For years I chased smiles. I still do. I love a great laugh for the spark and openness it brings to a subject. But laughter and smiles, universal as they are, do not tell the whole story or express the full emotional gamut of the human race (riddling, perplexed, labrynthical soul, as John Donne so well expressed it.) I use …
Your Most Powerful Photographic Tool
Among the first words I said at an exclusive little photography workshop on the east coast last year were: “I don’t give a sh*t about your photographs.” They were not my best-chosen words ever. But I got their attention, and that’s always half the battle. The other half of the battle was trying to convince them I wasn’t a jerk …
Better Stories, Better Photographs.
The most powerful photograph is the one that connects with both the heart and mind of the reader. It’s the image that our imaginations keep returning to, and keep asking questions about; the image that stirs something in our emotions. That captivation is what prolongs our experience of the photograph, it’s what grabs our souls and won’t let go. It’s …
Ten More Ways (To Improve Your Craft)
Several years ago I wrote a short book called TEN. Ten Ways to Improve Your Craft Without Buying Gear. It was wildly popular, in part I think because it’s easy to wrap our brains around doing ten things rather than a hundred. It’s manageable. Also because the word “eleven” is hard to say for some people. The sequel was called …
My Fuji Menu Settings
This is a short one. I’ve had a handful of questions asking me how I set up my Fuji cameras and as I set them up almost exactly the same way I’ve always set up my digital cameras, I thought I’d address it here. Don’t let the title fool you, this applies to almost every camera I’ve used in one …
Seeing Colour
This image is a photograph of two black gondolas on black water. We do not see things as they are but as they look, and the brain will do whatever it can to untangle puzzles like this. So many people will walk past this scene and others like it and never see it. Not truly. They will see it at …
The Photographer’s Tools
I believe now more than ever in this beautiful craft. I love its democratic nature, I love the way it uses such elegant raw materials: light and time. I love the mechanics, and the way the cameras feel in my hands. And I adore the final print. In fact the moment I’m done writing this I’m going to run some …
The End of What It Looks Like
I’m in Melbourne right now – my first time to Australia, and my 50th country. I’m speaking at the Nikon AIPP, an incredible convention filled with some wonderful people. Yesterday I gave the keynote address that opened the conference; it’s a fearful task to inspire people at 8:30am. It was a presentation I’ve been obsessing over for a couple weeks …
Exposing for Highlights
While people rush to buy the latest cameras with the highest dynamic ranges and the latest software that’ll allow simulation of the highest dynamic range possible, and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, it helps to remember that every limitation can also be a beautiful creative constraint. On the beach in Moeraki recently, and disappointed by the bright sunlight and …
Cringe
I often look at the work of a younger me and cringe at his decisions. His choice of moments was hurried and impatient. His composition was simplistic. His use of colour and composition was undeveloped. My god, he barely seemed to know what he was doing. No wonder he spent so much energy trying to convince himself he wasn’t an …