Micael Widell Newsletter #6: Greatest Photography Documentaries, Self-developing Cameras, More Foggy Nightscapes, Get to know Micael's backstory, and more.
Captain's log
So September happened, and this is a 1000 word summary of that month from my perspective. We are now 844 subscribers to this newsletter, which makes me very happy. Welcome all new ones, and thanks to the old guard for staying around!
Featured Photographer in September
I stumbled upon Oliver Botfeldt's instagram account. Such beautiful foggy nightscapes. Go enjoy them.
37 Best Photography Youtubers
There is a very popular blog post listing the 37 best photography YouTube channels. If you google "best photography YouTube" and similar terms, it always is the top hit. And in this year's edition I am honored to be in the actual list, yay :)
Go check it out and find some new photography YouTubers to get inspired by.
Great Photography Documentaries
A couple of years ago I found Kevin Kelly's awesome database of truly great documentaries. I have watched several of them, and all the ones I watched so far are very good. I want to bring up a couple that are about photographers.
Bill Cunningham New York
I will quote Kevin Kelly's description here as there is no way I could write a better summary myself. Watch the official trailer here.
Bill Cunningham is the long-time photographer for the New York Times who, at 80 years old, still rides his bike around the streets of New York shooting street fashion — or folk fashion — what people actually wear. Today there are hundreds of blogs chronicling this vernacular fashion, but for decades Bill Cunningham was the only one. He is an odd, but sweet genius. He unfashionably has worn the same blue blazer for 30 years, works all the time, ignores money, lives by himself in a tiny closet of an apartment stuffed with his photo negatives, and is a man marching to the beat of his own drum. There is a legitimate zen quality to his style and manner. While his subjects may be swayed by wealth, celebrity, and the superficial, he seems immune to them. This film is not about fashion; it’s about someone who has successfully invented their own occupation, and their life. It is uplifting. I smiled the whole time watching it.
Finding Vivian Maier
A lot of you have probably heard the incredible story of Vivian Maier, the nanny with a burning passion for documenting life in the form of street photography, with her trusty Rolleiflex. What is so curious about her story is that she spent a lifetime creating these beautiful and interesting photos but did so in secret – she never published any work during her lifetime. Only after passing away, a guy bought a box of her old photos at an auction, and this documentary is about that. I loved watching this. Here is the trailer.
I was in an interview
For the first time ever, I got to be in an long form video interview about my photography work and YouTube channel. Janice Sullivan reached out to me and asked if I was interested in being the subject of one of her shows, and I was happy to. In the interview video I tell the story of how I got into photography, and then YouTube. I also talk about my creative process, how I do post processing, what my favorite gear is, my books that I have written, and a lot more. It was great fun, and I want to thank Janice for inviting me to the show. Check out her other videos for interviews with other macro photographers, like for example Don Komarechka.
Squarespace
When watching photography YouTube videos, you cannot help but notice that a lot of the big ones are sponsored by Squarespace. I always saw it as a milestone for my channel to get an offer to be sponsored by them. I really love their service, and it is nice to get paid to vouch for a product or company that you feel you can truly stand behind.
So in September it finally happened (a lot earlier than I had expected) – I got the offer. It was a good offer. I still spent some time contemplating whether I should do it or not, mostly because I care about my viewer's experience. Youtube nowadays have a lot of prerolls, often two per video, and that in itself can be irritating. If you on top of that throw sponsorships into the video itself it can feel like it is just "too much".
I figured I will try the Squarespace sponsorship for a few videos, and see what the reaction is. I will also probably disable YouTube's ads for these videos, so you as a viewer don't feel completely assaulted by ads and sponsor messages. Still though, it is important for me to make some money from my YouTube videos – that is what finances most of the gear I review, and the time I put into making the videos. More money simply means more and better videos.
Self-developing pinhole camera
I found cameradactyl on Instagram, and he designs and 3D prints, and sells, very interesting cameras. For example have a look at this self developing pinhole camera – pretty neat :) I am contemplating ordering one and reviewing on my channel.
My Published Videos since the last newsletter
- Holga 120 CFN Review
- 7Artisans 60mm Macro Lens Review – Best Budget Macro for under $200?
- iPad Pro + iPadOS for Photo & Video Editing – How Pro is it?
- Macro Photography with $50 Camera and $50 Lens
Goodbye for now
Thank you for reading this far, and see you in a month! Feel free to follow me on YouTube, Instagram and 500px in the meantime. And also feel free to tell your friends about this newsletter, and to reply to it if you have feedback or comments :)
/Micael