A Failure to Communicate
A recent article on F-Stoppers, written by a wedding photographer, starts with the title, Why I Can’t Use a Mirrorless Camera Professionally. Anytime an article starts with “Why I Can’t…” I prepare myself for a personal defence of a position that should otherwise be titled, “Why I Won’t…” and I brace myself for a list of limiting beliefs. Now I …
Postcards from Rome
It’s Sunday morning here in Rome and the church bells are chiming. We woke this morning to our second earthquake in a couple days; a good sign that it’s time to go home. But what an amazing 5 weeks it’s been with students and new friends, lots of amazing meals and wine, and days to wander unknown streets looking for …
Postcards from Italy
It’s been a while since I said hello, and the last time you heard from me was probably during the chaos of the 5 Day Deal over the last week. Thanks for your patience on that. Together we raised over $200,000 for 4 excellent charities, including The Boma Project with which I am so personally involved. This sale also funds …
Starting Your Next Personal Project
There is much talk in the photography world about “personal projects.” Like anything that becomes a catch phrase, the words themselves get more play than the thing they represent. In other words: a lot of talk, much less action. And when it comes to personal projects, action is everything. Here are three ways to gain momentum on your next project. …
My Fuji Menu Settings
This is a short one. I’ve had a handful of questions asking me how I set up my Fuji cameras and as I set them up almost exactly the same way I’ve always set up my digital cameras, I thought I’d address it here. Don’t let the title fool you, this applies to almost every camera I’ve used in one …
Four (More) Ways to Discover Your Vision
In Part I of this article, I discussed ways to begin questioning your broader vision as a photographer. That discussion focused on what I would call macro vision; it’s the way you see the world and the way that works itself into your photographs. But what about vision on a smaller scale—the image-by-image scale? How do you look at a scene …
Best Places
After several years of photographing some truly wonderful corners of this planet I get more than a few emails each month asking me where are the best places to photograph in this city or that country. I try to reply helpfully, but what I want so much to say, without sounding like I’m being contrary, is this: there’s no such …
Four Ways to Discover Your Vision (Part I)
I believe every photographer has vision—to one degree or another, we all have it. Vision is the way we see the world; it’s what we want to say with our photographs, even when that’s just, “Oh my God, look at that.” How we translate our vision into our photographs is the subject of 100 blog posts about the visual language, …
Seeing Colour
This image is a photograph of two black gondolas on black water. We do not see things as they are but as they look, and the brain will do whatever it can to untangle puzzles like this. So many people will walk past this scene and others like it and never see it. Not truly. They will see it at …
The Photographer’s Tools
I believe now more than ever in this beautiful craft. I love its democratic nature, I love the way it uses such elegant raw materials: light and time. I love the mechanics, and the way the cameras feel in my hands. And I adore the final print. In fact the moment I’m done writing this I’m going to run some …