Have you ever stood in front of something so beautiful it takes your breath away, or some moment so amazing that you think, “I couldn’t take a bad photograph of this if I tried!” only to, well, make a photograph that’s less than what you hoped for? I have hard drives full of images like these. And it’s not because …
Mud-Wrestling the Muse
You are only as good as your camera, and your ability to use it. That’s the prevailing idea of the popular photography world. You see it in the ads, you see it on the discussions online, it’s implied in every camera review. But if that were true, wouldn’t we all be so much better now? Our cameras have never been …
I Feel Like I’m Faking it. You?
Among the well-worn tropes within the creative world is this: fake it till you make it. We’ve all said it. Or thought it. Particularly when we feel like we don’t belong, like we have no idea what we’re doing, when we feel like everyone else has their creative shit together and we’re staring into the void hoping no one discovers …
The Biggest Misconceptions in Photography?
The other day I watched (skimmed, really) a video on YouTube promising I’d learn about the 20 biggest misconceptions in photography. The video had 1.2 million views. What, I wondered, could so many photographers be getting so wrong? It turns out the answer included focus breathing, reciprocal rules, sweet spots, megapixel density, the non-existence of depth of field, and how …
My Photography, My Rules.
You know how I’m always going on and on about how there are no rules in photography? I’m going to back-pedal a bit on that because the more I look at my own creative life, the more I realize that I have some very important rules. Rules without which I don’t make the best photographs of which I’m capable. Rules …
How Do I Find My Style?
“How do I find my style?“ Over a month ago I asked you and everyone else who reads these bi-weekly missives about your greatest struggles and A-HA moments; overwhelmingly, finding “style” was one of the most repeated frustrations. It’s a common enough question, and my answer has always been roughly the same over the years (though I worry it always …
The Paralysis of Perfection
Is Perfection Paralyzing You? After teaching photography for about a dozen years without stopping to take a break, it’s become clear to me that after a year with the camera in our hands, the primary problems for most of us as photographers are not photographic problems at all. The problem is that we think they are, and so we look …
Wishing for Creativity.
“I sure wish I was more creative.” Have you ever said those words either to yourself or others? Every time I hear “I wish I were more creative,” I want to put my fingers in my ears and run out of the room. La-la-la-la-la, I can’t hear you! It’s a crappy mantra. You can be more creative. Being more creative …
Empty?
Sometimes you’re on a roll.You’re on fire. Everything you touch turns to gold, and ideas come faster than you know what to do with them. Other times you’ve got nothing. Standing there in the middle of one of those places that’s so amazing you can’t make a bad photograph and feeling like an idiot because the only thing you’ve made is …
Art: To Like or To Listen?
Weeks ago I posted an image to the Vision-Collective, my private mentoring community to which many of you belong. The image was Wynn Bullock’s Child in Forest, 1951. The responses to that image and the resulting conversations were intriguing to me. Some responded to the image as I do, finding in the image a sense of idyllic calm. Some were …