When lack of vision results in putting lipstick on a pig
I have learned – the hard way – that imitation is the anti-christ of inspiration. I was truly inspired this weekend by both Cartier Bresson and by the way in which my new friends explored their vision of Chicago right through to their choices in final post-processing. Feeling inspired, I set myself a number of exercises and books to read to anchor that new insight. This post is the final exercise that I set myself in Chicago and its purpose was to explore how imitating someone else can undermine and cheat you of your own vision. Whilst I am not able to show you ant images that were copied when we shot, I can show you how some of my images are altered if I imitate one of the other’s style.
Safari-a Monograph. David duChemin’s latest superb eBook
Photographers are normally highly visual. Kind of obvious statement, but I have noticed with amusement and self-observation that many male photographers are like me: They love the gear and see everything, at least initially, as logical or technical steps that need be taken and once secure in the technical processes, they relax and allow the [...]
How to create order from disorder through split toning
I am slowly – all too slowly – working my way through the 5000+ images that I took in Italy earlier this month during the Italy Within The Frame workshop with David duChemin and Jeffrey Chapman, and one thing is for certain is it has helped me to optimize my Lightroom workflow! Most of the [...]
Why location, luck and gear is not enough
When I first started taking photography seriously about 18 months a go I naively thought that taking a powerful portrait – particularly travel or street portraiture – was really just because the fulltime photographer was always in an exotic place, with a great camera and of course in those type of locations you really just [...]
How to make Blurb Bookshow widget work in WordPress
I was invited to trial the about-to-be launched Blurb BookShow widget – a great little application that allows you to embed a preview of your Blurb book in your blog or website page, thus helping to raise that book’s profile and also in providing the opportunity for up-sell. I cut and pasted the code as [...]
Finding the Light with Manny Librodo
Whilst I was in Bangkok, I managed to meet up with Manuel J Librodo (Manny), who currently lives here but originally hails from the Philippines. Manny’s unique style of image making and post-processing have given him an amazing brand and reputation – particularly in Asia and the Middle East. His workshops sell out in days, [...]
More panning tips from a day with Mr Panning
I blogged a few weeks back about my attempts to master panning, and of course as part of the 1 on 1 workshop with Gavin Gough that I blogged about yesterday, I took every opportunity to quiz the master – Mr Panning himself – on some more tips! I felt a little indulgent standing for [...]
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