Here's a thought…

HT2275 - Why They Call It Fishing

You've probably all heard that old canard that they call it fishing, rather than catching, for a reason. The exact same thing exists in photography. When I'm out in the field I prefer not to think that I'm making art, but rather that I'm exploring the world. The artwork comes from that exploration, but rarely takes place simultaneously. Being out there with our antennae in full use is its own reward.

HT2278 - Pruning Is the Essence of Aesthetics

We gather, we collect, all around us grows, and seems to have a momentum that is perpetual. Every gardener knows that the essential activities they must engage include not just planting, but pruning, shaping, clipping with a sensitivity to a garden aesthetic. Is it just coincidental that artmaking contains the same essential activities? We capture, our image base grows, but our essential job is to prune, shape, and edit our way through the image jungle to a visual aesthetic.

HT2279 - Deciding Which Media

We are so fortunate to have so many potential media we can use for each project. Print, book, folio, chapbook, PDF, web gallery — and I'm sure I forgotten some. For each project we do, an important decision is which media (plural) shall we use?

HT2280 - I Am A Contemporary of Walker Evans, Yikes

At an early workshop that I attended and showed my nascent Made of Steel work, the instructor suggested that 100 years from now or more I will be considered a contemporary of Walker Evans. That is to say, our work will be seen in the context of photographers who have proceeded us by generations. My sense of being flattered was quickly overpowered by debilitating intimidation.

HT2281 - The Problem with Scanning Negatives

I once calculated, just for fun, that I have exposed, developed, and ready for printing about 12,000 negatives. My creative life is bifurcated between those negatives and my current digital archives. I keep thinking I should go back and scan those negatives and add them to my digital assets. The problem is that I now recognize, in my maturity, how truly immature (i.e., awful) many of those images are.

HT2286 - I Dropped a Lens

Oops, crash, bounce, ouch. Not the first time, and I'm sorry to say probably not the last time. The question after dropping a lens is always a concern that some glass has slipped out of alignment. To find out, I did some pixel peeping to see if the lens was performing up to standards.

HT2287 - What Causes Rejection

What characteristics of an image you are working on causes you to reject it? What characteristic of an image causes of viewer to reject it? Are these the same things? If not, are we fretting and fussing over elements in our images that are without consequence to our viewers?

HT2288 - Lightroom Mobile Now in My Everyday Workflow

Until recently, I never considered Lightroom Mobile a serious tool. Simply said, my phone screen is too small for me to consider Lightroom Mobile's image processing of any value. Last fall, however, I discovered a use for a couple Lightroom Mobile features that now consistently contribute to my everyday workflow.

HT2292 - Everything Bigger Is More Complicated

Bigger cameras, bigger prints, bigger books, bigger projects — all are more complicated because of their size. If your project has become overwhelming, consider downsizing as a means to simplify the challenge. A favorite maxim of mine is that "It's better to say one thing well, than to say too much poorly."

HT2293 - Stitching as a Wide Angle Workaround

The other day I was out photographing with a single lens, a longish zoom, and found myself in a pickle. The shot I wanted required a wide angle of view I would normally capture with a wide-angle lens. Since I didn't have one, I simply stitched a pano and accomplished a result that was close enough.

HT2294 - A Real Photographer

"You have a really good camera, you must be a real photographer." We've all heard this. What does it mean to be a real photographer? I'm not sure this is an answerable question, but it feels to me that it has to do far less with gear and far more with a state of mind.

HT2295 - The Fruitless Search for Perfection

Artmaking by definition (especially in photography) seems to be the search for perfection. Perfection, like a perpetual motion machine, is an illusion — one might even call it a sickness. If the perfect isn't the goal, what is? Words that come to mind are immersion, connection, harmony, awareness.

HT2299 - Time for New Hard Drives

I'm not an expert on technology so I listen to the advice of those who know. I once read that it is a good strategy to replace our hard drives every 3-5 years or so. It's been five since my last updates, so I've been on the hunt.

HT2300 - Pounce, With the Patience of a Cat

We are babysitting some cats this week and I've been watching how fascinated and patient they are watching the bird feeder just outside the living room window. They sit for hours watching, hardly moving. Then, when the opportunity arises, you can see they just want to pounce but for the window between them and their target. Watching them reminded me of advice from David Hearn, the MAGNUM photographer

HT2301 - Real World Corner Sharpness

A while back, I purchased a new lens and needed to give it a good test to see how it performs. The most difficult areas for most lenses are the corners. The corners on this new lens were a little soft, so I set out to compare that to my very best, super-sharp lens. The tests gave one result, but the real world suggested a different result.

HT2302 - How the Work Gets Done

I've heard the art making process on occasion described as taking dictation from God. It's as though the artwork is completely formed before we begin producing it and all we have to do is execute the craft. I've never had that experience. Instead, for me, I have to begin the process of art making before I know where the conclusion Will lead me. I have to have faith in the process.