PixelatedImage Blog

Photograph by Martin Bailey.

Next February I’m doing a workshop in Hokkaido, Japan. And by “doing a workshop,” I don’t mean I am teaching or leading one. I’m taking one. Photography is a journey and there is no discipline or teacher from whom we can not learn something. Last year I went to Antarctica with JP Caponigro and Seth Resnick (and 70 other amazing folks), to shoot, to experience the frozen continent, and to fill my bucket. In February 2013, I’m filling my bucket under the tutelage of Martin Bailey. I’ve long wanted to go to Japan, (though Tokyo scares the crap out of me), and ever since seeing work by Michael Kenna from Hokkaido, I’ve wanted to see it myself. And Martin himself is a great photographer and perfect gentleman.

Anyways, I’m telling you this in case you’re looking for something different than my usual offerings with Within The Frame Photographic Adventures, which are amazing adventures, but much less structured than this, and we don’t do monkeys. Like I said, I won’t be teaching, but I’ll be there as a student and special guest (whatever that means) and we’ll do some evenings of discussion centered around my teaching, too. Mostly I wanted to promote what I think is one of the more exciting education and travel experiences being offered right now, with a man who knows his stuff (referring to Martin, not to myself.)

I’d love to travel with you and shoot alongside you in Hokkaido, so here’s the heads-up on where I’m going and when, follow THIS LINK to Martin’s workshop website.

This month’s free Desktop Wallpaper. Antarctica, December 2011.
Click the image to get the full-resolution version. Speaking of resolution…

Resolution or Resolve?
I was going to let New Year’s eve come and go without using the word resolution. But then I started thinking about my own reluctance to embrace the whole topic, and I felt a sermon growing….

It’s that time of year again, when we as a culture gather our collective optimism and in one great seizure of denial we’ll make promises to ourselves that, for the most part, are mercifully short-lived, coming into this world all but stillborn and saving us from changing our lives for yet another trip around the sun. I’m weary of seeing friends making resolutions but seeing no change in their lives, lives that I know are so full of brilliance and potential; so many resolutions, so little resolve, and so very little change.

A resolution is a one-time decision. A mile-marker on our journey, on which we look back when we forget from whence we’ve come and lost sight of where we’re going. But it’s nothing more. The moment you make it, it begins to lose its momentum, and there are very few of us for whom that resolution carries much lasting strength. It’s just the way it is. It’s a strong indicator of a desire, but a poor agent of change. It may, at best, be a compass, but it’s not an engine. And waiting for the magic of January One is just silliness. Do it now. Not tomorrow. Not later.

Over this past year I’ve had greater opportunity to reflect on my life than I expected. Whether I’m “Living the dream” or not, I am unashamedly living my own dreams. But none of them come on a silver platter. They come with intention and resolve, they come rough and demand polishing, and they – all of them – extract a price. But I am amazed at how much we can accomplish when we pay that price, and stop screwing around, living our lives in such ad hoc fashion. Whatever it is you hope for this coming year, don’t stop at resolutions. Find resolve. Then map it out. How are you going to do it? Monthly, weekly, daily, what does this dream require of you? Now do it, and do it with all the strength you’ve got. You have one brief, beautiful, unique life to live, and only a limited handful of matches with which to set your world ablaze. Don’t you dare waste them.

January 2012 Desktop Wallpaper.
You knew it had to be Antarctica on this month’s wallpaper, didn’t you? This is a 2560 x 1600 desktop wallpaper, so it’ll fit everything from iPads to 30″ displays, just click HERE for the full-resolution image.

Heading to Africa.
On New Year’s Day I’ll be on an early evening flight to Frankfurt, then on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to join Jeffrey Chapman and 8 others for the next Within The Frame Adventure. We’re heading north from Addis to the ancient town of Lalibela to join thousands of pilgrims for Orthodox Christmas. I was there 5 or 6 years ago and it was one of the most magical experiences of my life. I remember at the time thinking how much I just wanted several days to explore and photograph, but our itinerary didn’t allow it. Now we’ll have that time. Can’t hardly wait. I’ve no idea how accessible internet will be, but if I can do so, I’ll drop a line. Then on the 14th we return to Addis, head to Nairobi and get ready for the Masai Mara Within The Frame adventure, and I’ll probably be off the map until I get home from Zanzibar on/around the 1stof February. But if I can send a postcard, I will. Happy New Year, friends.

Manfrotto School of Xcellence, Monday Oct. 24, 2011. 2pm – 3pm PDT
More information on the Manfrotto site HERE

On Tuesday morning I jump in the Jeep and drive down to Syracuse, NY to join Jeffrey Chapman for some spectacular Cambodian/Thai food before we jump an early morning flight on Wednesday to Oaxaco, Mexico for our Oaxaca Within The Frame, Day of the Dead Adventure. Very excited.

Tomorrow (Monday ,Oct 24, 2011), I’ll be on the air at 2pm PDT / 5pm EDT for the Manfrotto School of Xcellence (don’t get me started on alternate spellings. Just plain goofy.) giving a free one-hour webinar presentation about Building Better Photographs. The presentation is largely based on the principles of the newest book, Photographically Speaking, though in a much distilled form. I’d love you to join us. These presentations are always fun (read: fraught with tech issues) and I’ll be glad to have some friends in the audience. Join us! (Follow the link at the top to the Manfrotto site)

Manfrotto School of Xcellence, Monday Nov. 21, 2011. 2pm – 3pm PDT
More information on the Manfrotto site HERE

Next month, same time, I’ll be doing another one called Confessions of a So-Called Pro. Here’s the blurb: When professional photographer and best-selling author David duChemin left a 12-year career in comedy to pursue his first creative love, photography, he tried very hard to be the “professional” he thought he was meant to be. What he discovered along the way was that being a productive photographer that loved his craft had nothing to do with getting paid. More than that, he learned many lessons about the craft of photography that apply to everyone, from so-called amateur to so-called pro. Join David in a candid discussion about the journey of photography.

I’d love you to join us for that too. Between now and then I’ll be in Oaxaca shooting the Day of the Dead, and on Roatan, Honduras, doing nothing at all. The last trip I went really light, this time I’m taking a Nikon D3s, Sigma 20/1.8, Nikon 24mm PC-E, and Sigma 85/1.4. 4 batteries, no charger. 2 x 64 GB SanDisk cards. Gitzo Ocean Traveler tripod, and a couple Singh Ray filters. It’s a fraction of what I once carried but already it feels like I’m packing for an expedition! I’ll carry it all on my back in a Think Thank Photo Airport Acceleration, until I get there, when I’ll pop my working gear into a Think Tank Retro 30. Wow, that was a lot of gear talk in one paragraph. Let’s move on.

Lastly, Photographically Speaking is now shipping and I’m getting really beautiful early comments and reactions. Thank you again for the support! I think this one is the strongest of the so-called vision trilogy. If you haven’t got one yet, you can do so on Amazon.com HERE or Barnes & Nobles HERE. If you’ve already got yours and don’t mind leaving a quick review on Amazon, I’d be grateful.

Will try to check in from Oaxaca and Roatan and send postcards! See you when I get back!

This morning Jeffrey Chapman has pulled the veil off the Italy 2012 Within The Frame Adventures. We’re doing two weeks – one in Liguria, one in Venice. These one-week adventures sell out very quickly, some within hours, so if you’ve been waiting, get your name in the hat fast with Jeffrey. The Italy trips are a highlight of my year, and while we’re not returning to Tuscany this year because she tried to kill me last year, I’m really looking forward to this; traveling with a small group who share a similar passion is an amazing experience to make photographs of an amazing place, eat and drink some amazing food and wine, and share teaching times that will take you deeper into your craft.

You can read Jeffrey’s post about these trips HERE. Get complete details and register with Jeffrey, but let me know if you’re coming! This year’s adventures will fill up even faster as people around the world vie for a spot to see me leap off a wall, fall out of a gondola or choke on my trofie al pesto. You just never know. I like to keep people guessing. (If you have no idea what that comment was all about, read Jeffrey’s blog post or just ignore it. Keep calm, nothing to see here.)

The Liguria trip is April 28 to May 5, 2012 – More details HERE

The Venice Trip is May 5 to May 12, 2012 – More details HERE

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.

Join Jeffrey Chapman and I in Oaxaca, Mexico for a one-week photographic adventure a little closer to home than the workshops I’ve done until now. Focused on the Day of the Dead festivities, this workshop will sell out quickly. We usually sell-out within a day or two, and most of our workshops are much further away, so this one will go even faster.

I’m on the road in Oregon right now and internet time is sparse and used for more personal updates on the trip with Jessie, but if you want more on this fantastic workshop, and the last one I’ll be leading in 2011, then follow this link HERE, or click the image above.

Dates are October 29 – November 5, 2011. The rough itinerary is below and all other details are on the website linked above. See you there!

The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is an important traditional holiday in Mexico. Family and friends gather to remember, pray for and celebrate friends and family members who have died. Traditions connected with the holiday include building elaborate alters honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds and other favorite foods and beverages of the departed. The intent is is to encourage visits by the souls, so that the souls will hear the prayers and comments of the living directed to them. The modern version of this celebration dates its origins to the indigenous observances of thousands of years ago and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, who was depicted with a skull-like face on may artifacts. In Aztec mythology, she is Queen of the Underworld and keeps watch over the bones of the dead.

We will photograph in the markets as people make their purchases for all that is needed for the decoration of the altars of the dead and the corresponding festivities, which are both serious as well as jovial. We will photograph in several cemeteries as well as the parades (comparsas). We will also photograph the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Oaxaca’s historic center and the archeological site of Monte Albán.

This photographic adventure is in the spirit of the best-selling Within The Frame. It is a tour about the passionate discovery and photography of people, place and culture, with emphasis given to going deep not wide, and pursuing that most elusive of photographic necessities—our vision.

Day One — Oaxaca
Arrive in Oaxaca, meet-and-greet dinner, orientation and prepare to begin the photo expedition the following morning.

Day Two — TLACOLULA, MITLA & TEOTITLáN DEL VALLE
After breakfast we will head to the town of Tlacolula for one of the Oaxaca Valley’s oldest and largest markets. We will also visit the town’s main church, the Parroquia de la Virgen de la Asunción, which dates from 1531. From Tlacolula we will head to Mitla, an archeological and UNESCO World Heritage Site that was once home to approximately 10,000 during its peak around 1350. Mitla means “Place of the Dead” and was the principal ceremonial center of the Zapotecs. On our way back to Oaxaca, we will stop in the village of Teotitlán del Valle, where nearly every family is involved in weaving wool on traditional hand looms, a tradition that dates to pre-Hispanic times.

Day Three — OAXACA, XOXOCOTLáN & SANTA MARíA ATZOMPA
We will spend the day exploring the historic center of Oaxaca and the impromptu Day of the Dead celebrations, with live bands, that invariably meander their way through the streets of Oaxaca. In the evening we will visit the Old Cemetery of Xoxocotlán, where many of the Day of the Dead altars are decorated with the same items that were used on the ancient Zapotec tombs in Monte Alban. If we feel like moving on to another cemetery, then we will go to the village of Atzompa, where residents hold candlelight vigil in the cemetery from around 11pm until dawn.

Day Four — OAXACA, COMPARSA SAN AGUSTíN ETLA & OAXACA SAN MIGUEL CEMETERY
The daytime will be devoted to exploring more of historic Oaxaca. In the evening we will visit the Day of the Dead parade in San Agustín and then Oaxaca’s San Miguel Cemetery.

Day Five — MONTE ALBáN & SAN FILIPE DEL AGUA CEMETERY
In the morning, we’ll visit Monte Albán, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Oaxaca Valley that was the capital of the Zapotecs from around 500 BCE to 750 CE. In the evening we will visit the San Filipe del Agua cemetery.

Day Six — ZAACHILA & CUILAPAN DE GUERRERO
Every Thursday, thousands of Zapotec-speaking villagers stream into Zaachila to sell, buy and socialize at the weekly market. After spending some time enjoying the market we’ll visit the unfinished Ex-Convento de Santiago in Cuilapan de Guerrero.

Day Seven — Oaxaca
On our last full day in Oaxaca we will return to the Mercado Juárez and many of the beautiful colonial buildings, including the Catedral de Oaxaca (on the Zócalo), the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad and the Templo de Santo Domingo.

Day Eight — Oaxaca
The morning can be spent exploring more of Oaxaca’s historic center before its time to say our goodbyes to this beautiful city.

Later today I jump a flight to Nairobi. I’ll be gone for almost 4 weeks between the Safari and an NGO assignment among the Rendille in the far north of Kenya near the Ethiopian border. So it could be a while before I drop a line. Hoping I can get a postcard of to you when I am back in Nairobi between gigs, but don’t hold your breath. I get home on February 16 and then it’s a few short, panic-filled days as I lead up to packing Jessie, giving the keys to this condo back to the landlord, and striking out on this adventure. Speaking of adventures….

In September, Jeffrey Chapman and I will accompany eight participants on a photographic adventure in former Indochina. This is our first tour in Southeast Asia, and it’s our first multi-country workshop. I’ve got a lot of travel coming this year – heck, the whole year is travel – but this one is going to be a highlight.

We will begin our adventure in Vientiane, Laos but head almost immediately to the Luang Namtha Province of northwest Laos, bordering Burma/Myanmar and China. This portion of our adventure will include beautiful landscapes, waterfalls, jungles, minority villages and travel by private boat along the Mekong. We will overnight along the banks of the Mekong in a luxury-tented ecolodge.

Our journey along the Mekong will conclude in breathtaking Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where we will devote several days to photographing the wats (temples), monks and daily life along the shores of the convergence of two rivers and the wonderfully preserved historic section of the town center.

We will then fly to Siem Reap to visit the magnificent temples of Angkor, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, and explore the stilt houses, floating villages and life on lake Tonlé Sap.

While we will cover a lot of area on this tour, it won’t be rushed. We will take our time to absorb, linger and wait for the excitement of the new and exotic to blend with an understanding of our surroundings. We will work to find our vision. We’ll photograph in the early mornings and evenings, spend mid-days talking, discussing, learning and working to develop our art.

For the full itinerary and additional details, please visit the Laos + Angkor Within The Frame mini-site by clicking here. As the trip is limited to eight participants, we recommend reserving your spot as soon as possible. Email David and me for an application.

We’re on the second full day of the Kathmandu Within The Frame workshop, based in Boudhanath, and man am I struggling. My first task here is not creating a body of work, but teaching, but I believe the best teachers are the ones that are always learning, and man am I learning. The hard way.

I’ve never shyed away from just being honest, but man is it hard to admit the struggle I’m having right now. The creative life rarely exists in a vacuum, and mine increasingly exists with the demands of photographs for books, ebooks, blog posts, etc. That pressure – and I put it on myself – is becoming hard to deal with. It stands in the way of seeing things. In the case of Kathmandu, I’m here now for the 4th time and I’m repeating myself. Even the shot at the top of this page is a repeat of one I shot for Within The Frame. Heck, it’s even the same man! And it feel like the pressure to make photographs is the very thing preventing me from doing so.

On top of this I’m re-thinking the way I approach people. I’ve photographed people for the last 6 years, and it’s always been difficult, but it’s getting harder. Perhaps I’ve just lost my nerve, perhaps I’m becoming more conscious of the people themselves and less willing to intrude. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that I’ve been there done that and the photographs that once said what I longed to express, I’m no longer burning to shoot.

Whatever it is, it’s a good reminder of the winding road of creativity. We’re never in the same place twice. We change. The things we see change. And so the way we photograph changes. I talk and talk about how hard it can be to create great images and sometimes I think my readers roll their eyes. Truthfully it’s not usually this hard. But right now, it feels like it’s killing me. All there is to do is push through it. Keep at it. Get my ass out of bed at 5:30am and remind myself that Resistance (see War of Art, Pressfield) is at least as hard at work as I am. Creating photographs is my work. Sometimes it feels like play, but it’s work. The work.

Why am I telling you this? In part because it’s the principle. Lots of blogs tell you about the latest toy and how great business is and how amazing the latest images are. But I’ve always felt like this blog has been a bit of an exercise in disclosure and that part of the value has been in relating my own journey and struggle. No photographer I know finds this easy all the time. No artist I know doesn’t wrestle the muse to the ground at times. Not the ones creating meaningful art. Maybe the meaning is in the struggle, I don’t know.

It’ll come, I know it will. And if it doesn’t then there’s a lesson in there about my work, my methods, or just the reminder that the well from which we all draw isn’t bottomless – it’s never bottomless. Might just be time for a re-fill. We’re in this for the long-haul, so short-term road-blocks aren’t the end of the world, but not paying attention to those road-blocks, and the lessons they have for us might be the end of our work.

But whining/suffering artist crap aside, being in Kathmandu again is amazing, particularly Boudha which is the Tibetan side of town, and a serene place in the middle of the chaos of the Kat.

This is not Hawaii. Just a random beach. But, oh – the batteries that once got recharged here! I love the beach.

Aloha! I read this this morning over coffee,

“The batteries that keep my cameras working might as well die in the darkness of my camera bag if my personal batteries are not constantly recharged by the direct encounters with the natural world that first gave me the burning desire to interpret that experience in photographs.”

Galen Rowell, The Inner Game of Outdoor Photography.

I have nothing to add, except that this is a book well worth reading.

It’s Monday and I am now roughing it at the Hyatt Regency in Maui in preparation for the Maui Photo Festival. I’m hoping to do some actual relaxing and not planning to do much photography but I may find my personal batteries charge faster than I expect, in which case I’ll drop you a postcard and let you know how things are going. Otherwise, you can find me on the beach with Galen Rowell and something cold and wet to drink.

This weekend’s free online CreativeLIVE class on Vision Driven Photography was a lot of fun. And exhausting. And a real stretch for me. I find events like that, and teaching that kind of subject matter, very challenging. Which is why I did it (instead of staying at home and watching endless DVDs of HOUSE M.D. or something). I mentioned in the class that those things you are most scared of doing are usually the very things you most need to do, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t go into this weekend with a mix of excitement and fear. Anyways, it’s done now – huge thanks to all who sat in, who participated, and who came in person to be part of things.

I hope those of you that took the time to watch, and overcame some of the troubling technical issues, got some bang for your buck in terms of time invested. I hope you came out seeing something a little differently, or a little more free to embrace the frustrations, fears, doubts, and chaos of the artistic process. Remember there is nothing wrong with a messy process, that a sterile process most often results in sterile art, and the world doesn’t need more of that.

I’m about to hit the road, so I’ll be on the blog a couple more times this week and then mostly absent until I get home from Iceland on the 10th.

Again, thank you so much for being part of things this weekend. You can still get the course as a download HERE, though the early-bird discount is over.