PixelatedImage Blog

In my first eBook, TEN, I made ten suggestions for improving your photographs. The first of ten was to add greater depth to your photographs, but I didn’t elaborate much. Now halfway through writing a new book, Photographically Speaking, sidelines by what might have been a fatal fall while shooting in Pisa, Italy, I have had a great deal of time to think about depth in, well, deeper ways.

While many of my teachings talk specifically about vision-driven photography, with a focus on vision, this is the first of my eBooks to discuss the ways in which we express that vision. You’ll find this book refreshingly free of that word, vision, in fact. Here the topic is simple, though for something so simple it amazes me that it’s so seldom focused on in the popular teaching of photography.

Certainly, depth is talked about, but often it’s a sidebar and unless there is first a discussion about why we want to re-introduce depth into our photographs, or even why that depth doesn’t simply appear in our photographs naturally, then a discussion of how to make it happen is premature.

By depth I do not mean artsy photographs that are rich in symbolism or illicit the “Whoa, man, that’s deep,” responses from the black-turtleneck, art-nick crowd. It’s not conceptual depth I’m refering to but to spatial depth, and while the 7th means I suggest to create deeper photographs is, in fact, related to emotional and responsive depth, it is photographs with an increased feeling of third-dimensionality I’m talking about.

Those are the first few paragraphs from the Introduction to my newest eBook, A DEEPER FRAME. It’s been over 6 months since my last book, THE VISION-DRIVEN PHOTOGRAPHER, and I made a promise that while I would not be neglecting the topic of vision, I would be taking it to it’s logical next step – expression.

A DEEPER FRAME talks about seven ways that we can create more engaging images through the re-creation of a sense of depth in the photograph. If your goal is to create photographs that feel immersive and invite a reader of that photograph to not merely look at the photograph but into or through the photograph, then this will be a great read for you. I’m proud of this one; it’s the first in what I expect will be a new direction in my teaching, and a precursor to Photographically Speaking, which is a little late due to the accident but still due out, fingers crossed, this year.

Twelve! Deeper Discounts than Usual
For the next five days only you can have A DEEPER FRAME for $4 (discount code DEEP4). Or you can buy 5 eBooks for the price of 4 (discount code DEEP20). That’s our usual deal. But this is my 12th eBook, and I’m feeling punchy, so we’re offering our deepest discount yet. 12 eBooks for $40. That’s about 34% off the already ridiculous price. That’s $3.33/eBook! Use discount code DEEPER12 when you Visit Craft&Vision, fill your shopping cart and check out. These codes expires at 11:59pm PST July 2, 2011.

Impression I, II, III
All three photographs were made with my iPhone 4, cropped to 4×5, and processed with the Magic Hour filter, all in the Camera+ app. I tweaked curves slightly, and added borders in Photoshop after import.

One of the first things I did when the Ottawa Hospital finally let me have a Day Pass to go wreak havoc in Ottawa was make a bee-line for the National Gallery with a friend. What I most wanted to see, and hadn’t for a few too many years, was the work of the Group of Seven. I could stand in front of them for hours. I’ll let you look them up when you have a moment, but I strongly recommend you do. They were my first love affair with impressionism, and if you have time, and ever find yourself in Kleinburg, Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection has what I believe the largest collection. But I’m getting off track.

There’s something about the impressionists, and I’ll as happily spend a day in Paris’ Musée d’Orsay which houses a lot of European Impressionist paintings, because they feel like something. More than mere illustration they illicit, at least in me, stronger emotions. I never studied Art History; I probably should have. But I know what I like; I know what moves me. And standing in front of paintings of Algonquin and the north shore of Lake Superior, I wondered how I could put that kind of mood into my own work, in ways beyond the obvious. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks.

And then last Friday we drove Corwin, my manager, back to the airport and it rained and rained. I spent the entire drive with my iPhone pushed up to the window, having more fun creatively than I have had since the moments before I fell off the wall in Italy. I don’t know that I’ve accomplished what I wanted, but I’ve found clues. These three photographs feel the way I feel about the countryside I grew up in, at least on certain days. And to me, the ability to express those things is increasingly important.I’ve said often that photography is a way of pointing, of saying “Look at that!” It’s also a way to to say, “I feel ___________about that,” in the hopes that others might see it, and feel it that way too.

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Tuesday is June 28, and we’ll be releasing A DEEPER FRAME, my first eBook in over 6 months. Everytime we release an eBook, we offer discounts for a few days. Well this time the discounts are, um, well, deeper, I guess. Join us here tomorrow for that announcement.

All photographs on this post can be enlarged. Just click the image.

January’s Maasai Mara Within The Frame has just been announced. I’ll link you to details in a moment.

2 years ago I went on my first Safari and it changed me in ways I never imagined, probably ways I’d have a hard time communicating. In part it was the life-long friends I hadn’t counted on meeting. In part it was the way my first elephant sighting took my breath away. It was the way I woke one morning to watch – breathless – as the sun rose into a full solar eclipse over Mt. Kenya. It was the people, the pace of life, the quality of light, the way every hair on your arm stands up when a male lion walks towards you without blinking. What I mean to say is, going back feels like home and I’m so, so excited to be there again this January.

That first Safari blew my mind, and enlarged my heart. We repeated it last year and instead of slipping into apathy over animals I’d already seen, my feelings grew. This year we’re doing it again. But it’s different. We’re traveling much less, which means more time to go out on game drives. Animals and light aren’t staged, you wait for them, look for them, go out after them day after day. Less travel means while the sun is high we have more one-on-one time for image critiques, portfolio reviews, informal teaching that meets you on your own level, and still have plenty of time for a swim at a pool that overlooks the savannah.

This safari is the one I’ve wanted to do for the last two years. We’ll spend time in villages, among the Maasai, and we’ll retire each night in tents, safe but close to the wilderness we travel so far to see. When I say tents, these are gorgeous accomodations. There are many ways to experience Africa, this is one of the most beautiful. I’ve stayed in lavish 5-stars and in stick huts, and if I had my choice, these beautiful Hemingway-style tents would be it.

Kenya will change you. If you’ve ever wanted to travel to Kenya and see it close, at the pace needed by photographers, this trip gives you that, as well as more time than any of our previous adventures, to talk about photography and learn your craft.

More information about the Maasai Mara Within The Frame Adventure is available on the micro-site HERE. There is also an extension to the coast to stay on the island of Lamu after our time on the Mara is over, and if you’re feeling a particular need to see more of Africa, the adventure to Lalibela, Ethiopia over Orthodox Christmas still has two open spots . My partner in crime on this adventure, and all Within The Frame Photographic Adventures, is Jeffrey Chapman and we can’t wait to welcome the very small group that will be joining us for this time together.

Quick snapshot by Corwin, one morning this spring in Death Valley. The over-zealous use of the high-pass filter can only be blamed on me though.

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Keep reading, I did the draw for the Artist Print of Twilight I, Tahoe this morning and I’ll announce the winner  at the end of this post.

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Another idealistic post this morning, I’m afraid. I blame Gary Vaynerchuk. Once in a while I re-read his book Crush-It! or watch a podcast and he fires me up, reminds me that even the sermons I preach myself could be preached with greater conviction. Two nights ago I watched this video and since then have re-watched it at least a half-dozen times: Watch it on YouTube HERE or click the graphic below.

You should watch it. It’s 15 minutes of ranting by a very passionate and intelligent man that has the chops and credibility to back up what he says.

Last week I did a podcast with Martin Bailey, a photographer I both like and respect. He recently discovered he had a brain tumour. My massage therapist just buried his mother. Others that I know have lost and are losing loved ones. Life is short. And as Gary says, we have one chance at this. One. And if you thought I was on a tear about how short life is and how intentionally we need to live it, with every word and breath and waking moment, it’s going to get worse.

Here’s some soundbites from Gary (warning, the language gets a little rough) Some of these bites will apply to everyone, some are more specific to the VisionMongers in the crowd. But if you get nothing else from the video, ask yourself – what am I that passionate about.

“Let’s start with passion. There is [sic] way too many people in this room right now, that are doing stuff they hate. PLEASE STOP DOING THAT. There is no reason in 2008 to do shit you hate. None. Promise me you won’t. Because you can lose just as much money being happy as hell.”

“Let’s talk about community. Listen to your users, absolutely. But giving a shit about your users is WAY BETTER. People listen but they don’t do anything. Doing something, answering those emails, giving a crap, caring about your user base – that’s what you need to do.”

“You need to care about everything, and it starts with yourself. Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, What do I want to do everyday for the rest of my life? DO THAT…whatever you need to do, DO IT.”

“Stop crying and just keep hustling. Hustle is the most important word ever. And that’s what you need to do. You need to work so hard.”

“Legacy is greater than currency.”

“If you for a second – a half a second – don’t believe in what you’re doing, whether it’s your personal brand or the product you represent, GET OUT NOW. We only get to play this game once. One Life.”

“The only way to succeed now is to be completely transparent. Completely. Everything is exposed. Everything you do. So your legacy is your ultimate life. It’s all you’ve got. And you can build so much on that. When you have brand equity so much can happen.”

“I don’t want to hear about this nine to five bullshit. I don’t want to hear about this 2 job thing, 9-5, I don’t have time. If you want this, if you’re miserable, or if you don’t like it, or you want to do something else, and you have a passion somewhere else. Work 9 to 5, spend a couple hours with your family. 7 to 2 in the morning is plenty of time to do damage. But that’s it. It’s not going to happen any other way.”

“If you’re doing something else and you want to do this thing you love, you do it after hours. You work 9-6, you get home, you kiss the dog, and you go to town. You start building your equity in your brand after hours. Everybody has time. STOP WATCHING F*CKING “LOST”!”

The reason this hit me so hard recently is I keep putting out these thoughts, and I get pushback – reasons people can’t do what they want to do. But you know what most of it is? It’s reasons they won’t even try. And if I can push just one person over the edge to travel the world, to build an amazing business, to pursue a personal project, then it’s worth it. Because you’ve got one crack at and your kids aren’t an excuse. Don’t you dare use your children as a reason not to pursue something you think you were made for, or called to. Telling your kids they can do anything then leaving them with a legacy of safety and risk-aversion and mediocrity is no way to love your kids. Yes, you’ll do things differently, but do them all the same. If it’s travel, and so many on this blog are travelers, then sell your second car, forget the big-screen TV. Scrimp and save and hustle and do whatever it takes to do that thing you lie awake at night thinking about. Clear your debt, work your ass off, but there is no excuse not to do what you love. Don’t have enough time? I love that last line from Gary. Stop watching f*cking LOST. Turn the TV off. Sell it. Use your time for something that will really and truly make a difference in your life. Or at very least stop telling people you’d conquer the world if only you had time.

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After 760 comments on the post about Twilight I, Tahoe, we used the Random Number Generator to bypass the desire to pick someone cute and single, and instead are happy to announce that this print will be shipped out to Steve Scherbinski. Congrats Steve. Please treat it well. We’ll send you an email and get you particulars.

A door in Jodhpur, photographed on my first trip to India. Images from that trip benefited me more than the best lens I could have bought or the newest camera, never mind the experience and life-long memories themselves.

 

I ran across a great article this morning on the Adventure Journal. Simply the premise was, “You don’t need all the latest gear. Oh, and by the way, the money you spent on that expensive piece of gear could have purchased a plane ticket.”

The article also quoted Let My People Surf by Patagonia founder Yves Chouinard, a book I finished recently: “Don’t spend money on gear. Spend it on plane tickets.”

Got me to thinking, especially on the heels of three podcasts interviews I did last week, all of them giving freedom to rant about gear-lust and our addiction to the toys. And that thinking led me to the B&H Photo site. I only visit on Saturdays now, because the ordering mechanism is closed for the Sabbath, giving my wallet a sabbatical as well. And then I went to StarAlliance.com. Here’s my math. ( Update:  I used Canon in these example because, while I choose Nikon, I am still much more familiar with Canon’s line-up. Nikon has its equivalents.)

Scenario #1 I Need The Best Stuff Out There

Canon 1Ds Mk III – $6,995
EF 70-200/2.8L IS II – $2,449
EF 16-35/2.8L II – $1,699
EF 85/1.2L II – $2.079

Total – $13,222

Scenario #2 I’d Rather Have Money Left Over to Photograph the WORLD

Canon 5D Mk II – $2,499.95
EF 70-200/4.0L – $669.00
EF 17-40/4.oL – $839.00
EF 85/1.8 – $419.00

Total – $4,426

The Difference? $8,796

And then I went to StarAlliance.com and priced out a Round The World ticket. From San Francisco to Paris to Nairobi to Mumbai to Bangkok to Melbourne to Tokyo and back to San Francisco.

Total with Taxes – $5,823

Still Left Over – $2,973. Almost $3000. Handy for hostels, taxis, food.

And the kicker? In no time that gear will be obsolete. Your memories and the photographs taken on 4 continents will last as long as you do. Experiences never get stolen, or go obsolete. And if you got a Canon 7D and settled for non-L-series lenses, you’d have at least another couple thousand to spend on your adventure.

I’m on a tear lately about gear, and you pros out there aren’t exempt either. Spending money on new work and personal projects will generally benefit your bottom line much more significantly, without the depreciation on gear, than the latest lens will.

Forget the shiny stuff, it gets tarnished fast. Put your camera into the bag and book a flight instead. Go make memories and photographs. Live. Buy the tickets.

Yesterday I posted a quick giveaway for a very limited – there is only one – Artist’s Print of Twilight I, Tahoe. Leave a comment on this post and one randomly-chosen reader has it signed and shipped to them, anywhere in the world. Just a comment with your name and email addy so I can notify you if you win. That post is HERE.

A mock-up of the Twilight I, Tahoe, prints to be released within the next month.

Trolling through my own archives I see that two years ago today as Within The Frame was just about to come out I gave away the cover photograph from Within The Frame on beautiful 16×20 APC gallery wrap canvas. So I’d like to do something like that again. In the next month I’m going to be releasing the first of a very small series of  limited edition prints. In order to do that I’ve had a few test prints made and the final one is gorgeous.  But the thing is, I’ve really got no use for the print. I have no walls. The closest thing I have to my own home is a Land Rover Defender, Jessie. Very little wall space in Jessie.

So, leave a simple comment, and in an unspecified number of days I’ll close the comments, randomly draw a name and then sign this print as an un-numbered artist’s print, and mail it to you. The print is 16×22 printed with archival quality on heavy 20×26 watercolour stock.It’s gorgeous. You’ll be able to buy one of one hundred of these prints, but there will be only one of these. It’s the first time I’ve printed and put my work out there for a while, and you as a community have been so profoundly supportive since my accident. Thank you. But if I keep falling off walls, now is the time to get in on my printed work.

Leave a comment and just make sure I have your email address and name in there so I can notify the winner and get a mailing address. Thanks again for your support, encouragement, and patience – during this time. I’m grateful.

At the end of the month, Craft & Vision is releasing the first eBook I’ve written in over 6 months and I’m really excited about it. When I wrote the last one I said it would be the last eBook I wrote about vision for some time, and that the next books would be about expression of that vision. The first topic I wanted to tackle is depth because I think it’s a good way to begin the discussion about how people read and experience our photographs. The book is called A DEEPER FRAME, and we’re planning some killer discounts to go along with the release. In the meantime, here’s a short excerpt explaining why depth matters.

Why Deeper?

The entire discussion of depth is necessary because the medium of photography turns a world of three dimensions into two. With that conversion comes what I’ve elsewhere called the flattening. The flattening forces all elements in a three dimensional scene to flatten against each other. In the case of longer lenses this effect is exaggerated even more. It’s neither good nor bad, but recognizing it is important. Why this matters is that we do not experience the world in two dimensions to begin with, so if we aim to create photographs that create within the reader a deeper, fuller, longer experience , it falls to us to recreate that depth. Your scene may feel deep, and your experience at the time might seem impossibly immersive, but you can not escape the effects of the flattening and it is only through your own decisions that you can retain, or reintroduce that depth.

It is all about the reader’s experience of the photograph itself, and about your ability to express yourself more fully. While it seems obvious that it is impossible, without actual 3-Dimensional technology which is rapidly coming, to add a third dimension to a flat image; it is in fact possible to create the perception or illusion of depth.

Deeper images pull us in visually, they give as not only square footage but cubic space – room to move about and explore with our eyes. That room to explore invites the photographer to create photographs with more complexity to them, and the reader to linger longer. It is about experience. The more a photograph recreates the illusion of reality as we experience it, the deeper the potential experience, the longer the memory of the image, the greater the possible impact on their hearts and minds. Deeper photographs give us a means to create more engaging one-frame visual stories.

That’s the Why, and it’s not complicated. Better photographs create better experiences, and depth can get you there. Now let’s look at seven ways to get to deeper frames.

A Deeper Frame will be release on June 28th at CraftAndVision.com. It’ll be announced here first and we’ll be throwing in some deeper discounts than usual.

Over the last week I’ve done podcast interviews with two great guys. The first was with Matt Brandon, a great friend and collaborator. The second was with a new friend, Martin Bailey. Both interviews touch on similar themes and gave me a chance to talk about my accident, the brevity of life, and other topics that gave me a chance to sound off. As always I probably talked too much but that should surprise no one that knows me. Wind me up, let me go, and I seem to talk excessively until the batteries run out.

Anyways, if you’ve got time on your hands, both these gentlemen do great interviews and I can think of worse things than spending an hour with us (I can think of much, much better things too, but these are free, so they bump the other ones out of first place. )

Listen to Matt Brandon’s Depth of Field Interview HERE

Listen to Martin Bailey’s Podcast HERE

June 01, Coming home and crawling.

On June 01, the good folks at The Ottawa Hospital kicked my ass to the curb, threw confetti in the air and told me to come back some time when I couldn’t stay quite so long. I’d been there for 34 days, and left hospital a full 40 days after the accident. It’s fantastic to be home.

It’s hard to put into words what this experience has done for me. It’s been, at times, frustrating and painful, and scary. There were times when I felt I’d reached the absolute bottom, most of those involving humiliating efforts to move my bowels after the narcotics had plugged me up and I couldn’t get to a toilet. At one point my nurse, God bless him, gave me an enema and as he, uh, drove it home, he said. “Up yours, David.” Funniest thing I’d heard in days but it turns out enemas and laughter aren’t a great combination. I’ve learned to rely on people for the simplest tasks, a challenge for someone so usually independant. I’ve learned that recovery doesn’t happen to you, you bring it. You make it happen. And I think the same applies to life. I was sharing a room towards the end with a man determined to be miserable, and his presence in my room taught me more about living life than watching Dead Poets Society a hundred times might have. Life happens to you, what you do with the hand you are dealt is up to you, and it’s there that you find the choice to be happy, to find meaning.

My first set of stairs but aided by my official assistance cat, Cocoa, aka The Brown Bastard. Hey, don’t look at me, I didn’t name him that. (Or did I?…)

Of all the lessons I’ve learned over and over it’s that life is made of moments. They add up to create a life. So to wish any of them away, to not look for something in each of those moments, is to wish away a piece of life. And if you do so in hopes of something better coming around the corner, you could miss life entirely. I don’t want to get too Zen about all this, but man can life be beautiful. I am so, so grateful to be alive and I’m more than ever aware of the fragility of life. More than ever aware that life is what you make it. I watched UP last night and, aside from crying my way through the first 11 minutes, was reminded again that Adventure is out there! and that it’s up to us to seize it or not.

Anyways, I’m home. I won’t be walking again until August, I think, and I’m a little nervous about that. In the meantime I crawl wherever my wheelchair won’t take me. I’ve got more spare time than I’ve had in ages – time to write the first eBook I’ve written in over 6 months (look for it on the 28th), time to work on a series of Ltd. Edition prints – the first of my work I’ve put out in over a year, and time to answer emails, be more engaged on Twitter and Facebook, and just sit with my mother on the porch with a Gin and Tonic. I’ll be back at the Ottawa Hospital in 2 weeks for x-rays and follow ups and I’ll know more then. Hoping, perhaps a little too optimistically, that they let me weight-bear on the left leg so I can begin to use crutches.

Thank you all, again, for such kindness and support.

I sell a few thousand dollars worth of stock images a year through various stock agencies. I don’t put much work into it, which is what keeps my paycheques low, but while stock photography isn’t remotely what it once was, it’s still an exciting and viable option for photographers. I make enough to cover a new camera or a two-week trip overseas, but with a little work could see much greater returns. I know several photographers making a solid living with stock and microstock and free to do what they love – make photographs day-in and day-out. Markets evolve and change and microstock is one of those changes. Loved by some and loathed by others, microstock has changed the face of the industry and I’d be surprised if someone doesn’t try to pick a fight about this latest book. Anything that changes the game this much is bound to raise some hackles.

Nicole S. Young is a talented photographer and author – she’s currently writing her third book for the publisher we share – Peachpit. She also makes a living with microstock and does so while creating work she enjoys. Nicole covers the topic from start to finish, discusses the challenges, and includes case studies. It’s realistic in its approach and doesn’t blow smoke. If you’ve ever wanted to pursue microstock, to make a few dollars a month to pay for gear or to make a full-time income to get you out of the cubicle, this eBook is a great place to start. If you’re currently trying to make microstock work for you, this is bound to give you a step up.

Special Offer on PDFs
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code MICRO4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of (micro)STOCK for only $4 OR use the code MICRO20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST June 11, 2011.