Talk to any traveling photographer for long and the words “iconic photograph” will come tumbling out of their mouth as surely as a bus-load of tourists with selfie-sticks will spill out the moment you arrive at a destination and set up a tripod, thrilled to be there alone. As goals go, it sure beats wanting nothing more from our images …
Composition & Questions
We often talk about composition as though its something that can be done right or done wrong. When you look at it in those terms photography is not about expression, but about following the rules. The best thing I ever learned on the photographic journey was this: there are no rules. None. Nope, not even the rule of thirds. No …
3 Versions: Discuss.
I recorded a new episode of About the Image this afternoon. Episode 14. It’ll be online in a couple weeks, I think. But I wanted to post the images here. 3 different versions. If you want to play, here are a couple questions to consider: How does the top image use shadows as a compositional tool? What does the choice …
About the Image, Episode 11.
The latest episode of About the Image just went live – this time it’s a 12-minute discussion about cropping and aspect ratios, among other things, using a seascape submitted by Josh Riggs. You can find the video podcast, free, here on the Craft & Vision website – or you can subscribe via the RSS feed from Vimeo – via this …
New Podcast Coming
A couple years ago I did a podcast with Peachpit called Within The Frame. I did 20 episodes and still get weekly requests to do more. Until now I just didn’t feel the love I want to have for a project in order to sit down and do it. Now I have the love, and the time. So we’re launching …
Better Questions
Prevailing wisdom says there are no stupid questions. But some questions are better than others, lead us to deeper inquiry, raise new, stronger questions, and better address the reason we asked the question in the first place. I hear a lot of questions. In emails, at live events, on my blog, and through social media channels. I suspect, with few …
Different Ways to Point
We had an interesting conversation in Hokkaido one evening, and it stands out because when you put 15 photographers together for a meal, and there’s no shortage of drink, conversation tends to end up with everyone telling lies about how long they can hand-hold their long lens, or how Ansel Adams was a total hack. This time it was about …
Photographically Speaking, Hot Off The Press.
Last week I got a call from FedEx in Vancouver. They tried to deliver the first copies of Photographically Speaking to an address I’ve not lived in for 9 months. Sigh. Getting the first copies of a new book – I mean literally the first two copies off the press – is a thrill and I’m a little sad I’m …
Photographically Speaking: A Preview
Photographically Speaking is nearing the final stages of being an actual honest-to-goodness book. It’s been on Amazon and other online retailers for pre-orders for a while now. But now it’s almost done layouts and then it’s off to the printers. I made a video to talk about the book itself and why I wrote it. That video is linked above. …
Don’t Stop.
Agra Fort. Agra, India. 2008. I rediscovered this sequence of photographs while putting together Photographically Speaking. In the book I discuss one of these images and explore the elements and decisions that make the photograph what it is. But looking at the 3 together I think there’s a lesson along the lines of the stuff I’ve been talking about lately, …