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 …
Go to the Writers.
I’m re-reading a stack of books about the creative process. Anne Lamott, Stephen King, Annie Dillard, Robert McKee, et al. When what I want is to hear about the creative life, I don’t go to photographers – most of them are good with images, lousy with words. Want insight into how this whole creative thing works? Go to the writers. …
Begin. Again. Part 2
Genova, Italy. 2010. Last week’s posts on putting your ideas into action seemed to really resonate. I posted BEGIN and then BEGIN. AGAIN. Begin Again was aimed at the working photographer, this one’s aimed at all of us – the amateurs, the ones that do this because we love it, paycheck or no paycheck. Heck, some of us don’t earn …
Lightening Up
My satchel, my iPod, and me on the boat to San Frutuosso, Italy. This is the least amount of gear I have ever shot with. Photo Credit to my friend Stuart Sipahigil. I know, I look very zen. In reality I think I was calculating the hours until lunch. As an artist I’m scared of repeating myself. I don’t want …
Begin.
Camogli, Italy. It’s a stretch to make this image relevant to the sermon below, but these guys know that talking about fishing isn’t going to bring the fish in. Neither is looking at the boat and hoping something happens. Goethe is frequently quoted as saying: Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and …
And So It Begins. Again.
With the submission of my final words and images for Vision & Voice, my part in this most recent book is now pretty much over. Done. And I can breathe again. But it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m tired. Drained. A little empty right now. In just over one year we’ll have released 3 print books – 2 of which …
Sucking Is Not Enough
Ladakh, India, 2008. Finding images to illustrate these things ain’t always easy, so I picked something completely at random and because, well, I guess because Ladakh doesn’t suck. I dunno. Just read the post, ignore the caption. Lest anyone think the last post about Suck-Mode was a license to celebrate mediocrity, I want to look at this all from the …
Sustaining, Part II
Self portrait, Jan 03, 2010 Last week I started a discussion about sustaining the practice of art, based on the Kurt Vonnegut quote about the purpose of art being the growth of the soul. Y’all chimed in with what you do to sustain your creativity, and if you haven’t read through the comments in that post, you’ll want to. This …