There’s a lot of talk these days about how much better analog tools are than digital, but when we rely on our tools to render soul and authenticity in our work, when the tools get either the credit or the blame, I think we’re heading in the wrong direction. Let’s talk about it. I’ve decided to begin posting my weekly …
Navigating Fog
Any creative effort, in fact life itself, is undertaken in a context of uncertainty. But there are times things feel more uncertain than other, like we’re lacking direction. The Japanese concept of Ikigai provides helpful vectors or points of light, that make it easier to navigate in the fog. Let’s talk about it. I’ve decided to begin posting my weekly …
Who Says There’s No Un-Suck Filter?
In my first book, Within The Frame, before all of this blew up and I became a writer (and just how exactly did that happen, anyway?) I wrote that “there was no Un-Suck filter in our photography” and since I didn’t get a flood of emails asking me what on God’s green earth I was talking about, I assumed people …
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 …
What’s the Point
In the wake of the pandemic I recently heard an artist express words I suspect many of us are thinking about making and sharing our art: what’s the point? These thoughts have been haunting me. What’s the point? We are. You are. Life itself is the point and we (and you!) need your art-making more than ever. Let’s talk about …
Not The Boss of Me
Most of us learned early how to behave, how to blend in and do what we were told, but art-making and creativity is no place for obedience, most especially when the voices asking us to play nice are the ones on the inside, telling us to play nice and maintain the status quo. Rebellion for the sake of rebellion isn’t …
Getting to the Heart of the Photograph
Have you ever stood in front of something so beautiful it takes your breath away, or some moment so amazing that you think, “I couldn’t take a bad photograph of this if I tried!” only to, well, make a photograph that’s less than what you hoped for? I have hard drives full of images like these. And it’s not because …
HUNGER > TALENT
It’s easy to look at the creative life and chalk it all up to a matter of talent, but the most wildly creative and productive people have something better: hunger. Let’s talk about it. Listen now by playing the video below, or keep reading for a downloadable audio file or a transcript. This episode just over 14 minutes. I’ve decided …
A Million to One?
I got back from East Africa a week ago, my hard drives groaning with over 20,000 images. Of those only about 1500 were made during my week in Lalibela, Ethiopia. Now, I shouldn’t be doing math right now, I’m jet lagged and haven’t had my coffee, but there’s something instructive in these numbers, so stick with me. Don’t like math? …