YouTube: it's a full-time job

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I've been uploading 2 to 3 videos a week to my YouTube channel for the last couple of months.

It might not sound like much.

A family member was wondering about this recently, and they were surprised when I told them the amount of work involved in creating one of my videos.

Most of them are from the field. Going out already takes anywhere from a couple of hours -minimum- to a full day.

Then I work on the images. This means developing and scanning film -at least one hour per roll- plus post-processing for both analog and digital negatives.

Editing the video can take me several hours as well. More often than not, it's a whole day in front of the computer.

Lastly, I upload the video to YouTube -not an easy task when you are on the road-, create the thumbnails, and promote it everywhere.

It's a long process. One that takes hours and days to complete.

I love every bit of it.

Become a curator

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Ain't nobody got time for nothing nowadays.

You can see it on the road or at the grocery store.

Time is the asset of our days. It always has been.

In the past, there was no escape to a "let me show you the photo album from our last vacation". Today, you can simply leave a like on the FB post and swipe away. People aren't paying attention, though.

Curation is more important now than ever.

We need to respect our viewer's time. They will give us a few seconds -minutes if we are lucky- of their days in exchange for good content. We need to use that time wisely.

Give too much, even when it's awesome content, and they'll swipe away. Give too little and they'll forget about you.

Small doses, all the time.

Edit your videos. Keep clips short, between 5 and 10 seconds. Use good music. Show only the parts that contribute to the story.

Edit your images. Don't show 30 pictures of the same thing from different angles. Sit on them for a while before sharing them.

Discarding clips and images will hurt. Like a wound that is healing, this is good.

Knowing what to share and (even more importantly) what NOT to share is a skill in high-demand, a skill that may take time and effort to develop.

I'd say it is THE skill a photographer must have today.

DSLRs are the new film

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As it usually happens with big corporations, it's taking much longer than anticipated. It's happening nevertheless: there's no room for mirrors in the future of mainstream photography.

They were just a patch to solve a problem that doesn't even exist with today's technology. They are irrelevant and unnecessary.

And that makes them cool.

Just kidding. Kind of.

The reason why I shoot film is because it's the only way I can make images with a tool like the Bronica.

For the same reason, plenty of people will keep using their DSLRs because it will be the only way to get that experience. Mirrorless cameras are lighter and smaller, they bring a lot of advantages but they change the way we take photographs.

And of course, there are people who'll embrace the flaws of DSLRs, especially the early ones that came out years ago.

DSLRs are the new film. They are about to become a niche in photography, used by some only because of the unique experience (and probably look) you can achieve with them.

I'm excited about it.

Messing up (kind of) my first roll of Rollei Retro 400S

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A few days ago, I went out to shoot my first roll of Rollei Retro 400S. I made long exposure images and tested the dynamic range of the film.

And then, I broke the thermometer while I was developing it. I had to guess all the temperatures and some might have been off.

The images turned out just fine, though. I will have to give it another try, this time using a proper thermometer and not my finger.

Artist Interviews: Brendon Holt

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Artist Interviews: Brendon Holt

This is the first chapter of a new weekly series called *Artist Interviews*, where I interview a photographer with a body of work I admire.

Brendon is a photographer I've been following for quite a while on Instagram. He's got quite an impressive collection of images from the forests of the PNW, making photographing trees look easy (it's not!).

All the images in this post were made by Brendon Holt.

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American Road Trip Journal #30: Zion National Park

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The series American Road Trip is coming to an end: only 2 more episodes left!

This time we visit Zion National Park, in SW Utah.

I spent a few days in the area but I was only able to visit the park a couple times, due to a snowstorm that covered it with ice and snow. This ruined my plans of hiking to Angel's Landing, but gave me some more unique images in exchange.

The one image that inspires my photography

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I've had this blog for a while, and I feel like I haven't written much about what drives and inspires my photography.

If I had to choose one, and just one photographer, that'd be Michael Kenna without a doubt. I am a fanboy, I own several of his books and absolutely love his photography.

But if I had to choose one, and just one image, it wouldn't be one of his.

Bill Brandt, Lord MacDonald's Forest, Skye, 1947

I saw this image made by Bill Brandt (Isle of Skye, 1947) for the first time a couple of years ago.

There was something about it.

This image moves me so much, more today than it did two years ago. It's really hard to write this post because I can't really explain it.

The composition, the choice of a vertical format, how he removed all details from the landscape (but the cabin on the bottom right), the long exposure, the mystery... yes, I think it is the mystery.

This image inspires me every time I look at it. This is what I aim for when I go out with my camera: to create something that moves someone in the same way Bill Brandt has moved me with this image.

What about you? If you had to choose one image, which one would it be?

Shooting my first roll of Ilford Delta 3200

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Shooting my first roll of Ilford Delta 3200

I don't usually try new film stocks, I like the results my Ilford HP5+ pushed to 800 delivers.

I've been more interested in trying new things as of lately, though. After working on a few fun photography projects this summer, including infrared photography, I'm finally shooting different emulsions to see what I can create with them.

The first one, Ilford Delta 3200.

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Photographers: it's 2018

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If you make photographs for yourself and have zero interest in sharing your work with anyone, then skip this post.

If you are already sharing your work online, then skip this post.

For everyone else: you better start sharing your images online if you have any interest in doing something with your photography.

We can hate Instagram and Facebook as much as we want, but that won't change the facts: people spend a big part of their days online, on IG, FB, Twitter and the rest of the social media family. Yes, even LinkedIn.

Are you at a public place now? Look around. Not only are most people on their phones, you are too.

Want your photography to be seen? Stop waiting for people to get to you, you have to go to them.

It's 2018, after all.