Composing Back to Front
Photographers are always looking for things to photograph. This can be a problem. It can be a problem because photographs, the really good ones that work as a picture, are not made of things. Subjects are important, but I think we can all agree that even the most amazing subject can take centre stage in what ends up being a …
Stronger Photographs With Just One Decision
Watch the short video above, or keep reading if you prefer the written word. Too many photographers look to the work they do with the camera as job one, which it is. But it’s not the only job. Your ability to edit down to your keepers, to process them in ways that are consistent with your voice, and to do …
3 Ways To Give Your Images Their Best Chance
Watch the 7-minute video above, or keep reading if you prefer the written word. Here’s a question that keeps me up at night: Why do photographers get so intimidated by editing down to their best images and the “now what?” that comes once we put the camera down? And are we missing really important creative opportunities because of this? For …
A Better Edit Makes Better Photographs
Take a few minutes to watch the video above or, if you’re more of a written word person, keep reading. It’s not uncommon for me to come home from a trip with thousands of photographs. On a wildlife trip I can average 1,000 photographs a day, which is really easy to do when you’re in a moving boat, excited about …
Sharper
The following is a rant and it contains some spicy language. Some of the words are naughty, but they come from a good place; I use them without apology because I care and, like many of you, I know how to make a good-sized mountain out of a molehill. If you’re not in the mood to hear me rant and …
Small in Frame, Big in Story
Some of my earliest lessons in this craft served me very well—at the beginning. As I’ve grown, they have stopped being helpful. I suspect this is true for you, too. I was told to put the sun behind me. I was told to fill the frame with my subject. I was told that if I divided the frame into thirds …
Layers of Impact – What’s Your Hook?
Want to make stronger photographs? Consider your layers of impact—or the power of three. Let me explain. Few photographs are truly compelling to us because of just one thing. A person, a landscape, a beautiful bird. Beautiful on its own, perhaps, but once it becomes a photograph, we usually need more. An interesting person in great light, with a great …
Shoot Through It!
Some of my most frequent advice is to shoot through a scene. As a younger photographer, I would give up too easily and put the camera down too quickly when my efforts weren’t met with immediate success. “It’s not working,” I would say, when the truth was closer to “I’m not working.” I wasn’t giving the scene the time and effort …
Adventures & Appendectomies?
I should have been on a flight to the Yukon on Wednesday. I was meant, by now, to be sitting on a river with bears. I was, instead, lying on an operating table getting an emergency appendectomy. Don’t let anyone tell you the life of a photographer isn’t full of adventure. Oh, the romance of it all! Timing couldn’t have …
One Thing: Simplify
If everything went to plan, I’m currently in the bush on the Zambezi River, probably just settling in for the evening by the campfire with a whisky in my hand and a blanket of stars above me. Behind me, a forest of winterthorn trees, and around me, the song of frogs. In the distance, splashing and the deep guttural noises …
