I think one of the things I love most about photography is that it often elevates the mundane. When you stop a moment, and preserve it forever, and take the care to frame it, light it, and chose one moment over another, you effectively tell the world – or anyone who cares enough to look at your work; Look at …
Postcard From Senegal
I photographed this man in Senegal earlier this month during some much needed time off. The encounter was so typical of much of my travels. You meet someone, drawn by their smile, their character, and with permission you raise the camera. And then it vanishes. For one reason or another that authentic thing that drew you disappears behind what? Something …
A Somewhat Foggy Ethiopian Meditation
I wrote this earlier this year to stave off the insanity of jet-lag one night while on a particularly challenging assignment in Ethiopia. It’s a little stream-of-consciousness and I offer it for what it is. In my defence, my mind was a little foggy from the jet-lag. If you’re looking for wisdom, move along – nothing to see here. The …
The Power of What If…?
I’m reading an article right now on creativity; it’s from the December 2009 issue Psychology Today (as is the picture above). My wife, who loves me more than she fears being arrested, stole accidentally borrowed it from our chiropractor’s office so I could read it. I plan to return it. Probably. You should acquire a copy, though by more legal …
On The Poet & The Geek
My buddy Chris Orwig, a man who combines the poet & geek with grace. A few quick quotes this morning to bring us all back to thinking about the uneasy – but necessary – connection between the artistic and technical sides of ourselves, or our craft. It seems everywhere I look as I study creativity and the creative process, I …
What’s With The ISO?
Every week, without fail, I get an email from an inquisitive mind about the EXIF data in Within The Frame, specifically the question goes like this, and I quote from yesterday morning’s email on the matter: I noticed that in quite a lot of your photos you use high ISO even though there seems no reason to do so, for …
Being There
One of the lessons that came up time and again on last month’s Lumen Dei tour was the importance of presence. As in really being there. We photographers often suffer from some kind of attention-deficit malfunction. We look, we shoot, we don’t always really see. So this year we encouraged people to stop running around looking for the next thing …
Inside the Harvest Photographs
Last Friday I posted a short slideshow of images shot in Lamayuru, Ladakh. Thanks to all for the kind words left in comments and sent in emails. There were a number of requests for a how-to, so I’ll do my best to be helpful. Truth is there isn’t much to tell in terms of technique. I pointed the camera and …