PixelatedImage Blog

David has written a number of articles, many of which have been republished here.

Starting Out in Humanitarian Photography
This is my “advice post.” If you’ve written me a letter and I’ve referred you here first please don’t take offense. I am probably very happy to answer specific questions – but the general “can you give me any advice?” question, that gets answered here….

The Coming Revolution.
This article originally appeared as a guest post on Scott Kelby’s blog on May 13, 2009.

I believe we’re at a turning point in the way we, as an industry, approach our craft. Thanks to the internet, information moves faster and faster, filling our brains to bustin’ with everything any of us could ever hope to know about off-camera flash, HDR techniques, hyperfocal distances, and the effect of aperture shape on bokeh. We have learned more and more, and if we have not it’s not for lack of information. And at the end of day we’re still hungry; full up on HOW and still wondering WHY…

Lessons Learned on Assignment: WTF! Lexar.com
Before you go off making all kinds of assumptions, WTF stands for Within The Frame, and these are some of the lessons learned from a 5 week assignment to gather the photographs for this book.

Global Workflow, Photoshop User Magazine, March/April 2009
Between my own personal projects, workshops, and my freelance work for NGOs like World Vision, I spend a lot of time on the road. How you handle your logistics while traveling can make or break a trip, and that includes your image management and workflow.
Click here for a downloadable PDF of this article.

Vision-Driven Workflow, Photoshop User Magazine, Nov.2008
In a vision-driven workflow there are 3 images that make the final photograph – the image that you envision, the image that is captured in-camera, and the image that is refined in post-production. The better we are at the second two the closer we are able to come to the realization of our vision, which is generally the reason we pick up our cameras to begin with. Click here for a downloadable PDF of this article.

The Artist and The Geek, Lexar.com
Photography is an artistic pursuit. At the heart of that pursuit is our vision and the need to create an image about which we are passionate – something that communicates the ineffable in colour, light, and gesture. What stands in the way of creating those images is often the very tools by which we ought to be aided.

First Assignments, Lexar.com
For most aspiring photographers there comes a point when someone calls and asks to hire you to “take some pictures.” If it’s Aunt Selma and she has particularly bad taste and deep pockets, then you’re in luck – you have unlimited budget and a client with low expectations. Enjoy it while you can; this may be the last time…

Indecent Exposures, Lexar.com
As I think about an upcoming trip to India, and reflect back on experiences of shooting on the road or in the third world, I often come back to the ethics of creating images that use another person as their subject, specifically when those subjects are poor or the victims of calamity…

On Assignment: Congo, Lexar.com
Having just arrived home from a three week assignment in the Congo, and suffering now from jet lag, I’ve been doing some early-morning debriefing about my trip. The assignment was for a major ngo/humanitarian group that works with orphans and vulnerable childrens, families, and villages. Here’s my top ten list of lessons learned…

On Assignment: India, Lexar.com
It’s no secret that as humans we hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see. If our expectations determine, to some degree, what we see, then to that same degree our expectations determine what we will and will not shoot. In the case of travel photography, especially where well-known destinations are involved, we have a lifetime of postcards and classic travel photographs that inform our thoughts and feelings of a place…

On Assignment: Ecuador, Lexar.com
I just got back from a ten-day trip to Ecuador shooting another series of images for one of my favourite clients. As always these trips are exciting and rewarding. They are also an opportunity for me to improve my game, learn or re-learn some lessons, and get better at what I love. Here’s what’s on my mind as I debrief from this trip and think towards my coming assignment in Africa…

On Assignment: Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Lexar.com
It took me 58 hours to get home from my last assignment. The curve-balls thrown at me by the airlines and the nature of this particular assignment have led me to split this “Lessons Learned on Assignment” article into two pieces. The first part is about themes and stories within your images, while the second includes some tips for those of you who shoot while traveling…

On Assignment: Mongolia, Lexar.com
By far, the vast majority of my assignment work takes place closer to the equator than to the Arctic Circle. I am more comfortable battling the heat and the challenges associated with shooting in high temperatures and humidity than I am in the cold. In fact, it’s been years since I shot in the cold and the snow. All that changed when my favorite client asked me to shoot in Mongolia this February, rather than Thailand as planned…

Photographing Children, Lexar.com
I have a fascination with photographing children. They represent what is best about us, before we grow and become self-conscious and lose our imaginations and sense of play. At our best we retain that child-likeness, but I suspect our love for childhood has something to do with nostalgia over what we’ve lost. Nostalgia is powerful and images that harness that nostalgia are among the most compelling and universal images…

Photographing People and Culture, Lexar.com
Having just returned from leading the Lumen Dei Photo Workshop and Tour in India with fellow Lexar photographer Matt Brandon, the issues that are associated with photographing other cultures is fresh in my mind…

Shooting in Extremes – Tropics, Lexar.com
Shooting in extremes is never easy, and Haiti has them all. Extreme heat, humidity, sunlight, and human conditions – all make shooting somewhere like Haiti a wonderful, sweaty challenge…

Story in Photography, Lexar.com
Story told in a movie or novel, and story told in a single frame of a photograph, are very different kinds of story. One occurs over a minute period of time, perhaps 1/500th of a second, while the others are told over longer periods – hours, days – and reflect experiences or circumstances that span days, weeks, years, even generations…

Ethiopia, TPN
It was not without a profound sense of irony that I went to Ethiopia to shoot humanitarian images for a cookbook. This iconic country in the horn of Africa is known more for war and famine than it is for it’s food or it’s culture…

Reflections on the Art of Seeing, TPN
It is said that we “see what we want to see” and having spent 12 years in a former career as a magician and comedian, I can tell you this is more true than we like to think…

Finding Inspiration, Lexar.com
As a photographer, I live and breathe in the creative world, but when the creative juices run dry, it gets a little harder to do my job. The more I understand the process, the easier it becomes.