Sunny and Creative Spring Vibes!
Before we go any further, I would like to send a warm thank you to our amazing patrons, and those lovely folks who contribute to our Meetup group and meetings and help support our costs! The generosity of these precious few plants the seeds that keep our meetings free for everyone and makes our community thrive. Thank you!
PixelPerspective
After the longest winter, our newsletter PixelPerspective is back from hibernation, and it’s fresher than ever. Stay tuned for regular updates, inspiration, and plenty of photographic projects and fun!
PixelPerspective’s (PP for the intimate) mission is to share projects, update the community with ideas and news, help us inspire one another, and accomplish more, all while having a blast. Let’s make 2023 the best year (yet)!
Table of Contents
- Sharing is Caring
- Photography Industry News
- Tips and Tricks
- OurActivities
- Upcoming Events
- Closing Thoughts
- CHallenge: Spring Fling
Sharing is Caring
Our community is only as valuable as the connections we create. Here are some ways to share and interact:
Facebook Group – Post your photos, ideas, projects, and even your random thoughts. Let’s get social!
Discord Channel – Dive into more specific discussions on topics like AI, photography techniques, post-processing tips, and much more.
Instagram – We are not really so active, but at least we can make sure we follow each other and keep an eye on the group’s posts and images. Shoot me a message on Instagram to be included in the loop.
🔝 Table of contents
Photography Industry News
Keep an eye on this section to stay in the know with the latest developments and trends in the photography world.
Amazon kills DPReview
25 successful years came to an end as the tech giant seems to have noticed that they have been paying the bill for such an amazing website, which “Big A” seems not to have used for profit. The amazing reviews and insanely informative content did not survive Mr B’s cuts and will be switched off. You can read more on their website, while supplies last…
Aᶾ: Adobe Artist Awards – An Ode to Greatness
Adobe has filtered through its big stock images website and came up with an amazing selection of gorgeous images. I strongly suggest that you spend some time looking at the images and consider some of the subjects we always discuss in our group, such as composition, color theory, and storytelling.
AI Impacts, Fakes and Midjourney Ends Free Trial
Unless you were hiding in a disconnected bunker for the past few months, you have seen that AI is all over the news and the photography world. Adobe entered the stage with the amazing Firefly, Stable Diffusion models are ever more impressive with Midjourney V5, tomorrow’s list is already obsolete. This is even the subject for our Webinar, which will discuss many AI tools and their usage and impacts (sorry for the ad in the middle of the news but it is worth it! 😉).
Amidst all this news, some less-than-perfect fake images stormed the world showing a pop-pope and portraying Trump’s potential future. There is a great article about this on PetaPixel.
These phoney images were credited with the end of Midjourney’s free trial period, but that is not correct. As seen on their Discord channel and reported in the news time and time again, the true reasons were insane server loads and other abuses that were not specified.
Another interesting turn was the letter to temporarily halt the development of AI coming from some heavy weights. The question that sticks with me is what their intentions might be… I’d love it if you’d join this discussion I started on my blog and read your thought on this!
146 Photographers, One Book
And I thought curating our magazine was a tough assignment! This “tiny” group of photographers decided to produce one book with their work, that alone is already a mammoth task and you can read more on PetaPixel. What do you think? What if we were to produce a 2023 version of our magazine? I vote YES!
🔝Table of contents
Tips and Tricks
The insanely good Jesús Ramirez from the PTC Youtube Channel made me feel like a noob. Actually, he made me feel that again as I already watched this video a couple of times since its release last year. There are so many great tips, I cannot recommend him enough. It is even hard to watch the whole thing because the number of crazy good tips is overwhelming (besides, you need three 6-fingered hands to press all those keys and operate the mouse at the same time 🤣).
As we discussed in the group, the best way for us to discuss tips and techniques is on Discord, join there and let’s learn together.
Our Activities
Latest Photo Walk
On March 28th we had the latest instalment of our photo walks, and what an event this was! The waiting list was almost as big as the confirmed participants, and many amazing and gorgeous models to elevate the experience, even though the (freezing) weather was not against us.
You can read more and see some images here, or go to the album on our Facebook Group. If you post your images on social media, please make sure to tag me @chaya.photo, so I can also enjoy the memories from that meeting.
Thanks to all who participated and a huge thank you to the models, who not only showed up during such a cold day but also were fully energized and survived our trigger-happy fingers for as long as we could shoot: Delia, Desy, Kateryna, Sofia, Sofija and Steffie.
Scroll the gallery below to check some of the images from that cold and fantastic evening:
I can barely wait for the next event, and it is almost fully booked!
🔝Table of contents
The Bluebox – A unique place for creative photo shoots
And The Tscharners did it again! Those two are not only great companies but also unstoppable photographic machines. Daniel shares this amazing new part of their studio and the images are simply stunning. Below is a part of the full story, which you can find here.
“The Bluebox”! As the name suggests, this self-made square cube, crafted from sturdy plywood, features vibrant blue walls, making it an ideal backdrop for all your creative shoots.
Measuring 2 meters in height and 1.8 meters in width, The Bluebox provides ample space for solo portraits, couples, and even small group photoshoots. Its minimalist design serves as a blank canvas, allowing you to experiment with various lighting techniques, props, and poses to create truly one-of-a-kind images.
“The Bluebox” is therefore not only a special backdrop for creative photo shoots but also a place where we can perfect our craft and live out our passion for photography.
🔝Table of contents
Upcoming Events
April’s Photo Walk
If you still did not mark your calendar, you should certainly speed it up, as our next photo walk will be on April 25th and the event is filling up fast. As always, you can see all the details on the Meetup website, but I’ll give you a tiny spoiler – let’s make it even better!
We will revisit the Schanzengraben, a remaining part of the medieval moat system of Zürich. In the past, we had delicious photo walks around that beautiful path, which lends to enjoy a lot of the busy city life, mixed with the gorgeous views and hidden gems that hide away from the main beaten path. You can see some of our previous adventures there by following this link and maybe plan the images you will capture then. The suggested themes for this photo walk are street and architectural photography, as well as telling a story.
🔝Table of contents
“Artificial Intelligence X Photography – Will AI Unlock an Infinite Creative Potential or Be a Death Sentence?”
Get ready to explore the future of photography! Terminator’s Skynet or Jetson’s Rosey? Which contender will you bet on? Do you believe AI’s future will be disruptive or dystopic?
For this special webinar, we are thrilled to have Dr Ahmet Selman join us, he is a photography enthusiast and a renowned AI expert, a leading voice in the field with extensive experience in both academia and industry. As an accomplished author and presenter, he has shared his insights worldwide at numerous conferences and events. Having Selman join our seminar is a rare opportunity, and we are privileged to have him share his knowledge with our participants.
During our discussion, we will explore cutting-edge AI tools that are revolutionizing the photography industry, such as GPT/Chat GPT, Dall-e, Midjourney, BlueWillow, NVIDIA Canvas, Adobe Firefly, and the Sensei inside Adobe AI and many other tools. Let’s explore together how these innovative technologies can influence photography and transform your creative process.
Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind opportunity to learn about the future of photography and AI from a true expert. Reserve your spot now, as space is limited! Please RSVP on the Meetup platform, and also notice that you need to enrol here to receive further information and the link to join the online event.
🔝Table of contents
AI Tools – Individual Webinars: Chat GPT, Midjourney, Firefly, Bluewillow, and More
As a follow-up to the previous webinar, each one of the most relevant AI-Powered tools will be shown hands-on and in-depth, with a direct comparison to the alternatives, strong and weak points, tips, and impressions. Some of the AI tools that the individual webinars will dive into include Chat GPT, Midjourney, Firefly, Bluewillow, Leonardo.ai and more. Important: These drill-down webinars will only happen if enough people are interested in each of the tools. Make sure to send a message to ai-webinar@chaya.photo and share which of those wonders you would like to know intimately.
🔝Table of contents
Photography Workshops
Let’s try to steer away from AI for a moment and get back to “real life” (at least for now 😉). As many of you have been asking, we will finally resume the challenges, workshops and specific pieces of training. As usual, whoever subscribes to our newsletter gets to know it all before, but better not waste too much time, as the final dates are almost set and the events will soon be posted on the learning-specific Meetup group. Make sure to join the group and subscribe to admin messages to be kept in the loop. The first workshops planned are Fundamentals of Photography, Photography Composition (2-month workshop), and Master Your Camera and they will be offered in many flavours: funny English, broken German, bad Spanish and fluent Portuguese (the latter with a big discount 🤣).
🔝Table of contents
Closing Thoughts
We value your suggestions and feedback, so hit us with your best shot! It does not matter which kind of idea or suggestion, just send it to suggestions@chaya.photo and let’s make the most out of our group. Paraphrasing our German friends:
Practicefeedback makes the master
In the feedback subject: if you value what CHaya offers you, be it organizing events, teaching, renting equipment, and whatever other services you might have received from us, it would be IMMENSELY appreciated if you would leave honest feedback on Google and Facebook. It can be in any language you feel more comfortable with, takes almost no time, and can help us a lot, as it helps build trust and attract new customers. Of course, supposing anybody read it until here… 🤣 Actually, if you read all the way down here, THANK YOU! Just for fun, send me a message telling me you managed to read this and I’ll have a special treat for you: a “skip the line VIP invitation to whatever Photo Walk, so you don’t need to wait in the list!
Sharing is caring! If each of us would bring an extra friend the next time, we will need more photo walks to fit all of us! You can help our community grow not only by leaving an honest review but also by bringing some friends.
🔝Table of contents
Spring Fling: 5 Random Ideas and Projects to Exercise and Have Fun
How about enjoying the good weather together with some excuses to dust off that lovely camera and produce some images?
You will find below some ideas I came up with, let’s shoot them and share the images, if enough of us do it, we’ll organize a photo critique very soon. Use our Facebook Group to share as much as you want, ask for help on Discord, and let’s get this CHallenge rolling!
- Springtime Hunt: How does spring change your world? Is it by the change in colours? Or the renewed good mood that comes with better weather? Maybe the flowers?
- Macro Mayhem: Get up close and personal with nature, capturing the details of blooming flowers and tiny critters.
- Sunrise Series: “Our star” comes up differently during this season, try and document the beauty of spring sunrises in different locations.
- Springtime Street Photography: People come out of hiding and dress for the occasion. Capture the essence of the season through the people and happenings in your surroundings.
- Reflections on Rain: Let’s face it, the saying goes like “April macht was er will”, meaning the weather is somewhat crazy and we will certainly have our share of rain (snow?). Embrace the April showers and create stunning images by capturing reflections on wet surfaces
🔝Table of contents
