{"id":52322,"date":"2025-04-21T16:10:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T20:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=52322"},"modified":"2026-01-28T00:44:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:44:52","slug":"having-fun-with-personal-photography-to-learn-and-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/having-fun-with-personal-photography-to-learn-and-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"Having fun with personal photography, to learn and grow"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Having fun with personal photography, to learn and grow<\/h2>\n

Having fun photographing people and their crazy hats during the Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival on 5th Ave, Manhattan.<\/p>\n

This year I challenged myself in photographing portraits at f\/2<\/strong> only, using the Sony 28-70mm f\/2 lens<\/a> (B&H<\/em><\/a> \/ Amazon<\/a><\/em>) \u2026 and I purposely looking for compositions that worked with the bright overhead sun \u2026 still taking care to not lose important elements in the blown highlights. Those constraints did limit who and what I photographed, but I do like the results. I feel that doing this – setting some artificial limitation on the gear I use (or techniques I use), stretches me a bit, and I have to think more about how I approach the topic, and how I photograph any subject. Doing this regularly, helps the entire creative process as a photographer.<\/p>\n

I often do this when I have the luxury of not shooting for a professional reason – where I don’t have to deliver to a client’s spec or brief. Where I don’t have to photograph “everything”. For example, two years ago I photographed this same event – the Easter Bonnet Parade, but with only a fish-eye lens<\/a>. \u00a0It makes me look for photo opportunities in a different way.<\/p>\n

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Camera gear used during this photo session<\/h2>\n