San Frutuosso, Liguria, Italy, 2010. Had to strip down to my boxers to get this one. Monday’s post seemed to strike a chord. Perhaps because y’all were so surprised to read a post that had nothing to do with books 🙂 So, harnessing that momentum I want to make some suggestions for those who are suddenly captivated by the need …
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 …
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 …
Suck-Mode.
Me. Happily in Suck-Mode in Kenya. Man I miss Africa! The image has nothing whatsoever to do with the post so don’t go looking for deeper meanings. Sometimes a photograph is just filler, ya know? During the Q&A time at Amazon the other day a guy in the audience asked me a question. It must have been very complicated because …
Speaking At Amazon – 5 Things.
I spoke at Amazon yesterday in the middle of a whirlwind trip to Seattle. Had a great time, met some amazing people. To all of you who came and were so hospitable, thank you! For those that didn’t come because, well, ahem, you weren’t invited because you don’t work at the Amazon mothership, this is what I said. Or planned …
From Confession To Photographic Penance
I have to tell you the response to Monday’s post absolutely blew me away. It clearly hit a nerve and that tells me there are a lot of photographers out there that have been told one thing in the face of a very different reality. And the truth is that the bulk of the pros I know routinely do some …
Confessions of a So-Called PRO.
Shot in Senegal. Long shutter speed. Dawn. Through the windshield. Moments before driver drove off the road, through the ditch and stalled in the bushes. A while back I wrote a piece about the “I’m only an amateur” mentality. In brief it was an unashamed rally call to photographers everywhere to stop seeing themselves as merely an enthusiast, not yet …
Sustaining The Practice of Art
“The practice of art isn’t to make a living. It’s to make your soul grow.” ~Kurt Vonnegut Chase Jarvis recently posted about his Create-Share-Sustain paradigm. I’ve referenced it, linked to it, quoted it several times this past year. In that paradigm, the notion of sustaining the create-share cycle is generally seen as a financial one. It’s the grease on the …
Doomed(?) Revisited.
2008. Sleeping on the train to Tunis, Tunisia. Or Sfax. I can’t recall now. Photo credit: The Legendary H. On Friday I posted a letter from a photographer asking a very pointed question about his future in the craft. I put the note out there and invited replies from you, and boy did you ever step up to the plate! …
Doomed To Mediocrity?
I got this question in my inbox this week: In the past two decades I’ve learned at least one thing about myself: I don’t do expert well. I do bouncing around, try everything once well.  Chalk it up to my being Gemini, too much coffee or ADD. I can get good, and focus for short periods of time but when …