THESE PDF COPIES ARE FREE COURTESY LIGHTING ESSENTIALS AND THE TALENTED PHOTOGRAPHERS FEATURED INSIDE.
No Magic Pill, No “Easy” Button! What’s a Photographer To Do?
I recently spent some time in my studio with a photographer who was struggling a bit to find his 'style'. He thought that I could help him find what it is that he was doing wrong, and came by for a long working lunch. His assumption that I could help him find his...
The “Business” of Photography: Have I Lost Perspective, Or Simply Disconnected?
OK... Snarky Rant follows: You have been warned. So there's this photographer on Google +, Colby Brown, and he is writing a book about Google + and photographers. He decided to run a contest or something like a contest, to get some photographers who are actively...
Designing The Image You Want (a Chapter from My Book, Lighting Essentials)
Today I present an excerpt from my book, "Lighting Essentials: A Subject-Centric Approach for Photographers" now available from Amazon and fine book retailers all over the world! Whew! It is really interesting that yesterday I got a knock on the door and was handed...
Thanks is for Giving, and I Need To Do Some Givin’
It is Thanksgiving week in the US. It is a day that was set aside to give thanks for all that we have and take a moment to reflect on our year. It is also a time for being gluttonous, preparing for the biggest shopping day in the year and when family who may not speak...
What Happens When You Do Everything Right, And It Still Doesn’t Work?
There was a very interesting post over at Kirk Tuck's blog this week. It had to do with only being as good as the last shot, and how some great photographers are watching their careers slow precipitously, even while still being recognized as top level photographers....
Fear and Loathing in Photoville
Last week, Zack Arias received an email from someone excoriating him for ruining the photography business, teaching "n00b's" misleading information, fouling the water, defiling the tenants of Mordor, and general misbehaving. Or something. You should read it here, and...
Question and Answer Friday at Lighting Essentials
I was wondering aloud on twitter last night and asked if anyone had any questions they wanted answered... four tweets later we had these. One I believe I answered by tweets, but these three were so strong that they needed more than the 144 character response. Here...
It’s the Wild and Wacky “Winner Gets ME” Contest at LE (this will be fun!)
Wacky Winner Gets ME Contest. Yep – I will either come out to you and do a one on one workshop, or you can come here to do one in Phoenix. If you decide to come out here, airfare will be taken care of round trip (there are some caveats – see below). The workshop is...
Lighting Essentials Appreciation Weekend: January 28/29 2012: Workshops/BBQ/Fun
I have wanted to do this for a long time, and now that I am changing stuff up, it seems like a great time to hold our Lighting Essentials Appreciation Weekend. What it is: A weekend for us to have fun, make photographs, meet old friends and make new ones. There will...
October’s Gone, I Am Changing It Up, and Are You Up For a Visit From Me?
This is the last weekend of October. Only two months left till the new year, and hopefully some new directions. Seems like I always think of January, June, and September as transitional months. Maybe from all those years in school... I dunno. But change is in the air,...
“The Photographer’s Path” – A New Program from Selina Maitreya
Selina Maitreya's new course is something that is as unique as it gets. It is fresh, fun, exciting and with such a personal twist to the usual consultants approach, that you will be quite amazed. I have been working with the first month, and just received the second...
Why Simply Being “Better” Won’t Get You Assignments
There is a reason why the above was not chosen as a worldwide statement meant to inspire us to try a different method of computing... ya know. As photographers, we see this sort of thing all the time. "To get more work, become better than your competition". Really?...
It’s Nice to have Talented Friends (3 Photographers You Should Know)
It has been a long, hot summer here in the desert. Takes its toll on us sometimes. Creativity can be a little stifled when it is 120 degrees in the shade... heh. And yeah, I do have a studio to shoot in, but like that old adage about being careful what you wish for,...
Assignment Photography: a Strategy for Bidding the Gig
The phone rings a little before lunch. You answer it and a voice on the other end says, "How are you. You showed your book here at the agency a few weeks ago, and we have a job we would like you to bid on. We will email over the particulars if you are interested." The...
What Changed? What Remains?
I am very sad that my friend Kirk Tuck closed the door on his wonderful blog The Visual Science Lab. I sent a hearfelt note urging him to reconsider, but he has very strong and equally heartfelt reasons why he felt it was time to let it go. And I know that feeling. I...
Environmental Portraits: Be Ready for Anything, Use Only What You Need
I am working with a sculptor on some creating collateral and website materials. She didn't have any good images of her working, so we put together a shoot schedule that brought me to her studio in Paradise Valley. I love going on location to shoot portraits and I pack...
“… To See What The World Looks Like as a Photograph.” Works For Me
Garry Winogrand had a wonderful and unique way of thinking about photography. He was asked once why he seemed to photograph everything, seemingly without regard as to what he was photographing. His response:"I photograph to see what the world looks like in...
Why I Teach: A Personal Perspective
(NOTE: I would like to thank those students and alums who helped me become one of the top workshop teachers on Photo District News, Reader's Poll for September, 2011.) I was recently asked to discuss what I liked about teaching photography, and why I thought it was...
On Balance: Challenging the Nature of Gravity
There has been one strong thought in the back of my mind lately. It sort of hangs there like a candle that is almost ready to die, but keeps the flame going for another few seconds. Then it flickers nearly to extinction - and lights up again with the slight change of...
Green Tea, Rice Balls and Ancient Asian Cities
Photograph of sunrise in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. God I love iced green tea. Especially when it is really hot outside. And even more when I am outside with the extremely hot outside. The soft, gentle flavors and the coolness of the ice help with the - at times brutal -...
Cole Bennett: Photographer, Orillia, Ontario
(Photo by Cole Bennett: "One frame from the fairly extensive photography project I've been working on with the YMCA of Simcoe Muskoka (which is within my county." Meet Cole Bennett, a commercial photographer in a small town in east-central Canada. Orillia, Ontario is...
Project 52: Environmental Portraiture Examples
I am so enjoying working with the Project 52 photographers. It is one of the things I am having the most fun with. If you are not familiar with Project 52, it is an ongoing project that started last January, and is continuing till Christmas this year... 52 weeks, 52...
Time to View The Lighting Essentials Contest Submissions and Vote
Well it's that time. Time to choose the winners in our Summer contest: "Summer in My Town". The assignment was to make between 6 and 8 images to show off what summer is like in your town. We had a lot of entrants, but not so many uploads. But we got some good ones,...
Contest Submission Instructions and a big THANKS to our Sponsors
Hi everyone. It is time to wrap up the contest shooting. "Summer In My Town" has run from June 1 through the first 2 weeks of August. We now must collect the entries and get the site set up. Below are submission instructions. Please send the images to me by Tuesday,...