Apr 29

Words of Wisdom from Avedon – And Why I Save Every Picture

Occasionally, when the timing works, people from my staff head off to attend or lead Photoshop or digital asset classes. This past week a representative from our office, Dartanyon, attended a Santa Fe Workshop put on by guru, Jerry Courvoisier. This post isn't about all the great things that Jerry said or did. I'm sure there were plenty of both. Instead, this post is about something Jerry said to the class that I don't agree... read more ›
196 reads
Apr 19

Mourning and the Power of Photography

What is it that makes images powerful and moving? I was stopped in my tracks when I heard about the unthinkable shootings at Virginia Tech. I was stopped in my tracks again today when I saw the NBC images of Cho Seung-Hui posing with his guns prior to murdering 32 innocent people. Images like this one--of Seung-Hui with the gun to his head--certainly reinforce the power of photography and -with that- the power of life... read more ›
214 reads
Mar 31

Strobist = Photo MacGyver on Steriods

If you haven't visited Strobist yet, you must go there now. It's one of my favorite photo-geek (in the cool sense) blogs on the web - intelligence mixed with insight, humor, and wit, all wrapped into off-camera lighting on the cheap and easy. Word on the street is that he very graciously compared our cool, portable Photography Laptop Case to something out of Q's workshop in a James Bond flick. Well Strobist, if we're Bond... read more ›
253 reads
Mar 11

Don’t Listen To Doubters. I’m Guessing Banksy Didn’t.

I'm not shy about my liking the UK graffiti artist Banksy (see my earlier post here if you missed it). All you artists out there should take a lesson from this: one of his graffiti, stencil style paintings sold last month at a Sotheby's auction for 102,000 British Pounds, or around $200,000 USD, a new high price for a piece of his art. Read the BBC article here. Why I'm bringing this up is to... read more ›
347 reads
Feb 07

Entertaining Video Highlighting Changes From Pen and Paper to Web 2.0 And Beyond

The nicest thing about the web these days, beyond email spam, file sharing, lovelygirl15, porn, and access to the latest NASDAQ numbers, is obviously the huge transfer of relevant information. I've written a fair bit on the somewhat-controversial (that's another issue...) term coined by Tim O'Reilly, Web 2.0, and what it means to the photography industry. I was happy to have been quoted or tracked back in some great blogs, by some talented journalists: Jay... read more ›
152 reads
Jan 20

David Lynch (And You and Me) On Creativity

I attended a gathering in Seattle this week to hear David Lynch speak about his creative process, filmmaking, and how his creative successes stem--according to him--in large part from his 33-year, twice-a-day commitment to transcendental meditation.Wow.What a trip this talk was! I adore many of Lynch's films: Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, etc. Some classics, for sure. But I must say that I was deeply intrigued by how his meditation gets him to [paraphrase]... read more ›
519 reads
Jan 16

Graffiti, Street-, and Public-Performance Art: Why It Matters

As as investment, I own a small commercial building not far from our studio in Seattle's historic Greenlake neighborhood. It's a quaint brick building from the 1920's with tons of character and charm and I've intentionally filled it with tenants with creative businesses: architects, 3-D designers, filmmakers, etc. You get the picture.It got vandalized today. Tagged. Basically spray paint for the sake of spray paint on bricks and metalwork. I admit, when my friend Marc... read more ›
1.3K reads
Jan 14

Take 17 Minutes and Watch This

I'm suggesting that you take 17 minutes to watch this historic speech. If you're observing the holiday at home or at the office, turn up the speakers and gather a few family members, friends, or collegues together.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk
138 reads
Jan 12

Henri Cartier-Bresson Interview

An early Master of Photoraphy, Cartier-Bresson, shares some insightful thoughts with Charlie Rose in this interview below. I confess to be a fan of Cartier-Bresson and not of Charlie Rose (nothing personal Chuck, just a style thing). Regardless, here 'tis: Spotted this on originally on Alec's blog a short spell ago.
623 reads
Jan 04

American Photo Mag: Shoot It, Blog It, Share It

Hi Friends. Thinking about blogging? Today Miki Johnson, an outstanding editor at American Photo Magazine, posted to the editors blog called State of the Art, a story containing excerpts from an interview I gave two weeks ago about blogging. The story is entitled Shoot It, Blog It, Share It. The story also appears on another well-known print title's website at Popular Photography. FWIW, aside from my comments, there's some wonderful, interesting commentary from Alec Soth... read more ›
174 reads