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Perspective and POV: Change Mine By Changing Yours.

In Most Popular, The Craft, Thoughts & Theory, Tutorials &Technique by David30 Comments

I talk to myself when I am making photographs—mostly mumbling, and it’s always questions. Questions like the ones I addressed in the last email I sent you about time, including “Could I leave and find something else? Could I wait a little longer?” Questions about light as well: “Could I be more creative about this, perhaps by underexposing?” And there are …

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Failure Rates? Keeper Rates? There is a better way of thinking about this.

In Pep Talks, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David38 Comments

Do you ever hear yourself say something and immediately wish you could take it back? It’s like words are coming out of your mouth and you’re only seeing them for the first time and you think, “wait! I didn’t mean that!” It happened to me the other day. A friend and I were on a small plane heading home from …

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Print Your Work Without Printing Your Work?

In Pep Talks, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David61 Comments

I have no idea how I got there, but I found myself on YouTube a few weeks ago watching mesmerizing videos of a carpenter making the most beautiful tables and desks. Cam (the carpenter) can be found at BlackTailStudio.com or on Instagram, and his videos (including one about the making of a $10,000 Myrtlewood desk) gave me a new appreciation for the idea …

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Are You Using the “Right” Camera?

In GEAR, Pep Talks, The Craft by David62 Comments

There is tremendous freedom when you finally stop worrying about meeting the expectations of others, most especially the expectation of doing things the way you should do them. For years, my Achilles heel was the expectation that I had to do certain things and use certain gear because that’s how the so-called pros did it. That’s how a “real” photographer …

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3 Ways Changing My Thinking Changed My Photography

In Creativity and Inspiration, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David31 Comments

As we grow in this craft, we move from uncertainty to increasing comfort and confidence with certain aspects of the skills and thinking that the making of photographs requires. To use a well-trod metaphor: it’s a journey. Some of the things we learn are adapted quickly; some we will work on all our lives. I clearly remember thinking how I’d be so happy …

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You’re an Amateur. Is That Enough?

In Creativity and Inspiration, Pep Talks, The Craft, The Life Creative by David22 Comments

You’re an Amateur. Is That Enough? In September 2019, I wrote the words below for my podcast, A Beautiful Anarchy, and I feel like perhaps enough time has passed since I’ve reminded you of these important truths, and I want to offer them to you again. _________________________________________ I spoke with an artist recently who expressed the feeling that because his …

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To Make Better Photographs, Study More Photographs, Part Two

In Photographically Speaking, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David15 Comments

The first installment of this two-part series began an exploration of the way in which we study a photograph, first to experience it and then to learn from it. If you missed it, you can read the first part of To Make Better Photographs, Study More Photographs here. The main point in that first article was this: our first point …

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To Make Better Photographs, Study More Photographs, Part One

In Photographically Speaking, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David47 Comments

I started this craft innocently enough—purchasing on a whim a Voigtlander rangefinder with a fixed 35mm lens when I was 14—but by the time I was 16 years old, I was hooked and desperate for something with a few more options. I wanted “a real camera.” I have no idea where I thought my mother would get the money for …