We all like to take pictures of special moments and things we discover.
Since our telephones are more a camera than a communication device some of us capture all their lives and sometimes wonder why we never look at this pictures again.
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| Thorsten von Overgaard with his Leica captured with Pentax K1 85mm prime f1,2 |
On the other hand some photos are that impressive that we keep them in mind for a long time.
I questioned myself what makes the difference between a every day photo and an outstanding capture of the moment.
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| shallow depth of field, Overgaard Leica style @ Pentax K1 50mm prime f1,4 |
This question led me into the hobby of photography and to study good photographs. Thorsten von Overgaard is one of these photographers who gave me the opportunity to study with him for 3 days in Berlin.
I booked this workshop months in advance to be part of a small group of 6 enthusiasts who intended to improve their skills.
Thorsten is a street photographer who developed a very special artistic style which is strongly connected to the legendary Leica camera equipment.
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| captured with Pentax K1 85mm @ f1,2 |
So it was no surprise that all participants were equipped with Leica cameras. My challenge was to create this style with just a Pentax camera.
The first day we met at a Café at Rosenthaler Platz and then moved around different districts of Berlin to capture moments of street live.
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| Berlin street life, Pentax K1 85mm f2,0 |
The second day we met in a work space to learn about the digital workflow of photography and how to store and backup the huge amount of data for a life time. Then we developed our shots from the first day and had to select 3 of these photos to present the next day.
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| Berlin architecture and espresso @ Pentax K1 85mm f1,2 |
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| capture the moment … |
The third day we started to present and discuss the selected pictures. Thorsten carefully advised us on how to improve some of our results. This was the moment where I got the most input for my style of photography.
At lunch we discussed the basics of natural light portrait photography.
Best place for portraits is a shady spot with defuse light which is always easy to find if you know what you are looking for.
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| available light portrait … |
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| … with a Leica |
Thorsten set up the scene with a model (one of us) and we tried our best.
The most important learning out of this 3 days workshop was: ” always wear a camera “(preferable a Leica) otherwise you will probably miss the best shot of your live.