thoughts

Photography Never Died

Lately, the photography sphere has been inundated, not with the gazillions of photos everyone is talking about, but with article after article proclaiming that photography is dead/over/irrelevant/trash.

The Over-Capturing Epidemic

The other night I couldn't sleep (too much coffee at 5 pm) and was in bed scrolling through my Facebook feed, when this ad for the Samsung Gear 360° camera came up (below), with the instruction to "capture more of the moment." Through my groggy state of semi-consciousness, it hit me in a new way. We don't need to capture more, we need to hone a vision. If anything, we need to capture less. More wheat, less chaff.

Why I Switched from Sony to Canon for Video

Choosing the right camera can be one of the hardest decisions you will make and possibly one of the most expensive one too. In the last 3 years, I've gone through over 10 different cameras before finally being happy and content with what I have now.

To Create Great Photos, Be Willing To Waste Your Time

Detaching ourselves from the amount of work we've spent on something, and the end result, is a critical part of the creative creation process. Nobody cares how hard it was to create something unless it shows in a material way.

The Art vs. The Craft of Photography

As creatives, we all go through a very similar journey when it comes to improving our skill. Though details of the turbulent ride vary for everyone, it always boils down to two things; the how, and the why.

The Significance of a Personal Project

My daily stroll through the newly-built but already-decaying park near my apartment in Hanoi while listening to Spotify on a brisk (by Southeast Asia standards) morning has me in deep thought. We only get this type of weather for a couple months a year here and I absolutely love it.

I’m Not Good at Street Photography… I’m Just Not Scared

Today I used Lightroom Mobile to capture images on the street for the first time. I recently remembered that you can sync images from Lightroom Mobile right to the Lightroom desktop application. This was huge for me as I'm tired of syncing via Airdrop. It takes forever to select which images you want to import.

The Ethics of Landscape Photography

I’ve wondered for a long time what it means to be an ethical landscape photographer. Sure, this field isn’t known for its wide-reaching moral dilemmas or particularly sticky situations, but the question still deserves attention.

Can(‘t) You See? Or, The Ethics of Photographing Vulnerable People

My name is Simon Sharp, and I'm a documentary photographer. In this article, I will explore why I believe a photographer took pictures he should have refrained from taking and why the industry -- both print and NGO -- promoted them without apparently seeing what they were.

The Value of a Photographer

So, you want to be a photographer? And why not, it seems to be a valued and respected profession. Or is it?...

Great Photos Don’t Need to Be Technically Perfect

Do photos always need to be technically perfect? In this 10-minute video, landscape photographer Thomas Heaton discusses whether photographers worry too much about the technicalities of a photo, forgetting about what's actually in the image.

What IS a Professional Photographer?

The phrase heard every day in the world of photography is “I am a professional photographer.” This statement must be viewed in the context that 8 out of 10 people with a DSLR refer to themselves as professional photographers. Of course, this statistical claim is a MUS (Made-Up-Stat). OK, the math is fuzzy, but in reality, the claim is not that outlandish.

Dying for Likes on Social Media

In the usual places we're seeing the monthly "Urbex (urban exploration) photographer dies in fall" story making the rounds. These are guys that trespass on rooftops, on ledges, in abandoned buildings, and so on, to take photographs.

Does Photography Matter?

Photography has always held a weird space in my head. In my mind, I make things that look neat. I have always held great envy to those who create such complex, emotional narratives to their images. I sit and observe with awe and wonder at the tales that come from them, their reasons for color, pose, and other infinitesimal details. Pixels for me are a means to an end, but it’s still something I can’t help but create. It’s how I tell a story, but it’s not how I tell my own.

How NOT to Become a Brand Ambassador as a Photographer

I’ve often received emails from photographers who have approached my little brand, 3 Legged Thing with offers of "collaboration". There's is nothing wrong with making an approach at all, and while I rarely act upon these unsolicited approaches, they can, occasionally, yield gold.

How to Deal With Creative Envy as a Photographer

In his signature story-telling style, photographer Sean Tucker sits us down in this video for a 10-minute talk about handling creative envy and jealousy as a photographer or videographer. As he says, comparing yourself to other creatives can stall your career and breed resentment, and it’s important to know how to identify and check these thoughts.

Uncut: Here is a Portrait of the Real Me

I've been wanting to take this photo for a while. Years, actually. The reason it's taken me so long is it terrified me. The idea of taking a photo showing the real me, the unretouched me, was an idea that filled me with dread and empowered me at the same time, equal measures of the opposing emotions.

The Hardest Decision I’ve Ever Had to Make as a Photographer

It’s 7:15 am on Sunday morning. I’m driving through the middle of Newcastle on my way to shoot wedding prep at a venue just over an hour away from my home. I pull over to the hard shoulder. Head in hands, crying and asking myself: “Chris, What the f**k are you doing?”

11 Dumb Things Camera Companies Are Still Doing

As much as we talk about the lack of true innovation in the camera market, particularly when it comes to integration with the Internet and social media, every day I keep encountering cameras that have the same "hey this is the way it used to be" design philosophies underlying them.

Stop Asking About Camera Settings

Photographer Tony Northrup wants you to stop asking photographers about their camera settings. In this 7-minute video, he explains why the camera settings that were used for an image are relatively unimportant and a distraction from the real work that goes into making a shot.

The iPhone X and Digital Lighting Will Change Photography Yet Again

There's a feature tucked away in the new iPhones that doesn't seem to be getting a lot of traction, but it represents a massive sea change in photography. It's the "Portrait Lighting" mode, and it's the second shot across the bows of traditional photography from the world of computational photography.

Are Photographers Ruining Photography For Photographers?

Photographer Brendan van Son recorded this 9-minute video in which he shares his frustration with the current landscape of photography in the social media era. Is the influx of new photographers ruining the joy of photography by crowding locations and behaving impolitely towards others?

Dear Canon, What Happened To Your Innovation?

Dear Canon,

You and I have had a very, very long friendship that has lasted many years and many, many generations of cameras. Ever since my first camera purchase, you have been my brand of choice. I still have my original Canon IXUS 40 and multiple generations of full frame and APS-C SLRs going back as far as the 450D, which was released in March 2008.

The Importance of the Photograph

My father passed away a month ago, and his birthday was on August 31st. I'm letting that sink in. Death is never easy and for those that have lost a parent, it has a certain significance. The person who has been there your entire life is now gone. There are things that I am now thinking about that hardly, if ever, crossed my mind. The biggest being that I am mortal and I too will meet the same fate some day, and the other, related to photography, is the importance of the photograph.

I Just Had 20,000 Slides Returned from Sports Illustrated

Ever since I was a kid, I loved saving stuff. I saved all my baseball cards in rubber band stacks in shoe boxes. I collected stacks and stacks of 7-Eleven Slurpee baseball cups in 1973. Every San Francisco Giants yearbook and media guide going back to the early 1960s? Yup, got them too.

Who Needs a Photo Permit in Nevada State Parks?

Nevada Law and the Nevada Administrative code have a simple definition of when you need to have a permit to shoot photos in their parks. It is based entirely on whether or not the pictures will be sold.

A New Camera Just Came Out

There was a new camera that was just announced. It's really good, apparently. It's got more megapixels. A brighter screen. It can stack lots of images together. It does everything you've ever wanted.

Confessions of a Failed Eclipse Photographer

I’ve dreamed of seeing a total eclipse of the sun all my life. When I read there would be one on August 21st that passed dead-center over the town of Newberry, South Carolina, I was overjoyed. This was my chance. My wife and I had lived in Newberry in 2013. I had friends there. I had a place to stay. I wouldn’t need to pay $1,000 for a hotel.

I Gave Up Painting to Do Photography, And It Shows in My Work

Painting and photography are often considered similar artistic expressions. Henri Cartier-Bresson was a painter before he became a photographer, and became a painter again in his retirement. While his artistic sense informed his photography in terms of his ability to see the world in constantly changing light and compositional potential, he never considered photography as art.

An Open Letter to Nikon from a Time-Lapse Photographer

Dear Nikon,

I am writing as a longtime Nikon photographer and someone who has been working extensively with your cameras and who has written many reviews in the past years. I have been shooting in the area of timelapse photography for many years now, and have given many workshops and training sessions.

5 Reasons Landscape Photographers Have a Screw Loose

My name is Scott Davenport, and I'm a landscape photographer. And I'm part of a crazy lot. I had this realization during a sleep deprived afternoon. My hazy mind was trying to get me through the rest of the day. It was also trying to comprehend how I arrived at the miserable state I was in.