PixelatedImage Blog

I just got a reminder that today is the last day to enter Shutterstock’s 2010 Photo Safari Contest, co-sponsored by B&H Photo and Zozi.  Enter your best travel photo (the prize is a a safari, the photograph doesn’t have to be) for a chance to win a 6-night African Photo Safari Adventure. Once you’ve uploaded your amazing shot, encourage your friends to cast their votes for your pic. I’ll be judging the finalists on May 13th – May 17th, along with my friends Chase Jarvis and Zack Arias and winners will be announced on May 20th. To enter, click HERE.

As with all contests be sure to read the fine print. I’m just helping to judge this one, it’s not my contest, and I haven’t had a look at the rules with a magnifying glass either. But the prize is sweet and if you’re jonesin’ for a fantastic trip to Africa, and you’re cool with the rules, this is a chance at some pretty fun travel. Good luck!

Once in a while I get a notion to stir things up. I do so first for myself, usually only later does it occur to me to share the idea. But this is not that time. I’m too busy with doing other things and sadly it’s a reality that being a working photographer often means more work and less photographering. Right now it’s one of those times. I am in Ontario right now and I’ve shot 12 frames – all of the family cat. These are not my proudest hours.

Months ago I published TEN, Ten Ways To Improve Your Craft, None of Them Involve Buying Gear. It was, and still is a best-seller. But I should have done two things. 1. I should have come up with a shorter subtitle. 2. I should have prefaced it with an even shorter eBook. I here present the proposed content.

Proposed Title: ONE, One Way To Improve Your Craft Without Buying Gear.

Proposed Content: Stop buying gear.

That’s it. And as I don’t know anyone willing to shell out $5 for this advice, I’m just giving it away. Want more? Here’s the expanded content:

The single best thing you can do for your photography in the broadest strokes, is to stop buying gear.

Stop it. Stop looking at the catalogs. Stop reading the reviews.

Just, for the love of Diane Arbus, stop it.

Now grab the nearest camera. And the lens that’s on it. And go make some photographs. Now do it again. And again. And again. Do this for a month, a year if you can manage to stay away from the addiction that long. Do it so long that you don’t even know – or care – about the specs of the newest offering from Canon or Nikon. Do it so long that you no longer care that a faster lens would be sexier and convince your friends that you’re serious about your craft. Do it so long that you care more for the image than you do for the chatter about gear. Do it so long that you fall in love with photographing, not just the gear.

Then, if you must, pick up the catalogs again, and re-subscribe to your favourite magazines. The gear is good, so lest anyone comment about me hating gear or being gearophobic (hey, some of my best friends are gear!) let me re-iterate that there’s nothing wrong with the gear. Nothing wrong with poppies either but an opium addiction will probably sideline you pretty good. Hear me on this rare soapbox (rare because it’s shortish, not because it’s a soapbox): all the new gear and fancy tutorials, all the books and exotic workshops, all of it can be helpful. But it can also be a counterfeit for the real deal; the act of going out and making image after image after image, for the love of it, and with a critical eye and teachable spirit. Getting discouraged? Chuck it all and go make some photographs. Purge the voices from your head, close the magazines, and go make some photographs. Just you, one camera, one lens, and your muse. Don’t show it to others, don’t post it on Flick or blog about it. Just you. Your camera. Your muse. Once you love the images more than the feedback, and the “wow, great shot!”s and the new-gear smell, and the site of the UPS man on your porch, then you’re back where you started: in love with creating actual photographs. And I guarantee two things – you’ll enjoy your photographs more, and the images will be better.

Me. Happily in Suck-Mode in Kenya. Man I miss Africa! The image has nothing whatsoever to do with the post so don’t go looking for deeper meanings. Sometimes a photograph is just filler, ya know?

During the Q&A time at Amazon the other day a guy in the audience asked me a question. It must have been very complicated because I’ve completely forgotten the specifics. What I can’t forget is how he prefaced the question. He began by telling me he was an amateur and “still in suck-mode.”

Made me laugh.

But as we used to say in the comedy world, it’s funny ’cause it’s true. Suck-Mode.  Baby, we’re all still in suck-mode and here’s why.

1. Your vision or intention for your images is fired by your imagination and your emotions. It’s also fueled by expectations and the desire to express yourself better than you currently do. The fact that so many talented photographers out there shoot such beautiful work in their sleep doesn’t help.

2. The technology with which we collaborate to create our photographs is always changing, always has a learning curve attached to it for which few of us have the time to to tackle, AND is profoundly limited to begin with. That’s what makes it so much fun. But what we want from our images is often several steps ahead of either the limits of our gear or the limits of our craft.

And so we often look at our own work and see it through the “this all sucks” filter. Doesn’t help that we compare ourselves to others who in turn seem to be comparing themselves to us. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. It doesn’t exclude the need or ability to still love our work or be confident in its creation. In comedy we used to say that “everyone needs a place to suck.” It gave us the freedom to try, to risk, to fail without repercussions. We ALL need a place to suck. It’s from that place that I suspect our best work can eventually grow.

As I said, you can still love your work, can still be confident that you are growing as a craftsman and an artist. But the place of humility that you need to acknowledge the Suck Mode to begin with can be a powerful ally in creation. Embrace it. We all suck. Now go take some risks, cause hey, if it’s going to suck anyways, what do you have to lose by trying harder, taking risks, and throwing caution to the wind? It’s when you think your work is hot sh*t, as they say, that you risk plateauing. And also people stop wanting to play with you. Embrace sucking, you’ll feel better about yourself and your work, and ironically, your work will probably suck less. That’s my hope, anyways

As an aside, I got in trouble when I was a child for saying something “sucked.” Hopefully the expression now holds a more accepted, less crude, meaning for most people that it will not offend. If it does, suck it up and refrain from leaving a comment. My mother’s got your back and I’m probably already grounded without dinner.

Perfect Thing #19. Shooting What You Love. Shot this on the island of Goree in Senegal last month. A day to wander, shoot, and hang out with a friend. Life is about these kinds of moments.

I should be slaving away on a million things right now but I’m feeling a little sheepish over the neglect this blog’s suffered recently. This month’s Outside magazine has a feature called 51 Perfect Things and I keep coming back to it;  I think what most resonates with me is that in a time when it seems critical reviews and nit-picking get all the page space, it’s nice to see something so celebratory of simple pleasures. Might be overstepping it call them perfect, but in a world where perfection so seldom comes, these are as close to it as I’ve ever found. These are the things in which I’ve taken particular pleasure over the last year or two.

#1. Chai at the summit of Khardun La, the highest motorable road in the world. For extra points get there on a Royal Enfield Thunderbird.

#2. Film. Digitial gets the glory. But having recently returned to shooting film in an effort to stay fresh and creative, I can’t believe I stayed away for so long.

#3. A steaming bowl of Pho ga in Vietnam. Vietnam is colourful and friendly and I’m dying to go back. Put the camera down and enjoy the local food. On a cold day nothing beats hot noodle soup.

#4. Hasselblads, Leicas, and Carl Zeiss. We’re surrounded by plastic these days. Getting your hands on some old-school engineering makes shooting such a pleasure. Walking around with a 1980’s Hassleblad 500 c/m and listening to the clunk of the mirror return, and feeling the sure mechanisms of the focus and aperture rings reminds me of the joy I took when I was a kid discovering the tactillity of this craft.

#5. The Moleskine Notebook. My shelf is lined with them, full of thoughts and checklists and little pieces of paper I tucked away in the back pocket. They have travelled the world with me.

#6. Blundstone Boots. They don’t come better than this. Ever. After going around the world in them for a few years they feel like slippers. Manly, rugged, slippers.

#7. Shooting at dawn or dusk. Just being awake at this hour seems to have a calming effect, and for me the paint seems to stir easier when things are calm. Also? The light ain’t bad.

#8. My Saddleback Leather satchel (they call it a briefcase). I don’t travel internationally with this, it’s just too heavy, but for domestic travel and every-day use for tossing in the laptop or Hassleblad, this bag is amazing. And as they say in the ads, your kids will fight over it when you’re dead. It doesn’t come cheap, but this’ll outlast a hundred others and gets better looking with every rainstorm and accidental scar. Absolutely perfect.

#9. The Leatherman multi-tool. The original and still awesome.

#10. Arbeg Uigeadall Single Malt Scotch Whisky. If you like single malts from Islay, this one is hard to beat. Amazing.

#11. Michael Kennsa’s Hokkaido series. All his work is stunning, elegant, but his Hokkaido series in particular captivates me.

#12. Being there. We talk and talk about all the places we could shoot, but being there – in mind and body – is a gift. Want to be there this year but don’t want to plan it all yourself? Want to come with me? There are spots left on Lumen Dei Tibet (July) and Lumen Dei Kashmir/Ladakh (September) and I’d love to travel with you.

#13. Gitzo Ocean Traveler Tripod. It’s a particular person who will buy one of these. They aren’t cheap. But they’re amazing. Like all the Gitzo Traveler series, they’re light, strong, and beautifully made. Add stainless steel and sealed mechanisms and a ball head you can field strip and you’ve got a really sexy thing. Price aside, this is the perfect travel tripod.

#14. Waking up in a luxury tent camp as the sun rises into a solar eclipse over Mt. Kenya with the Serengeti between you. Unbelievable. One of the most beautiful moments of my life. The best moments are unrepeatable. I did my first African safari this year; it won’t be my last. A perfect way to spend 10 days

#15. My 13″ MacBook Pro. The perfect travel machine for me.

#16. Icebreaker merino wool socks and underwear. I swear I’ll never travel with another pair of underwear and socks if they aren’t Icebreaker. Amazing. They keep you warm when it’s cool, cool when it’s warm, and they’re comfortable and durable.

#17. The Nifty Fifty. Canon’s EF 50/1.8 lens is cheap, made of plastic, and has nothing whatsoever to recommend it other than that it’s just that – cheap, made of plastic, and for the money delivers great images with a fast aperture and a short mininum focus distance.

#18. The ScotteVest Travel Vest, in black please. I don’t travel without it. Love it. It’s warm, so forget wearing it all day in Delhi this July, but I still travel to and from locations with it. Even in Senegal where it hit 40 degrees C during the day, I’d wear it in the cooler mornings. Functional, comfortable, and far less geek factor than a classic photography vest ever had. And pockets? Only the Gitzo Fleece can compete.

#19. Photographing what you love without regard for what anyone else thinks. Sure, it’s nice to hear people rave about your images, but at the end of the day the only thing that really matter is that you love them and loved making them. Being a so-called amateur has this strongly in its favour. Don’t ever forget why you do this.

#20. This one’s yours. Comments are open. What would make it onto your list of Perfect things?

Hi all. Hope you had a lovely holiday, filled with family, friends, and love. Ours was subdued, a close friend was diagnosed to have a brain tumour and that brought the tone of things down. But it re-calibrates you in a hurry, this kind of event; reminds you quickly of the things you truly want for Christmas – health, family, friends. The trimmings aren’t the main event.

Sharon gave me the gift of Wisdom, a book by Andrew Zuckerman. On my birthday I opened that book, along with books from a close friend. In fact he gave me Annie Leibovitz At Work, which I have, so I traded it in for Camera by Todd Gustavson and The Unguarded Moment by Steve McCurry. I also got to spend a couple mornings, while Sharon slept in, walking on the seawall and wrecking roll after roll of otherwise perfectly good film while I second-guessed my light metre and tried to get things level in the goofy inverted focussing screen on the old Hasselblad. It was, in a word, heaven. Wisdom, by the way, is a fantastic book, especially if you love portraits. Camera is just amazing if you are interested in the history of our craft, and The Unguarded Moment, it’s pure McCurry, and like his last two, it’s HUGE. The cover image is one of my favourites. I’m willing to bet it was a case of finding a great background and just waiting it out until the moment arrived. Very Henri Cartier-Bresson-esque

My muse visited and gave me an idea for what one day will be another book, and I wish I weren’t already working on one because this one just strikes me as way more fun No spoilers just yet, and who knows if/when it might actually come out. But ideas are like gold and getting one that just fits, that’s priceless.

So now we’re in that weird space and time between Christmas and New Year’s. I’m settling in to keep writing, to pack bags for Kenya and Senegal, to make a list of resolutions I plan on breaking early so I can get straight to the guilt part (kidding), and wrapping up the loose ends of 2009. How about you? How was your holiday? Did you get a gift that inspired you? A moment that you managed to capture, with your heart or your camera? Trust it was a good break for you.

I wrote this earlier this year to stave off the insanity of jet-lag one night while on a particularly challenging assignment in Ethiopia. It’s a little stream-of-consciousness and I offer it for what it is. In my defence, my mind was a little foggy from the jet-lag. If you’re looking for wisdom, move along – nothing to see here. The photograph above was shot in Northern Ethiopia – Gonder, to be precise, back in 2006.

I’m jet-lagged. It’s 9:30 in the evening. I’ve just accidentally slept through the afternoon and woken up to the realization that there’s no chance I’ll get another wink of sleep between now and my 5am wake up call. I’m in a hotel room that redefines mediocre, in a hotel at which I stayed 2 years ago and of which I have unkind memories. I was here with a friend visiting an orphanage and had developed a sore in my mouth which made eating so painful I wanted to cry. Mike refused to challenge the roaches on their claim to the shower. Good times, as they say.

These are the nights I don’t tell people about when they tell me I’ve got the best job in the world. These nights of restlessness in crappy-ass hotels, listening to disco hammering its way in from the streets, longing for home, stressing out about the coming days on an assignment that seems doomed from the get-go. Nights spent trying to stay positive, to not wonder about the parasitic possibilities latent in the mosquito bites the net was meant to prevent. Nights hoping the bug-bite on your eyelid doesn’t swell your eye completely, forcing you to shoot with the other one, the one that doesn’t “see” any better than a teenaged photographer with his first roll of film and an AE-1.

I’ve plugged in my iPod, played Toto’s requisite Africa over and over again, before moving on to Paul Simon’s African-inspired Graceland album. I’ll settle, slow down, move on to Van Morrison, and find my groove, work on the book I’ve been chipping away at, more to avoid getting morose and thinking about how badly I want to sleep this night away, get in the truck and keep moving, get to the location and fix this mess.

I’m meant to be here for 5 days of shooting and the local NGO has policies about transportation that mean I won’t be on location until late Monday afternoon, will have two days to shoot, and then turn around and repeat the 2-day drive back to Addis Ababa and the plane that could have been booked 2 days further out if only we had been told of this policy. It’s no big deal, they pay me, I do what I can, I go home. But the thing is, I care deeply about this work and want to see it go well. It’s a new client and I want to knock this one out of the ballpark. Now the game’s been cut dramatically short and my bat’s been cut in two.

The reason I keep doing this, time after time, is in part because I love the adventure. I keep saying that as long as I make it out alive I come back with a good story and in the circles I move a good story is like currency, any evening spent together with other travelling photographer inevitably ends with an escalating vortex of stories that begin with “when I was in Serbia,” and “How many times have you had malaria?” before finishing with the usual bullshit about how we shot an assignment through the haze of a fever and a camera that was permanently stuck on 1/250. As evenings go, you could do far far worse, but you only get to play if you have the stories. So bring it on, you say, though dreading the thought that the fates might just take you at your word.

I also do it because I love the kids. The humanitarian organizations for whom I work specialise in development that focuses on children and my time with the kids and families in some of the more remote places on the planet, is deeply gratifying. Where it not for the kids, were I coming down only to shoot the installation of a new water pump, I’d give it up entirely, try my hand at writing perhaps. The kids keep me coming back. This is why I shoot. I tell others to shoot their passion, and this is why – it sustains you, makes your work better, and gives the challenge a payoff that money alone could never do.

It’s past midnight now; four and a half hours to kill until the alarm goes off. Nights like this it’s hard not to think about home and the last time I saw my wife and the sushi we had the night before I left. Hard not to think about my morning ritual of a coffee and bagel by the ocean before going back to work, or the days when there’s writing to be done and I walk to the water taxi and take the brief ride across False Creek,  under the steelwork of the Burrard Bridge, before stepping off at Granville Island, and walking to my favourite coffee joint. Hard? Hell, it’s impossible not to think about those things.

But in the morning, when the sun comes up and I step out into the dawn and the dust & diesel smell of Ethiopia, and into the Land Cruiser to continue our two-day trek through the breathtaking Bale Mountains before making the descent into the remote lowlands on the Kenyan border, all these thoughts get washed away by the thrill of movement, of new sights and smell and the epic feeling of being a million miles from email and the pseudo-obligations of the busy busy busy routine.

Thank God, on these nights, for Van Morrison. I’ve been thinking about listening to every song on my ipod and counting how many times he says “Jelly Roll”. Despite it all I’d rather, right now, truly be nowhere else. And in 4 days, on the other end of this trip, when I wrestle with jet-lag at this same hotel on the way back to Addis, I’ll be wide awake, but thinking about the Ethiopians I met, the stories I’ve heard & been a part of, and the hope I’ve witnessed. I’ll be looking at images that didn’t exist before this adventure began, and the sleepless nights in a $9/night hotel with the cess-pool bathroom won’t seem so bad. Man I love this job…

I call this one, “She’s a Babe, I’m an Idiot.” So does she.

Yesterday my wife and I marked 6 years of marriage and so today we’re off to British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast for 3 days of hanging out sans internet. Can’t wait. So while I’m doing that, here’s some details – a few recaps, a few new items.

1. On Wednesday Scott Kelby’s Guest Blog spot was by Tyler Stableford. Tyler’s post was moving, and worth a read. And refreshingly free of gear talk. More why, less how, and heart to spare. You can find Tyler on Scott’s Blog HERE.

2. Scott Bourne asked me to host the most recent edition of PhotoFocus, so if you’ve got an hour to kill listen to Scott and I yapping, you can click HERE for Episode #20 of Photofocus.

3. I’m excited to tell you that the dates and details for Lumen Dei 2010 are soon-coming. We’ve got the basics nailed down, so put Sept. 12-25, 2010 on the calendar and wait for more details. As always, there will be room for about 8 people, and spots will go fast. Last year we sold out in less than 3 days.Details will be announced here and on Matt Brandon’s blog as soon as they’re available.

4. Jack Hollingsworth has a poll going to see “which published Photography Author would you like to spend intimate, workshop weekend with at the seaside cottage/studio of @photojack” So go put in a vote, even if it’s not for me. I think this kind of thing would be amazing. But don’t let the whole “intimate weekend” thing mislead you. There will be neither candles nor any slipping into something more comfortable. Unless y’all vote for Joe McNally instead, and then all bets are off.

5. At the beginning of the week I announced the BIG FAT BUSINESS CARD GIVEAWAY THING, be sure to enter. I’ll be drawing the winner at the end of the month.

6. Ralph Clevenger’s new book Photographing Nature is now out. The Fed Ex guy came with mine yesterday which really ticked me off because I thought it might be the first copy of VisionMongers and it wasn’t. Neverthless, hardly Ralph’s fault. Like anything put out by Peachpit Press it’s a thing of beatuy and I’m looking forward to tucking into in preparation for my safari workshop in Kenya this January. And it’s the same size as Within The Frame, and VisionMongers, and Chris Orwig’s Visual Poetry, so they’ll all look great on your shelf together.

7. This article appeared in the Deseret News (Utah) on October 29th and is worth a read. I want to have all the sympathy in the world for the gal losing her gear, but leaving all your gear in the car is just plain stupid. Not that I haven’t done it (and had it stolen, for that matter) but still… It’s a good reminder to be vigilant and insured and for the love of Alfred Eisenstadt don’t leave ALL your harddrives in the car. Backup your stuff. Do it now. Now back it up again and put one of those backups somewhere safe, and preferably not on your own property.

8. Finally, if you missed it. I’m always grateful for you as a community and I’ve created a collection of wallpapers for the iPhone I’d like you to have. You can find all the details on Wednesday’s post HERE.

Have a great weekend. Go shoot something you love. Unless you’re with someone you love as I will be, then it might just be best to put the camera down for a spell. See you on Monday.

Yesterday a lot of people said a lot of very kind things and though I’ve never needed reminding how much I like y’all, well, yesterday just capped it. Your support and encouragement means a lot to me. So I’ve got a little something for you, just to say thank you. I’ve put together 16 of my favourite wallpaper-type images into one collection and I’m giving it away. Well, that’s not entirely true, I’m giving it away to you. Others that just stumble upon it in the store, well, they’ll pay a whopping $2 for it. But not you, you get it free. Because I love you.

At the bottom of this post there are links to put this into your cart and check out. So go ahead, put it into your cart, then use this coupon code: FREE1104 and you’ll be whisked through the free checkout line. Thanks again for being the one of the best communities on the internet – I’m honored you’ve thrown in your lot with me (UPDATE – Turns out there is a limit of 100 of these downloads a day, so CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD DIRECT FROM MY SERVER – please let me know if there are any further issues. Apologies for the oversight.)

This will come to you as a zipped folder. Unzip the folder and you’ll have a folder of 16 jpg images. Not sure how PC people do this, so if you’re good with this stuff, feel free to leave instructions in the comments. But Mac peeps should just be able to move all 16 images to their iPhoto library. Assuming you’ve got your photos to sync on the iphone, plug the iphone in and sync that sucker. Then choose the image you want and set it to desktop wallpaper. In theory this should all be pretty painless. If not, ask for help in the comments and I, or someone else, will try to help.

You could have knocked me over with a feather (whatever that means) when my publishing team emailed me yesterday morning to let me know that Within The Frame was chosen by Amazon.com as one of the best books of 2009 in Arts & Photography. It came in 5th, after Joe McNally’s Hotshoe Diaries, Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Book, Volume 3, a tattoo book by Kat Von D, and PostSecret by Frank Warren. So in a rare moment of rather self-conscious horn-tooting, let me just sound my barbaric WoOt! from the rooftops of the internet. (ahem, woOt!)

This kind of thing doesn’t get old, I have to tell you. I’m still a kid in a candy store about all this stuff. Eyes wide and hardly able to take it in. People think you write a best-selling book and that all this stuff is just life as usual. It’s not. I still think one day they’re all going to wake up and realize they’ve mistaken me for some other photographer of the same name. So until then, these moments are going to seem pretty surreal.

Huge thanks to you all who support my habit by buying these books and telling others about them. I’m so grateful. Please be sure to buy and promote VisionMongers with the same zeal because I’ve just committed to buying an island in the South Pacific and this banana republic ain’t going to pay for itself. Seriously, thank you; I’m humbled by this kind of thing. I still get giddy  and say stupid things around Kelby and McNally, so it’s a little weird to be in their illustrious company.

To give you an idea of why this is so cool to me; when I was in grade 7, I entered a school-wide cartoon contest. I drew a wicked cartoon. And I won second place. Which would have rocked except that I was the only one that entered. I’m still bitter but this kind of thing eases that old pain just a little

The rest of the list is HERE on Amazon.com

It’s Monday. We’re still eating Turkey up here. I don’t have pictures of turkey, so you get two pigeons instead. Sorry. Times are tight.

Tomorrow I’ll discuss the images I showed in the slideshow I posted on Friday, today I’m busy being thankful. But I’ve got suggestions for you if you’re bored:

1. Go back up your hard-drives. Don’t have a decent back-up solution? Make sure you enter the Drobo Giveway by leaving a comment on last Wednesday’s post HERE.

2. Go read a good book. Don’t have one? Try one of the books recommended in this post or the comments that follow it.

3. Calibrate your monitor. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

4. Get your hands on one, or both of my eBooks- TEN and TEN MORE – available in the Pixelated Image Bookstore HERE. – Heck, if you use the coupon code: TURKEY you can get them for 50% off until my turkey has digested – and I’m giving that to the end of tomorrow (October 13) It’s practically a TWO-FER-ONE!

5. Here’s the crazy one. I put it in here just for fun. Go make some photographs. I know, crazy right?

Happy Thanksgiving, folks.