A few weeks ago at Vidcon Australia I met Liam, aka 7th Era, a great

photographer and creator on YouTube. He came to my house recently, he wanted me to

show him how to use After Effects to animate his photos and we talked a lot

about his creative process and it really inspired me and made me think about the

type of content I want to offer you here on this channel. You see, with my first

series of video I really wanted to create a kind of masterclass so that

everyone can learn photography, even if you don't know anything about it at all.

And I spent a lot of time trying to make it visual, fun, creating a lot of

animation, 3d stuff, makes it fun! But in the end it remains a very academic way

of learning and I think the way we learn today as change. My goal here is to teach

you what I know; I like the idea that my videos can help

you create and in the same time entertain you. And if there is something

I really believe in it is that you learn more by watching someone doing something,

by being immersed in their creative process, in their way of thinking, than by

just watching a lecture course that bombards you with a lot of information. On

my fifth video I mounted my GoPro on my camera to show you some practical cases;

so here's what we are going to do. Today without really predefined idea, we're

going to do the same thing again. Just walk around Melbourne, take a few

pictures and see what comes out of it!

Okay, first stop the train station close to my place. This kind of station is

quite suitable for photography because it's an easy way to find leading lines

for composing great images. Well obviously, in that case nothing good in

these first pictures, it's difficult to get something interesting without

adding a human element. Here I spotted this young girl reading alone... Okay, that

sentence sounds a little bit "predator who's hunting" but well, you know what I

mean. To add a little depth to the leading lines, I will use the fence to

get a foreground in the blur. To make it a little more dynamic I'm finally going to

break the horizon, which is a little bit flat, by using diagonal instead.

The ramp seemed interesting to me to use to direct the eye towards the subject in the

background, the guy who recharges his Myki card. But obviously, he is in the shade,

the metal ramp reflects the sun, you got me, it's very difficult to get the

right exposure in a few seconds. Come on let's go look elsewhere. Here is an

opportunity to use a frame in a frame with this metal beam, we won't let it

pass. It gives a nice composition especially with this young lady waiting

in the background in the first third of the image, I just wished my main subject

had a little more life in his position than the usual zombie absorbed by his phone.

Hop, a train leaving the station, we quickly switch to speed priority mode to

be able to have a slightly longer exposure time, 1/4s.

Nothing crazy, but at least, there's movement. I feel a little bit rusty so

what I like to do is, photography is like sport you know, you need to warm up a

little bit so just take pictures. The first picture, the first thing you see

tchak tchak tchak, no worries if it's bad, you don't care

about that. Just start to train your eyes to be: "okay, now I need to think about

composition and stuff like that.

Okay here we are on the CBD - oh wow it's almost Christmas already - we're in the

city center so there's going to be a lot of people there. Hop, quick picture of this

young lady for an image without any interest actually. We're going to go to

this little alley where there's a very good Italian restaurant hiding by the

way and I ran into this guy all along eating his pizza. I don't really like the

first angle I have so I'm going to go completely the other way. A little wink

with him to make sure I can take the picture because it spotted me and he

offers me this rather interesting and lively pose. The picture is quite nice,

but unfortunately, my focus has missed the face just a little. It's still usable

but his eyes are slightly blurry. Too bad.

Okay, a street artist like there are absolutely everywhere in Melbourne, which

is totally cool, that's one of the reason I love this city.

Here I will use people's shoulders to frame my image to get this immersive

feeling. See you at Centre Place. So yes, it's very touristy, but it's also very

graphic, especially since the street empties pretty fast in the evening and you

can get very good pictures here. The light is great like in that other

shooting I did a few months ago. I spotted these two people eating on their

balconies and try to find the best possible angle. As a result, a photo

that is quite original in terms of its angle but which does not present such a

great interest, impossible to identify a face. Okay, one of my big obsessions:

photographing people eating in restaurants or having coffee. Don't ask

me why, is just that I like these moments of life. But again our subject is

absorbed by her phone rather than by the idea of enjoying her coffee, argh... and yet I

waited 10 minutes for her to move even a little bit and in the end I thought

maybe she was a wax statue, and that's the only picture I could get.

I walked in front of these large columns with this mirror-like ceiling and that's all

it takes to test the small self-portrait. Wow;,such a handsome guy... I like the

distortion in this image and the bluish treatment of shadows, this should please

7th Era who likes to give a blue tone to his photos.

And the funny thing is that Liam's mantra is: "don't think, just do". Guess what was written on

my business card when I started freelancing ten years ago: "stop thinking,

start doing". And the truth is, I got away from that, that's my biggest problem:

overthinking everything. You see that's a real blockage concerning the motivation

to realize but especially to finish projects and it's a big fear that I have:

the trap of perfectionism. By wanting to do too well, we do nothing. And it seems

counter-intuitive, but I think perfectionism is not about quality.

Ah sh**t, so much flies... Welcome in Australia!

Every time I do something I like to push my limits, try

to be better than the previous time you know, just always go the extra mile. But

perfectionism is not that; the danger of perfectionism is the expectation of

results, of a particular outcome. Never consider something as complete until it

is considered "perfect". And that's where the problem comes from, as an artist it

is literally impossible to look at one of your creation and say "wow nobody can

do better than that". If that's your case mate, you have a real ego problem! You can

be proud of one of your works, love what you have done, but telling yourself that

it's impossible to improve it... It's something I feel so much every time and

I'm sure you see what I'm talking about. Or believe me, if you're just starting

out it's something you're going to feel if you want to become a creative person.

Perfectionism is just an excuse to not finish a project and ultimately not to

start anything.

Come on it's time to change location a little. Hop, a little picture of the tram

by the way. It's a street photography classic but all trams always offer

interesting colors and textures. A second picture from a more dramatic point of

view, kneeling near the ground and using the widest angle at my disposal, here

only 28 millimeter. The photo would have had more strength and impact with a very

wide-angle. Go to Chinatown, a place I loved in Melbourne. A small cultural

aside, it is the oldest Chinatown in the Southern Hemisphere. Yeah, you welcome. I love

Chinatown because first of all, here again it's full of really fantastic

colors and textures, but also because it's a place where life is everywhere on

the streets, not hiding in buildings. The inside of restaurants is visible, often

we see people cooking, moving, eating, playing... in one word: living! It's really

this kind of places you have to look for street photography, it's impossible not

to bring back at least a few good pictures. First picture selected, this one.

A priori, nothing extraordinary but I don't know, there is a very cinematic

side to this image, very mysterious that tells me something.

Storytelling: the most important point in an image. Another interesting picture:

I like the framing, all the information in the background, the contrast of the

different areas of light... His expression is correct but again, too much haste on

my part and I didn't check that the focus was well done on his face. I hate

myself when that happens! So it's definitely not an image I'll publish. Fail.

We live in an incredible and a fantastic world where you can discover

the works of artists from all over the world. Never before have we seen such a

proliferation of possible sources of inspiration but at the same time, all

this noise, it necessary generates the feeling of comparing yourself to another

of seeing all these people that we will also considered "better" than we are.

Result expectation. We let the the pleasure of creation be based on its

final quality, which is relative, rather than focusing on the pleasure of the

creative process. Forget the result you fantasized about

having, forget the comparison with what the other does. Forget the fact that

people can judge you, all this bullshit. Do your best, give

yourself 100% every time, but allow yourself to "fail" even if you have done

your best. Because "failing" doesn't exist when you create.

Take this video for example: I've never vlogged before. I have so much work

this day that I haven't taken any personal pictures like this just for

myself in month... Is the result going to be good?

I freaking don't know but I can tell you one thing: I take a real pleasure to do it.

Okay, small assessment of our photo escapade. One hour and finally two photos

that I find correct. First of all, this image took in

Collingwood, with this very particular light effect. Again it definitely tells

a story and the natural contrast between the bright and the shaded areas

is great. Nice image. But my favorite is this one: on the one

hand because I love playing with reflection - I stood in front of the

restaurant and try to find an interesting angle in the reflection of

the window to get this guy eating and merging with the street behind me- and on

the second hand there are so much interpretation and reading possible

between him, absorbed by his phone, the endless movement of the characters in

the background and this second guy that looks back but don't stop walking... I let

you find your own allegory but the photo lesson of the day is this:

No matter the technical quality of a photon the most important thing is what it tells.

Wow, they are already more than 500 of us on the channel, in only three

months and 10 videos, so thank you mate, I love you! Tell me if you like this format

in the comment section. Today it was just a little test but my idea is that: to

bring you with me, so you can see my creative process. I usually do portrait

and fashion but I'm not stuck with a particular genre of photography, so it

can be an opportunity to do everything, from food photography or architecture.

There are a million things to do... and I'm talking about photos but I will do the

same for videos, every time I go shooting, whether it's commercials or short movies,

bam, a little vlog. Oh, if you want to see some of my short films you have a

playlist here on the channel. Some of them are old, they are in French but with

subtitles. Anyway, give me your opinion in the comments but tell yourself that

whatever you think, I loved doing that video and that's all that matters. And

that the kind of mentality you should have too: stop thinking, start doing. If you

want to subscribe don't hesitate, but remember to activate the little bell and

especially like this video, because it will make my granny very very proud of me.

Cheers mate, KEEP ON CREATING!