There is much talk in artsy circles about being “original”. I’m not even sure I know what that means. (Or if it exists.) Of all the places to put our energy, I think this is among the more futile. It’s the wrong answer to the right question. Is desiring originality (insert vague personal definition here) a good thing? Yes. Of …
Impressions
Impression I, II, III All three photographs were made with my iPhone 4, cropped to 4×5, and processed with the Magic Hour filter, all in the Camera+ app. I tweaked curves slightly, and added borders in Photoshop after import. One of the first things I did when the Ottawa Hospital finally let me have a Day Pass to go wreak …
Monument Valley, Utah
Sitting in a quiet restaurant in Taos, New Mexico. We’ve got one more day before we need to be in Albuquerqe. Some of you have expressed anything from wonder to shock to consternation at how fast I’m travelling. It won’t always be this way. Sadly in order to do this trip at all I needed to front-load some of the …
Better Portraits: Wait for the soul.
Mongolia, 2008. Image shot for World Vision Canada. With all the talk about technique it’s easy to forget, or to never learn at all, that the most important skills in portraiture aren’t photographic at all. You can use your fanciest 135/2.0 or 85/1.2 lens, blast 3 SB900 flashes through 6-foot octaboxes, or choose the best backgrounds the world has ever …
Don’t Break The Rules
I call this one, OH MY GOD HIS HORIZON IS IN THE MIDDLE! New Zealand, 2010 While I can’t yet talk openly about the next book, my time in Jamaica brought me to finishing about 2/3 of the draft and as it slowly takes shape it comes closer and closer to becoming a real thing, a thing I can talk …
Wrestling in Kathmandu
We’re on the second full day of the Kathmandu Within The Frame workshop, based in Boudhanath, and man am I struggling. My first task here is not creating a body of work, but teaching, but I believe the best teachers are the ones that are always learning, and man am I learning. The hard way. I’ve never shyed away from …
In Defence of Inspiration
Iceland, August, 2010 Last week Owen Shifflett wrote a post on Viget.com that made the rounds. I tweeted it. Chase blogged about it. And it got rounds and rounds of kudos and attaboys, among them my own voice. And then something started to bug me. Owen’s title – How Inspiration Killed – Then Ate – Creativity, says it all. It …
Nothing Left to Take Away
Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “a designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add but when there is nothing left to take away.” I wouldn’t claim perfection for any of my images, that’s not the point of my quoting this, but I love the idea that a move towards mastery in photography is a move …
Filters & The Creative Process
Good news for all my friends and students who have been eagerly chomping at the bit to get their hands on the Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polarizing filter: they’re back in stock. Now I know y’all don’t like these things, and I’m as guilty as anyone of struggling to learn to use this filter a little more judiciously. I also know not …
Q&A on F&B
Last week I had a great interview with Jeffrey Saddoris from the Faded & Blurred community. I do a lot of interviews, many of which kind of ask the same old questions. This is not that interview. The Faded & Blurred community is a great place filled with some super people. If it’s been a while since your teeth were …