April 2025 – Richard Schulz

Take something from everything

One of the reasons why I enjoy autumn / winter so much are scenes like this.

A beautiful tree covered in a mix of yellow & green leaves. The sky at the bluest blue. Sure, summer skies are blue as well but not like this IMO. And on the ground, dead leaves waiting for be walked through. Crunching underneath your feet as you move over them. Dancing in the wind finding their final resting places.

I had my phone with me so this was the shot I took. Not high on the details but the colors are spot on. Tomorrow when I head into work I’ll take my compact camera with and see if I can get a better photo.

A tree covered in autumn leaves. — Yellow and blue.

I’m currently working on two interviews. This is something I have come to enjoy. I’m also planning to talk to a few more photographers on Google Meet.

Over the past year I’ve done about ten (or nine) interviews.

I thought about it one day and said fuck it. At least I tried. And then I got a yes. Then another. Rinse repeat.

But I also got a few no thanks. And a few people who ghosted me.

It’s cool though. Not everyone has the time. Not everyone is interested in it. Not everybody likes to talk about themselves. I’m not a popular interviewer. I get it.

But I do take something from the yes and the no.

And this transcends my newsletter and interviews. It teaches me to take something from everything. Instead of thinking why everything is against you ask yourself what can you learn from the ‘defeats’. Change things up. Try something new. And it pushes me to do thing. Even if they don’t work out.

JUST DO IT.

Even if it doesn’t work at least you won’t be wondering about the outcome and have any regrets on it.

Thanks for reading : )

Taxis.

When you hear the word “taxi” what do you think about?

Perhaps a yellow New York city Ford Crown Victoria. A black cab in London. Or maybe the Toyota Comforts zipping around in the traffic in Shibuya.When it comes to a South African taxi, the phrase “ride of your life” is something many people will say comes to mind.

The South African taxi, minibus, is a different beast. The drivers aren’t loved by other drivers. For the most part they treat road rules as suggestions. They will stop on the side of busy roads to pick up passengers, often without indicating of any sort.

But I’m not here to bash the taxi.

It’s part of the South African culture. There are jokes about it. There are more serious aspects to taxis and the taxi business. It’s become a part of South Africa like a braai or the Springboks.

A taxi on the side of the road before pulling into traffic. — Taxi.

This is the latest image uploaded to my storefront. The full size image and a full size image with a white border is available for sale online.

If you’re interested in checking it out, you can find my Paystack store front here.

As always, thanks for reading : )

My first photo for sale.

The idea of selling photos didn’t originally fit into my photography ideals.

I used photography to escape. To get outside. To step out of the comfort zone. I can say with a fair degree of certainty I have ticked all those boxes. Starting with photography coincided with a time in my life where I went through a patch of depression. Hence the escapism.

Over the last year or two I got pulled into and ground up by the gears of capitalism. And I realized having options available gives you more freedom. Gives you more options.

Gives you more time.

I’ve tried selling photos before on Etsy but it didn’t go as I hoped it would. Many things weren’t in place. Most importantly my mind and my heart. This isn’t a small endeavor. It takes time. It takes effort. In a way, if you monetize the thing you enjoy doing it becomes a job.

Enough suspense for the moment. Below is the first image I am offering for sale on my Paystack store front. You can find the image for sale h ere.

An image taken through a fence. The scene in the background is a traffic intersection with shopping mall signage to the right of the image. — Through the fence – sometimes we decide what we want to see.

I am hoping this first image gives me the impetus I need to keep moving forward with this project.

I now understand the time, the effort and the sweat which goes into getting something ready to sell. Finding people who are interested in what you sell and the continuous process of marketing yourself. Putting yourself out there and being patient.

As always, thanks for reading : )

D&D, a Sunday well spent.

It’s Sunday again.

Today is slightly different. It is a public holiday and in SA it means the next day becomes the public holiday (the day off I mean). I’m unsure about other countries and their amount of public holiday but we rank fairly high in terms of public holidays, I think.

A more chilled vibe than the usual rush to finish everything and get ready for the next day. I’m working tomorrow but only half day. Until two o’clock.

A tree in a misty morning. Behind it a telephone pole and the side of a house. — I like photographing this tree.

I spent the day with my brother and some friends around the D&D role playing game. Breaking from my normal routine on a Sunday was worth it. Saw a really cool games room (will take more photos next time around) and this inspired many thoughts in me.

No website.

For all the power of the website it is still at the mercy of servers and a hosting company. I had an unforeseen outage and couldn’t access mine until earlier this morning. Thanks to the people working behind the scenes to get everything back online but it made me think:

If my website isn’t guaranteed to be online always, what are my options?

A question which might not need an answer really. But if you’re not doing the social media thing or even the newsletter thing but you’re focused on your website as your main “base of operations” if you will; what happens if it goes down?

Perhaps a combination is best – website, your newsletter platform of choice and one social media channel [where you don’t scroll to death but merely share and then logout].

Also, make your website your home page [if you haven’t already]. This way you see what your community sees and if it’s down you’ll know about it quickly.

Photos to sell.

I’ve narrowed down the photos I’ll be adding to my online store. Most of them are from my first few years doing street photography. Once they are online I’ll share the link here & on Substack.

In closing.

It’s all I’ve got for now. Looking forward to more writing tomorrow, half day at work gives me a few extra hours in which to do this. Hope you’re having / had a great Sunday.

Thanks for reading : )

The moon.

It’s the first morning in a few days which wasn’t overcast.

As winter approaches the moon flips on it’s back. Waning Crescent is the proper astronomical term.

A black and white photo of the moon and a star. — Cold autumn morning.

No phone. No book. No podcast. No computer. No paper. No instagram. No X. No substack. No music. No one. Just me & Acre, a coffee (and a camera), listening to the birds, sitting in the sunshine. This is part of every day lately and in many ways the best part.

– Lawson Chapman

Read on Substack

Sometimes you have to break away from tech. I used to sit in front of my computer before I went to work in the mornings. Then I decided “let’s skip today”. Which turned into I don’t sit in front of my computer in the mornings.

Am I missing out on some free time where I could be productive? Perhaps.

Do I have to compress each available second of time into a hobby or a passion project?

I don’t think I should.

Sometimes it is good to do nothing. Keep it super simple. Drop the phone somewhere. Set it to silent for a few minutes. Or an hour. Technology is really good. It has a lot of applications. Good and bad. But what did we do before the internet? What did we read before newsletters? What did we listen to before podcasts?

Many of us grew up without the internet to guide us in our formative years. We turned out alright. We didn’t spend hours with a phone glued to our hands. Time away from tech should be an important thing for anyone trying to get away from the fast paced rush of modern life.

Thanks for reading : )

Night time photography.

58F. Chilly.

Another autumn evening mimicking winter.

I decided to capture a few photos for my Apartment series. With colder nights being clearer it stands to reason for me to get crisper photos.

It was an interesting thirty minutes. Cold evenings also tend to be much quieter. Fewer people on the street. Less cars, although I got one or two good light trail images which I plan to edit and add for sale in the next few days.

An apartment block at night. — What are the neighbors doing?

The image on top has been run through Photoshop Express. I didn’t see them at first but the good thing about this image is the shadows of the tree against the walls. There is a house just opposite with a massive light in the drive way which is causing these shadows.

And when I thought it wouldn’t get better there was a fog rolling in about an 3o minutes after I took my last photo. This (obviously) prompted me to head out again and take a few more photos.

An apartment block at night in the mist. — Foggy.

I shot with the same settings, F/2.0 and a 2 second exposure. I’m using an XE2 and if you put it in T mode on the dial it is supposed to give you the option to change the time the shutter remains open. I’ve tried it by rotating the command dial but it isn’t working as I expected it to.

The lens I am using is a XF35mm and it’s probably the sharpest lens I have.

What are you thoughts on shooting at night? Any interesting projects in the works? I’m looking for inspiration and interesting reads.

Thanks for reading : )

Rainy days.

52F. Cloudy, rainy. Cold.

This morning was a great day for photography. Rain. You know those rainy day shots where the reflections of the road is just wow. The people with their umbrellas just all over the show.

It sucks if you’re walking in the rain and your raincoat decides to imitate a sieve. So there I was walking in the rain while the thunder rumbled around the sky.

I managed a few photos after I reached my usual hangout before work.

First photo is of the outside of a fruit & vegetable shop. The woman who works there arrives a bit later and opens the store for business. Sometimes we talk for a few minutes before I head to work. The lights, the orange / red from the wall and steel posts made a good composition. I did a b&w version as well but it doesn’t really capture the mood in my opinion.

The outside of a fruit and vegetable shop. — Still closed.

Next image are two school children and their father walking to school. I see them each weekday morning and they often go into the shop, buy a few things and go on their way. I might try and capture a few more photos of them in future – as they leave & enter the store.

This is the opposite corner of where I stand. While I’m here I can often see the extent of stupidity in some road users. Speeding or just skipping the stop sign. Even seen an accident on this very corner.

I like this image because of the motion blur of the car. When taking a photo with the standard camera app I don’t always catch the blur. 9 out of 10 times I’ll freeze the car in the photo. No blur. The blur, the red car, the lights and the sign make this a interesting image for me.

A car driving past a traffic sign. — Stop.

I’m busy working on a few things at the moment:

Getting a few more interviews ready. I enjoy the process around this – find out more about the photographer / writer / artist, looking at their work. Putting down a few questions to get some insights into them and their process. I’ll probably do this more in the near future.
Working on a post for me website. You might be tired of reading this but my time management is not good. The few hours I have after I arrive home gets divided up between a few things. I want to squeeze in “write for an hour” somewhere in there but at the moment I’m super tired so most evenings I don’t write. (I’ve forced myself to sit down and breath live into this post).

In closing.

A bowl of instant noodles with curry vegetables and a cup of coffee is waiting for me. I’d like to hear your feedback on these photos. Which one is your favorite? How do you spend your time after you arrive home from work, if you have a day job?

If you’re interested in supporting my work, consider a small donation on my Paystack page. One of the things on my to-do list is to setup a subscription plan via Paystack. I’ll link to it once it’s up and running.

As always, thanks for reading : )

Are we documenting too much?

Fog forms when the difference between air temperature and dew point is less than 2.5 °C (4.5 °F). Fog begins to form when water vapor condenses into tiny water droplets that are suspended in the air.

I woke up to lovely fog this morning.

Being a photographer my first reaction was to go outside. Snapped a few photos before heading into town. As I cycled & took photos (a compact camera plus quiet streets allows cycling and photography to take place at the same time) I felt the happiness I tend to feel around the colder months. Empty streets and misty mornings are right up there for me.

The photo below was taken at a local shopping mall. For an unknown reason they put a massive parking lot around the mall. It might get used if there is an event on but most of the time it is used by Bolt drivers or people learning how to drive.

A parking lot of a local shopping mall. — Paved paradise.

Sundays are the most creative day of the week for me. This one even more so because tomorrow is a public holiday which means I can really do some creative work.

Here is a list of things which rolled around in my mind this morning as I sipped an overpriced coffee.

Write a second newsletter. Something shorter, more focused on what I read on Substack. A good way to build community.
Thought about the Substack app. How is the new layout for you? I skip the reels button completely (haven’t clicked it yet). The Subscriptions ‘page’ is my favorite in terms of layout.
I’d like to see more website links from the authors on Substack. One of my go-to is Seth Werkheiser’s website. A perfect example of building something for yourself outside the realm of algorithms.

This is perhaps a bit left field or it might not since I’m writing things down to an audience – what are your thoughts on documenting your life?

I won’t ever go a far as a reality show does where everything gets shown or shared but this is definitely more than I would have thought about a few years ago. Is this level of documenting normal? Is it small talk on the internet?

I’d like to read your thoughts here or on Substack.

Enjoy your Sunday and thanks for reading : )

Start work on a project.

I’ve been reading about photo projects for a while.

The urge to start something more concrete with my photography is a big one. I’ve mostly stopped posting on Instagram because we know it’s going to sh!t.

To an extent I did a lot of my photography with Instagram in mind. I used it as a portfolio although most of the people I photographed at one point or another rarely, if at all, found me through IG.

An apartment building at night. A few lights on in the windows. — What are your neighbors doing?

A photography project isn’t only about going out and shooting a ton of photos. There has to be some type of thread which ties things together.

I live close to a large block of apartments. I haven’t been inside the area because it’s a gated community but I’d have to guess there is at least 100 apartments inside the community.

I can see these apartment blocks through the kitchen window. The lights in them have always intrigued me. I think about what people are doing or what is going on. Supper? Families spending time together? Dinner in front of a television or at a table?

I started doing some photography of these blocks over the past few years but nothing more came from it except the odd photo here and there which I liked. It wasn’t until the start of the year when I started to think about these photos and those apartments as having the makings of a photo project.

And a few weeks ago I started to take long exposure photos of them. The street passing in front of the apartment blocks yield nice long exposures of cars driving past.

This is what I want to focus on for a photo project. Take photos at various times of day of these apartment blocks. Do a bit of writing around them. And if the photos are good enough put them online for sale.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts. Have you started any new photo projects recently? Any ideas on your next one? If you’re selling photos online I also be interested in what your results and the journey has been like.

Thanks for reading : )

Trying PRO mode.

A cloud in the background. In the foreground trees. Photo taken over a roof. — Morning Sky.

This morning was one of the first really cold ones. 64.4F according to the math. For Friday the expected high is going to be even lower.

This photo was the scene this morning as I stepped out the front door. Dark clouds lining the sky. Wind blowing in from the south east. A cold one.

My phone camera is the only camera with my during the morning. I want to leave my bicycle at home during the winter and take walks to work with my compact camera. Especially in the early morning when there isn’t a lot of light. I’ve taken some good photos in these low light conditions.

If you’re an Android user you’ll be familiar with PRO mode. It gives you an option to set the ISO, fool with the white balance and then adjust the exposure too. There is also a spot metering option. Something interesting which I might try in the next few days is the ratio option.

I like flipping the phone on its side and taking landscape shots. I will include the full landscape from the photo above.

I’ve tried the PRO mode a few times before. I don’t often use the exposure settings on my phone camera since it happens in the editing process. There seems to be a big difference in the two modes I think mostly related to the exposure. In the normal mode the scene seems a lot brighter.

I did some reading and one article mentions RAW files in PRO mode. I haven’t seen this option on my phone so it could be related to the Android version or perhaps the phone type.

In the past I’ve used the mobile version of Adobe Lightroom. It had the option to take photos using the app and this gave me some good results with longer exposure photos.

The phone camera is a great tool for me but I feel it is a bit of a crutch for me. Because it is always handy I often leave my other cameras at home and tend to fall back on this. It has it’s upsides but I don’t get the same experience (or quality) from the photos I take. And I feel disappointed in not opting for a proper camera.

Many photographers have made a name for themselves using phone photography. Nothing wrong there. For me, it’s not what I really have in mind for my work. I’d rather shoot with my Kodak compact camera and get a bit higher quality photo and a better all-round experience.