PixelatedImage Blog

May wallpapers are here, in both 2560×1600 and 1280×853, get’em while they’re hot. This is Camogli, a gorgeous and under-touristed town compared to others in this area. Lovely people, great views, awesome food and wine. Click the image above for the smaller wallpaper. Click  HERE for the larger one.

If you missed the action, the latest eBook Vision Is Better, got released this week. Be sure to get the discounts while they apply. Limited time offer!

Next stop, Venice. It’s supposed to rain the whole time I’m there and for some reason I am quite excited about that. Bad weather can be great light. I’ll drop a line when I can, see you then.

It’s our last day here and I’m both sad to leave Camogli, and excited to be moving on to Venice, a city I’ve wanted to see and photograph for a long, long time. And with that longing comes expectations and the rollercoaster of wrestling through those expectations to get through to the other side where I can see the place as I see it, unconfined by the postcards I’ve seen, and the images I’ve got in my mind. Never easy. But when you let yourself just go through the process it’s much better than easy, it’s exciting and gratifying, and like meeting – and falling in love with – someone. I’ve heard Venice is easy to love and can’t wait to see her.

So I’m leaving you with this one. You know how I say “shoot what you love”? Well I love this scene. And I loved the colours. And I was drinking a glass of Vermentino with the team at the time. So it doesn’t get much better than this. But this guy was everywhere and his accordian made my ears bleed and if I hadn’t grabbed my camera to shoot him I’d have run down the street instead, with my fingers in my ears yelling, “Make it stop, dear God, MAKE IT STOP.” So it’s a mercy there’s no imbedded audio in this one.

Off to Venice tomorrow morning. Wish you were here.

If you missed it, we launched the latest ebook – Vision Is Better – yesterday, and there are good discounts, so keep reading to the next post. The discount ends in a couple days, so don’t miss out if you want this one.

I’m thrilled to be able to announce that Vision Is Better, my most recent eBook, is now online and available for download.

VISION IS BETTER is different from the other eBooks I’ve written or published. For one, it’s big. It’s 116 pages in fact. For another, it’s all been done before. Literally. This is a collection of the 50 most popular articles I’ve written for the Pixelated Image blog. There are well-reasoned thoughts in here, alongside irrational and impassioned rants. For some reason the lunatic rants are the most popular. What they all share is a focus on the deeper issues of the photographic life.

I believe that the best photographic tools we have are our minds and hearts and the sharper those tools, the more engaged they are on the subjects that matter, the better our images will be and the more fulfilling our photographic lives will be. But as I said, if you’re looking for a deal, you can get all this for free right here, you’ll just have to dig harder and be connected to the internet. VISION IS BETTER is a beautifully laid out off-line version, and the dates are all intact so if you want to come back to the blog to read a comment thread, it’s easy to find in the archives.

I am really proud of this one. And a little embarrassed. You have no idea how much you write until you see it all in one place. Clearly I have no life. If you’re looking for 100% genuine Pixelated Image content, this is it. If you’re unwilling to overlook a book with only the tenuous thread of a theme, and lots and lots of completely biased and opinionated thoughts that I both repeat often and then contradict, then move along. Nothing to see here. Or, if you’re the latter type but also the kid of person that can’t not look at a train-wreck, then it might be worth shelling out the $5.

Hyperbole aside, I think there’s so much value in this $5 eBook that I’m willing to go on record as saying that you’ll get at least TWICE as much value as usual, and that it will last FIFTY TIMES longer than your average crappy latte for which you’ll pay about the same, or more. How can you say no?

VISION IS BETTER is available now in the Craft&Vision store, along with all the other titles, for $5.

Special Offer: For the first six days only, if you use the promotional code VISION4 when you checkout, you can have Vision is Better for only $4 OR use the code VISION20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more books from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST MAY 4, 2010.

Hello from Camogli on the beautiful Ligurian coast in Italy. We were in Vernazza again last night, chasing the light, and also the pasta. It’s lovely here, but no easier to create a photograph that truly jumps out at you. We spend our days chasing the moment, the light, the lines, and getting them all to dance with each other in a single frame. Not easy. And then we subject those images to critique for a couple hours and it’s that, I think, that keeps driving us to consume large plates of pasta and much wine each night during our 10pm dinners. I love it here, and I love the companions who’ve chosen to travel with us. Please, sir, may I have some more…

New eBook comes out tomorrow – stay tuned and tell the world!

I almost feel bad about this one; this is a pretty nice place. So I’ll spare you the details. I was going to tell you about the town of Camogli, and that I shot this sitting on a patio drinking a glass of white wine while eating cheese and salamis and watching the Italy Within The Frame team do the same. It’s rough here, but these folks are troopers – they take their daily dose of pasta and coffee and wine without complaining.

This morning we took the 8am boat to San Fruttuoso on choppy seas under moody clouds, arriving at the abby without another tourist around. Lovely.

Hope you’re all well. The new eBook – Vision Is Better – is now done and sitting on the server reader for release on the 29th of April. And the follow-up to Andrew S. Gibson’s first eBook about Black and White photography will come out as the May release, it’s already on its way to layout. Other than that, it’s day after day of chasing our muses, wherever we are. Grab your camera and go make some photographs.

Wish you were here. – David.

PS – The image above, as well as the one on the post previous was shot with a Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polarizer, and an ND grad, with almost nothing done in post. The Gold-N-Blue Polarizer is a magical thing, the closest I’ve yet come to the mythical Un-Suck Filter, and I’m dangerously close to over-using it. But I’m OK with that.

A quick hello from Italy. We arrived this morning to Camogli and will be based here for the next three nights. Last night we spent the evening shooting at Vernazza – if you’ve seen a photograph of the Cinque Terre it’s likely the port town of Vernazza you’ve seen. Then we had a late dinner with too much wine and pasta and there’s a rumour I might have been singing Ebony and Ivory as we left the restaurant, but I wouldn’t believe everything you hear.

Having a great time, but the internet’s dodgy and the nights are late, so posts here, well, it’s either put a post up or have another panacotta and sciaccatre. The dolci wins every time, sorry.

With the submission of my final words and images for Vision & Voice, my part in this most recent book is now pretty much over. Done. And I can breathe again. But it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m tired. Drained. A little empty right now. In just over one year we’ll have released 3 print books – 2 of which are heading for at least 10 foreign language editions – and 10 eBooks. And clients still insist on hiring me, so there’s that too.

So now is the perfect time to do two things. 1. Start the process of re-filling the bucket of inspiration that I’ve just drained, and 2. Start the next book.

So without tipping my hand and telling you about the next book just yet, let me tell you about my bucket.

Right now it feels empty. But creativity is one of those things you replenish by the very act of using it, giving it away. So re-filling the bucket isn’t a matter of sitting back and waiting for someone to come along and fill’er to the brim. The muse doesn’t work like that. It’s a matter of going out to find her. Writer Jack London once talked about it as going out with a club to track her down and drag her back. That’s a little too neanderthal for me, but the notion is sound. You gotta go find her.

So I’m starting over again. Going back to square one. In my case square one is a frame of B&W T-Max 35mm film in my Pentax Spotmatic, the first SLR I ever owned. I’m going to go back to where it all started, free from the room full of gear and the preoccupations that come with making a living at this, and I’m going to shoot a roll of film just because. Because I like the sound of the film winding. Because I love the still-familiar feel of that old camera in my hands. Because I love the way the shutter bounces a little at 1/30. Because I love not being able to see the image the moment I take it. Because I love the imperfections, and the anticipation, and the fact that it’ll take a week – or more – before I can get the prints back. Sometimes jumping a rut requires steering hard to one side, and for me that’s going back to the beginning.

I’ve also packed my Hassleblad for Italy, along with a bag of expired Velvia film. When the gang has all gone home and I’m sitting in Venice alone I’m going to wander for a couple days and just shoot with an eye on enjoying the process and no thought to the end product. I can’t wait.

What are you doing to keep the bucket filled?

Ok, not really. I’ll take vision anyday over the shiny toys. It doesn’t always have to be one or the other, though. This is one of those rare posts that talks about gear and if you’re not ready to hear me geek-out, perhaps now is a good time to go read What The Duck or something.

I have been planning this for a while. Lacking a 50mm lens for a while I bought a Zeiss Planar 1.4/50 (HERE’s the lens on the B&H Site) It wasn’t a moment of weakness. But it could have been, this is a nice lens! Sharp and fast, no surprise there. But here’s the kicker. It’s a Nikon mount lens. I shoot Canon (for now). With a Novoflex EOS/NIK adapter (B&H Link HERE) I can put this on my Canon bodies just fine. So why then, would I pay for a lens I had to buy an additional (and, at almost $300, expensive) adapter for? Good question.

First, the Zeiss lenses are amazing. Beautifully built and with incredible optics, this is a no-compromise lens and the thought of buying Canon’s 50/1.2 just didn’t sit well with me for the money they cost (not that the Zeiss lenses are cheap but this one was just over $800CAD and the Canon L is $1800CAD). And did I mention how beautifully these are made? They feel like a lens should and are all metal – including the lens hoods.

Second, while Zeiss makes these lenses with a Canon mount, the Nikon F mount version has an aperture ring on the lens which the Canon version does not; so this is a step back to my old-school roots. I wanted an exceptional manual focus lens, and with a little digging around I discovered that the combo would give me both manual focus and manual aperture. Love it!

Third, as I look to the day when I will shoot both Canon and Nikon bodies, this allows me to begin building a collection of prime lenses – a 21, 50, and 85 – that I can use on both mounts. One day in the not-to-distant future I want to shoot both Nikon and Canon (another topic for another post) but for now I’m not keen to duplicate my lenses. However I also want a selection of good primes for travel and this will eventually let me invest in one set of glass I can use for both bodies. Until now I had no idea it could be done.

For many of you this won’t matter a bit, but if you’re looking for some of the best primes – and the Zeiss 21mm is arguably one of the best wide angles available – and want manual functions and brand-neutrality of some degree, this is an exciting option. Downsides? Well, it’s manual so the more I stop down the darker things get in that viewfinder. And there’s no EXIF data coming from the lens. And it’s manual so I’ll miss some shots while I re-acquire my manual-focus chops. But as part of the purpose of all this was to slow down a little, that’s a gain, not a loss. And with this Novoflex adapter, I can start borrowing older lenses from my unsuspecting Nikon friends. You hear that, Delnea? Yeah, I’m talking to you!

Now, I’m off to Italy to try this baby out. Remember, Vision is Better – but Gear is Good!

This morning I begin travelling to Italy. On Thursday morning, after a couple stops on the way, I’ll arrive in Genoa to meet up with Jeffrey Chapman. A couple days later we begin the first of two Italy Within The Frame workshops. 2 solid weeks in Liguria followed by an extension to Venice and then almost a week on my own to shoot, to write, to do some thinking. I’m very excited about this one and while I know many of you will be tempted to express your sympathy for me, try to hold back I’ve been in beautiful places with great photographers and amazing food and wine before, I think I’ll survive. See you when I am back, but don’t abandon the blog, I’m going to make an effort to keep popping in with an image here and a story there.

With huge thanks to all of you, the new eBook has just been titled. Earlier this week I asked you all for ideas about the coming eBook title and man did you show up! Some of the ideas were great, some were just plane loonie and I gotta tell you I’m a little concerned for the mental health of some of you. But if y’all are crazy, it’s crazy in a good way. Mostly. Anyways, I’m grateful, thank you.

In the end we went with VISION IS BETTER and while some folks suggested that the motto of this blog – Gear Is Good, Vision Is Better – it was Kathryn L, from PhotoKat.ca, that isolated the best part of that and suggested VISION IS BETTER. Kathryn, take a bow. We’ll send you a free copy of the book and a $100 gift certificate at B&H Photo. I know you’re Canadian, so if you’d rather have that gift certificate at Henry’s or Vistek, let me know and we can do that instead.

We’re aiming to have the book out and in your hands on Thursday, April 29th. I’ll be in Italy but the elves here will make sure it’s live and the details are posted the same way they always are, and probably with less mistakes than when I do it, so you’re in good hands.

Thanks again for the fun and the help. I love the this community and this is one of those reasons – y’all just don’t hold back. And you tolerate my unrestrained use of the word “y’all” which I’m the first to admit is a little wierd coming from a canuck, but it’s just suck a good word, it would be a shame to waste it.

We’ve got more exciting titles coming and more than ever are commited to providing exceptional photographic education at ridiculous prices. If you’re benefiting from this, and this model, then I’ve two more favours to ask of you. One, if you have a photographer you respect, someone who loves to teach, then let us know. We’re always looking for great authors to add. We don’t need top names, we need great photographers and teachers. The second is easy – just tell the world. This model works because we’ve got a good handful of really solid fans, if there were less of you we’d have to charge more, but the more of you there are, and the more you tell the world, the easier it becomes to keep the prices low and offer more discounts.

OK. My bags are packed. I leave tomorrow. I’ll be checking in where there is internet and giving reports on the trip, as well as encouraging the talented photographers I am with to do the same. If you’re not coming with us, you can follow along and start daydreaming about next year. We’re already setting dates for 2011 and will announce them once Italy Within The Frame 2010 is done and we’ve recovered.

No idea what this is all about? Craft & Vision eBooks aim to provide exceptional photographic education at ridiculous prices. $5 downloadable eBooks. Find’em all HERE.