Last Sunday I posted a photograph on the blog, and in The Contact Sheet email, inviting you to consider how I made one of my photographs. The exercise was a simple one, and I know some of you have seen it before but you can still learn from it. Look at the image and ask yourself what decisions I made …
What Makes An Image Work?
As a child, my cousin James had a reputation for taking things apart. I recall one Christmas when he dismantled down to the wiring every gift he was given. Remote-control cars? Give him 20 minutes, and there would be nothing left but a pile of tiny screws, little motors, and the tears of his mother who probably should have known better than …
One Photograph, Many Choices
Being able to dissect an image is a helpful skill. Looking at a photograph and identifying the various choices that led to the look and feel of that image, even when it’s your own (maybe especially when it’s your own) makes us stronger photographers that are more fluent in the visual language. I’ve been talking a lot lately about the …
Study The Work of Others
In my last article, I suggested studying the work of others as one path toward making your own work stronger. To shoot what things feel like requires that we first have feelings about things but also to understand what possibilities exist for translating feelings into photographs themselves. It’s a conversation that could get touchy-feely really quickly, but if it gets too far …
Better Editing, Better Photographs
Click play to watch this 8-minute video I’d love to hear from you on this. Where do you find your greatest challenges when it comes to choosing your best work and doing something with them, staying organized, and doing all the work that happens beyond the shutter? If you feel like talking about it, drop me a note in the …
Perspective and POV: Change Mine By Changing Yours.
I talk to myself when I am making photographs—mostly mumbling, and it’s always questions. Questions like the ones I addressed in the last email I sent you about time, including “Could I leave and find something else? Could I wait a little longer?” Questions about light as well: “Could I be more creative about this, perhaps by underexposing?” And there are …
Motion? Make Me Feel It.
I don’t do rules very well. But I’ve got a couple of my own that come pretty close to inviolable. Don’t clean your sensor with your tongue is one such great rule. Very practical. In Bosnia, I was once given a large jar of honey that I thought would be better protected in my camera bag than anywhere else (I …
Further Thoughts on B&W
I’ve been hosting Heart of the Photograph virtual lectures for camera clubs around the world over the last couple of months, and one of the questions I seem to get after every one of those lectures is this: How do you approach your black and white work? The question comes in many forms, and now seemed as good a time as any to revisit …
What Makes the Image Work, Part 2
This past Sunday, I introduced you to a photograph of mine and sent you to my blog to discuss it, asking questions about the decisions I made and the effect of those decisions. I’ll keep this message short because I said most of what I want to say in the video I’m about to show you. But if you missed …
What Makes the Image Work?
As a child, my cousin James had a reputation for taking things apart. I recall one Christmas when he dismantled down to the wiring every gift he was given. Remote-control cars? Give him 20 minutes, and there’d be nothing left but a pile of tiny screws, little motors, and the tears of his mother who probably should have known better than to …