Forget Jumping.
Here’s another Q&A from The Big Q. This time we’re talking about making the jump from full-time job to full-time photographer. If you’ve got questions you’d like answered, I’d love to help: leave them in the comments. Q: When you first made your decision to become a full time adventurer/humanitarian photographer what scared you the most? Did you have a …
Study the Masters: Edward Burtynsky
Thjorsá River #1Iceland, 2012, copyright Edward Burtynsky “We took what we needed from the Earth and this is what we left behind. That is the informational layer of my work, but there is also a political layer and an autobiographical one.” Edward Burtynsky (1955 – present) is still very much alive and working today. One of Canada’s most respected photographers, …
The Next Step
Q: I’m a nature photographer with what I’ve been told is a reasonably solid portfolio, and I blog fairly regularly. I make a little money with my photography, but I think I could do more to increase the income a bit. I’m ready to take the next step toward living my dream. I need to market myself beyond my local …
Bodies of Work
Another question from my recent Q&A on Facebook. Some of the questions needed more time and space to answer, this is one of those: How do develop from taking random images to working on projects? What makes a good project? When is it finished? First, I think it’s important to recognize that there are no rules on any of this. …
Finding Your Mojo
A friend and I, looking for our mojo on Prince Edward Island yesterday. Sometimes we find it, sometimes we don’t, but the search is our job. Last week I spent some time on Facebook answering questions. It was a lot of fun, and something I’d like to do more often. One question that came up a couple times in different …
A Bigger Story
Dusk. Fogo Island, Newfoundland. 2014 Do you know why Apple succeeds the way it does? OK, aside from sexy products? They tap into something bigger than technology. Sure, they’re a technology company, and you either love them or hate them, but they aren’t selling phones or computers. They’re selling a narrative. They’re selling Think Different. Creative freedom. Apple is not …
Waiting, in Newfoundland.
I get nervous when things come too easily, which, as it turns out, is not remotely the case on this trip. Sadly, I also get nervous when things are tough and there are no guarantees that my work is going anywhere. That’s the tension I’ve been living in on this trip across Canada, now into its 6th week. I’ve been …
Photographers and Money. We Should Talk.
One day I want to sit down with my readers, somehow, and have an honest conversation about money, and how we make it and manage it as creatives. I don’t know how it’ll happen – it’s hard enough having honest conversations about things that aren’t so surrounded by fear and shame and a general, “I don’t want to talk about …
Be Your Own Patron
Remember those days of old when creative people did what they did because some guy with money paid them to do it, all for the privilege of calling themselves a patron? Well those days are over. Unless you get smart – and creative – with your money and become your own patron, in which case the time has never been …
Postcards from Fogo Island
If you’ve been following my Instagram feed, you’ll have seen these, for which I apologize. We’re staying for a couple nights at the Fogo Island Inn, a place of astonishing beauty and hospitality – both the Inn and the island itself, on which we keep extending our stay. It’s an inspiring place for a number of reasons, not the least …