Pedro Thomaz Photography

03/08/2026

Spent a few days in A Coruña with the camera in August. Granite arcades in the old town, glass galerías catching the light, and then two minutes later you're standing on Riazor with the Atlantic coming in.

Mostly black and white — the city gave me two frames that earned their colour.

Full series here: https://pedrothomaz.pt/coruna-26

Discover the Atlantic character of A Coruña through this street photography series captured on Spain's rugged Galician coast. This collection follows the city from the granite arcades and glass galerías of the Ciudad Vieja to the open sweep of Riazor and Orzán beaches, where the ocean pushes righ...

23/06/2026

Photographers love dunking on AI artists for "just typing a prompt." Funny — that's the exact insult painters threw at us a hundred years ago. "You just press a button, that's not real art." 🤷 New tool, same tired gatekeeping. Here's why I give AI artists the same respect as anyone else holding a tool.

Read the full thing here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/ai-artists-deserve-your-respect-yeah?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

22/06/2026

Someone on Reddit just lost 10 years of photos. 20,000 of them. Their dog's whole life, gone. 💔 First: data recovery is real, do it now before you touch that drive again. Second, for everyone else still reading — your backup situation is a disaster waiting to happen and today is the day you fix it. BACKUPS. Multiple. No excuses.

Read the full thing here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/someone-just-lost-10-years-of-photos?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

19/06/2026

A stiff portrait is almost never a posing problem. It's a comfort problem. 😬 Your subject doesn't trust the room yet, and no amount of "chin down, shoulders back" fixes that. Play music, talk to them like a friend, fire off fake test shots to kill the pressure, and stop blaming your gear. Here's how I actually loosen people up.

Read the full thing here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/your-subject-isnt-stiff-you-are?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Five ways to loosen up a portrait client — and one tool you should stop using 📸

18/06/2026

Everyone wants to know which camera fixed my photos. None of them did. 📸 What actually moved the needle was boring: presets I reuse as a base for every scenario, and cataloging every shot into collections so I can find it two years later in seconds. The unsexy habits win. Every time.

Read the full thing here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/your-gear-didnt-fix-your-photos-your?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The two boring habits that beat every camera I ever bought 📸

17/06/2026

A young photographer charged $60 for a full shoot, 50+ edits and 6 hours of work, then the client trashed it as "unprofessional." Here's the hard truth: the price WAS the problem. 😤 Charging that low tells a client you don't know what you're doing, and they believe you. Never sell yourself short.

https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/you-charged-60-thats-why-theyre-treating?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The picky client isn’t the problem. The price tag is.

16/06/2026

A model answered a "model call" and got sent a $270 invoice. Backwards. 🤦 The rule is dead simple: whoever needs the other person pays. The photographer was hunting for models, so the model gets paid. Not invoiced.

https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/she-put-out-a-model-call-then-sent?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

15/06/2026

Do you need a dry box if you actually shoot? Almost certainly not. 20 years in Portugal, gear spread all over my house, lenses ruined by humidity: zero. Lenses I've broken by dropping or smashing them: about ten. 😅 Modern glass is tough. Stop babysitting it and go shoot.

https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/your-lenses-will-break-before-they?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

12/06/2026

Your kid's school photos came back muddy and underexposed and the darker-skinned kids barely look like themselves? That's not a hard technical problem. It's a cheap one. 💸 The fix is a colorchecker and someone who gives a damn about the boring part.

https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/your-kids-school-hired-a-088-an-hour?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

And the “diverse skin tones are hard” excuse is total bu****it

11/06/2026

A beginner on Reddit asked how to find people to photograph when you're just starting out. The answer is simpler than people make it: start with friends and family, then TFP groups, then friends of friends. 📸 But the part nobody tells you is what happens after, when your work gets good enough that strangers find you, and you start turning the pricing flywheel. Full breakdown here.

https://open.substack.com/pub/mrpft/p/how-to-find-people-to-photograph?r=2qvgk8&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

A beginner asked the right question. Here’s the honest answer, and the part nobody tells you about what comes after.