We shoot what we see. Sometimes it’s because we are looking for it, sometimes it just comes to us. Photography is the practice of critical seeing, like critical thinking. When you decide to frame something your attention gets focused. The eye really gets in the act. You parse and concatenate the various key elements, separating …
This is the day we get to enjoy the lowest angle of the daytime sun. (Well, we could if it wasn’t raining…). Winter days are short but the light is beautiful. Whites are creamy and browns are rich and soft. Winter is a great time for photos but definitely more challenging.
How easy is it to hang on to a photo (even a failed one) when you have infinite storage space? (Massively easy!) If fact, “why delete any?” is an entirely reasonable response. The next question is, “how easy is it to find old photos?” That depend on how old and how you stored them. Digital …
A pocket camera is always available, assuming it’s in your pocket, or you have pockets. Grab and shoot. Shooting is the fun part. Curating is the discipline.
It’s the “nature/nurture” question. Is someone good at photography because they have talent or did they learn to be good. When looking at some people, you may be awed at how they are able to take tons of great shots right out of the box. There just has to be innate talent giving them that …
In context? Out of context? What’s the context? It’s an elusive word but we know it when we see it. Photos can go either way depending on what we are trying to say, what story we are telling. All photos have meaning and the context of your photo evokes the mood and feeling. Do the …
In his book, Great at Work, author Morten Hansen begins with the production concept of doing less and obsessing more about you are doing. Highly productive people prioritize what they want to do and then really focus on doing those things really well. Many people love doing a wide range of photography while others have …
Small towns can be magical when the people like to get out. It’s good to have a camera and a second story studio across from about 100 townies out singing. Perfect opportunity for a group photo. Nice enough, Facebook worthy, but the real value will be 5, 10, 20 years from now. If this digital …
Cal Newport, associate professor at Georgetown University, author of Deep Work and many several other productivity writes a blog called Study Hacks where he explores our attention potential and how to get more out of life with less mental energy. He is especially interested in how our distraction culture keeps us from doing our best. Dr. …
Sometime our photos are chance encounters, when we happen to have our camera or possibly “prepared” chance encounters, when we go out looking for photos and chance brings us all the right elements. Another type of photo is an assigned photo. The assigner may be you or someone else. You can (and may well) assign …