Two weeks ago I published Leaving Dafen (From Craft to Art), an article that discusses the shift from craft to art; rather, it promises that such a shift was possible and points out the need for courage to make it happen. It’s not an easy subject, nor one I intend to make simple. But I think that at the …
Leaving Dafen (From Craft to Art)
There is a village in China where thousands of painters make their living together, painting away their days in spartan studios, covered in paint, surrounded by canvases. The village is called Dafen, and it intrigues me because, for all the technical prowess possessed by the painters in that community, it is not known for its art. Not really. That is …
The One About Being “Realistic”
As we roll into 2018 with our usual expectations that this year is going to be different, or better, or the year we take things to the next level or dial things up to 11, or whatever, there will be no shortage of voices – many of them in your own brain – that are going to try to hold …
Making Creative & Technical Choices
This morning I’m going back to fundamentals and answering a question from several months ago that asked, simply, how and why do you choose a particular lens or aperture for a scene. I love this question because it gets to the heart of what it means to be a photographer, or any artist, and that is about making choices. If …
How To Get Sh*t Done
Have you ever felt like you’re insanely busy but not actually accomplishing anything? Like you’re frantically doing stuff but never getting stuff done? Being creative, no matter what the discipline or genre means making things, it means creating, and to do that – whether it’s one photograph or a significant body of work, never mind all the things we need …
The One About Creative Burnout
I’m tired. Not like the “I need a nap” kind of tired, but the kind of tired that goes into your soul and slows your thinking and makes you dread the things you were so excited to put on the calendar only a few months ago. The kind of tired that feels like the first signs of burning out. And …
How to Deal with Creative Boredom
I get about a dozen emails or comments on social media every month asking me what to do when you wake up one day and you realize you’re bored and you feel like your photographs are boring and because the only only thing worse than making boring photographs is being bored yourself, and because I think there’s a connection, I …
How to Get Known: Part One
This is an edited transcript of Episode 68 of my show, Vision Is Better, which you can find on YouTube here. If you’d rather listen to it as an mP3 file, you can get that here. For the next couple posts I want to look at one big question – a question that I’ve been asked many different times and …
The Fear and the Hunger
The life of the photographer, or any artist, really, can be an emotional ride. It should be. We’re emotional beings, and if the struggle doesn’t make you want to laugh or cry, or both, on any given day, you probably need to check your pulse. I wrote this for the latest episode of Vision is Better but I know many …
Stop Looking. Start Making.
I recorded an episode of Vision Is Better last week (Episode 61) and just posted it. I want you to watch it. Please. Some of you need to see this – to hear this – and since I’m not sure which of you that is I’m just going to go ahead and recommend you all take 7 minutes or so …