I’m mostly venting, but I bet there were some amazing photos on that film, those pictures documented a China flirting with openness, that seems so far off now.

Oh man, sorry you went through that.

Anyone else lose photos that meant a lot to them?

My first trip to Taiwan. I had a blast and loved it. Took tons of photos.

After I got back home, my camera got stolen out of my backpack when I wasn’t looking. I was so pissed off and hurt.

On the bright side, that was another nudge that led me to move to Taiwan. Where I would take many more pictures than I lost. Lived there for several years.

Another time was I spent the day exploring the temples of Sukhothai in Thailand. I had a memory card in my camera. I had a full memory card in my pocket.

When I got back to my guesthouse at the end of the day, I dipped my hand into my pocket to get the full memory card–and nothing!

By then, it was too late and too dark to look for it.

Next day I revisited all the temples and retraced my steps, inspecting the ground everywhere. At the last temple, I finally found the memory card on the ground.

This was during a months-long backpacking trip around Southeast Asia, so there were loads of photos on that memory card.

I was so relieved to get it back.

Excellent, in-depth feedback. Thank you.

Hope the OP sees your comment.

Search YouTube for “B&H Event Space + [photo genre].” You’ll find hour-long presentations by photographers on that genre. Wedding, sports, portrait, all kinds of great stuff.

I do mostly Landscape and Milky way photography just for the hobby.

Examples:

B&H Event Space landscape

B&H Event Space astro

There is a B&H Event Space channel, but I find a lot of the videos are still on the main B&H channel. So it’s easier to find videos with a YouTube search.

Hope this helps.

For Street, Framelines is up there with the best.

Thanks for mentioning them!

Their Canon 6D video is still one of my favorite photography videos ever. Great pictures, chill music and a great message about getting old but still quality gear.

The Photographic Eye - Others have mentioned it, for good reason. All about the art, spirit and philosophy of photography. His videos are a fun way to discover great photographers of the past who are worth studying.

Newcastle Photography College - My favorite recent discovery. Love to find small YouTube channels with great content.

Australian photographer and instructor. Great tutorials on lighting and off-camera flash. I don’t think there’s a single gear review on his channel lol.

He’s one of those photographers who’s done it for so long he has an amazing mastery of light. He’s done photo shoots with flashlights, cheap lamps, reflectors and windows and gotten good pictures.

Take & Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey - Playlist under the Adorama channel. He does promote Godox lighting gear (which I recommend anyway), but not aggressively, just through excellent demonstrations. I feel like I owe Gavin money for how much I’ve learned from him about off-camera flash.

The 505 Podcast - Three young creatives sharing the business side of being a creative. One is a photographer for DJs, one is a sports videographer for the NBA and one is a commercial car photographer/videographer.

They’re fun, cool and a blast to watch. Being an old fogey, I don’t understand all of their modern slang. So if you’re a young person, you’ll get more than me, ha ha.

If you sort the videos by “Oldest,” it’s a step-by-step course in how to become a full-time creative.

Shoot Your Shot Podcast - Duo, one’s a filmmaker/travel creator and the other is a photographer. One of the hosts said her goal was to “spill the tea” that other content creators won’t talk about.

The Moe and O Photo Show - Omar Gonzalez (the “O” in the show) is my favorite photography YouTuber. Great teacher, great sense of humor, fun personality.

In the podcast he and Moe get to do more in-depth discussions compared to the quick videos on Omar’s main channel. Omar is a bar mitzvah and portrait photographer, and his passions are street, travel and bird photography.

They’re childhood best friends, and it shows in their banter.

There is gear talk, but I think they have a reasonable attitude toward gear. They don’t make you feel like you need to have the newest camera or your pictures will suck.

Cassidy Lynne - Wedding photographer. My favorite episodes are where she shares embarrassing horror stories and confessions that photographers have submitted to her. Things that have gone wrong during photo shoots.

The Frugal Filmmaker - I recommend sorting the videos by “Popular.” This guy was the MacGyver of creators.

Mark Holtze - This is a gear channel–about vintage lenses. It can be a fun rabbit hole to go down. How to get unique, quirky looks by using old lenses.

###Videos

Individual videos, not channels, but I thought they were too good to not share. Insights from people at the top of their game.

Chat with FAMOUS Wedding Photographer Joe Buissink - Joe gets paid up to $50,000 per wedding and he shoots on an old camera (Canon 5D Mark III), so you know it’s not about the gear.

He does share about how he pitches clients and positions himself as a high-end photographer. But he shares so much more: about the mindset of how a photographer at that level thinks and stays inspired (hint: it’s not YouTube, Instagram or social media).

Michael Muller - Out of the Box - I cued it up to my favorite example of a personal project. He shares how he used a personal project to break into shooting superhero movie posters for Hollywood studios.

Platon reveals power through his portraits of global leaders. For someone with his giant reputation, I expected an aloof genius type. I thought he was hilarious.

The self-talk he gave himself when he broke the rules on the magazine’s demand for nice elegant headshots of a U.S. President to do his signature crazy wide-angle shot is one of the most inspiring things I’ve heard. Dare to be yourself.

1960: How did Orson Welles make Citizen Kane? - I cued it up to my favorite part. Welles’ answer to the interviewer’s question totally caught me off guard, ha ha. It’s such a great motivator when I’m feeling doubtful, imposter syndrome, etc. Turn your weaknesses into strengths.

Hope this helps.

###Free tutorials

Flash Photography for Headshots and Portraits by Ed Verosky

Off Camera Flash Tutorial for Beginners by Rob Hall

Off Camera Flash Portraits Made Easy by Eli Infante

Mentoring Marisa by Daniel Norton - Great series where a pro photographer trains a beginner in lighting. It’s just frustrating that the videos are out of order. If you go through the earlier playlists I linked to, you can figure out a proper order to watch them in.

Take & Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey - These are demonstrations and breakdowns of flash photography shoots. I feel like I owe him money for how much I’ve learned from him. My favorite videos are where he shows the problems he ran into and how he solves them.

After you watch some of the earlier playlists first, I think you’ll understand and enjoy Gavin’s videos a lot more.

The Best of Dean Collins on Lighting - Blast from the past, lol. When The Strobist gives a rave review of a lighting guru, that catches your attention.

Watching his videos gives you big appreciation for much easier we have it with modern flash gear. Back then, Collins had to be MacGyver and improvise his gear.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

###Paid courses

You can learn a lot for free, but I still think there’s value in structured courses. With free tutorials, I learned how to do things. Wth paid courses, I learned the why behind lighting and why you would use different types of lighting for shooting different kinds of subjects. That knowledge can be as valuable or even more valuable than the how.

Fair warning, these courses are a bit old, so the gear recommendations can be outdated and expensive. You can get modern, affordable gear recommendations on YouTube. Otherwise, the principles and techniques are timeless.

Except for the Felix Kunze course from The Portrait Masters, all these courses are on CreativeLive.

How to Shoot with Your First Flash by Mike Hagen. Mike’s courses helped me a lot when I was starting out with lighting and flash. Gave me a solid foundation for when I got into more advanced courses later.

Introduction to Outdoor Flash Photography by Mike Hagen.

Introduction to Using Multiple Flashes by Mike Hagen

Lighting 101 to 401 series by Pye Jirsa / SLR Lounge. I think Lighting 101 (on-camera flash) and 201 (off-camera flash basics) are enough for most people.

Location Lighting series by Felix Kunze. This course and Conquering Crappy Light are a killer combo. You’ll gain way more confidence with going into any situation and creating great lighting.

Conquering Crappy Light by Lindsay Adler and Erik Valind.

Speedlights 101 by Mark Wallace. Despite the basic-sounding name, this is a monster course. By the end of it, I was dreaming about flash power settings lol.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the insights and numbers about high end commercial photography. Really cool stuff. How do people break into that? Being an assistant? Digital technician?

Thanks for the great informative comment on industrial photography. That’s a niche I didn’t know about.

Cool, knowing what genres you’re into narrows it down.

My main work is portraits

Pye Jirsa

Gavin Hoey

Newcastle Photography College

headshots

Gary Hughes

Rafal Wegiel

Peter Hurley

event (not weddings)

Mik Milman

I’d love to take more landscape and street stuff

Can’t help with landscape, I’m afraid. Maybe small sample size, but a lot of the YouTube channels I’ve seen other people recommend for landscape photography were British.

Street Photography Club

Hope this helps.

Platon reveals power through his portraits of global leaders. For someone with his giant reputation, I expected an aloof genius type. I thought he was hilarious. The self-talk he gave himself when he broke the rules on the magazine’s demand for nice elegant headshots of a U.S. President to do his signature shot is one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen. Dare to be yourself.

Michael Muller - Out of the Box. I love the part where he talks about how he broke into shooting superhero movie posters for Hollywood studios. Shows the importance of doing personal projects and test shoots to land high-profile projects and big clients.

1960: How did Orson Welles make Citizen Kane? - I cued it up to my favorite part. Filmmaker not photographer, but that part was too good to not share. It’s such a great motivator when I’m feeling doubtful, imposter syndrome, etc.

Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography. With YouTubers throwing around the word “cinematic” all the time, it’s refreshing to hear from the real OGs.

You Can Make a Netflix Style Doco About Literally Anything. It’s funny as hell. But also one of the best analyses and deconstructions of a style I’ve seen. Wanted to end with something fun.