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Why Go Monochrome?

In The Craft, Thoughts & Theory by David16 Comments

I’ve been told it’s a curious decision to photograph so colourful a place as India in black and white, as though colour itself is the defining characteristic of the place therefore the most obvious way to photograph it. But there’s so much more to India than colour, though there’s plenty of that too. There is life and chaos and texture. …

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It’s All Subjective

In The Craft, Thoughts & Theory by David9 Comments

  These were the questions I was asked last week and I think they open an interesting conversation. Here’s my take on it: Yes. A photograph needs a subject. It needs something about which to be. In the same way a story or a poem or a song needs to be about something, so too does a photograph. But remember …

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Two Big Questions

In The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David11 Comments

Walking through Jodhpur with a friend last week he asked me a series of questions about the way I think when I photograph, specifically: how do I prioritize and make the decisions that I do? Do you choose aperture first, or shutter? Do you reach for a wider lens or a tighter? Do you back up, get close? So many …

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The Best Camera?

In GEAR, The Craft by David15 Comments

When, a couple years ago, Chase Jarvis popularized the idea that the best camera was the one you had with you, I was totally on board. I still am; there is much truth in the idea. But if someone is asking the question, “which camera should I get?” it’s less helpful. And this is a question I hear too often …

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More Postcards from Jodhpur

In Postcards From..., Travel by David6 Comments

I’m writing this in turbulence 40,000 ft over Afghanistan on the way home from India, so it’s hardly a postcard from Jodhpur but then I usually send my mother her postcards when I get home too, so that makes you family. I’ve just wrapped up 2 weeks in Rajasthan, and now making a run for home to get my hands …

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Postcards from Jodhpur

In Postcards From..., Travel by David6 Comments

After a busy, and increasingly hot, week in Jodhpur with my first of two Mentor Series Workshops here in Rajasthan, one group of students is now leaving with beautiful bodies of work and another has just arrived. We spend our early mornings walking the streets, padding our shoeless way through temples, sitting with our favourite chai wallas, and following unexpected …