RSS_Dude

Photography inspiration can come from anywhere. From movies and television to books and magazines, drawing from different aspects of life can be the cornerstone of creativity. Of course, inspiration can also come from other photographers. As part of honing a craft and improving overall quality, it’s important to stay up to date on what everyone else is doing, whether it’s their lighting setups, their marketing strategies, or even the locations or poses they’re using to create their imagery. It’s why business schools use case studies, why Usher idolized Michael Jackson, and why hundreds of wedding photographers keep up with Jasmine Star or Ben Chrisman’s work. As long as we’re not aiming to duplicate shots, why not bring in aspects of Jessica Claire’s candid poses, Image is Found’s vision of reflections and shadows, or Jerry Ghionis’ eye for creative lighting?

What photographers do you follow? Are you visiting each of their sites individually and checking back daily to find updates? If so, you might be wasting time. Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, you can stay updated with multiple blogs without leaving a single site. You can also apply filters to weed out any unwanted information and sort by a variety of attributes, including date, source, and relevance. So instead of going to 10 different sites for your inspiration, you can log into to your reader (also called an aggregator) and view it all from there. The best part is that with so many free mobile readers, getting this content on your smart phones, iPhones, and iPads is easier than ever. That’s inspiration on the go! For more information on the basics of RSS feeds, check out Wikipedia’s entry for RSS Feeds.

Instructions on Using RSS Feeds

To get started, you’ll need some sort of reader or aggregator. My favorite is Google Reader (https://www.google.com/reader) because of its simplicity, functionality, and integration with Gmail accounts. In the reader, you have the option of searching for feeds or inputting the URLs of any feeds that you wish to add. From there you’re connected and ready to go. Any updates will be automatically syndicated on your reader.

For more information on getting started with Google Reader, here’s the official Google Reader Tour. You can also find information on the Newbie’s Guide to Google Reader provided by CNET.

The Best Wedding Photography RSS Feeds

So now that we’ve established that RSS Feeds are good, it’s time to add content to our readers. The following list is not displayed in any particular order and has been filtered for relevance to wedding photography. Click the “Add a Subscription” button in your reader and paste in the URL of the RSS feed (the URL next to the photographer’s name in the list below) to which you wish to subscribe.

This is not a list of the best wedding photographers, but rather, the best RSS feeds in our opinion, although many of the ones listed are in fact leaders in the industry. We’ve actually left off the blogs of some of the best photographers for a variety of reasons. Some simply don’t have an RSS feed. Others write blogs that are primarily for selling products and promoting workshops. And some are “personal mussings” and not necessarily relevant to wedding photography. Either way, we realize that this is subjective; and we always welcome debate in the comments.

As always, we welcome your comments below; and we’d love to discover more great RSS feeds to follow!

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Article Written by Lin and Jirsa Photography, Los Angeles and Orange County Wedding Photographers