Here's a thought…

HT1942 - The Problem with Cameras

Cameras are marvelous devices that do incredible things. The problem is they can do none of those things if you don't have it with you when the photographic opportunity appears. Mark Twain said that those who don't read have no advantage over those who can't. The same could be said about making pictures. A person who leaves their camera at home has no advantage over those who don't own a camera.

HT1943 - What You Are Working On, What You Have Finished

No one cares what you are working on. No one ever will care what you are working on. It's only what you have finished that matters or will possibly survive you.

HT1944 - Different Sources of Illumination

The key attribute of travel photography is seeing something new. Seeing something new is the topic for this thought. But travel is difficult, expensive, and takes a lot of time. What if we could invoke that idea of seeing something new by simply changing the source of light? What if we photographed in our home or neighborhood with illumination by candlelight, flashlight, portable video lights, or reflected flash photography?

HT1945 - Parallel Light

A lot of photography instructors these days talk about "good light" and "bad light," in particular morning light and evening light. It's been my experience that morning light and evening light are great not because of the time of day but rather because of a characteristic I think of as "parallel light."

HT1949 - Love of Photography, Love of Photographs

I hope I'm not splitting hairs here, but which do you love more, Photography or Photographs? Photography is a process; photographs are a point of connection and sharing. Understanding this difference about ourselves helps clarify where to focus our activities. For example, I'd much rather spend time looking at, thinking about, and discussing photographs than I would spending time in the darkroom.

HT1950 - A Visual Diary Project

I've never done a visual diary project, but I've seen quite a number of them over the years. There's something fascinating about a daily image combined with commentary of the moment, that creates a personal history. I've always been hesitant to start one because it could go on forever. But it doesn't have to! Why not just a week, 10 days, a month, a season?

HT1951 - Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral

I remember once attending a lecture on photography (I don't remember who) in which it was suggested that a productive way to think about photographing was a variation on the old animal, vegetable, or mineral game. The variation, he proposed, was to replace animal with things that move, replace vegetable with things that grow, and think of mineral as inorganic stuff. He suggested that photographs that contain all three elements are likely to be more interesting than those that don't.

HT1952 - Portraits of Doing

I suppose because we are people, we enjoy looking at photographs of people. I have noticed, however, that I'm much more drawn to portraits that show someone doing something rather than showing merely what they look like.

HT1956 - Finished, But Rejected

I remember in my film days being discouraged that I might only get one reasonable image out of a role of 36 exposures. Now that I'm older, I've come to understand a more unexpected statistic — the number of images that I finish that are ultimately rejected.

HT1957 - Layers of Understanding

I went to a piano recital last night featuring the world-famous Yuja Wang. Wow. But there is more to this story than I listened to some music

HT1958 - Working Time Per Print

How much time do you spend working on a print? I've never timed myself but I wouldn't be surprised to find the average time I spend working on a print is probably less than a half an hour. Compare this to any other art medium. What if novelist spend only a half an hour to bang out their masterpiece? Or painters a half an hour to execute a portrait?

HT1959 - The Sequence of Events

I received a comment from a listener that illustrated a very important point for all of us who are art creators. Come to think of it, maybe this applies to almost all of our efforts.

HT1960 - Being Open, Being Receptive

Lao Tzu advices us to go with the flow. That doesn't mean give up free will, but it does mean that fighting nature can easily become a losing battle. In photography, that implies using the light as it is, using the subjects that fall in our laps, being receptive to the photographic opportunities before us rather than assume the dictatorial response of trying to bend nature to fit our aesthetic expectations.

HT1963 - I Didn't Know I Needed That

We live in the age of software. Even if you are producing analog prints from the wet darkroom, you still use digital means to share your work on the Internet, produce you work as a book, or email your images to, say, LensWork. Learning software is a part of our creative life. Here's a thought about the two strategies for embracing software.

HT1964 - Getting the Right Tones

Pushing tones around might make an image have better light, but that doesn't guarantee it will be a better photograph. Images might be enhanced by tonal adjustments, but it's content, meaning, and metaphor that make a photograph better artwork.

HT1965 - We Are Creatures of Habit

I try to think about what I am doing photographically, but sometimes my (bad) habits simply overpower my better intentions. For example, I know my habit is to think of a wide angle lens as one that shows more to the left and the right of a normal lens. I have to consciously fight that habit to use that lens as a near-far lens.

HT1966 - Consciously Defining Your Relationship to Photography

One of the characteristics I love about photography is its plasticity. It can be used to accomplish so many different things. But that also presents us a bit of a challenge. With so many possible goals for our photographs, this plethora of options can add to our own internal confusion and obscure our objectives.

HT1970 - Once the Project Is Finished

Without fail, I've noticed that I experience an emotional vacuum after the completion of a project. The bigger the project, the bigger the void. Curiously enough, this feeling is a function of how many projects I'm working on at a time.