Songwriter Leonard Cohen once asked “How do we produce work that touches the heart?” It’s a question I think we need to pursue if we’re going to make anything that finds traction or resonance, most especially for ourselves but for others. So how do we do it? Let’s talk about it. I’ve decided to begin posting my weekly podcast here …
How’s Your Balance?
Ask a photographer about balance and tension in a photograph and they’ll look at you like you just asked them about the mathematics of hyperfocal distance. Actually, that’s unfair; I know a number of photographers who could speak at length about the latter. I know fewer who can speak about the former. But ask a painter or sculptor the same …
Too Late?
If change is the one true constant in life and we’re subject to it as much as other things, why does it seem so hard to reinvent ourselves? Is it ever too late to evolve or start over, to move in new directions that are unexpected, to others, but often ourselves most of all? Let’s talk about it. I’ve decided …
What’s the Point
In the wake of the pandemic I recently heard an artist express words I suspect many of us are thinking about making and sharing our art: what’s the point? These thoughts have been haunting me. What’s the point? We are. You are. Life itself is the point and we (and you!) need your art-making more than ever. Let’s talk about …
Not The Boss of Me
Most of us learned early how to behave, how to blend in and do what we were told, but art-making and creativity is no place for obedience, most especially when the voices asking us to play nice are the ones on the inside, telling us to play nice and maintain the status quo. Rebellion for the sake of rebellion isn’t …
Getting to the Heart of the Photograph
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 …
Protecting Your Images
Bumping around in a Land Rover in Kenya a couple months ago, I did something I swore I would never do: I erased all the images on my SD card. Two days of photographing, gone with the accidental push of a button. At first I wasn’t even sure I’d done what I had done. “Delete All?” my camera asked me. I’m …
A Million to One?
I got back from East Africa a week ago, my hard drives groaning with over 20,000 images. Of those only about 1500 were made during my week in Lalibela, Ethiopia. Now, I shouldn’t be doing math right now, I’m jet lagged and haven’t had my coffee, but there’s something instructive in these numbers, so stick with me. Don’t like math? …
Venice: Watermark
It’s way too early as I write this, the sun is hours from coming up. The darkness lingers longer these days in the northern hemisphere, making it even harder to kick the jet lag or get anything done. Even my coffee isn’t helping, though after a month away it’s comforting to have it beside me—my own coffee in my familiar …
More Photographs, Less Money
Photography can be an expensive pursuit, and the cost of things (and the pressure to buy them all, buy them new, and buy them now) can get in the way of putting that money in better places. It’s not my place to tell you what to do with your money, but I do want to suggest you consider investing it …