Here's a thought…

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HT1732 - A State of Being

I know that on the surface photography appears to be the making of an image. As a photographer, however, I've come to realize that doing photography is even more about achieving a certain state of being, a way of life, an engagement with the moment. The image is the point of termination, but it's not the goal.

HT1733 - Tips and Tricks

A sizable percentage of photographic education (especially on the internet) is of the variety known as "tips and tricks." I'm discouraged by this because I don't think the creation of art is based on a foundation of tricks. Rather than relying on tips and tricks, why not place our faith in discipline, hard work, sensitivity, experimentation, observation, patience, and effort. Leave the tips and tricks to the stage magicians.

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HT1734 - Options or Distractions

We now have more options to choose from than we could ever have predicted. But all these options are both a blessing and a potential distraction. It is so easy to get mired in the options that we lose sight of the goals we originally set out to accomplish.

HT1735 - Color As a Component of Composition

As a long time black-and-white photographer, like so many I've made the transition to photographing in color here in the digital age. One thing I'm still struggling with is the idea of using color as part of the composition.

HT1736 - Remembering Your Memories

The photographs you produce are a capturing of your memories. To the rest of us, your photographs are a new and unique experience. As photograph makers, we need to take this fundamental difference in mind.

HT1737 - Theory and Practice

The ultimate criteria for a technique or even a piece of gear is: DOES IT WORK. It makes no difference if it should work, theoretically. The only thing that counts is real world results.

HT1738 - 62 in Four Days

The totals are in from my recent trip to Acadia. Four days of photography have resulted in 62 images I would be proud to exhibit or publish. I can't help but think this is ridiculous. Has photography become too easy?

HT1739 - The Future of Books

I worry about the future of books, especially art books for photography. The reason is that books are first and foremost a commercial product, not an artistic one. It's expensive to produce a book, and if there's no market for it, there's no reason to produce it. And then there is the discouraging problem of distribution.

HT1740 - The Future of Books, Part 2

In addition to the commercial challenges of books, there is also a creative aspect of books that foretell a future problem. Photography books tend to be either a collection of unrelated work, that is a catalog of a photographer's best images, or a book contains a large scale project that requires considerable time to produce and consume. Here in the age of the "quick cut," I find fewer and fewer people are willing to devote time to such lengthy enterprises as reading a book.

HT1741 - Limitations of Our Nervous System

Hawks have better eyesight than we humans do. Does that mean they have a better understanding of our photographs because they see more detail than we do? As I age, I've had to come to terms with the limitations of my eyesight and that leaves me an ever greater opportunity to deepen my artistic sensitivities.

HT1742 - The 21st Century Challenges

Has photography become too easy? Where is the challenge of photography here deep in the digital age? For many, the most serious challenge is not creativity, but money. Money for cameras, money for printers and ink, money for travel, money for matting and framing, money for a website or for publishing a book.

HT1743 - The Creative Format

Most cameras these days record images with an aspect ratio of 3 to 2. It's always amused me that, therefore, most images I see are in that same aspect ratio. Why? Exploring alternatives, like square images, round images, trapezoidal images, etc. Is a fun and productive way to introduce new vision when you feel yourself becoming a bit creatively stale.

HT1744 - 10,000 Tidbits

My approach to learning photography has been somewhat undisciplined. I never went to photography school or studied formally within any educational institution. Instead, my method has been based on the adage of 10,000 tidbits of information, 10,000 hours of practice, and 10,000 failures to learn from.

HT1745 - I Miss Oliver

A very large part of the reasons I'm so passionate about photography are the people I've met and been fortunate enough to know. Perhaps the individual I miss the most is the late Oliver Gagliani. He was, without a doubt, the closest example I ever experienced to a pure artist.

HT1746 - The Sharpest Aperture

Early on in my photographic career, I read that each lens has a sharpest aperture. Being a skeptic at heart, I decided to see if this was actually true. It is, and that has led to a lifelong obsession with testing.

HT1747 - Bilateral Asymmetry

Nature teaches us a very interesting lesson that's applicable to photographic composition. The world is roughly bilaterally symmetric, but never bilaterally identical. Harmony and difference go together.

HT1748 - Exactly What Is Too Easy?

Last week I was asking the question about whether or not photography has become too easy. I should have been more explicit. The craft aspects of photography have become easier and success is more assured, but the art aspect of photography is as difficult or more so than it has ever been.

HT1749 - Candlelight and Other Flames

I'm fascinated by one of the statistics from Light, Glorious Light. Illumination by flame was used in only 0.2% of the images submitted. Why? Light from a candle, a kerosene lamp, or a fireplace is perhaps the most enjoyable light of all.

HT1750 - Tripods and Creativity

The obvious purpose for using a tripod is to hold the camera stable for sharper pictures. That could be the least important reason to use a tripod.

HT1751 - Daily Projects

Nothing jump-starts momentum like a designed project with a regular schedule. Commit to X number of days and stick to it. Not only will you finish a fun project, but you will find your curiosity ramps up, seeds will be planted, and your creative vision will sharpen.

HT1752 - One in a Trillion

Yesterday I made a photograph. There were a trillion other photographs made yesterday, too. Why is mine so special?

HT1753 - Micro Shadows

About a week after you begin photography seriously, you will undoubtedly run across the idea of the "golden hour." As a black and white photographer in my youth, the "golden" part of golden hour never made sense to me. However, the incredible detail that is revealed by angular light made the golden hour special even in black and white. The term I prefer is "micro shadows."

HT1754 - Custom 1 and Custom 2

I rely heavily on the custom programming I can predetermine and save for the mode button on my camera. My settings may not be ideal for your photography, but they might provide examples of why you should take the time to create your own custom configurations. Employ the powerful capabilities of multiple custom settings that will configure your complex camera for your most common shooting scenarios.

HT1755 - After Your Initial Ideas Are Exhausted

There is a very typical pattern that repeats in the creative life. We find something we're interested in and we photograph it intensely. Eventually we run out of ideas and stop. It's then that the real challenge of being an artist begins and where we will find the greatest rewards. Pushing beyond our own limits is the creative life.

HT1756 - Frozen Movement

Photography's great strength is that it can freeze a moment in time. Photography's Achilles heel is that it freezes a moment in time. The best photographs are those that freeze movement in time, rather than a moment. After all, life is movement. There is a world of difference between a pose in a photograph and a gesture arrested in a photograph.

HT1757 - Seek What They Sought

Some 2,600 years ago, the Chinese sage Lao Tzu advised us, "Do not seek the wise men of old. Seek what they sought." I can't help but think that he was speaking directly to us photographers here in the 21st century. Instead of chasing the Yosemite of Ansel Adams, the Point Lobos of Edward Weston, or the New York of André Kertéz, perhaps we should look beyond their work to the deeper beauty, honesty, and introspection they were trying so diligently to capture in their photographs.

HT1758 - Empty Magnification

In microscopy, there is a term/concept that is useful for us photographers. The term "empty magnification" means making an image larger without revealing any additional data or detail. The same thing happens when we push and enlargement too far, we make the photograph larger without providing any additional information.

HT1759 - Abandoned Places

For reasons I'm not sure I understand, lots of photographers seem to be fascinated with photographing abandoned places. We see lots of submissions of abandoned farmhouses, all kinds of factories, barns, and amusement parks! Sometimes these projects are fantastic, but more frequently they might be characterized as explorations of "crumbling architecture." The architecture is usually a lot less interesting than the stories of people and older times that these abandoned buildings can portray.

HT1760 - Close Is Worse Than a Miss

When you want to use, for example, a "Dutch angle" that tilts the horizon, you will be far better off to tilt the horizon substantially. If you tilt it just a bit, it's much more likely that viewers will think it's a mistake rather than a conscious compositional decision. Close, but a miss, will always be easily interpreted as a mistake.

HT1761 - Purchased, But Not Consumed

For years, I've felt a little guilty about all the books I've purchased but never read. I've recently become aware of the fact that I'm not unusual in this regard. I have about 3,500 books in my library, a lifetime of collecting. I'm often asked if I've read all of them. I have to confess that I haven't, but I have read in all of them.

HT1762 - The Ignored Ones

I have about a thousand photography books in my library which probably contain an average of 150 images. There are, no doubt, tens of thousands of images that I have only glanced at and then ignored. As I've recently been thinking about this, I've gone back and looked at some of those ignored images. I've been pleasantly surprised how many of them are far better than I originally thought. It's not that they were unworthy of being published, but rather that I was not prepared to understand them.