HT1033 - Through

Every exposure you make is purposeful, but not every captured image matures into a finished work of art? Why? What happened between the motivation and the execution? Did we perhaps block the image from working its way through us to a creative output?

HT1037 - Car Gear

I've always hesitated to keep a camera permanently in the car. It would be so handy to have one when the unexpected appears, but I'm nervous about keeping my main camera there. What about a camera specifically for that? Ah ha! My tiny Panasonic GM1 to the rescue!

HT1038 - Feature Request

I wish my camera had an option for specifying the number of exposures to capture during burst mode. This would be a great feature for capturing multiples for a Mean Stack Noise Reduction. All it would need is a little software programing.

HT1039 - Test Before You Head Out

Earlier this year I was snookered while out photographing because I was unaware of a flaw in my extension cable release. Luckily, it didn't ruin my session and I was able to get what I wanted, but I was embarrassed that I hadn't tested this use case scenario before I got into the field.

HT1040 - Feathers and Sand

Changing the distance to the subject or changing the focal length of the lens can radically change the level of detail that can be rendered in the final print. Here are two use cases where keeping this in mind can be useful.

HT1044 - All Desserts

I used the term dessert photography to indicate a certain kind of super duper expialidocious image that is a combination of extraordinary light, extraordinary weather, extraordinary landscape, with an extraordinary moment. These are certainly lovely images and get a lot of attention. But just like dessert there is a limit to how much I'm that kind of photography I can consume before it becomes too much, a bit off-putting, if not downright sickening.

HT1045 - Keywording as a Daily Project

I have about 100,000 images in my Lightroom catalog and 12 months ago a lot of them were not yet keyworded. Using the "chip away at it" philosophy, I've been keywording small groups of them every morning with my first cup of coffee. Keeping at it like this, I'm almost done with keywords for all 100,000 of them.

HT1046 - Four Hundred Images

I was recently listening to a podcast interview with Huntington Witherill. He was asked if he is still working on his body of work that became the book Photo Synthesis. He casually mentioned that he'd stopped working on that project after about 400 finished images. That's not a typo — four hundred images!

HT1047 - Enough Variables

The other day I recorded an episode of Exploring the Back Issues that featured the work of Julie Meridian from her project Specimens that was published in LensWork #82 in 2009. One of the things that struck me in her project was the number of variables she used that keeps the work interesting.

HT1051 - Photographing Point Lobos

I once made the obligatory trek to the photographic mecca of Point Lobos, knowing that the spirit of Point Lobos had guided Edward Weston and in the hopes that the spirit of Point Lobos would guide me, too. I learned an incredibly important lesson that day.

HT1052 - Be Prepared to Not Take Pictures

What happens when you are out photographing and you are simply not motivated to make photographs? Is it better to push yourself into a creative model, or is there another approach that can get your creative juices flowing?

HT1053 - Your Personal Turning Point

Almost every photographer I've talked to has a turning point story. Something happens and your philosophy and the direction of your photography change dramatically. It's almost as though that is a necessary process in our creative life.

HT1054 - The Problem with White

The problem with pure white is that it has no detail, no texture, and no life. Pure white is the absence of all color and is just a blank spot. The trick with white is to preserve detail.

HT1058 - Maybe We Shouldn't Be So Smug

Photographing at the famous Wawona Point overview of Yosemite Valley is not what it used to be.

HT1059 - Out-of-Practice Mistakes

I have a printer with me on the road, but it's a bit of an undertaking to make prints here in the trailer. I don't do it all that often. I did yesterday, however, and made a considerable number of stupid mistakes simply because I'm so out of practice with the process. Frequent repetition is an important part the creative life.

HT1060 - More Images vs More Art

Being out in the world photographing is a lot of fun, but that doesn't always translate to making more art. One of the implications of the gathering assets strategy is that the art making takes place back home, in the studio, in the quiet time we spend developing ideas and processing images into a completed piece of art. If that's what counts, what is the correct ratio between photographing and art-making when it comes to allocating our precious creative time?

HT1061 - Pursuit of Which Excellence

Looking back on my 50 years in photography, I have to conclude that the first two decades we're almost exclusively in pursuit of print excellence. It was so doggone hard to make a good print that it required a couple of decades of vigilant practice before I had a good handle on the craft. It's funny, but I spend very little time now pursuing excellence of craft. Instead, 80-90% of my art life today is refining my artistic intent.