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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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Are Your Photographs Poetic? Part One.

In Most Popular, The Compelling Frame, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David52 Comments

Painter Robert Henri said, “Paint the flying spirit of the bird, rather than its feathers.” Similarly, Poet Anton Chekhov said, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” One is a plea to painters, another to writers, but both beg the same thing: make me feel something. Don’t just tell me; don’t …

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The Way The Camera Sees

In Most Popular, The Craft, Thoughts & Theory by David20 Comments

One of the things that fascinates me about photography is the raw materials it uses. Painters have paint and canvas. Sculptors have stone and metal. But photographers? We have space,  time, and light, and I think that’s magic. Hold that thought for a moment. How we think about making photographs can change how we make photographs and, therefore, change the …

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Should You Specialize?

In Most Popular, Pep Talks, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David62 Comments

In the long list of pieces of photographic advice that gets foisted on newer photographers by well-meaning and more experienced photographers is this: you’ve got to specialize. And, like all advice, my reaction tends to be, “Well, yes and no.” One-size-fits-all advice will be extraordinarily helpful to us the moment photographers (and people in general) come in one size. We do not. …