As a dichotomy, tools matter and tools don’t matter at the same time. Give a great photographer a cheap disposable film camera you can still buy at the drug store (I love ‘em, actually) and you’re likely going to get something interesting. Give my neighbor a camera bag filled with expensive gear, and you’re going to get backlit cat photos on the windowsill…and a bag full of expensive gear.
Read MoreOne Day in Santa Fe
In the era before smart phones or even PDAs, data either resided in your brain or as marks on paper. I obviously hadn’t memorized a stack of numbers, and my notes weren’t with me. Things will happen that even the best plans will not be able to forestall. It’s not that a person can’t allow themselves to feel frustrated or even angry about circumstance. It’s that an experienced person can learn how not to let those feelings completely overshadow everything else.
Read MoreA FEW WORDS ABOUT WORDS
Where a picture maybe worth a thousand words, a few well-placed words can make all the difference to giving that picture lift and heft and context all at the same time.
Read MoreEQUIVALENCY
Is there one form of creative expression that genuinely rises above all others? Are there creative enterprises that have greater value than others, or is everything equivalent to everything else? Does my poem outweigh your selfie, and honestly, who cares in the first place?
Read MoreSAVE OR EJECT?
What if that seemingly irrelevant shot, blurry and showing no discernible subject, is the downstream neurological spark of some elegant surrealistic moment?
Read MoreALL PERFORMANCE IS LIVE
All media jobs are about live performance.
Read MoreAGENCY: The second of two essays about Virtual Reality
No doubt it's cool to dive safely with sharks in a shark cage simply by wearing VR goggles, but after a few of these video translocations, a viewer has to wonder, “What else can it do? Can it tell me a story?”
Read MoreCOMPRESSED FRAME
Artistic sensibility always reflects the times in which we live. Years from now history will tell us if these new aesthetic schemes made sense.
Read MorePULLING FOCUS
In business, in leadership, in education, and everywhere else where creativity has a place to shine, there are probably all sorts of things right in front of you that could play valuable roles. If you’re not seeing a solution to your problem, consider shifting your focus and see what pops into view.
Read MoreMOVE YOUR FEET
You have to get comfortable with the idea that you just might be in the center of the action. While often true, don’t worry about everyone watching you. The fact is, they’re generally not. You’re not the subject; the thing you’re photographing is likely the thing that’s holding everyone’s attention. When you’re learning, just move in and try to have a sense of humor about it. Once you get it, it will become second nature and you’ll move because you’re motivated to capture something.
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