Ceci CruzS Photography

Something that I always tell my students is that they have to know themselves first to be able to talk about something in their images. It sounds simple but most of usare don’t have so clear. Photography reflects oneself, our personality, tastes in clothes, environment, friends and even what you eat. You can learn the technical part of the photo without problems in a short time. But training your eye, having a personal style, and continuing to discover things that interest you, is an ongoing process that requires practice and dedication.

For you who want to start in this, I have 5 tips that will help you recognize what things you can do in photography and how to approach them:

1. The camera is an important tool, but you don't have to have the most expensive one.Work with the one you have available and if it is only a smartphone camera, with that you can start practicing. Once you know that you are serious about photography, you can opt for a camera that gives you more versatility if you need it.

2. Use the best light source you have for free - THE SUN. Learning to use natural light is essential for photographers, using the camera in MANUAL MODE will allow you to work in many light conditions.

3. See a lot of photos so you have a bigger picture of the photographic genres that exist and how other photographers are doing it. You will be inspired to see how each person communicates something different in their images and their use of lighting.

4. Use your friends to practice, don't be shy about asking them to pose for you. Before you dare to charge for your services, you must practice a lot and gain confidence in what you are doing. Work with them to find out how they would like to see themselves portrayed. The whole process of choosing clothes, places, and poses s fun.

5.Photograph all kinds of objects, places, scenes, people. At this moment, I recommend that you practice with everything that comes in front of you. Only by taking photos of many things and environments will you know what attracts you the most.

I hope that with these tips you have a more solid starting point. Photography is about seeing the world through a frame, and it is up to us to know what to leave out and what to include. Discover what subjects of interest you want to explore and have in your images. Pour your time and effort into them.

Practice a lot and see you in the next one.

Starting in Photography? Here are my recommendations on equipment (2022).

A perpetual question of those who are interested in photography, is to know which camera is the best. I wonder how we can define which is the best camera for us? Thinking about how I chose my most recent purchase, I think I can answer this question with some experience.

First and perhaps the most important point is the budget, think about how much you can invest at this time. You don't have to go for the flashiest or most popular camera, which may be very expensive. Consider that at the beginning, what you are looking for is to have a camera that gives you versatility and that will help you practice for a long time. Almost all brands have camera sets with lenses and some extra accessories that will solve many initial needs.

Nowadays almost everyone prefers to have digital photos and some printed in letter size or something larger. It's rare that someone wants an extra large photo, so that frees you from looking for a camera with an excessive number of MegaPixels. Many mirrorless or DSLR brands have 20MP or higher and are great.

Camera kits have the advantage that they come with one or two accessory lenses, now many brands only sell you the camera body without the lenses. Which brings us to an important point. When you choose a brand, make sure it is a brand that has a variety of lenses. So instead of changing the entire camera, you can just buy lenses according to what you need. And there is a lot to choose from, primary lenses, for night, to zoom in, etc.

The second point to consider is whether your camera is also going to be used for video. Mirrorless cameras like the Sony a6400, is very good for photography and excellent for video. The Nikon Z50, which is also very versatile with photo and video. If the video is a plus for you, then look for the best-known brands that will surely have something good to offer.

Something that I always do before choosing any photographic equipment is to look at reviews of how the camera works and all its specifications. The truth is that they are very useful and there are many YouTube channels dedicated to this. And exclusive pages to give you the pros and cons of each model. And I spend days and weeks considering which is the best team for me. Perhaps I exaggerate with the depth of investigation, but it gives me more confidence to know that the choice is the correct one. When it comes to cameras, I like to see photos in different light situations to see what the colors are like, the definition, if they have noise or not. Start researching your top 2 camera models so you can decide which one suits you best.

Apart from the cameras, other things that can help you to have a basic equipment, are accessory batteries -because those always run out-, memory cards, a tripod in case you are going to do landscape or your pulse is not great, a backpack for your gear, and a bouncer or light reflector.

Once you have your equipment in hand, remember that the most important thing is to practice and know your camera. This way you can make the most of it in many light conditions, especially if you use it in manual mode.

I hope your search for your first photography equipment is productive and you find what you are looking for. What can I tell you, I just see cameras and my eyes light up. I leave you with a list of the most recommended cameras to start in photography and some examples of Sony a6400 in natural light and manual mode.

Sony a6100 mirrorless 

Canon EOS Rebel T7 DSRL

Nikon D3500 DSRL

Nikon Z50 mirrorless

Sony a6400 mirrorless

Color or black and white photography, which one do you prefer?

One of my favorite genres of photography is street photography, being able to go out and walk around the city to see what I find that day is something I can't resist. When I started actively in street photography, going out every day and sometimes even twice a day, I was very inclined to have the photos in black and white. This was when I was starting my master degree in photography, something in me told me that black and white images had more impact. I was very inspired to see the photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walter Evans, both documentary photographers. Cartier-Bresson founded the Magnum Photos agency and his work is known worldwide, I assure you that you already know some of his photos. And Walter Evans who started his career photographing rural American society in the Great Depression era and later did a lot of editorial work, his style is very honest - what you see is what it is.

So I began to get more into my documentary role and see the difference between a color image, which is how they came out of the digital camera, and the same image in black and white. As I practiced more I realized that color is not the enemy, something dramatic yes, but that's how I felt. Color surrounds you and gives another dimension to things. While black and white makes you go deeper into the feeling and what is happening in the image, color makes the image look real. And real, I mean that it is part of what we see on a daily basis, color makes an image tangible, crude at times. Through these experiments when editing the photographs that I had taken that day, I understood the difference between when to use one or the other. There is nothing wrong with using only color or black and white, what you have to know is why you are using it. A phrase that I often hear with my students is that they use black and white because "it looks more artistic" to what I say, how artistic can something look if it is not done with an intention? And it is that something that is forgotten, is that photography has to have an intention. Ask yourself, why I want to create this image? what do I need to say? You don't need to do an entire essay about intent, but you do need to know what you need to express. Part of that expression is deciding if your images will look better in color or black and white, and why.

Little by little my work was diverting from black and white to color, and that is when we use color as a principle of composition, and not only because that is how the photos come out of the camera. Color gives us more information about what we see, we have differences in tones, saturations, colors, where we distinguish each thing for what it is. It allows us to compare what we have in the frame of the photo and also conveys another type of emotion other than black and white. One of the street photographers who uses color directly and defined by others as "ordinary" is Martin Parr. I particularly like his photos with the harsh use of color, very saturated, and together with his subjects of interest it is the perfect mix.

Responding to which I like better, color or black and white, I would have to say that color wins by very little. Sometimes it depends more on the day and how you feel the images. There's no rule that says you only have to like one style. So practice both ways, decide what suits you best and give it a chance to experiment.

See you at the next one,

Cecilia.

Seven key points you need to know to start in Street Photography

At this moment you may not know if you like to photograph the streets of your city, but if you give it a chance, you will surely be hooked. And that's how it happened to me, at first I didn't know what to photograph and the easiest thing I found was to get in the car and go downtown with my camera in hand. At first I did not know what could be “worthy” of being photographed, if that image would have any value. As I walked around, I could identify certain scenes that attracted me. For a bit of context, those who read me outside of Mexico, we have a country with a lot of contrast in buildings, people and environments. On one hand, it can be all green and saturated with color, with very old buildings almost in ruins and some very modern parts. People are mainly concentrated in the public market and shopping areas in the old quarters of the city rather than in the modern parts. As the distances are very large, it is not so easy to find people walking in this scorching sun on the streets, so it is necessary to know where people go during the day.

If you would like to try to document what happens on the street, I am going to give you several tips that have been very useful to me: 

1. Know your camera well: I advocate using the camera in manual mode, because it gives you a lot of creative freedom, so if you still don't dare, give it a try. You can use it in other modes that are familiar to you to start with and then move to manual mode. 

2. Observe the light that surrounds you: with the buildings, houses and nature that you will surely find, take a moment to analyze how the light hits the objects. You will be amazed at the play between shadows and lights, check out these examples by photographer Joseph Michael López.

3. The Sunny 16 rule: If you want to venture into using your camera in manual mode, knowing how to get the correct exposure in different natural lighting conditions is very helpful. With this rule, it helps you know where to start if your day is sunny (Sunny f16!!), cloudy, shady, etc. By the way, in my next Skillshare class that will be out in about 15 days, we talk about this and much more to work in manual mode.

4. Your safety comes first: A topic that not many talk about street photography is about the things you should consider for your safety. Consider that many may take you as a threat when they see you with a camera, unfortunately that happens a lot in Latin America. Several times I have been persecuted and harassed for taking photos on the street of anything I like. The way I have solved these moments has been to explain why I took the photo, and to do it in a kind and calm way. Offering to show them the photos so they can see that it is not something malicious. In this way people stay calm and the matter stops there. And if you don't convince them, then delete the photo, your life matters more. 

When walking the streets, don't hide your camera in a suspicious way, have it outside and be natural. There is nothing worse than looking suspicious to provoke more suspicions. It's tempting to walk the streets with your headphones on, but avoid it, you have to be aware of everything that happens around you as a precaution. 

5. People on the street deserve respect: something I see repeatedly is that they believe that taking street photography is only photographing people in situations of abandonment or poverty. I would refrain from those topics for ethical reasons. Believe me there is much more to see in the streets. A little chat with someone you want to take a picture of will take you further and you will get to know something about the person.

6. Also take photos at night: don't limit yourself to just photographing the streets during the day, at night there is other kind of life outside. I love going out when the food stalls and taquerias are open after 8 PM. And later when the shops and markets close, seeing how empty the streets look is very interesting.

7. Dare to approach: I know that approaching people is intimidating and you don't have to do it from the first outing. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will feel in your photo adventures, there are things that look good from a distance, others more closely. Vary your framing and angles for variety and to develop a style.

At the moment, these are all the tips that come to mind and I think they are the most important to start with. So all you have to do is grab your camera and go outside!

See you in the next one, 

Cecilia.