I am going to venture down my road of experience once more. This time I am taking on a question that many people asked me when I was first walking down the road of photography. That one dreaded and ridiculously tough question is what is your voice?

When I first took up a camera, I was a happy man behind the lens. I took photos of everything and anything. Dogs, birds, plants, the ceiling, my toes, and whatever else I could finagle into my viewfinder all became my subjects. Then I decided I wanted to make a living of this, and the first question I received repeatedly was what my specialty/angle/voice was. To this question, I always answered, “ummm, good question.” So how did I finally come to answer this? It was not easy lemme tell ya.

The first part to finding your voice is to pinpoint the style of photography you like. Style is different from voice as style is the genre. Your style might be nature, animals, portraits, sports, architecture, or any of the other umpteen dozen styles that exist. For me, I found I really enjoyed macro, grunge, HDR, and landscapes. Keep in mind these don’t all really fit together as one cohesive style. I was able to finally pinpoint this by simply paying attention to the images I spent the most time gawking at. Read More→

Chris Nitz

This is where you would expect me to tell you about my life, how awesome I am, or why I am so superior to other people in this line of business. I would enjoy telling you how I have wrestled grizzly bears 10 feet tall. Maybe you would like hearing how I have taken on Velociraptors in my days as a young man. Even better is the story how I have traveled to the furthest reaches of space to stop catastrophic alien invasions. The problem will be that you might not believe my awesome stories.

I will keep these awesome stories for the campfire though. I’m just a man, taking pictures, trying to make a living. I ditched my education in computers in favor of pursuing my passion for photography. I enjoy a good cold beer on a warm day. I have a fondness of the outdoors.. I have enjoyed years capturing life’s unscripted moments. Hopefully, I can enjoy many more years of slacking off without fear of those grizzlies taking me out before my time.

My Philosophy is to capture those non-scripted moments. To capture the little details that this world really has to offer. From weddings to insects, I enjoy capturing the life, the details, and the moments that come and go in a flash.

www.chrisnitz.com

This week I am going to tackle a question that has plagued me ever since I turned away from fondling network cables in favor of a pushing a shutter button. That question has been, and probably always will be, how I go from good photos to great photos. While there is no simple answer to point you to and say do this, I have found a few things that have helped me get better in my chosen trade. Let us tackle this shall we?

Step one: Read
Yeah, everyone out there has this tip listed somewhere in the how to become a professional photographer handbook. There is a good reason though. When I decided to pursue my passion of photography, I had no idea what a rule of thirds was, or even how ISO and white balance factored into a photo. I just knew I liked to click a shutter button. It was not until I had a horrible stock submission experience that I realized I had a lot more to learn. Thus, I started reading about photography.

I did not just stop at reading all the technicalities of photography. I also read forums, photographer blogs, and anything else my greedy eyes could be graced with. There is a world of books and websites dedicated to the numbers and science behind photography. You should take all of that in. However, what no technical book is going to teach you is the inspiration. This is where reading photographer blogs really helped. I could see the shots professional photographers posted, enjoy the stories behind the shot, and learn what drove the photographer to capture the scene. This in turn taught me how to find my own inspiration.

Reading never ends by the way. I still pick up magazines, surf the net, and spend a good two or more hours a day reading photography related material. I pick up new tricks, find new inspirations, and even try my hand at styles that are not my own. This is all part of the growing, learning, and improving process. Read More→

Chris Nitz

This is where you would expect me to tell you about my life, how awesome I am, or why I am so superior to other people in this line of business. I would enjoy telling you how I have wrestled grizzly bears 10 feet tall. Maybe you would like hearing how I have taken on Velociraptors in my days as a young man. Even better is the story how I have traveled to the furthest reaches of space to stop catastrophic alien invasions. The problem will be that you might not believe my awesome stories.

I will keep these awesome stories for the campfire though. I’m just a man, taking pictures, trying to make a living. I ditched my education in computers in favor of pursuing my passion for photography. I enjoy a good cold beer on a warm day. I have a fondness of the outdoors.. I have enjoyed years capturing life’s unscripted moments. Hopefully, I can enjoy many more years of slacking off without fear of those grizzlies taking me out before my time.

My Philosophy is to capture those non-scripted moments. To capture the little details that this world really has to offer. From weddings to insects, I enjoy capturing the life, the details, and the moments that come and go in a flash.

www.chrisnitz.com