For Jennifer, Whomever You Are.
Jennifer is a composite of all the students who’ve asked me to look at their work online and offer some advice. My advice has changed over the years. Dear David, I’m a second-year photography student. Would you look at my work and offer me any advice? Dear Jennifer, Thank you for the invitation to spend some time with your work. …
Study the Masters: Arnold Newman
Last week I introduced you to Yousuf Karsh. American-born Arnold Newman (1918-2006) was his contemporary and the studying the two together is an interesting study in voice. Both photographed largely in black and white, both photographed celebrities, artists, and luminaries of their generation, and both used simple composition. To my eye, Newman is more graphic, though he leans no less …
Within The Frame Giveway: Signed Print Folio
As part of Within The Frame month, which we’re celebrating over here in wild style (My book, Within The Frame, came out 5 years ago. There has been wine, and there’s a good chance there will be again,) I wanted to do a couple giveaways. In part I’m hoping to bring new interest to a book I still believe is …
Study the Masters: Yousuf Karsh
Yousuf Karsh was one of my earliest influences. His portraits, much of his work in black and white, were simple, elegant, and deeply human. An Armenian-Canadian, Karsh was born in Turkey in 1908, worked most of his life in Ottawa, and died in 2002, leaving behind a lifetime of beautiful portraits of the leaders of his generation. I think what …
Making Within The Frame
The original cover concept I sent the publisher. I’m glad they over-ruled me. Six years ago, I got a phone call from a publisher asking me to write a book. The original author had bailed due to health issues, and they wanted to know if I was interested. I wasn’t, but it got my foot in the door and I …
Within The Frame Giveaway: Deluxe Edition
Last month I walked into a bindery with two copies of Within The Frame (which is 5 years old this month!) and asked them to make a very special edition of this book. I just picked them up and they’re gorgeous! Custom bound in rich brown goat leather, with black end papers, and silver embossing, there’s not another one like …
Within The Frame: 5 Years
Never underestimate the power of one decision, one conversation, one risk taken, to completely change the course of your life. 5 years ago this month Within The Frame, my first book, rolled off the presses and into the hands of what would be way more people than I ever imagined. In that time Within The Frame’s been translated into over …
Study the Masters: Fred Herzog
Over the last two weeks I introduced you to Saul Leiter and Ernst Haas, two of the great colour pioneers, and this week I want you to meet another – Fred Herzog (1930 – present). You can see his stuff quickly here in a Google Image search, but there’s no substitute for having it on paper and his book – …
Study the Masters: Ernst Haas
Born in 1921 in Austria, Ernst Haas (1921-1986), like Saul Leiter born two years later, became known for his early work with Kodachrome. His photography was strongly graphic, emphasizing colour as a compositional elements and often using motion and reflections. Haas was a member of Magnum and a colleague of contemporaries Robert Capa and Henri Cartier Bresson. You can see …
Personal Projects
Mongolia series. 2012. Hasselblad and some old film. There’s a lot of talk among photographers about personal projects. I assume, by this, we mean projects that are not for clients, though I’ve tried very hard to never do a project that is not in some way also personal. Life’s too short. For me the key word isn’t “personal” because that’s …