I initially posted this graphic in 2008. Seemed appropriate to bring it back… A friend of mine is a world-class chef. He got there after a lot of hard work. He studied under other chefs, all of them masters at what they do. He’s really good at what he does; he’s both a craftsman and an artist. He did not …
Faking It.
Ice Abstract, Peggy’s Cove, NS. 2012. Every artist I know, particularly those who feel uncomfortable calling themselves artists, feels like they’re faking it. In those moments when I’m totally transparent and feeling brave, I’ll tell you it’s one of the two fears with which I wrestle daily – the first that one day I’ll wake to find my muse has …
Stop Waiting.
Marshall Eagle, Kenya, 2012 Perhaps because I spend so much time with creatives I spend more time with frustrated people who feel like they were meant for something more. Perhaps if the default in this culture was to make a living in the arts, we’d be seeing plumbers that just wanted to quit their job painting so they could …
Above the 45
Thiksey Monastery, Ladakh, India. 2008 Click to view larger. This is a bit of a rambling one. A couple years ago I was headed to Bosnia, in the process of buying Jessie, my Land Rover Defender, and planning to leave my home for a year in pursuit of stories, adventure, and some fresh air. The day I left for Bosnia …
From The Archives…
This post originally appeared as a guest post on Scott Kelby’s blog on May 13, 2009. I still believe this revolution is coming. Perhaps not for the photography industry, but for individuals. At least, I hope so… I believe we’re at a turning point in the way we, as an industry, approach our craft. Thanks to the internet, information moves …
A Beautiful Anarchy
Self Portrait, iPhone. There are rules for engineering bridges, and flying airplanes. There are laws about how you drive a car and file your taxes. There are no rules or laws in art. Art is a beautiful anarchy, a place wherein we express – or try to – the inexpressible, to “eff the ineffable” as author Nick Hornby once wrote. …
Work or Whine. A Rant.
Shooting sunset in the Maasai Mara, while a ranger keeps an eye out. Photo credit: Regis Vincent. When Nicole S. Young’s ebook on MicroStock came out last year on the Craft&Vision site, we caught some flack for “supporting the microstock model.” We were told how unfair the model is, how it’s going to put photographers out of business, and how …
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, …
45 Days.
This is a pragmatic post, and I hope it doesn’t sound too preachy. But one of the things creatives struggle with is finding time to create. We all do. I get emails all the time asking how I cram it all in, how I “find the time to do everything I do.” I posted a longer, different response to that …
Originality Part II
A week ago I left what might have been my shortest post ever: Originality is Overrated. It generated some good discussion, and from the comments it seemed to really resonate and get some thoughts going. My own thinking has been stirring too, but before I tell you where those thoughts have -for now – settled, I wanted some ghosts to …