NEW YORK CITYis an amazing place to live. There are always an incredible amount of interesting things to see.

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LIVE MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHY The most important knowledge photographers bring to their craft is an understanding of the subject matter. The technical knowledge is easy. Once you figure out how to expose the film correctly and focus, your main challenges will be related to how well you can communicate the experience of performing. You should pay close attention to the details of the instruments as well as the playing. For example, if your subject plays the cello you will learn that shots from stage left are much different than those stage right because you can include the scroll of the cello in the shot. You will also know that because of the way the cello works you will be able to get tighter shots when they are playing in thumb position because cellists tend to lean in when playing in thumb position. (You will learn what thumb position is.) You will notice that unless you are cropping very tightly, shots that show both hands of the cellist work better. This means you will wait until they are playing at the frog or at most mid-bow so you don’t crop out the bow hand. It is also helpful to know the pieces so you can predict how they will be moving and more importantly how quickly they will be moving. After a little observation you will notice that a string player’s bow arm moves faster during louder passages and wind players breath at the end of phrases. Some people tend to take shots at the end of phrases (it sometimes just feels right). They end up with a roll full of shots with a trumpet player’s mouth open. This is obvious to musicians but not to everyone. You can go to lessons and learn what good posture looks like for your subject matter. Although it probably doesn’t make much difference in your own photo album, if you ever do this professionally it is imperative that the photos show good posture. They simply can not use the photo otherwise.

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LOCATION PHOTOGRAPHY requires a proficiency in the use of existing and artificial light creatively, as well as dealing with physical space. Learning how to size up a location, find the best angles and light best suited to the assignment is not as easy as it sounds. Interiors, exteriors, large and small spaces, street scenes, and people in all types of situations and locales. Write with lighting and to shape the mood, color, tenor and feel of the photograph through the lighting technique employed.