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

I wanted to introduce you to Dave Delnea this morning. On Friday we’re releasing his eBook, Below The Horizon, and it seemed only right that you meet him first. Dave is a friend of mine, and a photographer whose craft and creativity I deeply admire. I know few photographers who have as much passion for actually going out and creating images just for the sake of their creation and engagement in the process.  You can find his work at DaveDelnea.com, and read about his career in VisionMongers. Below the Horizon launches early Friday morning, depending on your time zone, and will have a very limited time discount.

I was 22 when I made the decision to commit myself to pursuing the craft of landscape photography. Having no real clue how to go about this I did what any young, somewhat irresponsible, adventure-starved kid would do; I quit my job, jumped into my car and headed for the mountains.  I spent months living in my tent and car, eating instant noodles and hiding from the park rangers (I had a bit of an aversion to paying for campsites).  I found that the shots that I would get the most excited about were the ones that came from the very edges of the day.  I loved shooting long dusk exposures and seeing how the water and clouds would move through the frame, I would run around with my headlamp and use it to lightpaint rocks and trees in the scene, I would hike hours in the dark to get to a location to set up a star-trails shot where I would sleep beside my camera while it rendered a single image.

I have such fantastic memories of those times – and the skills I learned then are what helped to start my career in photography and continue to be an integral part of it.  I now shoot primarily for commercial clients and have applied the concepts I discuss in this ebook on photoshoots for resorts, hotels, architecture and tourism clients, ad agencies and design firms.  I still have simple shoots that are just me, my camera and a tripod – while others incorporate a whole crew of people along with elaborate lighting set-ups.  Still the concepts I use are based on the same skills learned from my park-ranger-hiding, instant-noodle-eating, time in the mountains.

I hope this coming ebook inspires you to head out with your camera at some ridiculous hour of the day so you can experience the same excitement I do at seeing these sorts of images appear on your camera’s LCD.  As I say in the book – it’s not always easy to get yourself out at those hours of the day, but I’ve never once regretted the effort.

happy shooting
dave.

Image 1:
A 6 hour exposure of the stars over the “Giant Cleft” a unique
geological feature in Cathedral Provincial Park, BC, Canada.

Image 2:
An evening twilight shot of where the the Coquihalla River meets the
Fraser River (Hope, BC, Canada)

I tell you that for two reasons. One, to explain my unexpected absence here on Friday. I didn’t plan for that to happen, I just plain forgot. I get distracted easily and I think I thought I had something in the can and ready to go for Friday and I didn’t. Oops. Two, one of the recurrent themes at the conference was collaboration, and the notion of letting ideas into the world and into the hands and minds of other people to evolve and grow. You’ll see where I’m heading with that at the end of this post.

This is going to be a longer post. I want to update you on where things are at and where they’re going on the Pixelated Image Blog and I want to invite your participation in being part of its growth, because you’re a part of this community, even if you’re a lurker and never comment, and it’s fitting that you have a chance to be part of the growth of this thing.

So. As far as I can see from here, and it’s not far or clearly, I assure you, here’s where I think I’m heading with all this over the coming year.

As many of you have noticed, I’ve been busy. I have two passions that I bring to this blog; creating photographs and teaching others about the same. In an effort to learn InDesign I created my first eBook, TEN, two months ago and the response has blown me away. I decided to push my luck with another, TEN MORE, and it too has had an incredible reception. DRAWING THE EYE was released last week and I accidentally began working on a fourth and am almost finished it. I accidentally discovered that I love creating these. If no one ever bought these things I’d probably keep creating them because I enjoy the process and the creation of something new. The incredible response was never anticipated. So I have plans to do more. The comments I keep getting tell me the content is valuable. So while I’m making no promises, I’ve talked to a couple other photographers I love and respect, and we’ve got at least three potential collaborations in the pot right now.  I’m hoping to release those after the release of my fourth eBook, CHASING  THE LOOK, 10 Ways To Improve The Aesthetics of Your Photographs (left). I’ll give you some time to digest DRAWING THE EYE before I release this next one, then after CHASING THE LOOK I’m going to introduce you to Kevin Clark and Dave Delnea and do some collaborations with them. If the eBooks were songs, these would be duets. But I’ll space them out, I promise.

In the midst of all that my second print book will come out. VISIONMONGERS, Making a Life and Living in Photography (left) is at the printers now and should be out November 16, which means that’s when it ships from the publisher to Amazon. If you pre-ordered with Peachpit, you’re likely to get yours about the same time I see mine for the first time. If you pre-ordered with Amazon.com, you’ll see yours shortly after that. If you pre-ordered with Amazon.ca, or God-forbid Amazon.co.uk, well, you might as well find a comfy chair and put the kettle on, it’ll be a longer wait for you. But when VisionMongers comes out you’ll see some posts here about the business end of things. I won’t stop writing about creating photographs, but I’ll also be talking about the issues raised in the book, doing some related give-aways, and in general picking up a thread that I’ve discussed here in the past but neglected while I was writing this book so I wouldn’t get confused.

And speaking of Giveaways, I’ve got a few more in the pipe that I’m excited about. I do these because I love to give stuff away and because I like my readers. When I get a sponsor I always make a deal with them – if I get something, so does at least one of my readers. Be on the look out for some goodies from OnOne software soon. I just talked them into forking over some stuff, so I’ll announce that after I draw for the Wacom Intuos4 tablet. I’ve also got signed copies of VisionMongers, and signed copies of Steven Pressfield’s War of Art. In fact I think I’ll give away a 3-set that includes a signed copy of War of Art, a signed copy of VisionMongers, and a copy of Within The Frame signed by me, Joe McNally who wrote the foreword and Vincent Versace who wrote the afterword. Call me crazy. I’ll announce those later but I wanted you to know what’s coming down the pipe.

And that brings me to the last thing. The books, electronic or paper, are not replacing the content here on the blog. This is where I connect with you, share my latest thoughts and (mis)adventures, and enjoy the pleasure of a growing community- I wouldn’t trade it for anything. So this is where I open it to you. This is an invitation for you to collaborate with me and throw your best ideas at me and see what sticks. If you’ve got an idea about something you’d like me to write about or teach, an issue you’d like me to address, or a question you’ve been dying to ask – now’s a chance to get it out and make it known. If you’ve got an idea about the design of the blog, a feature you don’t see, or a photographer you’d love to see me interview, let me know. Basically I’m telling you I want you to have a hand in the direction of this blog. I’m not guaranteeing I’ll do all – or any – of what gets suggested, but the more voices I hear the more able I am to know why you come here, what you get out of it, and what you’d like to see more of.

And to encourage the participation of less vocal members of this community, I’m going to put a prize into the mix. I don’t even know what it is, but if I fail to come up with something more clever I’ll just sign a couple books and look through my closet and send something – anything – to keep you happy. I’ll pick one contributor to this conversation, might be a random choice, might be someone with a great idea, I’m not sure. But you deserve a shot at something for reading this far and contributing.

Thanks again. To all of you, from the more vocal people whom I now call my friends, to the lurkers who just come and listen quietly in the corners. It’s truly rare for an internet community – either a blog or a forum – to be so consistently blessed with such kind, fun, people, and somehow avoid the crazies. Thanks for being a part of all this. And for reading this whole post. Lord, this was long.

Tet celebrations in Sapa, Vietnam. I cropped this one to go with the “giants” theme, you know, Jack and The Beanstalk kind of stuff. Now I’m not sure which version I like better, the square crop or the original. EXIF: Canon 5D, 125mm, 1/1600 @ f/4.o, ISO 400.

First, thanks to everyone who participated in yesterday’s Twitterview, that was just too much fun. Thanks! Let’s do it again sometime.

It seems like ages ago that Gavin Gough and I traded blogs for a day. He wrote here, I wrote over at his place and we shared a theme; the notion of standing on the shoulders of giants. This isn’t about that. But there are giants involved. And I have to warn you, this one flirts dangerously with being touchy-feely and quasi-motivational, but as many of you seem to take some perverse pleasure from this kind of thing, I’ll leave you with it as we head into the weekend. It has significant bearing on the life creative, so don’t be scared off by it.

I’ve always loved the story of David and Goliath, though Jack and the Beanstalk runs a close second. In part because any story with a little runt named David carries a certain resonance for me, and in part because I generally champion the underdog. My favourite part of the story is when little David runs to meet the giant. He doesn’t stroll, doesn’t sneak in with caution. He runs. Approaching giants is intimidating at the best of times. But if the story’s to be believed, the rewards were solid. He gets the renown, the money, and the girl. ‘Nuff said.

I’m a fan, however intimidating it is, of approaching giants. The heroes we look to for inspiration got to where they are with alot of hard lessons learned. But they did get there. And I want some of that. Whatever it is. If it’s wisdom, I want it. If it’s connections and relationships, I want those too. if it’s just the chance to hear their stories and bask in the coolness they exude – I’ll take that, and make it double please. Selfish? Sure. But not only. I like the chance to tell these people how important they are to me, how vital their work, teachings, and influence, have been to me choosing and succeeding on my journey. And I like knowing that the wisdom they pass on to me will make me better and wiser and one day I will have the chance to pay it forward and pass it on when others look up to me.

I’ve said before that standing on the shoulders of giants is important. Reaching out and getting to know those giants is even better. I want to encourage you – at the risk of flooding in-boxes of heroes everywhere – to do that audacious thing you’ve been dreaming about. My life has been impacted in ways I can’t begin to measure by simply approaching my heroes and doing what I can to touch the hem of their garment. To my surprise they’ve all been more than gracious, especially if there’s an offer of lunch and a beer involved. Monday is the official release date of Within The Frame, and the starting place for that book deal was lunch with one of my heroes. The foreword to that book was written by another of my heroes, and that began with a long sarcastic email to the man. Ditto the afterword, though there was less sarcasm involved. Many of my best friendships are with people I just reached out to. To my shock, they reached back.

Sure, aspire to be like your heroes – but even better, approach them.

Whatever that giant is – whether it’s a client, a project, a new technique, or one of your heroes – the first step is the approach. If your particular giant is a person, take them to lunch, go to their lectures take a class or workshop with them. If they’re planning to be at Photoshop World, go to Photoshop World.  Not everyone will respond, and those that do may not have the time to do much more than thank you for the effort, but you never know until you try, right?

The thing about approaching the giants in your life is that it’s scary as hell. In some ways that’s what makes them giants. In The War of Art, to which I refer more and more these days, Pressfield contends that the greater the fear the greater the indication that the thing of which you are afraid is in fact the thing you really MUST do.  Here’s a quote, he’s talking about resistance, but if you assume that fear is often one of the greatest manifestations of resistance in the creative life, it’s a powerful thought:

“Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North – meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing.

We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others.

Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it”

- Steven Pressfield, The War of Art.

Have a great weekend. Don’t forget to get in on the Within The Frame Giveaway.

How many of you are in Vancouver or near enough to want to come in? This is bad timing as I’m off to Asia tomorrow but I’m thinking it’s time for a PixelatedImage Get-Together. Maybe next month? Nothing big, just an informal gathering at a favourite watering hole to connect and chew the fat, talk about all the readers that didn’t come, that sort of thing.

So? Who’s in? Let me know and I’ll hatch a plan. ( Shout-out to Sabrina who got the gears rolling on this. ) Leave a comment or send an email.