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Seasons for motorcycle riding (and photographing)
With the arrival of November and the seriously cold weather, I just put my motorcycle away for the season. The way I was taught to “winterize” my bike involves a series of steps; changing the oil/filter, filling the gas tank and then chemically treating that new fuel. The last step involves partly disassembling the motorcycle in order to remove the battery, which comes inside with me for the winter. At the end, I look back with a bit of sadness at my pride and joy because she is splayed in pieces across the garage, as I pull the garage door shut. The whole process is slow, precise and requires a certain methodology. At the same time, it also marks the change of seasons for me.
13
Nov 09
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Golfers, psychotherapists and photographers
The legendary golfer, Jack Nicklaus is supposed to have said: “Golf is 90% mental.” So, you are asking yourself, what does golf (a sport I normally have no interest in) have to do with photography, the pursuit that I love? More than I ever thought, actually.
12
Oct 09
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A lesson in seeing and working a situation
This podcast explores the many different ways you can photograph one subject
07
Oct 09
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What can the assistant bring to the photographer?
When I wrote the recent post on “Group questions versus individual questions ns,” I was obviously writing about that topic. But, I was also using the process of writing to clarify my own thinking on that subject. As I started to answer a query from a student in the Fotovision class that I just finished in California, I ended up similarly clarifying my own thinking on another topic.
25
Sep 09
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The keys to good street photography
I will soon be heading north to teach a class in “Street Photography” at the Maine Media Workshops. I was organizing my lessons, assignments and the images I will show the class, when a photographer who wanted to attend but could not, wrote me with some questions. I realized that answering his questions would help him grow AND help me improve the class I am about to teach.
10
Aug 09
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“Working” a situation when photographing
This podcast explores the important process “working” a situation, making a variety of images of a given subject, by changing the photographer’s position, the camera’s orientation, the focal length of the lens, etc.
03
Jun 09
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Top ten keys to be a successful photojournalist (Part two)
I just wound up an interesting assignment in California. I wrote the first half of this two-part blog entry right after the first day of the project. Now that I have finished and I am writing the second half of the entry, certain points I wanted to share are even clearer to me than when I started.
04
May 09
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Top ten keys to be a successful photojournalist (Part one)
I am starting an interesting assignment in California. So far, it has been a lot of fun, but it has also been a great deal of hard work. To be honest, because I do not work on as many assignments as I once did, I was worried I would be rusty. In fact it has been quite the opposite. All the skills I developed over the decades that I was doing assignment work came back to me easily, a bit like riding a bicycle (or motorcycle.) Thinking about them led me to writing them down as a blog post.
01
May 09
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One photographer’s career path
This podcast explores my career path, from student photographer to established professional. As I tell my story, I show photographs from the many phases of my career.
28
Jan 09
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Photographs as mirrors and windows
I often tell my students that their best photographs are the ones that reflect their personalities, life experiences and outlooks. I was recently giving a presentation, when an audience member’s question stopped me cold and forced me to articulate how that same idea has played out in my own work.
26
Jan 09
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How I learned to critique photographs
I was reviewing another photographer’s work recently. Left and right, I was tossing off suggestions for improving the images. Though I was thinking intensely about the work, I was largely unaware of my own process, as I critiqued the work. When she asked me how I had learned to critique images so fluidly, I was stopped in my tracks.
19
Jan 09
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Where I learned the most about photographing
I recently realized that if I carefully look at my career as a photographer, I can pinpoint where I learned the most about the act of photographing. It was not in high school, where I learned the craft of photography. Nor was it in college, where my study of the history of photography taught me about the art of photography. It was in a different place, one that I fear is fast disappearing from the photographic landscape.
16
Jan 09
