richards – Richard Schulz

Scope creep.

Projects of any nature tend to evolve.

continuous or uncontrolled growth in a project’s scope, generally experienced after the project begins.

The definition above explains scope creep. I found out about this while working as a freelancer. The first client I worked with needed a website for his real estate business. After a few months the requests started to become a bit more ridiculous. Add this, change that. If you hear someone say “I want it like Windows” you know you’re in for a rough ride.

Scope creep to boost creativity.

I sat down and thought about the good VS the bad of scope creep. This morning as I was having my coffee I checked myself and wondered: Why write about the bad, focus on the good.

Think of scope creep as breaking boundaries. It takes us outside of the creative constraints. A different route. Letting creativity run wild…is never a bad thing. This is where new ideas come from. Whatever comes into your mind re. your photos / photo project, write it down. Make notes. Let inspiration take over.

I was working through the images of my Apartments project and thought about single windows within the photos. These are often windows which stand out – your eyes drawn to them immediately. And what if I edited them in a 1:1 ratio?

Here is an example of how a single window stands out from the rest. Curtains wide open in the evening. Most of the other windows in the photo have their curtains drawn. Perhaps a free spirit knowing you can’t see into the windows on the 3rd floor (2nd floor).

Same thing in this image. A complete opposite of what is going on around it.

The small details in this crop are interesting. Slivers of light coming in through some of the curtains which haven’t been closed completely. Two windows down you can see burglar bars in front of the windows. In the very foreground you can see thing horizontal lines – electrified fences on top of the wall running around the complex.

Limits on creativity.

This might seem like blasphemy. I mean creativity should run rampant right? Strike while the iron is hot and just keep going until it starts getting cold.

Yes & No.

Yes because creativity doesn’t always strike when we want it to. No because I think straying to far from your original idea might bring in variations which you didn’t anticipate. More effort into your art for less results. (but maybe art and creating shouldn’t be about results?)

When you set out on exploring the extent of a project look at your original idea. Does the new direction help or hinder your efforts? Can the new direction stand on its own, perhaps a new project?

Questions of this nature is important.

tl;dr

Boundaries are important but they shouldn’t constrict creativity. It is down to the individual to decide how far they venture into the unknown of creativity. If you’re currently working on a project, how do you stop scope creep from distracting you?

Thanks for reading : )

A few more photos of apartments.

Of late I don’t take a lot of photos for my ‘Apartments’ project. Between work and writing I think I am probably mismanaging my time. Looking through the collection of images I have at the moment it goes back a year or two, perhaps more.

It’s only a recent addition to the project where I aim to capture some cars passing by which gives some beautiful light trails in front of this complex.

I’m sharing a few images from October. I’ve taken more than 30 images – I know, not a lot but I’m focusing on getting some better images. Also, cars don’t follow my routine in terms of when they pass by. September was a bit better, I think more than 40 and then the winter months (June – August) was the best.

I started this after I had already taken many photos of these apartments. It was only after thinking about the images of the place at night when “do a project” popped into my mind.

The next step here is to start putting together some of the existing photos and looking at a sequence that makes sense and talks about the subject. Ideas around a zine for this is up there. Writing about the images is another idea.

Since I enjoy writing & photography I keep leaning towards this type of thinking for the project. I’ve found a printing company and as time goes on I can also do a few prints of the photos. I think it will be a nice touch and a tangible way to show the efforts of my work.

Thanks for reading : )

Something technical.

Long exposure photography is something which has grabbed my attention over the last few months.

With my Canon 1300D it’s simple. You set the shutter speed to 30″ or BULB, choose small aperture and find a subject. Lovely night shots with light trails if you’re lucky enough to have a car pass by.

I also have a Fujifilm XE-2 and it takes great photos.

But for some reason I couldn’t get the shutter to stay open for longer than 1 second. I thought to myself it must be damaged / broken. I bought the camera as used and it has been with me for more than five years.

But tonight I wanted to shoot long exposure with the Fuji. Come hell or high water. So into the internet I waded and thought to myself – why not ask chatGPT?

It gave me a few suggestions and I tried some of them and then this came up:

When your X-E2 shows SS 1”, it’s set to a 1-second shutter speed, not Bulb mode.
Even though you might have turned the dial toward “B,” the camera isn’t actually in Bulb yet — it’s just sitting on the one-second mark.

Here’s how to fix it and get true Bulb mode

Check your shutter speed dial
- Turn the shutter-speed dial past 1″ (the one-second mark) to “B.”
- It should clearly display “B” on top of the dial, not “1″”.
Confirm on your screen
- The LCD or EVF should now display “BULB” (not “SS 1″”).
- Now the camera will keep the shutter open for as long as you hold the button (up to 60 minutes).
Make sure the camera is in Manual (M) mode
- If the mode dial is in A or another auto mode, Bulb won’t activate properly.
- Turn it to M.
If you’re still limited to 1″, check these:
- Electronic shutter: Bulb only works with the mechanical shutter.
  Go to MENU → Shooting Settings → Shutter Type → MS (Mechanical Shutter).
- Drive mode: Make sure you’re in single shot (S), not continuous or bracket.
  Bulb won’t engage in burst modes.
Optional — remote or timer
- If you have a remote release, you can press once to open and once to close (no need to hold).
- Otherwise, you’ll have to hold the shutter button the entire time in Bulb.

Point 4, sub point 1.

After I switched back to ‘mechanical shutter’ in the options I found my problem of a 1″ SS was solved. I now have the option to shoot in BULB mode. I just need a remote to connect to the camera – to keep the shutter open in BULB mode requires me to hold down the shutter button which causes some shake in the camera, based on what I see in the images.

A blurry image of an apartment complex taken at night. — Apartment complex, Fujifilm XE-2

tl;dr

If you have any thoughts on this, and experience with shooting long exposures on your Fuji I’d like to hear about them – leave a comment or drop a comment on Substack.

Thanks for reading : )

PS – some additional reading on shutters for the X series

Electronic and mechanical shutters.

For passion.

A bird sitting on a telephone wire. Foreground is meta loop which forms a frame around the bird and telephone pole. — Lined up.

A stormy afternoon.

Light rain fell down and this turned into a downpour which lasted about an hour; maybe two. The stormy weather rounded off the work week. Between writing I am watching Sicario. Instead of trying to focus on what’s new at the moment I often revisit some older favorites.

I’ve been thinking a lot about photography and writing.

Mostly how I can turn this into additional income. I’ve had a few internal struggles about this. Can a hobby turned job still be fulfilling? Can I handle the jump from the one to the other? Will I still enjoy photography on the days where I’m not taking photos for a client?

These are some of the questions going around my mind.

I concluded that if I am still asking questions perhaps it might not be a bad idea to at least try and see where it will lead me. Am I thinking quit 9-to-5 and hit the streets running?

No. I’m probably going to post a few cautious adverts online and see what sticks. Hand out a few business card here and there. I’ve recently connected with a business which can facilitate payments so selling photos aren’t off the table completely.

But why?

A bird flying in the right hand side of the image. Background is a cloudy sky. — Bird against the cloudy sky.

I thought about this a bit and one things keeps sticking out in my mind.

Photography makes me feel alive. Happy. Grounded in reality. Present in the moment. Feel free to use your own synonym.

Not in the sense that bungee jumping or skydiving would make you feel. It’s not a rush of adrenaline. It’s a strong desire to keep doing something I enjoy. I enjoy the moments behind the camera. What comes after is what I enjoy more: seeing the results, thinking about what I captured. It gets my brain working and thinking about the next time, the next photo. This makes me feel and think about possibilities.

Perhaps life isn’t as difficult as I imagine it to be. It might not be as overwhelming. Would I enjoy making money from the photos I take or being a photographer, even part time? Definitely. Shit, who wouldn’t enjoy their hobby making them money.

Yet the more I think about it – one thing keeps appearing to me as a beacon. Yes, money from photography will help. But at this point in my life I’m looking for some type of purpose. Go to work. Go back home. Sit in front of a computer browsing YouTube. I don’t want this type of routine.

I want to something with purpose. With passion. Something to consume me. I want to do something which matters to me.

Even if there is no financial reward involved.

Thanks for reading : )

Zoom blur.

It has been a few weeks since I took photos of the apartment complex I chose for a photo project. I’ve been eager to get back into the swing of things and a public holiday gave me the perfect opportunity.

While taking photos I thought about the zoom blur technique. At this point I’m already busy with long exposure photography so why not try this. What could I lose?

I’m using an 18-55mm kit lens on my Canon. As you’ll see in the image above the light to the left shows some shakiness as the rotation of the zoom isn’t as smooth as I hoped it would be. The result however is still really good looking.

While I was busy with the a car drove past and you can see it’s light trails going past.

I leave you with another two images from the night, both long exposure but without the zoom blur effect.

Long exposure photograph of an apartment complex. — Long exposure with light trails.

Thanks for reading : )

Forget the world exists.

Dive deep into the quiet. – Image found on Pinterest.

“Burn down everything.”

I was out for my routine, mind-preparing coffee today. While sipping at the cappuccino and marveling at a variety of things I started thinking about the week ahead and this post.

It’s been a crazy week in the world.

Political assassination. Governments collapsing. If you really had the time you rewrite Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire” with the events going on around us at the moment. A fast browse on YouTube or any social media channel makes you negative fairly quickly, draining the will to create.

While I was busy making some notes I noticed how quiet it got in my mind. Yes, I was in the middle of a slightly busy restaurant / shopping mall but nothing bothered me at this point. While writing and sipping my coffee I lost track of the surrounding distractions. It brought up the following thought:

Find stillness.

As a part-time creative (hobby creative if you will?) we have to navigate wisely. Our time is limited so when we do have an opportunity to be creative we have to focus as much as possible. No, I’m not trying to sell you something to maximize your time. I mean we shouldn’t focus on the things which don’t contribute to our creativity.

It is easy to become despondent and think “Why do I even try?” And in these times we compare ourselves to others, conveniently forgetting each of us have a different set of circumstances resulting in different outcomes.

Finding stillness focuses mostly on a time where you cut away from the excess of the world. The news, the social media channels. The politics of everything.

Find time to create – even if it is something small. The one photo which gives you inspiration. The single paragraph you write which over time completes a newsletter draft or perhaps a novel / short story. Make time for this. It’s vital if you want to somehow escape the rat race. Even if it is only for an hour while sitting in a coffee shop.

Thanks for reading : )

A simple life.

An overcast sky as backdrop against a telecoms tower. — A windy morning.

I sat at a coffee shop earlier this morning.

People walking past, people inside talking about a variety of things. When I find myself in these positions I tend to be very contemplative about life. I’m not the extroverted type personality who will ask people to be quiet. And in this instance I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

It is a public space after all.

So with my easy cappuccino a third of the way finished I thought to myself: how do I drown out this noise? And as these rabbit holes tend to work the more I thought the deeper I went.

How do I tie this in with photography?

I read through a post on Zen Habits. The title From Chaos to Calm: My Journey to a Simple Life.

As a photographer it is easy (sometimes necessary) to take a lot of photos. But if we focused on quality VS quantity how would it benefit our photography?
Is it important to capture literally everything we see?
Capture, edit, post. An endless cycle if we get caught up in the social media current. What if we learned to breathe around our photos? Let them sit and work on getting them shared at a later stage.
If you didn’t capture an image your really wanted is your whole day a failure? Focus on being content with the work you do.
Savor life just as it is. I enjoy this point because I struggle with comparison. Other’s have better areas for street photography thus my photos aren’t good. If I don’t have ___ subscribers it’s not worth writing. These types of things rob us of enjoyment. We hate on others and in the process neglect our own work. You might not have the same circumstance as another writer / photographer but you can make the best of your surroundings.

tl;dr

I still go through these motions today. Disliking my photography & writing because of external motivations.

It’s a natural inclination to compare. It’s how we strive forward and push ourselves to become a better version. But if it starts to make us negative and perceive others’ as “lucky” I think there lies a problem with our thinking.

If you’re reading this on a Sunday I hope it’s a good one for you.

Thanks for reading : )

Sunday Round-up

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

It’s been a few days.

Between work, writing and trying to take photos my days seem to blur into one messy things. The funk I found myself in a few weeks ago seems to be slowly going away and my energy levels are getting back to where they were. Perhaps the end of winter has something to do with it.

As I type this I’m working on a new interview, adding the final touches to a finished one and thinking of how I can change or rather improve on my existing writings for the newsletter.

A few thoughts have come across my mind surrounding my newsletter.

The idea of building community. I have less ambition to pursue the goal of getting paid subscribers. It would take away my pleasure I derive from writing. It has always served as an outlet for me, long before the idea of subscribers came into my mind. Switching from an outlet to an income based activity would most likely kill it for me.
Focus on interviews. Not because they get more view but because I find them to be an interesting process. Reading through the newsletters of photographers, looking through their photos. Approaching them and putting together the questions. This whole process is a good thing for me. In learning about other people I tend to discover more about myself. It sounds like a line from a self-help book but it gives me writing a purpose. I think it also fits well into the point above about community building.

Speaking of interviews, I’m leaving links below where you can find the last few I did with photographers on Substack.

Alicia from The Daily Film Project

Edition Fifty Eight by Richard Schulz

An interview with Alicia Paley from The Daily Film Project

Read on Substack

Berkay from Lightgrain

Edition Fifty Seven by Richard Schulz

An interview with Berkay from @lightgrain

Read on Substack

Suzi from Suziinframe

Edition Fifty Five by Richard Schulz

An interview with Suzi from @suziinframe

Read on Substack

Dan from Okayfoto

Edition Fifty Three by Richard Schulz

An interview with @okayfoto

Read on Substack

Steven from Out There

Edition 50 by Richard Schulz

An interview with Steven Thomas from Out There.

Read on Substack

Very talented people doing interesting things with their photography. And more importantly building the community of photographers on Substack.

tl;dr

Often we find ourselves in a place we don’t enjoy.

This can be a life situation, a work situation, a relationship. We want to solve this problem now. As I’ve discovered over the past month, sometimes it is best to let these things sort themselves out. Our propensity to rush towards solutions doesn’t always work out.

Thanks for reading : )

A day off.

Today was one of those great days for me.

A break in routine. A change up of the familiar. I had a day off from work. Initially I wanted to stay in bed. Catch up on as much sleep as possible (which we know isn’t possible). Get up late, spend the day drinking coffee and doing this I usually don’t have the option to do.

After some consideration and the fact that I needed a haircut I decided to head into town. But with a minor set of changes to my standard routine.

Slept until 7:50am. Usually up at 4:40am.
Cycled into town at a leisurely pace. Usually I speed in while dodging people in their steel cages with wheels.

After getting a haircut I went for a cup of coffee. As I left the barbershop I found this cool doormat in front of the business. The owner is from Algeria if I’m not mistaken and has a really chilled vibe to him.

A doormat with the words Hello You Lovely People printed on it. — Hello You Lovely People.

While having my coffee I spent some time scribbling and people watching. Looking at people going about their day-to-day is something I enjoy. As someone who is reserved and not too ‘extroverted’ this helps me understand people.

I have written this elsewhere but if you need to brush up your people skills, want to understand people better or just want to marvel at humanity then go into retail. You will learn quite a lot about yourself as well.

Here are some of the scribbles I made while drinking my coffee.

“The hustle of a coffeeshop. People in and out going about their day. Ambient music in the background designed to make you spend more. This is a far cry from the barbershop where I just spent about 13 minutes. Quiet. Just the noise of the electric trimmer turning me into a presentable human being.”

While I sat down there was a mother and young son having breakfast. He kept taking food from her plate and when he caught my eye I waved to him. He got shy fairly quickly and ducked under the table much to his mother’s delight. After finishing their breakfast they had the remained of the breakfast packed into a doggy bag and left the shop.

“turn
short
splashes
into
longer
pieces”

The piece above is more focused on my writing. Take the short pieces I write and expand them into things which have a bit more meaning. Write more descriptively and write more personally.

As I finish this post the clock says almost 2 pm. It’s been a relaxing day and I hope to take much of these ideas into the weekend as I try to get my writing back on track.

As always, thanks for reading : )

A view from the back seat.

I haven’t had the energy to write for a while.

There has been a slow decline in my “urge” to write. I don’t want to completely stop writing. I do get a measure of satisfaction from it. The scratching and scribbling in notebooks and on blank pieces of paper. Those still happen but as I return to these moments in history I find less and less things of interest.

I don’t know whether it is a type of burnout. Perhaps. I’ve been writing on Substack for more than two years. Then eight months ago I get a website. I’ve had it for a while but didn’t do much with it.

Looking back it’s been a rough year for me when it comes to my mental state. Lost my mother. Lost one of my best friends. Been in a job for a year which I have to do (money and all that). All these things feel as if they are tying my down. They aren’t all I focus on but when it gets quiet and my mind has a second to recover or stand still they are the main antagonists in my story.

A light blue house. In the foreground a sign indicating the two names of the streets. — The pale blue house.

I guess I’m stuck.

Writers’ block. Photographers’ block. How ever I want to phrase it I am at the juncture. The one where I know what I have to do (write and take photos) but I’m not motivated enough to do it. I’m thinking “why?” quite a lot when it comes to my photography and writing these days. Not because I want to stop doing it because it does give me some fulfillment. But does it provide enough? And once I get “enough” will that be enough?

Writing for an audience probably does this. Suddenly you don’t know what the audience wants. You’re uncertain if your writing is still valid or relevant. Like when your photos don’t hit the spots on social media.

I think I’m just uncertain at this point in time. About many things. I’ve put to rest the idea of living of my writing & photography. I haven’t ever considered this is idea to be plausible but at very least I thought “~~I might sell a photo or two~~“. For writing: the bar for entry is pretty much gone but making money from it, a lot more difficult than some hustle bro would like you to believe.

Two traffic signs in the foreground. In the background an orange building. — Turn ahead.

Am I a little bit jealous of those making money from their hobbies? Fuck, it’s difficult to say. The people I follow seem to be doing alright – I might be a little bit jealous. Mostly of the ability to do more of the things which I enjoy while I feel stuck in first gear. It’s almost like Facebook all over again. The highlight reels which turned so many sad people into really depressed people.

To Let. A blurry image of a sign in a shop window. — To Let.

tl;dr

Writing & photography is taking a bit of a back seat in my life at the moment. I’m still here, I’m still on Substack. I’m still taking photos but just not for public consumption. Hopefully I’ll be back to my old self in no time.

Thanks for reading : )