Some of my earliest lessons in this craft served me very well—at the beginning. As I’ve grown, they have stopped being helpful. I suspect this is true for you, too. I was told to put the sun behind me. I was told to fill the frame with my subject. I was told that if I divided the frame into thirds …
Layers of Impact – What’s Your Hook?
Want to make stronger photographs? Consider your layers of impact—or the power of three. Let me explain. Few photographs are truly compelling to us because of just one thing. A person, a landscape, a beautiful bird. Beautiful on its own, perhaps, but once it becomes a photograph, we usually need more. An interesting person in great light, with a great …
Shoot Through It!
Some of my most frequent advice is to shoot through a scene. As a younger photographer, I would give up too easily and put the camera down too quickly when my efforts weren’t met with immediate success. “It’s not working,” I would say, when the truth was closer to “I’m not working.” I wasn’t giving the scene the time and effort …
One Thing: Simplify
If everything went to plan, I’m currently in the bush on the Zambezi River, probably just settling in for the evening by the campfire with a whisky in my hand and a blanket of stars above me. Behind me, a forest of winterthorn trees, and around me, the song of frogs. In the distance, splashing and the deep guttural noises …
All (High) Keyed Up?
I’ve always loved high-key images for their simplicity, elegance, and power. There’s a directness to them and no confusion at all about your intended subject. The technique is relatively simple, and yet for all its advantages, it’s been a while since I’ve thought to embrace it. Going into my recent trip to Kenya, I decided to remedy that by looking for …
Find Your “Hey, Look at That!”
I have an early memory of going photographing with my dad on a morning after a big ice storm came through. It was just after Christmas, the storm had knocked out power to much of the area, and the streets were thick with ice, impossible to drive on. I finally had my first “real” camera, an SLR with interchangeable lenses, …
Don’t Start Perfect. Just Start. Period
Starting has always been tough. They don’t tell you that when you buy a camera. Or the new lens you get so excited to use. “This,” we think, “is going to change everything!” Except it doesn’t. At least not yet, because you’re (to misquote Julia Roberts in Notting Hill) still just a girl standing in front of a boy asking …
Stop Looking (Only) for Subjects?
I went to Kenya last month with the usual mix of excitement and worry. Excitement for all the normal reasons, not the least of which was being in front of wonderful things in beautiful light with my camera in my hand. Worry because I really didn’t want to come back with different versions of the same photographs I’ve made before. …
6 Ways to Be Less Un-Ready
This post is accompanied by some of the work I shot over the last 4 weeks in Kenya. What a trip it’s been. I hope you enjoy the images! My grand-dad was a Scout. At the time he was the highest decorated man in the scouting movement in the UK, a movement whose motto is “Be Prepared.” I like to …
It’s Enough to Know Enough
Put the coffee on, maybe pour a glass of wine. This will take you about eight minutes to read, but it might be a great way to recalibrate for the year ahead. If you’re looking for the winners of the Gura Gear Giveaway, you can find those towards the bottom of this piece. My first camera was relatively easy to use. A …