Dan Milnor gives zero f@cks, and always tells it like is. Such a rare breed. So grateful for these videos and the time taken to share hard earned wisdom.
I have being a photographer for over 40 years, never care what people have said about my work some love it, some hated simply because they dont understand it. There is so much truth in this video am flabbergasted some one finaly knows what the hell they are about when in comes to photography.
Impressive. 12 minutes of simple, good and most important advices. IMHO, you just talked about all that's important about the art of photography. Impressive.
Thank you very much for taking the time answering our questions. I feel your thoughts about photography nowadays very accurate and kind of relieving. ¡Gracias!
I learned and embrace. I come home and see the photos I thought was great sHit. They didn't worked out. But now I know why next time they work. So absolutely agree. You learn from your failures
@@marcsilber Absolutely I used to be so angry when I came home. And watched my photos through. And I hoped that they where awesome but instead where really bad lol. Now I smile aha now I know whatI did wrong. And go out and then I got the shoot. Trial and error indeed. Thats the fun part. Happy capture hunting from here
Great session of Q&A. Love the positive attitude and inspiring me to just go out and shoot regardless of what others may think of my pics. Thanks for that :)
Excellent Q&A as usual. One question; how much the street photography has changed? Has it changed with the people (people have changed from being friendly to paranoid and unfriendly), law and social media or the street photography (or documentary style) itself hasn't changed much, it's just the people who do those styles have?
Yes, it has changed. Much more difficult now and many more restrictions. There are multiple countries with pending legislation to ban photography in public places. It will happen. However, there have been people pushing the boundaries with street photography for decades. People doing things that would get me killed where I live, literally. How you make pictures on the street has a huge impact on how people respond.
Excellent as always! I have just started some film photography and it's the first time I'll be taking extra films on my trip. I use films out of date: some are in plastic cases, some simply wrapped in black paper. I could not quite catch if the films can be scanned at the airport or not.
In your hand-carried baggage, the answer the mostly yes. Never put film in your checked baggage. Now, I have seen a few airports with a CTX 5000 scanner IN the terminal. This machine will cook any film on the first pass even through a lead bag.
As usual, there's a lot of good info here Also as usual, it can be a bitter pill to swallow. I made a late career change (some might call it mid-life crisis #3...semantics) into photography, and I know my interest is documentary photography and storytelling. I'm also 99% sure that, unless by some stroke of incredible luck, it's not going to pay the bills. Now I need to figure out, fairly quickly, which way to go that will allow me to continue pursuing (on the side) documentary photography. It gets in the blood.
You are not alone. I know trust fund folks who are "working full time," and I know plenty others who are just barely making it, and I know fewer still who are doing well and seem to have a good system in place.
I didn’t quite understand the film part at the airport. I go to the Uk in March for a wedding and want to take some film. I thought it would make a nice change to the usual digital photography. Can these be scanned with my bag?
Hey Dianne, if you hand carry the film, and you use a lead bag, and you ask for hand inspection you are fine. I know other folks who just use lead bags and they seem to be okay as well. Just don't put film in your checked bag.
Dianne Robbins from the uk and just moved a month ago to the USA . Be strict or maybe stern is the word with the customs, they will try say don’t worry about it the machine is ok and won’t damage it, they just want to get stuff done quick. Yeah just make you point. Nice one go steady enjoy the uk
Great rap Dan...kind of like a machine gun take on the entire photo process from conception to output. The bottom line is that we can all do better the more we try. Thanks for opening up the lingo.
See Gilles Peress TELEX [8:41] at the „Tipi Bookstore“ on Vimeo - along with other great self published and independent work (Kensuko Koike, Mara Catalan, Michel Mazzoni and others). Read. Write. Create. Thank you Dan!
Photography is hard to make living with. But not commercial Photography. Its just like any other business where you serve your clients as per their needs and get paid. Simple transaction. Anyone wanting to be in storytelling Photogpraphy, dont be de-motivated with the lack of opportunities, do commercial stuffs to pay for yourself and family, and in the free time, take photographs for yourself. You'll be amazed how much you can do within that short period of time, and slowly you can build on that.
@@DANIELMILNOR505 I feel that's the only way to sustain the storytelling in photography in today's time. Once the money part is taken care of through commercial projects, one can focus on their personal artistic vision. I am trying on that as well but its still difficult. The opportunities are very little in an overcrowded segment. Digital jas its part in it as well. On one hand it empowers people with apparently better technology and gear, and on the other side, it takes away the exclusivity of a photograph because, well, there are so many people taking photos on an Auto mode on their costly dslrs which funtions so well!!!!!
@@nikhilchandra9258 Well said. The key is to survive the commercial side with your fire and passion intact. I've had struggles with this in the past, as have many of my friends. But, it's doable. Digital has been both positive and negative. Digital revived the entire industry but has since gone on to be our worst enemy in some ways.
@@DANIELMILNOR505 Yes. What i have felt over the years is that the excitement of watching a photograph is obsolete. We are living in a heavily content driven era where everything works on marketing. Even true art. Sometimes its very difficult to find that balance, especially for someone who grew up in the film era. It takes time to figure out how to market yourself in an Instagram dominated world of photography. I ENJOY shooting digital. But the process of putting it out to the public is simply not as joyous as was that of a film.
@@marcsilber Yes! but I misquoted him. It was actually "Create, share, sustain". As I remember it Robert Scoble who set it up and Chase was using a white iphone and loved the textures he was shooting. Good times.
Hey Sharon, I would love that too but it does require a specific set of needs in regard to filming. I've not yet figured out how to do this by myself. However, next week I'm meeting with someone who might lead me to a new project where I can attempt something like this.
@@DANIELMILNOR505 Thanks. Yes, It's something that needs not only being careful with the photography but also with the filming of it... So it kind of defeats the spontaneous nature of the explanation. Waiting to see if you are able to do it, Or at least give some cases and how you treat it, what you say, etc.
@@sharonleibel I have an idea how to do it but I need a few pieces of equipment I don't have. And yes, it's A LOT for one person to try and do. What it will mean is the work will suffer. If I try to shoot and record at the same time I can't do both well.
Wouldn't tell them that you are entitled by law to a manual search unless it's the last resort. If you get there and tell them you are entitled to something - even when you are doing it politely - they will mess with you on principle. I always try to treat them like humans and not like officials and kindly explain and say something like "Excuse me Sir, I have expensive film which can be damaged by the scanner. Would you be so kind and check it by hand? I'd really appreciate it... " I never got denied. Airport guys - no matter where in the world - got so much anger and so much "I have the right" that they are surprisingly thankful when one addresses them in a kind a polite way without any entitlement or anger...
Great speech, and about film and x-ryes go and check out the real sir robin, he’s a street photographer who’s travels a lot and he’s got a small and fun project. He shot a roll of film and travels with through a number of countries without protecting it and he’s gonna develop that roll later this year just to see if this modern x-ray machines destroys it.. Otherwise thanks for sharing this fantastic tips.. Thumbs up from Sweden 🇸🇪 //freddie
It will depend on a variety of factors. I used TMAX 3200 almost exclusively for years. I used lead bags but over time it became more and more difficult to get hand inspections especially being an American and traveling in Europe. That film would begin to base fog after two or three exposures to Xray. Salgado stopped shooting film partly for this reason. Just too hard to get inspections and it sucks to do all that work and then have some TSA person who knows nothing about photography or film ruin the entire take.
I believe you, I don’t have any experience with film photography but I’m sniffing in that direction and that’s the reason a look for it on TH-cam. Anyway if I remember I will send you a link of the results of his little project when he develop the roll. //freddie. ☺️
@@DANIELMILNOR505 Temperature (heat) is also an issue for film (esp. for slides) I had to go to great pains to keep it refrigerated (within its tolerance levels) while touring hot countries. Also too cold (e.g. -20) can be a problem (as the 'pigments' glue with one another). I was very happy when digital became affordable. Cause film/printing is also expensive and you needed to budget plus it occupied a large part of your luggage (e.g. if you were going somewhere for more than a month and planned to shoot 30+ rolls) you had to carry a lot and several variants of each film version cause you couldn't adjust ISO, B&W v Colour, or colour saturation with the flick of a button :-)
I like this guy,but. If he doesn't work as a photographer why is he buying equipment just for a project? Would sincerely like to be enlightened on that.
Al, I'm shooting for me. I don't need any other reason. If I don't have something I need I find a way to get it. In this particular case, I simply would not have been able to start the project without a long lens and 2x converter. As for not working as a photographer, this project, and most of the projects I do, don't really have a place in the modern photography industry. Nobody would pay me to do this story but I want to do it anyway. My life, and my photography, has gotten exponentially better since I stopped working as a photographer.
Never expected that this question would get a direct reply. Thanks for taking the time, it's greatly appreciated. I hope my question didn't come off sounding cynical, I was honestly just curious as to what you were up to. I've been shooting, on a near daily basis, for the past 12 years and listening to you has added a big scoop of gelatin to my photographic process. Thanks again.
@@alrobertson7668 Nah, all good. Even for many of my friends, the idea that I shoot for myself, make books and move on is somewhat puzzling. But, I've always been "faulty" in this way.
Dan Milnor gives zero f@cks, and always tells it like is. Such a rare breed. So grateful for these videos and the time taken to share hard earned wisdom.
Thanks Jose. Just passing on what I know..
I have being a photographer for over 40 years, never care what people have said about my work some love it, some hated simply because they dont understand it. There is so much truth in this video am flabbergasted some one finaly knows what the hell they are about when in comes to photography.
👍
Thanks Tirso. I think my perspective might be slightly atypical but I do think it is based on reality. Glad you enjoyed it.
Thoroughly enjoy Daniels advice and videos.
We do too Jay!
Impressive. 12 minutes of simple, good and most important advices. IMHO, you just talked about all that's important about the art of photography. Impressive.
🙏
Thanks Joao. Just sharing what I've picked up over the years.
Every time I listen to Daniel there so much truth it fills my soul. Carry on the good work. Tnx for sharing.
🙏
Hope you enjoyed Dan's answers and please be sure to leave any more questions you have for Dan here in the comments for future Q&A videos!
Thank you very much for taking the time answering our questions. I feel your thoughts about photography nowadays very accurate and kind of relieving. ¡Gracias!
Thanks Galo. Glad you are finding something worthwhile.
Words of wisdom and a real insight into the trends, the challenges and the realities of photography today. Great output Daniel.
I really love & appreciate your answers, Dan (y)
I learned and embrace. I come home and see the photos I thought was great sHit. They didn't worked out. But now I know why next time they work. So absolutely agree. You learn from your failures
then they're not really "failures" -- so much is trial and error on our way to our goals
@@marcsilber Absolutely I used to be so angry when I came home. And watched my photos through. And I hoped that they where awesome but instead where really bad lol. Now I smile aha now I know whatI did wrong. And go out and then I got the shoot. Trial and error indeed. Thats the fun part. Happy capture hunting from here
" lock yourself in the room with your own thoughts. " :) works
Considered to be on the things people fear most. But as creatives, I think we have to do it. Good luck in advance....
Clear, concise and to the point. Thanks!
Enjoyed that. The whole business model of photography, music etc has changed so much, in both good and bad ways.
it will continue to do so
Such a breath of Fresh air… Have a Blessed 2020
You too thanks!
Shoot daily. I take that advice to my heart. Thanks.
👍
Man, I dig your glasses! I’m getting tired of telling you your videos are on point, but nevertheless I persist. Every point you make is zing.
It's the glasses.....they are transcendent.
That was as real as it gets
WOW!!! Legend
Great session of Q&A. Love the positive attitude and inspiring me to just go out and shoot regardless of what others may think of my pics. Thanks for that :)
That’s really great
Ultimately, all those other people will, chances are, move on. You are left with..yourself..
Thank you for your honesty, insight, and great advice.
Always!
What a great video for the new year! Thank you very much Mr. Milnor and Mr. Marc for this amazing video!
You’re welcome!
another awesome video...love his whole idea around photography
🙏
Excellent Q&A as usual. One question; how much the street photography has changed? Has it changed with the people (people have changed from being friendly to paranoid and unfriendly), law and social media or the street photography (or documentary style) itself hasn't changed much, it's just the people who do those styles have?
Yes, it has changed. Much more difficult now and many more restrictions. There are multiple countries with pending legislation to ban photography in public places. It will happen. However, there have been people pushing the boundaries with street photography for decades. People doing things that would get me killed where I live, literally. How you make pictures on the street has a huge impact on how people respond.
So good! Love these question sessions
🙏 we’ll be doing more for sure
Thank you very much!
"Enjoy the process. That's all we can ask." Amen.
so true!
YES SIR.
Excellent as always! I have just started some film photography and it's the first time I'll be taking extra films on my trip. I use films out of date: some are in plastic cases, some simply wrapped in black paper. I could not quite catch if the films can be scanned at the airport or not.
In your hand-carried baggage, the answer the mostly yes. Never put film in your checked baggage. Now, I have seen a few airports with a CTX 5000 scanner IN the terminal. This machine will cook any film on the first pass even through a lead bag.
@@DANIELMILNOR505 Thank you so much, Daniel 😊
As usual, there's a lot of good info here Also as usual, it can be a bitter pill to swallow. I made a late career change (some might call it mid-life crisis #3...semantics) into photography, and I know my interest is documentary photography and storytelling. I'm also 99% sure that, unless by some stroke of incredible luck, it's not going to pay the bills. Now I need to figure out, fairly quickly, which way to go that will allow me to continue pursuing (on the side) documentary photography. It gets in the blood.
You are not alone. I know trust fund folks who are "working full time," and I know plenty others who are just barely making it, and I know fewer still who are doing well and seem to have a good system in place.
another eye-opener.
🙏
Great video with some real good advice!
🙏
I didn’t quite understand the film part at the airport. I go to the Uk in March for a wedding and want to take some film. I thought it would make a nice change to the usual digital photography. Can these be scanned with my bag?
Hey Dianne, if you hand carry the film, and you use a lead bag, and you ask for hand inspection you are fine. I know other folks who just use lead bags and they seem to be okay as well. Just don't put film in your checked bag.
Dianne Robbins
from the uk and just moved a month ago to the USA . Be strict or maybe stern is the word with the customs, they will try say don’t worry about it the machine is ok and won’t damage it, they just want to get stuff done quick. Yeah just make you point.
Nice one go steady enjoy the uk
Did anybody get the name of the photo book he talked about at 9:00?
And the name of the guy who tought him to use light? Thx for any help
This was excellent
Choose 1 focal length and run with it. Best advice ever. 50mm it is
right on!
Great rap Dan...kind of like a machine gun take on the entire photo process from conception to output. The bottom line is that we can all do better the more we try. Thanks for opening up the lingo.
See Gilles Peress TELEX [8:41] at the „Tipi Bookstore“ on Vimeo - along with other great self published and independent work (Kensuko Koike, Mara Catalan, Michel Mazzoni and others). Read. Write. Create. Thank you Dan!
Though sort of not as inspirational but very realistic appreciate the honesty
Photography is hard to make living with. But not commercial Photography. Its just like any other business where you serve your clients as per their needs and get paid. Simple transaction. Anyone wanting to be in storytelling Photogpraphy, dont be de-motivated with the lack of opportunities, do commercial stuffs to pay for yourself and family, and in the free time, take photographs for yourself. You'll be amazed how much you can do within that short period of time, and slowly you can build on that.
That's what most are attempting. Commerical side combined with personal side. It can work, for sure.
Btw that’s what Ansel Adams did too. He said he enjoyed the challenge of commercial projects
@@DANIELMILNOR505 I feel that's the only way to sustain the storytelling in photography in today's time. Once the money part is taken care of through commercial projects, one can focus on their personal artistic vision. I am trying on that as well but its still difficult. The opportunities are very little in an overcrowded segment. Digital jas its part in it as well. On one hand it empowers people with apparently better technology and gear, and on the other side, it takes away the exclusivity of a photograph because, well, there are so many people taking photos on an Auto mode on their costly dslrs which funtions so well!!!!!
@@nikhilchandra9258 Well said. The key is to survive the commercial side with your fire and passion intact. I've had struggles with this in the past, as have many of my friends. But, it's doable. Digital has been both positive and negative. Digital revived the entire industry but has since gone on to be our worst enemy in some ways.
@@DANIELMILNOR505 Yes. What i have felt over the years is that the excitement of watching a photograph is obsolete. We are living in a heavily content driven era where everything works on marketing. Even true art. Sometimes its very difficult to find that balance, especially for someone who grew up in the film era. It takes time to figure out how to market yourself in an Instagram dominated world of photography.
I ENJOY shooting digital. But the process of putting it out to the public is simply not as joyous as was that of a film.
"Shoot, share, sustain ( not necessarily from photography)"- Chase Jarvis 2009
that's right Alan! Remember meeting up with him in the pumpkin patch back then?
@@marcsilber Yes! but I misquoted him. It was actually "Create, share, sustain". As I remember it Robert Scoble who set it up and Chase was using a white iphone and loved the textures he was shooting. Good times.
I would love to have examples (Or better yet: Video of Dan going out and really handling people with the issues he describes on 8:00 forward)
Hey Sharon, I would love that too but it does require a specific set of needs in regard to filming. I've not yet figured out how to do this by myself. However, next week I'm meeting with someone who might lead me to a new project where I can attempt something like this.
@@DANIELMILNOR505 Thanks. Yes, It's something that needs not only being careful with the photography but also with the filming of it... So it kind of defeats the spontaneous nature of the explanation. Waiting to see if you are able to do it, Or at least give some cases and how you treat it, what you say, etc.
@@sharonleibel I have an idea how to do it but I need a few pieces of equipment I don't have. And yes, it's A LOT for one person to try and do. What it will mean is the work will suffer. If I try to shoot and record at the same time I can't do both well.
Daniel Milnor I understand.
So how about some theoretical examples on a video, About incidents and how you disarm them?
Nice to see Tony Stark answering questions about photography
I know, right?
What is the name of jhoul paraz ??please correct spelling
Wouldn't tell them that you are entitled by law to a manual search unless it's the last resort. If you get there and tell them you are entitled to something - even when you are doing it politely - they will mess with you on principle. I always try to treat them like humans and not like officials and kindly explain and say something like "Excuse me Sir, I have expensive film which can be damaged by the scanner. Would you be so kind and check it by hand? I'd really appreciate it... " I never got denied. Airport guys - no matter where in the world - got so much anger and so much "I have the right" that they are surprisingly thankful when one addresses them in a kind a polite way without any entitlement or anger...
spot on!
Great speech, and about film and x-ryes go and check out the real sir robin, he’s a street photographer who’s travels a lot and he’s got a small and fun project.
He shot a roll of film and travels with through a number of countries without protecting it and he’s gonna develop that roll later this year just to see if this modern x-ray machines destroys it..
Otherwise thanks for sharing this fantastic tips..
Thumbs up from Sweden 🇸🇪
//freddie
Interesting project
It will depend on a variety of factors. I used TMAX 3200 almost exclusively for years. I used lead bags but over time it became more and more difficult to get hand inspections especially being an American and traveling in Europe. That film would begin to base fog after two or three exposures to Xray. Salgado stopped shooting film partly for this reason. Just too hard to get inspections and it sucks to do all that work and then have some TSA person who knows nothing about photography or film ruin the entire take.
I believe you, I don’t have any experience with film photography but I’m sniffing in that direction and that’s the reason a look for it on TH-cam.
Anyway if I remember I will send you a link of the results of his little project when he develop the roll.
//freddie. ☺️
@@DANIELMILNOR505 Temperature (heat) is also an issue for film (esp. for slides) I had to go to great pains to keep it refrigerated (within its tolerance levels) while touring hot countries. Also too cold (e.g. -20) can be a problem (as the 'pigments' glue with one another). I was very happy when digital became affordable. Cause film/printing is also expensive and you needed to budget plus it occupied a large part of your luggage (e.g. if you were going somewhere for more than a month and planned to shoot 30+ rolls) you had to carry a lot and several variants of each film version cause you couldn't adjust ISO, B&W v Colour, or colour saturation with the flick of a button :-)
@@dimitristsagdis7340 Yep. Heat and cold. But, the newer films are pretty stable.
the dam book author's name spells as 'peter krogh'
🙏
thedambook.com/
I like this guy,but. If he doesn't work as a photographer why is he buying equipment just for a project? Would sincerely like to be enlightened on that.
Al, I'm shooting for me. I don't need any other reason. If I don't have something I need I find a way to get it. In this particular case, I simply would not have been able to start the project without a long lens and 2x converter. As for not working as a photographer, this project, and most of the projects I do, don't really have a place in the modern photography industry. Nobody would pay me to do this story but I want to do it anyway. My life, and my photography, has gotten exponentially better since I stopped working as a photographer.
Never expected that this question would get a direct reply. Thanks for taking the time, it's greatly appreciated. I hope my question didn't come off sounding cynical, I was honestly just curious as to what you were up to. I've been shooting, on a near daily basis, for the past 12 years and listening to you has added a big scoop of gelatin to my photographic process. Thanks again.
@@DANIELMILNOR505 P.S. I've been shooting a lot of back lit.
@@alrobertson7668 Nah, all good. Even for many of my friends, the idea that I shoot for myself, make books and move on is somewhat puzzling. But, I've always been "faulty" in this way.
@@alrobertson7668 It can totally save you in suboptimal light.
Wast level point of view for immersion -- pearl!
👍
Well... This was depressing
Sure can be.