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 …
The Pleasure of the Poetic
I’m taking a bit of a chance with this one, but as I’ve been talking lately about the poetic possibility of photographs, I thought I’d make some further observations. I read a little poetry most mornings, coffee in hand, as I gather my wits for the day. Lately, it’s been Billy Collins, a two-term Poet Laureate of the United States. …
Clubs, Competitions, & Critiques
This is a longer one. You might want to grab a cup of coffee. In fact, if you’d rather listen than read, I’ve made an audio version for you and you can download it here. Enjoy. When I was a kid, I begged my mother to let me take horseback riding lessons. After some tearful pleading (mine, not hers), she …
Should You Specialize?
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. …
Slowing Down is the New Speeding Up
I want you to imagine you’re sitting down with me, looking at a photograph, and I’m explaining what I was thinking when I made it. If it helps, imagine it’s the photograph I showed you a couple of weeks ago in the video of the man making coffee in Istanbul. And now that enrollment for the course I recently launched …
The Joy of Photography?
A couple of weeks ago, I confessed to you that I hadn’t picked up my camera for six months. The replies I received by email and comments on the blog were like a big collective sigh of relief from so many of you—like we were all holding our breath, thinking we were the only ones who had lost some of our …
New Thinking > New Gear
In the eternal quest for better photographs (and you can define that however you’d like), we all tend to spend a great deal of money. You probably already know how I feel about this. When I look back at the money I spent on gear that made promises that were never kept (and yes, I know, I heard what I …
I’ve Got Nothing.
My friend, I’ve got nothing this week. I’ve stared at this screen for what seems like hours, and my mind keeps getting distracted by the way my heart hurts. It’s been a tough year so far. The pandemic. So many lives and livelihoods lost. So much fear and anxiety. And now the murder of George Floyd, the subsequent protests in …
Touch the Heart
Songwriter Leonard Cohen once asked “How do we produce work that touches the heart?” It’s a question I think we need to pursue if we’re going to make anything that finds traction or resonance, most especially for ourselves but for others. So how do we do it? Let’s talk about it. I’ve decided to begin posting my weekly podcast here …
Too Late?
If change is the one true constant in life and we’re subject to it as much as other things, why does it seem so hard to reinvent ourselves? Is it ever too late to evolve or start over, to move in new directions that are unexpected, to others, but often ourselves most of all? Let’s talk about it. I’ve decided …