PixelatedImage Blog

iPhone shot of dolphins swimming under the bow of the zodiac. Maui.

A quick note to say hello. Kind of feeling guilty for being here and not dropping a line. We’ve been having an amazing time here -yesterday I spent the day in a zodiac off the coast of Lanai, a small island itself just off the coast of Maui. Snorkelling, underwater sea caves, incredible weather, and – most amazing of all a chance to swim, unexpectedly, among a pod of hundreds of spinner dolphins. Can’t begin to describe the magic of it. I’m paying for my indiscretions today, though. Clearly I the sunscreen I thought I was applying liberally wasn’t as liberal – or effective – as I thought.

The festival kicked off last night with a reception, and this morning with a keynote. I spoke about Vision-Driven Photography and the need to discover and express our vision. Before that I spent three days relaxing, and chewing through Seth Godin’s book Linchpin which you should read. Run, don’t walk, to your local library or bookstore and get this book.

My friend Sabrina Henry told me I needed to read Linchpin and I resisted because while Seth Godin is a scary-smart guy he kind of writes like a grade 12 student and I find it hard getting past his writing to the wisdom beneath. Not so with Linchpin; it’s still not particularly brilliant writing as far as craft goes but the content is incredible. It’s been a long time since a book got so much of my attention, marginalia, and circles and arrows.

At it’s core, Linchpin is a discussion of the value of the artist in our culture, and the necessity of being an artist in this economy. It’s got lots of brain food in it, and it connected some dots for me, but it’s also profoundly pragmatic – especially for those in the creative arts who think they have to be less unique, and blend into the crowd, to be a commodity rather than a brand, in order to make it. It also, and here’s a difference, has a deeply human side to it. Anyways, Linchpin really inspired me and with it Seth Godin moved in my thinking from marketing guy to join the likes of Hugh MacLeod (Ignore Everybody),  Steven Pressfield (The War of Art), and writers like Anne Lamott whose combined voices all say that the hard work of art matters, that creation has value and that making a life and a living at this stuff is more likely the less we sell out.

Anyways, love it here. If you’re here in Maui at the festival, please do introduce yourself to me. Corwin and I return to the mainland Monday morning and then the sprint to get ready for 6 weeks in Asia begins.

I’m really – REALLY – excited to announce that the new Craft & Vision website just went up. There will be a tweak here and there in the coming days but it’s live and functional and I think it’s going to make the process of buying and enjoying the Craft & Vision eBooks that much better. What does it mean to you?

A cleaner site with a little more ease of use, as well as a home for comments and reviews – In the past the only way to leave a review has been on my blog. You can now leave your reviews where they belong, and to encourage you to do so we’re giving away an iPad! Whether you read the PDFs or buy the Apps, Craft & Vision eBooks and the Apple iPad go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly, so we’re giving one away.

What we’re hoping for are some honest (hopefully honestly enthusiastic ) reviews for the individual books. We aren’t looking for empty praise and we aren’t looking for anyone to pad the site with fluff. If you’ve bought the books, read them and love them, we welcome you to write a short review for the book. If you’ve read’em all, feel free to pick a couple favourites. If you’ve already left those comments on the blog here, feel free to copy and paste them onto the new site. We could do that but it kind of feels like it lacks integrity and would rather leave that up to you. Leave a review and you’ll have a chance to win. Leave a couple reviews, and you’ll have a couple chances to win. Note: This is something we’re doing as a service to future buyers, not to pad our egos, so if we feel you’re just dropping lame comments in order to win, we’ll pull the comments. Be enthusiastic, be honest, and don’t even think about being anonymous if you hope to win the iPad.

You’ll notice a couple other things too. We’ve added a link to buy all the books at once, and there will be a permanent 20% discount for those that do. Makes life easier, especially if you’re an affiliate referring people to the site for the first time. We’ve also added links to buy the iPad apps. Same price, same content, different format. And while we’re talking Apps, there is a free App coming that will function as a one-stop iPad shop for the books – download it once and you’ll be able to access the books easily, get some free wallpapers, and stay up to date on all things Craft & Vision.

When I began Craft & Vision a year ago I had no idea it would become what it has. And we’re only just beginning. It’s been an incredible ride. All along we’ve been grateful for your support and your feedback. Thank you so much. I do this, and now the rest of my team – Corwin, Justin, Sabrina, Susanna – do this, because we share your passion for photography and we believe we can create amazing resources to help you improve your craft without buying gear. And at $5 each they cost less than a Starbucks latte, last longer, and won’t make you gassy and bloated. They’ll also get you into great education resources with less ads, and leave you budget left over for that new piece of gear you’re going to buy anyways.

Thank you so much for being part of this. We’re releasing Eli Reinholdtsen’s book, Chasing Reflections, next week. I’ll be in Iceland at the time but the launch will go ahead as it always does, with discounts, on Thursday the 29th.

In the meantime, leave a review or two on the new Craft & Vision site, each book has a spot for reviews so put’em there. Be sure to leave your name and email. On August 31st we’ll randomly draw from all the reviews and send a 16GB WiFi iPad to one lucky winner. This is open to everyone, so international readers can finally get some loving!

See the new Craft&Vision website at it’s usual address on the internet – www.CraftAndVision.com- Special thanks to Stuart Sipahigil (@digitalstew) and his team at Outside Source Design for working with us on this.

Well, the day is upon us. The final book in the vision trilogy is out and Amazon has started shipping it – which means others are soon to follow, and places like Amazon.ca and other Amazon.co.uk should have them heading out within a month. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have this done and out there as a body of work. So excited I want to give 3 signed copies away. But you have to keep reading to find out how that’s going to happen. No cheating and going straight to the end!

Anyways, the video (click the screenshot above and it’ll take you to Vimeo) is a quick intro to the book, hopefully it’s helpful in giving you a feel for what the book is and is not. It’s not very well scripted, mostly because after an hour of out-takes I was bound and determined to get it done in one take.

I mention this briefly in the video but it deserves more than a passing mention. It’s been 14 months since Within the Frame was released and in that time so much has happened. The community that gathers around this blog has grown significantly, I’ve had a chance to meet some of you, travel or photograph with others, and become friends with many of you. Writing books that no one reads was not one of my life goals and the audience that has sprung up around the books, eBooks, and this blog has truly humbled me; I’m deeply grateful and I want you to know that. As such, this book is dedicated to you. The dedication reads:

For the amateurs – the lovers – those who do this for the love of the image and the journey of getting there. This is for everyone who loves this craft, whether you draw a paycheque from your efforts or not. For everyone who has ever created an image just to say, “Look at this!”

Vision & Voice, along with the others in the vision trilogy – Within The Frame, and VisionMongers – is available at Amazon.com HERE or from your favourite bookseller

Want one? Want it signed? Leave a comment in the comments section, make sure your name and email are there and I’ll do a draw for three copies which I will sign and mail out to you before I go to Iceland towards the end of the month.

This is my silhouette, in Italy, cunningly disguised as someone shooting video on a DSLR. Photo credit: Jens Stachowitz.

Video has become the next big thing in photography. Weird, huh? While I’ve ranted about the convergence of still and moving pictures before, it’s not because I don’t love where this is all taking us as creatives. I just get bent out of shape when everyone out there is already wrestling with their craft and suddenly the camera manufacturers and industry leaders put the pressure on to learn video. Video capability in today’s DSLRs is amazing, and some people will grab this by the horns and tell some amazing stories.  And some people, myself included, will have cameras with beautiful video capability and never learn how to record a single frame of video. Video is a separate language entirely and it means an investment in time and money to learn how to shoot, edit, sweeten audio, etc. If you thought still photography was expensive…

Still, there’s no denying the movement is here to stay, and mostly for the good, I think. This generation of visual storytellers has an unprecedented amount of tools at their disposal. To that end, I want to point you to one of those resources and share with you the next release in the Craft & Vision library, which will release at the end of the month.

First, Think Tank Photo has just released The Multimedia DSLR Buyer’s Guide and it’s packed with really solid recommendations to help you navigate through the forest of new gear you’ll need to understand. It’s been put together to support the marketing on their line of multimedia bags, which are an amazing piece of gear in themselves for video and multimedia people, but it’s a really helpful resource. And it’s free. You can find that HERE on the Think Tank Photo site.

Second, at the end of the month Craft & Vision will be releasing Trevor Meier’s Vision In Motion, an eBook written by a guy who is both a professional stills photographer and film-maker. It discusses the core issues of motion storytelling and for anyone who is wanting to begin dabbling with the video capabilities on their DSLR, it’s a great primer. It won’t teach you how to use your camera, but it’ll open your eyes to the issues involved in moving from stills to motion and help you get your footing as you learn to use your camera to begin speaking this entirely different visual language. Together with some of the great online resources out there you should be able to wrap your mind around some of these issues and begin filling harddrive after harddrive of footage. You Tube is already getting a restraining order knowing that if one more cat video is uploaded it will simultaneously crash their servers and cause a tear in the fabric of the universe. So please, for the love of Soderburgh, learn to do this well. Vision In Motion will be out end of the month and we’ll let you know when. As always, it’ll be $5. Or less.

And next month? We unveil a whole new Craft&Vision website, all the Craft&Vision books as apps on the app store, and a couple more books to inspire and educate. The new site allows reviews to be posted and we’ll be asking for your help with that, and putting an iPad on the line. Stay tuned!

A couple months ago we released Andrew S. Gibson’s The Magic of Black & White – Part One, Vision. Andrew’s clear teaching and passion for his medium were accompanied with great images and it’s become one of the best-selling titles in our library. I’ve had a ton of emails asking when the second book is coming out and it’s today!

Part Two picks up where Part One left off and discusses converting the captured image into spectacular monochrome and toned images that really pop. If you’ve wanted to get more comfortable with the digital black and white darkroom, this is a great step. Clearly illustrated with more of Andrew’s great images, and well taught (Andrew’s a technical editor for the UK’s fantastic EOS Magazine), the second part of this series is a great addition to the library.

As always we’re doing what we can to share the love. So until end of day on June 01, use codes MAGIC4 to save $1 on the new book, or MAGIC20 to get 20% off all books when you buy 5 or more. Use the buttons at the bottom or click HERE to mosey on over to the Craft&Vision general store for all yer eBook needs.

This is one of those long “cram as much into one post as possible” posts. The last month’s been sparse around here with all my travel, so now’s my time to play catch-up.

ITALY WITHIN THE FRAME

The iWTF trips were amazing and as Jeffrey Chapman and I get ready for next year’s offerings I’m already getting homesick for the places we called home during our time there. I enjoy all my workshops but these ones were special; might have had something to do with the spectacular scenery, and seemingly unending food and wine that was simply incredible. Loved it. It was a new thing for me, shooting in Europe for the first time in years and finding my rhythm, especially where photographing people was concerned. But your vision adapts to new places and new constraints, and I came home with images I’m proud of. Most of my images there were experimental and I’ve found that looking at all my work that way frees me to take more risks and be less safe. Anyways, amazing time there. If you click on the image above it’ll take you to a slideshow of the work I shot there. This is a rough edit and the post-production was done in a hurry on the road, but here’s a first look. Click HERE or on the image above.

By the way, there are still spots on the Kathmandu Within The Frame workshop in Nepal this fall. Click HERE for more information.

WHAT NOW?

Weirdly, I am now home for a stretch. I’ve got brief trips to San Francisco, New York City, and Maui planned for one thing or another, but until I take off for Lumen Dei India in September, I’m around for almost three months. During that time I’m wrapping up one project, beginning another, and working on releasing a few more Craft & Vision books to you. Then it’s Lumen Dei India in September, Kathmandu Within The Frame in October, and I think a personal trip to Antarctica in December before starting it all over again for 2011. Phew. I just exhausted myself typing that.

CRAFT & VISION RELEASES

I’m excited to tell you the Craft & Vision team is about to release a few more eBooks – including the second volume of Andrew S. Gibson’s The Magic of Black & White (which I’ll talk about later this week when it’s released), and the first three in a new series called The Print & The Process, which allows the photographs to take center stage, accompanied by a discussion of the creation of those images. I’ve got two coming out but the one I am most excited about is called CHASING REFLECTIONS by Eli Reinholdtsen. Her work is simply amazing and has inspired me in a way I haven’t been in a while. Makes me love photography all over again. Andrew’s book gets released this Thursday, May 27th. We’ve been working hard to keep up with the technology and have decided to change the layouts to a native landscape format so they read easier on both laptops and iPads. Have an iPad? Get the GoodReader app and these eBooks look fantastic!

AND FINALLY…

I just made the last tweaks on Vision & Voice (oh man, do I hope they’re the final ones!) and I’m happy to tell you that at this point it’s early for the deadline which means it’ll go to press on time and release on time. I had a heck of a time with this one. I’m no technical writer and there were days when the Artist and the Geek struggle was heavily in favour of the Geek and the Artist was begging for mercy. The fact that we got it done at all without me spending my advance on whisky is a miracle. But, it’s almost done, I’m still sober, and I’m thrilled with how it looks. It’ll be out in July and with that the vision trilogy will be complete. Until I do the fourth book which I’m embarrassed to tell you I’ve just begun. I know, I said I was taking a break….

LAST WORD.

One of the things that most surprised me in Italy was how taking a more experimental approach and spending such concentrated time with other photographers rejuvenated my vision and my passion for this craft. If it’s been a while since you felt that perhaps you’ll find your muse in a surprising place; stop taking this so seriously, comparing yourself to others, and expecting certain images. Let go, let it be a little more playful or experimental, grab a 50mm lens and go shoot something just for fun. We take things far too seriously sometimes.

Phew, that was a long one. Check out the Italy photographs, I’ll be back in a couple days with a few more things from the backlog in my brain, and the release of Andrew Gibson’s The Magic of Black & White – Part Two, Craft. Have a great weekend. And if you’re in the Commonwealth, a happy Victoria Day Weekend to ya.

Yesterday I submitted the last of the words and images for the last book in the trilogy – Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Hard to describe how excited I am to be done not only this book but the whole series. Harder still to believe that it’s been less than a year since the first one, the poorly acronymned Within The Frame, rolled out. Have no idea what I’ll do with all the time, other than travelling, shooting for clients, and continuing to offer the eBook at Craft&Vision.com. Might be time to begin the fourth book. Hey, if it was good enough for Douglas Adams to do a trilogy in four parts, it’s good enough for me.

Anyways, Vision & Voice. At the beginning of Within The Frame I explained my thought that there are really 3 images that go into the creation of the final photograph – the first is the one you envision, the second is the one you shoot, and the third is the one you refine in the darkroom. The better you are at the second two, the closer you can come to the first. Within The Frame was about the image you capture, Vision & Voice is about refining that image in the digital darkroom, specifically Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Vision & Voice is not a recipe book full of ways to make your images look “cool” or “better.” In fact that was really one of the premises of the book; to create a book that provided a newer way of looking at post-production than what we’re often told. What we hear so often is. “How do I make my images look better?” What we should be doing is looking for something more for our photographs. We need to define “better.”  An image to me is only better when it gets closer to my intention (vision) for the image. If the photograph looks the way I envisioned it, if it makes me feel the way I want it to, then it has a chance at making others feel that too, and that, to me, is better. But how we get there will mean different things to different people. That’s what Vision & Voice is about.

The first half of the book is the part where I drone on and on about visual language and the myth surrounding the “did it really look like that” notion, and the tools in Lightroom and what they do. It’s a little like Within The Frame in that sense. Or my blog for that matter. I hope it comes off with the same sincerity as Within The Frame does. In fact I hope all three books work together along similar lines. The second half of the book is the rubber-meets-the-road part of the book. I walk through about 20 of my own photographs, identify my intent for the image, and then walk you through the process to get there. It’s a full-on how-to kind of book but always connected to the why-to. How come? Because why you do something in post is more important than How and there are always 10 ways to get to the Why. And because these images are congruent with my style and the point is not to teach you how to make images that look like mine. The point is for you to work through the images – with DNG files suppplied online for download so you can work on the same files – and learn the Why and the How, so you can then work on your own files with fresh eyes and a new paradigm – the vision-driven workflow.

So there you go. It’s done. More or less. A few edits here and there, and then some tweaks and the book should, fingers crossed be on the presses early June for July delivery. You can pre-order it now from the link above. If you’re in a hurry, pre-order it with the publisher – Peachpit Press – you’ll get it faster. But it’ll still be in July.

One last thing. I dedicated this book to most of you. It’s dedicated to the Amateurs, the ones who do this for love of the craft whether or not a pay check is involved. Your enthusiasm, persistence, and sheer quality of work constantly humbles and inspires me. To all of you who sent emails or tweets or Facebook comments with encouragement over the past 2 years, which is how long I’ve been writing this trilogy – from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I still believe we have one of the best growing communities of passionate photographers and all around great human beings here on this blog and that’s because of you. Thank you.

My goal for Craft & Vision, apart from providing exceptional photographic education and inspiration at ridiculous prices, was to get a new eBook out to you once a month, sometimes my own, sometimes one from a photographer I respect. I was planning my own book about black and white photography when Andrew S. Gibson suggested he do not one, but two of them. Seeing a chance to avoid writing yet another book while I have deadlines of my own to deal with I jumped at it, and I’m glad I did. Andrew’s black and white images are fantastic, full of beautiful tone I find hard to get in my own work.  We’re releasing Andrew’s book this morning and I’m really excited about it. Here’s the description from the Craft & Vision site:

Black and white photographs are a different medium than colour and require an ability to see in monochrome. Becoming aware of the differences between black and white and colour images, in both how they are seen and what makes a great black and white image, is the first step to capturing images that will work powerfully in monochrome.

The first in a planned two-volume set, Part One discusses what makes a great black and white photograph, what to look for when learning to see in monochrome, elements of a black and white image, and potential subjects for black and white photographs. Part Two will examine the means of creating the black and white image in the digital darkroom.

At 58 pages, The Magic of Black & White – Part One, Vision -  is a little longer than most of the Craft&Vision ebooks, we just didn’t want to short-change the book on great images. We’re giving you discount codes too. Past codes have been limited time only, as these two are, but they’re slightly less limited so more of you can get in on it.

Use code GIBSON4 until the end of March 2010 to get The Magic of Black and White, Part One for $4 instead of $5. Use GIBSON20 until the end of March 2010 to get 20% off all Craft&Vision books when you buy 4 or more. You can buy the book now using the buttons below or just click HERE to go to the full collection at the Craft & Vision site.

Planting Rice outside Chiang Rai, Thailand. August 2009

Good morning. I’ve got a handful of links for you this morning, some worthwhile stuff I want to point you towards.

Scott Kelby and his gang of elves that never sleep have an online show called D-Town. I watched a few episodes when it first came out but as it was geared entirely for Nikon shooters I stopped watching. Only so many hours in the day and I don’t shoot Nikon (though I’d be willing to if the good folks at Nikon are interested in talking) Anyways, D-Town is no longer a Nikon-only show and that should make it suddenly relevant to anyone other than Nikonians. Details HERE.

My friend Gavin Gough has work in this year’s Travel Photographer of the Year book, as do I, though I’d forgotten about it until reading Gavin’s post. Where Gavin and I seem to differ is that he’s willing to give one of these books away. I thought, “What a great idea!” but where others would then give a copy away I’m just going to send you to Gavin’s site and encourage you to read the rules on his simple giveaway HERE. Gavin’s work is in a current/recent edition of Vanity Fair as well, check it out HERE.

Matt Kloskowski’s got a cautionary tale regarding THE IMPORTANCE OF BACKUP and I suggest you either read the story or just skip it and go, for the love of Binary, and back up your work. Do it now! And create an offsite backup while you’re at it.

Matt Brandon’s been rocking his blog lately. Be sure to check out his post on the last lantern maker in Penang, Malaysia HERE.Also be sure to catch all his Depth of Field podcasts. Matt’s a fantastic interviewer and his glimpses into the lives of working photographers is always full of laughter and insight. Catch his latest interview with Gary S Chapman and Vivien Chapman HERE.

Finally, I want to point you to two eBooks. If you’ve been around here you know I place a high value on reading and learning, and am investing a great deal of time on creating eBooks for the photographic community. I think we offer amazing eBooks at ridiculously low prices, but we aren’t the only ones. Bruce Percy, whose work I respect tremendously, now has an eBook out on his recent work at the Taj Mahal. Bruce does incredible work and is a thinking photographer. Click here to view more details

The last eBook is a more substantial effort from the folks at Digital Photography School. It’s called Photo Nuts and Bolts and where the eBooks at Craft & Vision are more about putting your technical knowledge to use in expressing your vision, this is about the foundation of the craft itself. It’s very well illustrated and the teaching is solid. If you’ve been looking to brush up on some of the basics, perhaps get your mind around something you’ve been missing, then I recommend you take a look at Neil Creek’s Photo Nuts And Bolts. It’s on sale for $19.97 and has a 30 day money-back guarantee, so there’s no risk. There’s a reason the DPS site is one of the largest photographic communities on the planet, they do good work over there. Click here to view more details

Lastly, two housekeeping things. 1. We’re planning to release Andrew S. Gibson’s The Magic of Black and White, Vol.1 in 10 days or so. I’m very excited to have Andrew on board. Andrew is a skilled black and white photographer, a technical editor for EOS Magazine, and runs a great blog full of interesting interviews. Find his blog HERE. 2. I’ll be in Seattle tomorrow and Wednesday speaking at Amazon, which means a. road trip! and b. I won’t be around much. But I’ll be back later in the week with a report.

I am so excited this morning to be releasing Dave Delnea’s Below The Horizon, Understanding Light at the Edges of Day.

A year ago I found Dave Delnea, a Vancouver photographer, online. I was immediately drawn to his work for his incredible understanding of, and ability to capture, light. We’ve become close friends over this year and he wound up in VisionMongers because of my respect for his work and his career. So when it came to collaborating with other photographers on eBooks, Dave was one of the first people I asked to participate.

Below The Horizon is an inspiring read, as much for the images as for his encouragement to take this basic knowledge and get out there and play. There are no secrets here, just solid information and incredible images to back it up and push us out the door.

This is Friday, February 26. For the first 48 hours+ of this release, until midnight PST at the end of Sunday the 28th, Below The Horizon can be had for an introductory price of $4 instead of the usual $5. But that’s not all! If you buy 4 or more of the books, and there are now 8 Craft & Vision titles to choose from, you can have 20% off your order.

Use coupon code DELNEA4 to get Below The Horizon for $4.
Use coupon code DELNEA20 to get 4 or more of the Craft & Vision titles for 20% off.

Buy Below The Horizon Now
Take me to Craft & Vision to buy a set.