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Grizzly Bears: Big, Beautiful, and…Noise-Free?

In GEAR, Lightroom & Workflow, Postcards From..., Thoughts & Theory, Travel, Wilderness by David36 Comments

There is a powerful argument to be made for photographing what intrigues you, what you love, or that by which you are obsessed. Making photographs takes time, so that curiosity, love, or obsession serves you well when your best work demands not fractions of a second or even minutes, but hours, days, or—in the case of longer projects—even years.  Bears have …

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To Hunt or Gather?

In The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory, Travel by David23 Comments

It seems to me there are two very different approaches often taken in making photographs. The first is very ad hoc and opportunistic. You walk the streets of India (or wherever) and photograph whatever catches your eye. You wander and you photograph anything and everything that you can find at the intersection of your curiosity and great light. There’s nothing …

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It’s All Been Done?

In Pep Talks, Rants and Sermons, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David51 Comments

Somewhere out there, right now, sits a photographer who wants to throw in the towel, discouraged because they haven’t yet found their thing, their niche. I know this because I’ve been that photographer. Some of you have told me you’ve been there, too. Many photographers are still there, frustrated by how hard it is to be original. “It’s all been …

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Best For What?

In GEAR, Pep Talks, Rants and Sermons, The Craft, Thoughts & Theory by David23 Comments

For years, the article that got the most traffic on this blog was titled “The Best Travel Tripod?” Google sent people there in droves, but most of them didn’t stay long because I stubbornly refused to give an actual answer to that question: what’s the best travel tripod? Instead, I tried to encourage a particular way of thinking for readers to find …

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What’s Missing From Your Photography?

In GEAR, Pep Talks, The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory, Travel by David35 Comments

I was both excited and nervous about going to Kenya recently after a two-year absence. Beyond the extraordinary experience of just being in my happiest of places, there is always the pressure of the photographs. Will they be stronger than they’ve been in the past? Will I find ideas that interest me? Will my new gear and my growing familiarity with …

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Your Best Shot Isn’t (Usually) Your Only Shot

In Pep Talks, Postcards From..., The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory, Travel by David20 Comments

I traveled once with a photographer who would leap into a scene, press the shutter, and more often than not exclaim, “I got the shot!” Depending on whether you were there at the time or only heard of it after the fact, it was either really annoying or mildly amusing. If the direction into which he leapt to “get the shot” happened …

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From “It’s Not Working,” to “How Can I Work It?”

In Postcards From..., The Craft, The Life Creative, Thoughts & Theory by David53 Comments

Have you ever spent time behind the camera working on that image you’ve got in your mind only to think (or mutter) to yourself some version of “this just isn’t working”? Have you ever been in front of one of those scenes or subjects about which someone has said, “You just can’t make a bad picture of this” only to …