Morning coffee at Valley of Fire S.P. and a chance to look at the maps. Today marks one month of traveling. We left Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park this morning after two nights there. The Valley of Fire is spectacular and while there are weeks worth of photography to be had, we’re still on a timeline that’s somewhat inflexible. …
Don’t Break The Rules
I call this one, OH MY GOD HIS HORIZON IS IN THE MIDDLE! New Zealand, 2010 While I can’t yet talk openly about the next book, my time in Jamaica brought me to finishing about 2/3 of the draft and as it slowly takes shape it comes closer and closer to becoming a real thing, a thing I can talk …
Blurred Vision
So what do you do when you feel your vision has abandoned you? That it’s dried up or gone missing? I talked about this while I was in Kathmandu on a personal level but I’m seeing it all over the internet and in emails from friends. I can’t be the only one. The downside to believing that our photography is …
Leaving Kathmandu
Boudha, Kathmandu Canon 1Ds MkIII, 85mm, 1/160 @ f/1.2, ISO 800 After the last post, and what one reader called my exhausting angst, I’ve been shooting very little and just enjoying this place. Guess I just needed a break. I’m really grateful for the comments left, and for the thoughts and ideas expressed in them, but I trust you know …
Wrestling in Kathmandu
We’re on the second full day of the Kathmandu Within The Frame workshop, based in Boudhanath, and man am I struggling. My first task here is not creating a body of work, but teaching, but I believe the best teachers are the ones that are always learning, and man am I learning. The hard way. I’ve never shyed away from …
In Defence of Inspiration
Iceland, August, 2010 Last week Owen Shifflett wrote a post on Viget.com that made the rounds. I tweeted it. Chase blogged about it. And it got rounds and rounds of kudos and attaboys, among them my own voice. And then something started to bug me. Owen’s title – How Inspiration Killed – Then Ate – Creativity, says it all. It …
Nothing Left to Take Away
Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “a designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add but when there is nothing left to take away.” I wouldn’t claim perfection for any of my images, that’s not the point of my quoting this, but I love the idea that a move towards mastery in photography is a move …
Getting It Done
NYC, 2010. The outside wall of a Brooklyn Clothing store. I’m in Iceland right now, so this one was auto-posted. See y’all when I get home. I hope to get time to send a postcard, but don’t hold your breath. The tent doesn’t have wifi. I had to laugh today when I got yet another couple of comments and emails …
Isolated by Light
Genoa, Italy. I took a spot reading off the pavement in the beam of light. It happens to be pretty close to 18% grey, so I exposed manually at those settings, prefocused on the spot, and waited until someone came. It’s usually worth the wait. We talk a lot about isolating elements within the frame. We do it with our …
Art and Risk
Continuing my tradition of posting totally unrelated images to illustrate a point, this is the abbey at San Frutuosso, in Italy. I had a video chat with Dane Sanders and a virtual room full of folks on AskDane.com this week and one of the questions touched on an itch I’ve been meaning to scratch for a while. And now I’m …