May 2012
8 posts
4 tags
Be Honest, Not Truthful
Photography may be at its most powerful when it tells a story. But is that story more powerful when it’s a truthful story? I think that’s a false pursuit.
Erin Feldman, of Write Right, quoted Jason Fried recently on Twitter from his Inc. column:
“It’s not about telling a story. It’s about telling a true story well.”
He’s talking about business writing, but a story is a...
2 tags
Pass It Along
Often, the best way to learn more about something you’ve been practicing for years, is to teach it to someone else.
Most of us have something we’ve learned about photography that’s unique. A lot of us have blogs. Putting the two together could make photography a lot better.
Site Updates
Just a quick note about some changes around here:
Essays: After blogging daily for a little while, I think there’s a lot more value in the way I was doing things before: putting much more thought and time into the posts (no more daily blurbs - there’s too many blogs like that already and you deserve more consideration for your time).
Exclusives for Newsletter Subscribers: The links,...
3 tags
Mikes on Mics Podcast
I recently went on the Mikes on Mics podcast to debate this article I wrote about productivity for creatives. The podcast came out today, so download it here and join the debate (you’ll recognize a lot of my arguments come from the manifesto).
A note for after listening: Seth Godin confirmed by email I was right about him (so there)!
2 tags
"I only really shoot family photos."
My inbox is filled with email that includes some variation on the quote above. Honestly, I can’t imagine a more important subject.
4 tags
Go Ahead and Buy Expensive Gear
Constraints breed creativity. But what if the constraint that happens to bring out your creativity is a film camera? A $4500 film camera? That’s what happened to street photographer Eric Kim. He knew film gave him a creative edge over digital. That was his constraint. He also wanted a camera that would last a lifetime, so he invested in Leica. No more upgrading every 2 years; one camera, one...
3 tags
"How Digital Photography School Became a...
Just in case you wanted to know how these things work:
“People in the blogging and online marketing world know Darren Rowse from Problogger. Many, however, don’t realize that Problogger is an industry sideline where Darren shares what he learns from his primary business, which is the multimillion dollar web venture Digital Photography School.”
3 tags
On the Right Track
I looked up the definition of art today:
“Art: the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.”
And I was so ready to read about cloud services, “glass” and going pro.
April 2012
19 posts
6 tags
What Film Does that Digital Can't
Lesser photography doesn’t necessarily mean analogue photography, it just means finding ways to boost your creativity by recognizing the power of constraints, editing and storytelling.
For some photographers, that means choosing film over pixels. Why? There are still some things film does better, while remaining a constraint.
There are obvious technical differences that makes film a great...
4 tags
Freedom Is..
The best books get you to rethink your approach to life, career, country…you name it. Hugh MacLeod’s first book Ignore Everybody was just such a book for me back in 2009. It was the kick in the ass every creativity-driven person deserves at least once. Today, his newest book, Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear, was waiting for me on top of my mailbox. I tore through it in no time....
3 tags
Specializing in Mediocrity
The latest excuse I’ve heard from “advanced amateurs” to justify buying expensive equipment and ignoring creativity is “I specialize.”
Wow! Just like a pro (only without those pesky clients and market forces).
I understand the attraction of confining yourself to a niche of photographing dung beetles or retro bottle caps exclusively. It’s comforting. You get to...
2 tags
Priorities
If you know the difference between the Canon 5D Mark III and the Nikon D4, and you’re not a pro…what exactly do you consider a good use of your time?
OK, that was a bit harsh. But when I was a spec monkey, it never occurred to me that every minute I spent reading camera reviews was a minute not spent creating something. Cumulatively, I lost years.
Let my lack of priorities amount to...
2 tags
Can a Story Be Told with a Single Image?
Sure it can. But would it be as compelling as a story with a handful of carefully chosen photos combined with words?
Of course, an iconic image demands attention and, often, a backstory. But such an image is rare, even for legendary photographers.
The real question should be: why do we set ourselves up, by default, to tell single image stories?
2 tags
Great Minds
Eleanor Roosevelt:
“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”
This quote has been a great inspiration in determining what I choose to read about on photography blogs these days. Of course, I often replace the word “people” with “things” whenever a Nikon vs. Canon debate crops up.
1 tag
No Photographer Has Arrived
Before taking any advice from a photography blog (including this one), magazine, book or workshop, it helps to remember:
No photographer has arrived. It’s all a journey and everyone needs to get better.
I’ve never met an “expert” that wasn’t dead wrong about something. I’ve never met an “amateur” who couldn’t teach me something.
2 tags
An All-Text Photo Site?
Every once in a while, I get email about why I don’t plaster this site with my photos. After the TWiP episode, I got a few more. Here’s the lowdown:
This site first started as a way to document my lesser photography experiment and I published the photos from that experiment frequently (check the archives). But as the site matured, I wanted it to be about ideas and your photos, not a...
1 tag
Mikes on Mics (Part 1)
I was on a recent episode of Mikes on Mics (download it here) getting acquainted and talking about Mac-related issues. Consider it prep for an episode that debuts a few weeks, in which I get in an hour-long, knockdown, drag out debate over the issue of productivity for creatives (which I wrote about on another blog).
There’s not a lot of photography-specific content involved, but it’s...
3 tags
Everyone with a camera thinks they're a...
Right?!
Well, what if they are? What if how you measure skill and success in photography is of no importance to the majority of photographers, or viewers for that matter? What if it has nothing to do with money earned, equipment used or the set of rules we’ve all agreed on?
If you photograph, you are, by definition, a photographer. The definition of a successful photographer isn’t as...
3 tags
The Pros Vs The Storytellers 2012 Edition
The 2012 National Magazine Award Finalists have been announced. I see the usual suspects for photography honors: National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, Harpers and TIME.
What I don’t see on the list: Popular Photography, Outdoor Photographer, Shutterbug, Photo Techniques, JPG, Aperture, etc., etc.
It seems real stories still matter.
2 tags
This Week in Photo
Big thanks to Frederick Van Johnson for going against the grain, embracing lesser photography and having me on the latest episode of This Week in Photo. Download the episode here.
For listeners of TWIP, you can download the Lesser Photographer manifesto here and please consider signing up for the newsletter, so we can keep in touch. If you’re on Twitter, I’m all over that as well.
...
2 tags
"Video Pokes Fun at the Growing Nikon vs. Canon... →
Doesn’t poke hard enough for my liking, but it’s funny nonetheless. (via Joseph Cristina)
1 tag
“Creativity is a Verb” →
cameronmoll:
Milton Glaser, as quoted in Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine:
There’s no such thing as a creative type. As if creative people can just show up and make stuff up. As if it were that easy.
I think people need to be reminded that creativity is a verb, and very time-consuming verb. It’s about taking an idea in your head, and transforming that idea into something real. And that’s always going...
1 tag
Instagram's Days May Already Be Numbered →
I’m not a fan of Instagram. I don’t believe it allows you to tell a story with your photos in the best possible way. However, I realize many of you adore the app, which is why the above link may be troubling.
Update: Instagram was just sold to Facebook for $1 billion. So, that was their business model all along - as is the business model for all “free” apps and web...
2 tags
10 Photographers You Should Ignore →
I don’t agree with all of it, but the point of blazing your own trail is spot on. (via Marco Dughera)
3 tags
From AllThingsD:
The four most popular camera phones on Flickr currently? The iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS — in that order.
1 tag
From Seth Godin (via Enough):
If your happiness is based on always getting a little more than you’ve got then you’ve handed control over your happiness to the gatekeepers, built a system that doesn’t scale and prevented yourself from the brave work that leads to a quantum leap.
2 tags
If I Had a Hammer
From LensRentals.com:
With the recent camera releases (or maybe Spring fever) I’ve been rather amazed watching various photography forums have major melt downs during the last few weeks. I said something about cameras and lenses just being tools, not life and death, and got immediately annihilated.
March 2012
12 posts
2 tags
"Why I Print"
David duChemin seconds a sentiment I wrote about a little while ago:
“I encourage you, even if you never print at home, to print your work. The artist’s life is about creating and sharing, not creating and hoarding. The ability to see and experience the world, and express that experience through your work, is a gift; keep it moving.”
2 tags
Your Best Work
From Havard Business Review (via Hugh McLeod):
“Based on the research we did for our book, we’re convinced that when you’re heading into the unknown, desire is all-important. You simply want to be doing something that you love, or something that is logically going to lead to something you love, in order to do your best work. That desire will make you more creative and more...
2 tags
Lightroom 4 vs. Aperture 4
Lightroom 4 debuted recently and, since, I’ve read a glut of opinion on what Apple should do to play catchup in Aperture 4.
Peppered throughout these pieces is a sense of entitlement along the lines of, “I’ll stop using Aperture altogether if Apple doesn’t implement the follow enhancements: <insert a list of obscure features that somehow weren’t needed until last...
3 tags
"The Ongoing Sabotage of Art"
An interesting opinion piece from photographer Kirk Tuck (via Marco Dughera):
“What I’m arguing for is the idea that, before inflicting on our shared culture, another meaningless rectangle of bouncy color and vacuous content that we all have a responsibility to understand what it is we want to say, why we want to say it and how well we can talk. Then art moves forward.”
2 tags
The Hobbyist's Dilemma
The Online Photographer on the trappings of a hobby (via Marco Dughera):
All hobbies and interests are beset with “received” models of how to go about participating in them: If you’re into boats, say, then the conventional wisdom says you must own a boat; and if you own a boat, the bigger it is the better; etc. But is the conventional wisdom really right for you?
1 tag
“Creativity requires time and space. Two things the modern world likes to erode.”
– Hugh MacLeod
3 tags
You Have Everything You Need
From Patrick Rhone:
“Nothing is stopping you from doing the work. You have everything you need. Right now. Today. You always have. So, what are you waiting for?”
2 tags
Personal Work
From Ethan Pines (via A Photo Editor):
“There’s nothing more liberating than shooting in a new place, spontaneously, without planning, lighting or agenda. It’s what drew us to photography in the first place. Personal work is what recharges us.”
It’s even better when “personal” work is your only work.
3 tags
“Thinking about men I admired, it dawned on me that most had a quiet contempt...”
– Art of Manliness (via Minimal)
2 tags
“Award-winning photographer Annie Leibovitz was recently asked in an interview...”
– North Shore News (via Hipstamatic and Alyssa Scheinson)
2 tags
52 Pickup
52 Tiger, a blog by the illustrious Dave Caolo on Apple and other nerdities, has posted an episode of the 52 Pickup podcast with me as a free preview (normally available only to paid members). Check it out here.
2 tags
"How To Become A Pro Photographer in 5 Simple...
Chase Jarvis posted yesterday on the all too common question of how to go pro:
“Got a note the other day from an aspiring photographer. He wanted to know what it takes to become a pro. I thought–very pragmatically–that it’s really not complicated. HARD maybe, but complicated, no.”
I have total respect for Chase and the anti-gear lust stands he’s taken in the past, but this...
February 2012
5 posts
1 tag
It's a Boy!
I haven’t been posting regularly for a little while due to a new addition to the family, my son Charlie. Since his arrival, only one thought about photography has been reverberating in my head.
Photography should be there to capture whatever it is we love or find fascinating about life. Photographing, simply for the love of photography, seems shallow in comparison. Yet, there’s...
3 tags
Work Alone
Whenever possible, work alone to boost your creativity.
What artists have long suspected has born out to be true, according to Susan Cain in her new book, Quiet. Years of experiments have shown collaboration tends to create fewer and lower quality ideas, compared to people creating on their own. Brainstorming, to remain effective, should be a solitary activity.
But my experience tells me that...
2 tags
“Artists work best alone.”
– Woz
1 tag
“Get fired everyday.”
– Carl King
3 tags
Appropriate Practicality
Some argue lesser photography vilifies gear serving “practical,” “efficient” or “appropriate” purposes. Not quite. Lesser photography is about the rejection of the notion of “practical,” “efficient” and “appropriate” in photography.
How many times have you been inspired by the “practical” nature of a photo?
January 2012
9 posts
2 tags
“I’m thinking there may be a market in being the guy who helps to un-train...”
– Patrick Rhone (damn straight, Patrick)
3 tags
Pass Along Your Best Stories
Images corrupt and apps are unreliable. Your backups may not be backing up what you thought. Websites suffer neglect.
A few years after you die, your files may not even be readable, if someone even cares to look after them.
The truth is, there’s no such thing as an archival digital format. There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily for the photographer. The photographer’s...
2 tags
“Access to tools is easier too. Every digital tool in the world is easily...”
– - Seth Godin
(This is the core creativity problem in photography today: everyone is looking to external tools to solve an internal problem.)
2 tags
“Get boo’ed off stage at least once.”
– Carl King
1 tag
11 Random Thoughts From an Amateur Photographer →
“Just because you’re a photographer doesn’t mean every conversation has to revolve around the subject. Photography might be what you pursue but having a life outside of it is what ultimately serves as an inspiration for what you do with the camera.”
2 tags
Innovation
This week you’ll hear a lot about innovation in photography on your favorite blogs. Unfortunately, they’re talking about innovations in objects, not ideas.
How much time could you save and how much more could you learn, if you tuned out the blogs that fall in love with objects?