Video Pick: How a Pro Photographer and an Instagram Star Express Themselves Through Photography

We just came across this wonderful documentary by filmmaker Andy Newman called Portrait, and it focuses on two Seattle professionals who embrace photography and creativity as a huge part of their lives. At the New York Institute of Photography, we're continually hearing from our students that they take our courses because they have always had a deep passion for photography and they'd like to learn how to improve their photo-taking skills.
 

 

This short doc perfectly underscores our students' passion for expressing themselves creatively through photography. It's an activity that will grab you and never let go for the rest of your life, and it will become a way to connect every facet of who you are into one continuously flowing form of creative expression. If you're currently an NYIP student, we think you'll love this video as it reinforces your chosen path. And to those of you who might be exploring photography education, watch this video and see if you identify with either of these individuals; they follow different career paths, but photography becomes their unique intersection point. If you think photography might be your path, I encourage you to explore NYIP's courses. We've helped thousands of people - more than any other photography school on the planet - pursue their dreams.
 

WHO ARE WE?

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience.

 Click here to watch the New York Institute of Photography video.

Movies for Photographers: The Queen of Versailles

Photo by Lauren Greenfield / Magnolia Pictures

Documentary filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has her roots firmly in photography, and that's why it's essential for photographers interested in developing their signature style and voice to critically watch Greenfield's framing and camera techniques, the way she makes the subject absolutely essential in her shots, and the way she uses still photographic techniques to create verite style filmmaking. Released near the end of 2012 to great acclaim, The Queen of Versailles is a masterwork of storytelling, with one arresting scene and image after another. The following video interview of Ms. Greenfield will also help fill in how she made the transition from still photographer to documentarian, without ever really leaving still photography. Both enrich her art and strengthen her signature style, and you'll see why she is receiving so much acclaim in our field.
 

 

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do.

AUDIO LINK: WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]

Photographer Making a Difference: Rocky Braat

Whenever you need to remind yourself of the power of photography, take a lot at today's Video Pick, documenting the work of photographer Rocky Braat. Rocky is an American, but he's chosen to live his life in Chennai, India, working in an orphanage that is dedicated to assisting mothers and children with HIV/AIDS. Rocky's work and his camera make life meaningful for those he works with, and they in turn inform him about the meaning of life and love and spirit. Rocky's life is captured in the moving documentary Blood Brother.

All proceeds from Rocky's new photo book, I Was Always Beautiful will benefit his work at the orphanage (click on the link for more information). Now, aren't you glad you're a photographer? How can your images make a difference in the lives of others?

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do.

AUDIO LINK: WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]

Movies for Photographers: HBO Documentary Series, Witness

Image from HBO documentary episode, Witness: Libya

HBO's string of hard-hitting, insightful documentaries continues with Witness, a 4-part series that focuses on war photography from the viewpoint of the person behind the camera. What's it like to be a journalist and balance that role with being a compassionate human being who is a witness to death and destruction? The series goes into the frontlines in Mexico, Libya, South Sudan, and Brazil to give an up-close, personal look into the lives of people who sometimes get way too close to their subjects, putting their lives in constant jeopardy.

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do. WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]

Photography Comes to the Planet's Rescue - "Chasing Ice" Documentary

 

Photo: Chasing Ice photographer James Balog

Chasing Ice has become an extremely important documentary project, combining the art of photography with the science of global warming to document and report on the too-fast changes to the planet's glacial landscapes.

Photo: Ice Canyon, Greenland by James Balog for National Geographic

Time-lapse photography has captured receding glacial terrain, shrinking ice caps, and other troubling effects from extreme climate change.

Photo: Chasing Ice

James Balog, a National Geographic photographer, the prime catalyst on this documentary project as he creates The Extreme Ice Project and sets about with a team of associates to provide irrefutable photographic evidence of Arctic ice loss due to climate change. Here's our Video Pick of the week, an excerpt from this important documentary.

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do.

Audio Link: WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]