I was tired of packing my backpack with all that heavy clunky stuff and I decided to shoot the whole trip with my iPhone and it was a relief. The quality of the photos turned out not that impressive but it was so much more fun to travel with a light and invisible camera, not looking like a damn tourist with all that gear in a big photo (c'mon steal me!) backpack. I remember my Sigma 50-150mm that was great but heavy and bulky like a drain pipe transforming my Nikon into a cannon. In 2012 I bought my first Fuji X100. I always wanted a small rangefinder style camera with a bigger sensor, but there was only Leica and Epson (that great RD!) who did a decent camera for a horrible price tag. After playing aro...

What would photography without all the individuals who curate, publish and exhibit images around the world. Look at the many collectives and communities that have formed inside and outside the web. There was always an idea to do a certain thing to exchanges views, spread news, create collections or just to push things further. You will always find people who are not only interested in their own creations, who want to go beyond. They gather other interested people and start something to support what they are enthusiastic about. finding the right way... We need those people because they build up structures and places we can use to connect, share and exhibit etc. So if you are feeling you should start something then go on with it. Don't lean back and think that someone else will doing it. Start it now and enjoy the process of doing it. I just started recently with a new magazine about street photography and the process was so rewarding. I met some great enthusiastic photograph...

No, this is not Bob Ross speaking! My first copy of new Street_Spot magazine has just arrived and I am thrilled by the print quality and feel of this premium product. It is a joy to flip through the pages and get in touch with great inspiring photography. Looking at high quality prints is a way different ballpark than seeing them (even) on a super duper computer display. Printing creates an image you can hold in your hands for real without any circuit attached. Printing also creates a different density and let the photos shine without that pixel-counting-thing (if your did it right). It is more like holding a developed analogue photo in your hands that has still today its certain magic. If you don't print your photos you should test how it feels going to your local bookshop and look at some high quality photo books from well known photographers. You will notice how good the photos look on premium paper and how relaxing it is without all that technical stuff behind it. T...

I always had music on my mind. I grew up with Pink Floyd and Neil Diamond on the stereo in the seventies and my grandpa delighted me with Mozart and Bach. And today I am a vinyl lover who likes to enjoy many kinds of music without skipping randomly chosen mp3 tracks. I lean back and try to dive into the whole concept of the album enjoying the many details hidden inside each track. Even when I'm sitting in a train or walking through the streets with my camera I have a little soundtrack in my ears without wearing a headphone. The music is just there guiding me through my life. I do it without thinking about it. I always like to create an inner soundtrack that reflects the mood and the scenery. You feel like a leave carried by the wind to random directions. You just follow that path with open eyes and maybe there is something happening that attracts your eyes and meet your inner soundtrack...click...done! This would perfectly describe how I feel when I am walking around with th...

After two weeks with my new polaroid snap I have some more photos to share. The format and the zero ink printing technology give you some new options to play with. When you look at the third and fourth shot you see that I tried to play with a picture in picture scheme. This would also be great for portraits to tell a story etc. The prints are also water and scratch resistant stickers you can glue in a travel log or on a wall etc. I think this camera is still a great companion in the streets to create simple printouts (or on SD card) or enjoying a simple camera with nearly no control over exposure or aperture. The simple viewfinder has the look and feel of one used in a disposable camera. I will continue to use this camera in the streets, at events on travels. I hope that Polaroid will listen to reportage and street photographers one day and support them in the future with some more products (as I mentioned here ). Don't forget: this medium has it's limitations and a di...

I recently started a magazine via blurb and the good thing is that blurb is a platform that prints each book or magazine after someone ordered it. This is the best thing ever happened to me and the rest of whole world of arts. My father in law owns a part of a little publishing company that sells mostly scientific books. He also publishes his own books about local history in his hometown. He always need to pay a certain amount of money in advance for at least three hundred copies and has the risk of being unsuccessful wich means to loose nearly all the money he invested into the project and sitting on a pile of unsold books. print for the most important person: you! If you don´t do this for a living it is great that there is a service that allows you to order just one copy for your own pleasure.  And that is the great thing about it. You don´t have to care about other people and you don´t have to please them. It is great if someone else likes your stuff and also buys a co...

Just click on the image above and order your copy today via blurb. It features the work of the following street photographers: Iwona Pinkowicz (London) - iwonapinkowicz.com / Andreas Ott (Bonn) - andreasott.eu / Giuseppe Milo (Dublin) - pixael.com / Street Photo International - streetphotographyinternational.com / Nils Kuelper Enjoy photography and print your photos!

There are many great photographers out there with an awesome portfolio. They have their unique style and methods to archive this distinctive look and feel of their images. There are also a lot of books and interviews where you can read what is on their minds. That can be inspiring and fruitful, but you should take it as an opinion of someone who is in the lucky position that his kind of work is appreciated by others. This doesn't mean that this person is something like a guru or a saint and important for your artistic career. Yesterday I stumbled upon a quote that says: "when you photograph people in color - you photograph their clothes" "when you photograph people in b&w - you photograph their soul" (Ted Grant) Maybe you think that this quote from Mr. Grant is a rule or a law and you think good street photography should be like he mentioned in the quote above. But this is just Mr. Grants opinion and it works for him in his world view. You don't h...

The Polaroid snap is a great camera to use in the streets, at parties, as a visual diary or on any other occasion. The prints have their own distinctive look and feel and the can be used as (scratch resistant and waterproof) stickers without any hazardous chemicals in the paper like you find in  instant film. This camera is the first plastic made product that feels unique and special. It has this beautiful look with rounded edges and the viewfinder is simple and easy to use. After using the camera for one week now I have some things that should be fixed in the next model (and there is a next model with an LCD screen coming this year) to make this camera even better for using it in the streets. Here is my wishlist for the future: faster startup-time - it takes a long time after opening the viewfinder until the camera is ready (5-8 seconds) flash control - a simple way to control the flash and set it to differnet modes long exposure mode - to play with light etc. a simple w...