Everyday Photography, Every Day

30: Learning from Looking

15 November 2018  |  18 mins 53 secs

Mastering your camera is fundamental, but the way to become good at photography is largely about looking at lots of photographs. By great photographers. A range of them. So how do you look at old work and what's the take away?

29: Filters and Post Production (Great Photos are Made, Not Shot)

12 November 2018  |  16 mins 54 secs

Ansel Adams famously said that photographs were made, not taken. And while he invented the Zone System and "pre-visualization" his secret was to make images in post production. To paraphrase Adams' musical metaphor, the taken picture is the written song; the printing is the performance.

28: Constraints and Photographic "Games"

10 November 2018  |  15 mins 4 secs

art, crafts, creativity, photography

There's nothing worse than a blank canvas. And being told you can take pictures of anything is actually a bit paralyzing. So here's some ways to break the jam and play creatively.

27: The Annual Thanksgiving Show

8 November 2018  |  14 mins 20 secs

holiday, photos, thanksgiving

The holidays are picture-taking days! Tips and thoughts on shooting your festivities.

26: Creating Personal Projects

6 November 2018  |  15 mins 50 secs

If you shoot enough, at some point someone will ask "what do you take pictures of?" and it's a surprisingly difficult question.

25: How NOT to be an Amateurish Amateur

4 November 2018  |  13 mins 53 secs

What are the things we do as beginners that are good to work through...

24: Establishing Trust

2 November 2018  |  16 mins

Perhaps the most important attribute of the photographer isn't technical, it's the ability to engender trust in people....

23: Are Your Pictures Any Good?

31 October 2018  |  12 mins 56 secs

So you've taken a lot of great photos. How do you determine which are "really" good?

22: Walking Around with a Camera

29 October 2018  |  17 mins 31 secs

It's good practice to take your phone/camera out, and go for a walk. Pay attention to what catches your attention...

21: On Reading Susan Sontag

27 October 2018  |  17 mins 4 secs

art, artists, photography

Two books almost universally recommended for photographers...

20: Truth!

26 October 2018  |  20 mins 12 secs

What is photographic truth? What happens when the photographer manipulates the image? How much manipulation is okay? If it's all a fiction, why do these things matter?

19: The Space Between

25 October 2018  |  17 mins 8 secs

A photo is often capturing more than the surface of a subject, but rather, the relationship between photographer and subject.

18: Simplification

24 October 2018  |  15 mins 20 secs

There's so much happening in the frames of our pictures, they can become more elegant with some simplification—what can be done to simplify an images?

17: The Death of Photography?

22 October 2018  |  18 mins 6 secs

Teenagers taking pictures: is it "photography" or something else. Wim Wenders proclaimed the "end of photography." Really?

16: The Rule of Thirds is Bullsh*t, Seriously, and other Topics of Composition

21 October 2018  |  17 mins 47 secs

People always talk about the "rule of thirds" and after much consideration, I've decided it's neither true nor useful, in teaching photography. Agree?

15: The Problem with Video

17 October 2018  |  17 mins 12 secs

There is more to the advantages of still photography over moving video than technology. It messes with your brain...