Landing in Nairobi last month, my usual fears were running amok. Would my luggage arrive with me? Would I have problems at customs? Would the bartender at the first camp be able to make me a decent Old Fashioned, of which I was desperately in need? You know the ones. But most heavy of all, the one weighing me down …
Grizzly Bears: Big, Beautiful, and…Noise-Free?
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 …
To Hunt or Gather?
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 …
A Bigger View? Is An External Monitor For You?
At 50, my eyesight isn’t what it once was. I’ve been wearing eyeglasses since I was about 15, almost as long as I’ve been a photographer, and shooting with glasses has never been easy. They spend a lot of time on top of my head when the camera’s to my eye, and my diopters are constantly moving around, depending on …
Packing For An African Safari
I arrived in Kenya a couple of days ago, and after looking for rhinos for two days in Nairobi National Park, I’m now settled in on the Maasai Mara and eager to get back to work behind the camera. No clients this time—just me and my best friend and a chance to photograph our favourite place on the planet. I’ve been asked …
What’s Missing From Your Photography?
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 …
Your Best Shot Isn’t (Usually) Your Only Shot
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 …
For Stronger Photographs: More Time
Three weeks ago, I found myself sitting on the banks of Hudson Bay, a stone’s throw from the Arctic circle, waiting for a polar bear to wake from his slumber. One can wait a long time for a polar bear to awaken. Several times, our group of photographers asked whether we should move on, and several times the answer was, …
Protecting Your Images
Bumping around in a Land Rover in Kenya a couple months ago, I did something I swore I would never do: I erased all the images on my SD card. Two days of photographing, gone with the accidental push of a button. At first I wasn’t even sure I’d done what I had done. “Delete All?” my camera asked me. I’m …
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? …