5 Tips for Making a Successful Photography Project - Documentary Photographer Daniel Milnor

[@romiemiller2485]

Your interviews just get better each time.

[@marcsilber]

hey thanks Romie, I'm starting to get the hang of it! Hey us spread the word and pls send a video www.silberstudios.com/aypclub-2/

[@qnetx]

This has been a superb series of interviews. Thank you for sharing!

[@Youronechannel]

Wow! This is lovely show. Thanks a lot for sharing. What an amazing ideas shared.

[@marcsilber]

🙏

[@tadeusz11000]

Outstanding show, Marc. Dan is such a star, such an oracle and an inspiration for those who want to make their photography meaningful.

[@marcsilber]

Thanks Ted. I agree ☝️!

[@dusko980]

It's a real pleasure to listen Daniel and Marc.. Both are very inspirational and elevate knowledge of photography to a higher level.

[@marcsilber]

Thanks so much!

[@galoadriangoigserrano7238]

Seriously, this is the best photography channel out there and Dan is just becoming my favorite photo-guy ever. ¡Saludos de España!

[@marcsilber]

Wow, thanks! please tell your friends on social media -- help us get many more viewers!

[@galoadriangoigserrano7238]

@@marcsilber Sure, I always do that!

[@lescastroau]

Very comprehensive and complimentary to the subject matter...highlight of my day!

[@marcsilber]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@johnarthurbrown1990]

When I watched the documentary about Salgado called "Salt of the Earth", it changed my whole outlook on photography, and what it is to be a photographer.

[@marcsilber]

Fantastic. Please share the link to our post for dan

[@johnarthurbrown1990]

@@marcsilber A link to the documentary? I'm not sure where to find it online. I saw it a few years ago on DVD. I rented it from a local video store here in Atlanta.

[@marcsilber]

Pls send us the link!

[@2007rSix]

I can listen to you and Dan for hours! Makes me wanna get out there and do a project!! Thank you!

[@marcsilber]

Thanks that’s what we love to hear!

[@KSGArchives]

the hits keep on rolling...just outstanding!!

[@carrieannkouri2151]

Many channels are gear focused. This was refreshing and inspiring.

[@marcsilber]

🙏

[@vproven]

Thank you. Outstanding presentation and so informative.

[@picturyphototours8933]

Wow, what a talk. The mastery of the interview and the passion Dan talks is outstanding. Thank you, this is really inspiring. From Portugal I send you a hug. Cheers👍

[@marcsilber]

Thank you to everyone who joined us live! We've greatly enjoyed having you as part of the show, and we're looking for people to join us in helping build this community and help the goals of this channel! That's why I'm inviting people to join our Good Karma team! If you want more information, you can find it on my website here: www.silberstudios.com/goodkarma/

[@chasingvenusfilmarts]

Love the love you guys have and share for one another and the community! Thank you for all you do and for the rivers of inspiration.

[@marcsilber]

Thanks we love having you with us!

[@glenyskill705]

Brilliant, what a great talk.

[@marcsilber]

🙏

[@kellycoughlin8305]

I sought more from Milnor out, after listening to Raymond Hatfield's BPP #304. Now thinking seriously about hopping off Instagram, and shifting my use of Facebook away from showing my photos, as much as I love those "likes".

[@marcsilber]

Good that you found Dan!

[@Rafa-yw8nu]

Thanks Marc, your videos are incredible! It's just crazy getting such quality content for free. I'm a graduate student in an unrelated field in my last year and thanks to your videos and Dan's advice, I'm planning to ditch Instagram etc. and focus on long term "offline" photography projects. And again thanks to your free videos, I'm able to educate myself on photography online and with photo books instead of going to a photography school that would probably cost a fortune. Sending a lot of love; looking forward to new content of yours!

[@marcsilber]

Thanks Rafael, I really appreciate the value you're getting! Did you know we've also got paid courses to help you advance even more?

[@Rafa-yw8nu]

Advancing Your Photography I don’t, I’d be interested though! However, I was on your website after I saw this video and I noticed that you’ve published some interesting books too.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Ditching IG is a great first step. Books are good. And now, a lot of programs are going online, so the options will be better.

[@GreenMorningDragonProductions]

Before this I associated 'photo stories' with being held hostage while somebody you know spends several hours showing you their holiday snaps. 'This is the pool. We could get there from our room in next to no time. And this is us, having lunch with Colin and Ruth, from Coventry. Lovely couple....' etc. This is a huge improvement 🙏

[@marcsilber]

👍

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Green Morning Dragon Productions Oh man, when someone says “Oh, let me find this image on my phone,” I RUN the other way. So painful. You see them scrolling past thousands and thousands of images.

[@imdiyu]

The advice at 12:00 is quite the opposite of the advice I got from the book I recently read called 'Show your work" by Austin Kleon. I am so confused now.

[@warriorsgardenlive]

Amazing conversation. Man, I wish the rest of the content I see was this thoughtful and informed.

[@marcsilber]

🙏

[@murusons]

This was for me the advice I have been searching for, for a long long time. Thank you AVP and Dan for opening up. These are gems that have been blanketed by the dusty internet. Thank you!

[@cjballendine]

I'm new to this channel and loving it! This was a great watch. I shoot conceptual series work and absolutely love research. Thanks for this channel.

[@micamotaph]

Alexandra Figueiredo is that the Brazilian photographer that he mentions at 9:29 ? I can't quite get it..

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Claudio Edinger

[@reginaldgooden2445]

Dan is incredible!

[@marcsilber]

True!

[@jackmatthews9390]

I am having so much fun on this channel! Thank you Marc! Oh I was surprised at your latest book. Very motivational “interviews” boiled down to “why’s”. I thought it was going to be a “how to” only. It’s in my camera bag.

[@marcsilber]

thanks Jack, glad to hear. I'm going to be making a course out of it, stay tuned!

[@aviramb]

Great video! thank you guys! Dan is great, I love watching his videos in your channel. I love his work and attitude toward photography. Keep it coming I love what you're doing.

[@marcsilber]

Thanks love to hear that! Please help use reach many others!

[@aviramb]

@@marcsilber in the meantime I am trying to figure a way "to drop a coin" as you mentioned and cannot find it

[@luminitaquraishi5349]

love your presentations ❤

[@marcsilber]

🙏🙏

[@krishnakumaro]

Thank you so much for sharing this amazing content. Blew my mind!

[@marcsilber]

Wow! What especially?

[@krishnakumaro]

Advancing Your Photography The amount of info shared by Dan is just priceless. Imagine the countless no of hours lost in one searching for these info multiplied by the no of people who want similar information. Great work. Keep sharing !

[@krishnakumaro]

Book making!

[@firsthandaccount]

This man is a genius, absolutely love the host as well

[@marcsilber]

Haha thanks we love bringing you the best on KZbin!

[@firsthandaccount]

Advancing Your Photography haha I’m sad it took me this long to find your channel 😭

[@marcsilber]

Me too but glad to have you with us and tell your friends so they can catch on too🙌

[@gui4j]

Interesting and fantastic content , think its great how many people now are talking about slowing and pulling back from the instant on demand world that has been created . Love that dan is teaching people the old and traditional way of producing content and projects and talking about the importance of different skill sets in putting together projects and content ... he is very right in highlighting the need for methods and standards ... it seems we are to quick to drop old slower ways of working that produced a varied , interesting and high quality work , for speed and instant gratification ....

[@marcsilber]

👍 thanks much!

[@mikskinner6431]

Insightful, thought provoking, and inspirational. Just brilliant!

[@charlesbelindevregille7465]

Beard was a good friends of Francis Bacon, check out "Wild Life", their duo exhibition of photographs by Beard, and diaries by Bacon.

[@marcsilber]

🙏

[@codyallen3729]

Dan, try inverting the center column on a tripod if you want an easy way to show turning through a book. It’s my current method for SLR film scanning. Great series guys, keep it up!

[@marcsilber]

Thanks that does work!

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Cody What the Hell? Invert the center column. Send me a pic!

[@codyallen3729]

Sent you an email with pic Dan

[@marcsilber]

@@DANIELMILNOR505 Dan I can walk you through it on our next Skype!

[@robinbhairam7508]

Another pearl! Thank you 😊

[@marcsilber]

Enjoy!

[@leoeyegenartig8473]

Thank you for the upload 🙏🏼

[@sbai4319]

Thanks so much for this video. Inspiring and yes I will do my research! Daniel is right on point in regard the disposability of the digital image. I don't post to Instagram because of the disposability and (pulp imagery?). I want to create work that is not viewed in a second or even three seconds.

[@marcsilber]

👍

[@terrytracey3486]

Great video lads. Very informative and very enjoyable. With all these lockdowns I have got bored of the usual KZbin photography channels and seems more gear related now a days. So I have stepped back from KZbin and social media. But this video is like music to my ears real photography conversations. I have recently thought of a project and start to do some research which will probably bring it in another direction now. But as Dan said do the research and it kinda makes the project more personal and opens the mind for other ideas. Projects get you out shooting even if you never do anything with them now you may in later years. Take care

[@marcsilber]

🙏and best of luck for your project.

[@lynnjohnson3669]

great video. thank you

[@marcsilber]

Thanks!

[@HannesTschofenig]

Fantastic!

[@marcsilber]

Glad you like it!

[@seanbreslin5836]

The time zone difference means I miss most of these live but Dan's advice, as always, is awesome.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Sean B You must move immediately.

[@BruceHarms]

Daniel convinced me to refocus... Less is more. Thank you

[@reginaldgooden2445]

Awesome Content!

[@marcsilber]

👍

[@alexmetcalfe4668]

I’ll join your editing consultancy Dan! Just give the word.

[@dennismcruz]

GOD DAMN I LOVE DAN MILNOR

[@marcsilber]

You’ll get to see him again on Friday! Tune in 10 am. Pdt

[@dennismcruz]

@@marcsilber Thank you so much! 🙏🏼

[@stevenml5748]

Thank you.

[@marcsilber]

🙏

[@romiemiller2485]

Strike up conversations with street people and the homeless. I've been turned on to some excellent places to shoot photos from that I wouldn't have found by myself.

[@marcsilber]

so true

[@GreenMorningDragonProductions]

5:20 This is an important point to understand, for me, who is planning a long(ish) term project of 3 years. DON'T instagram. I think what people often misunderstand is how potential customers view your work, if it's online. There's a young, and clearly talented photographer/film maker with a KZbin channel called Danny Gevirtz, who says DO post your photos/films all over social media, but he is, I think addressing people who are looking to become professional photographic "guns for hire". I could conceive Instagram might be of use in that way, but as I am looking to do a documentary project, I'm gonna avoid social media like the plague, regarding my actual output, and instead use it as a journal of my (hopefully) technical and artistic learning curve - showing how competent (or nor) I'm becoming in pressing the right buttons, and switches, and using things like natural light. Thank you, as always for a great online lecture.

[@sbai4319]

Could I make a suggestion regarding sequencing? My best inspiration in regard to sequencing is Robert Frank's The Americans. what do you think?

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Steve CLASSIC example. He shot something like 72.000 images for the book and they chose 53. That’s called editing. I saw his show, with enlarged contact sheets, in both London and NY and it was incredible in both places.

[@tomastapia8078]

Hello Dan, thanks for all your advice, and greetings from Chile. I'm studying geography and trying to get very serious about documentary photography, and all these videos are helping me out very nicely. I have a question for you though.. you talked about research in your third point, and I'd like to know what resources would you recommend us to check or try to find some more information about the topics that we're working on. Are these actual academic articles, photography books? What kind of stuff should we be looking online or in our local libraries. I know asking for a video is a LOT, but it'd be nice to see something like this video with regards of research and things that we should check out, and do before going out and shoot our projects. And again, thank you SO MUCH for all the videos and all the advice you guys are AMAZING!

[@marcsilber]

be sure to tune in to Dan on Friday: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4fVlmidf65-qtE

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Tomas, this is a combination, always. I love the mix of online and library. And if by chance there have been photography books done on the specific topic it is good to know what they are about and who was behind them. That way I don't repeat and if asked I can reference them in my work. Imagine doing a photography book project on Liberia and NOT knowing about this book.

[@tomastapia8078]

@@DANIELMILNOR505 Thank you so much!

[@SeanPSweeney]

I have a project in mind that I want to shoot over 24 hours. How does that fit into some of what you've said here? Great content by the way.

[@danielseurer1020]

Daniel: Could you include a link or the last name for Todd the bookmaker in San Fran? Sounds intriguing, and want to learn more. BTW. Thanks for putting this together. I have a couple long term projects in flight and have gained some extremely valuable insight.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Daniel Seurer Todd Hido. He’s a book machine. And a smart, interested guy.

[@jakobklentz]

Really nice talk...

[@marcsilber]

Thank you 🙂

[@Shirley0850]

"Never share your project." So true, I made that mistake on a photography workshop where i had to share my project which ended badly because the other person did my project and shard it first at the end of the workshop. :(

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

I once had a photographer dig my outtakes out of the trash and turn them in as his work. Photographers can be sketchy.

[@malaranu6883]

From Australia

[@marcsilber]

👍

[@murusons]

Whose quote did Dan refer to - photography sits between film and literature? I think this just elevated my photographic soul a few levels up.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Murtaza Daud Hmm, not sure I remember that. Any more detail you can provide?

[@murusons]

@@DANIELMILNOR505 More specifically I wrote in my notebook "Photography is the profound corner that sits between film and literature". Silly of me not to rewind back and get the name of who said it. Not I can't find where in the film you mentioned that. Maybe the above rings a bell?

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Murtaza Daud That I dont’ know but I like it!

[@murusons]

@@DANIELMILNOR505 hahah oh my, looks like the lockdown has locked down my brain. After much deliberation, I found it! You didn't mention it. I had watched a video on Todd Hido, and HE quoted Lewis Baltz. So I guess when you mentioned Todd's work my mind went a bit nuts and scrambled everything together. Thanks anyway.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Murtaza Daud Todd is very intelligent and knows his history. Baltz was the man.

[@HR_sailor66]

Check out Jan Grarup. One of the best documentarists out there. Covered some scary stuff.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Malko Ya, he’s good. For sure.

[@omarozenir2763]

I also flatten my FB prints in Inferno. Loved the coincidence. But the thing is, every time I remove the prints, I’m overwhelmed with what’s on the page that happens to be open. It’s just so harrowing! Great series of videos. Thank you!

[@AlanMorrisSF]

How do you maintain momentum with long term projects? I imagine you need to be totally dedicated and inspired by what you are working on. It must be extremely hard. How many photographers are going to make this kind of effort? Maybe we should start with more limited projects to test our ability to keep to it?

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

The key is find something you cant' stand NOT working on. Find something that haunts you in your free moments. That way, never need to worry about momentum.

[@bioliv1]

I don't share images on the Internet, I give them away for future generations. What if I die tomorrow? I don't take the chance that I don't.

[@reginaldgooden2445]

Sign me up for the books I love photo series, please

[@marcsilber]

Great go to the link I posted. If you don’t see it let me know

[@dianeschuller]

I've dropped all social media except Twitter; would be great if you (or someone did it for you) kept your Twitter account up-to-date. Thanks, as always.

[@marcsilber]

👍

[@romiemiller2485]

In the US that photographing in public bans would violate the First Amendment Free Speech clause. That won't come for a long time.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

You would be surprised. And remember, law enforcement does not care. I've been stopped more time than I can count. In public spaces, well within in my rights. Each time you risk arrest.

[@johnarthurbrown1990]

Photographing in public in the U.S. is a right, and also protected by the 1st Amendment. How can outlawing photography in public places in the U.S. be made possible without skirting around that?

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

It is now but there is legislation on the books in at least three countries that would make photography in public places almost impossible. No faces, no places, no brands and no buildings. Even know, if you are doing a project in the parks in Paris you need model releases, location permits for each park and architectural permits for any building that appears in part or in full in the background. I ran into a Magnum photographer a few years ago who was attempting this project but gave up after realising he would never get the permits. A few celebrities have tried to copyright themselves in an attempt to deter the celeb stalker photographers. Once one succeeds then anyone can do it. You photograph in a public place and are now in copyright violation which is no laughing matter. There are certain photographers who make almost their entire living off of suing for infringement. Also, they are trying to pass legislation about recognizable brands.

[@johnarthurbrown1990]

There goes the neighborhood. Unless photographers put up some kind of fight.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

The reality is the authorities often times don’t know the laws and they simple don’t care about your rights. They do what you want. I’ve been stopped from photographing in public dozens of times over the years. I’ve been punched, kicked, clubbed, run over by a police horse and illegally detained. They do what they want because they know they can. It’s only gotten worse under the current admin. No rules. Nobody looking. Obviously, lots of good men and women in law enforcement, border patrol, etc but their policies are suspect, for sure.

[@MAPROWORKS]

Beu

[@womansworkproductionco]

Why are they both rubbing their chins? What does it mean???

[@marcsilber]

🤔

[@rockywaters9592]

I dont see why it's a bad thing for a photographers work to remind you of someone else's and them not know who that person is because they never did research. I think that opinion is a little pompous and arrogant as its only photographers who are gonna pick up on that, the general public who view your work only cares about the image and the story it tells.

[@jaredmills5159]

If I remember correctly, this was advice that was directed towards if you were showing your work to people in the industry trying to get it shown or printed. People who are deep in the photography world who would specifically know about these previous people's work. Yes, the general public might not know, but the people who you might be reaching out to in order to try and get your work out in the world probably will know is what Dan is saying.

[@rockywaters9592]

@@jaredmills5159For sure! understand that, my issue with it though is much like a musician being compared to another , sometimes it is, and sometimes the musician may not have heard who they are being compared to at all. I mean if anything, if I did a photo project for a commercial magazine and people compared my work to say Annie Leibovitz, yet I'd never heard or seen her work, would that not be good indication to my employees that I have a good eye? I think it would be a shame to not get the job just because a few hardcore historians didn't think it was original, cos like I said! It's the general public that predominantly view these projects and buy the magazines, powerful content should surely be the primary objective, original or not. 🤷‍♂️... BTW, I'm only curious about this as I'm wanting to do a photo project/documentary on substance abuse and addiction, and ironically, I only came across this video whilst doing research. Lmao.

[@Arcsecant]

Be a real artist. Don't just do yet another animal X is dying out because of poor but noble community Y, or the pristine environment of Z is withering up. Yawn. Do something that isn't practically a trope or a cliche.

[@ghosttownsentinel5288]

I wish the gentleman in the hat, yes YOU, would stop interjecting and breaking Milnor's train of thought. That's poor interviewing practice. Especially when there is nothing substantial to contribute to the subject. Otherwise, it was a good video to watch. Milnor had good advice, as always.

[@DANIELMILNOR505]

Ghost Town Sentinel Hey, it’s Marc’s channel. He’s the man. And what I love about Marc is that he is just as excited about snapping pics today than ever. That ain’t easy.....What you don’t know...there is a GoPro under that hat at ALL TIMES.

[@ghosttownsentinel5288]

@@DANIELMILNOR505 .....I get it. Marc seems to be a good man with passion for the subject.....no qualms there. I was just pointing out that his passion and excitement carries him away. Interviewing is an art in its own right. Hope he keeps that in mind in his videos. His guests are top notch and that's why, and only why, I had subscribed to his channel. Kudos to him for that.