August 14, 2014

The mechanical nature of photography hinders our ability to dig deeper into our own outer reflections.  We assume that photography is the easy of all art mediums and therefore no thought process is necessary to create a meaningful picture.  All pictures taken become meaningful no matter how banal.  This over abundance of blasé imagery that exploits our daily lives is a nuisance that is distracting us from our life goals.  The camera has become a barrier to seeing and living a fulfilling life.  

For me photography is a means of expressing my private self.  The camera gave me a window, an ability to focus on external details that could be brought together through composition, light, perspective in such away that allowed me to express my inner world.

Nowadays people, when taking pictures, think that the camera takes the pictures.  And they are right.  New cameras can take thinking out of making photographs.  It is the old Instamatic ads stating, all you have to do is point and shoot and you will be guaranteed a perfect picture.  But in today's run and gun and post on social media sites nobody seems to care about the camera as an instrument to create art. And in creating a personal vision for the viewer you are interacting with through your image creation.

This picture taking reality we now inhabit is not interaction nor is it communication with others but a shadow life exposed for the the thrill of the upload. And surely for the comments that follow.  This slowly becomes an intermediary world of quasi word play without the responsibility of discourse and the ability to articulate your true self through expressing your inner feelings.  

We see ourselves through others eyes as spectacles for the masses, entertainment with no depth but a cursory glance on a screen that fits into someones palm while ignoring the world that is present in front of them.

Revealing an image with purpose and depth has been replaced by a snap shot, showing off oneself as if you are the stars in your our own Hollywood stills.

Nature has lost it’s appeal, its luster for our intense interest.  Now we want to objectify ourselves to the world by our ego driven need to be seen, we are the true subject of the snapshot.  We live our lives looking at photographs as if these blah images are the new reality.  Sitting at a screen and looking into the mesmerizing images of other humans doing nothing is what entertains us into today's superficial interaction.

We have taken the place of nature and we have become the essence of the photo. Nature now is just a backdrop to our own self promotions.

By putting ourselves and our close environment into pictures that say nothing about ourselves we are acknowledging the loss of individuality and have joined the collective.  We add our fragments to an image industry already burdened by the destruction of photography as an art form.

We expose an outer shell to the world to laugh at or cry with but with no real personal interaction with the screen, except a like or dislike.

Burk Uzzle, "Too many tools can be divisive, obscuring primary relationships between photographer and subject. Dogma is the desperation of shallowness, while discipline, if used instead of worshipped, is liberating".

July 20, 2014

Good images are created by knowing your insecurities and yet over coming them by communicating your empathy and understanding toward your subject.  Establishing a link between yourself and the subject allows you to let go of the tension bottled up in your mind and by releasing these barriers to true vision you will have a better chance to create something of value.

Images are recordings of the past.  We are attracted to the past because it shows us where we have been and gives us clues to where we might be going.  If all we see are generic images of our lives exposed and reinforced by others on social media, does it make our lives better or does it reveal the mind rut were in.  Imitation is not flattery.  Imitation is an easy expression of banality.  To break free of the repetitive image creating ditch we must think for ourselves and not feel overwhelmed by the herd mentality.

By being passionate about our subjects we will create successful images.  We all have daily routines that limit our ability to break free from our work a day sight and explore our image creating vision from a deeper part of our consciousness.

We must revive our inner childlike vision and discover new avenues of image expression in ourselves that don't rely on the old boring impulses that inhibit our creativity.

I think people still want images with substance.  An image that connects with them on a more personal level and not a shallow drive by image taken on a speeding highway.

July 6, 2014

When you take pictures, do you only look at the surface details of your subject?  The easy composition that doesn't demand patience?  In order to create a good image, you must take your time.  I should say that you must take your time when the subject demands it.   When things are happening at a break neck pace you just react and go with it.  But when you have time on your side to explore your subject on a more personal level, then you will see an improvement in your image creating and a better return on your image selects for the web.

I believe photographers are being distracted by shallow imagery and are missing out on natures mysteries and patterns. The undercurrents of this reality we share is where we will find the true subject we should all aspire to create images of.  We should tap into this magical depth we experience together and journey beyond the mundane and create personal images that express deep emotions and vision.

One way to do this is by getting physically closer to your subject. By moving closer you begin to see recurring patterns that manifest the infinite structure of natures inspirations.

We have become numb to the boundless beauty of nature.  Our early schooling has limited our ability to interact with natures virtue.  It has become a play thing only and not a spiritual journey into ourselves.

June 15, 2014


When we take pictures in today's mad race to create our lives through photographs, how can we even begin to understand the surreal nature of these photographs and its effects on our relationship with others.

There is an instinctive drive to take pics. It is a way to claim victory over the environment.  To capture those fleeting moments that pass by and still times march.

We see differently now, not a natural sight where we take in the whole of the scene and interact with it on a personal level, but now we put up a barrier (the camera) between us and the reality we share with others. We look to take photos of fragments of reality which limits our ability to give these pictures a foot hold in a bigger context. We don't want to interact with them but capture the subject like a predator and once we have captured them, we can expose these photos to the world without a true purpose.

This saturation of imagery begins to limit our ability to connect to an outside world.  We look to the picture to reaffirm our reality.  And as more and more images are uploaded we become numb to the violent rage in human nature, that nature that is vulgar and willing to do anything for attention.

We see on the streets of any city (no matter what size) the inevitable signs of the growing necessity to take pictures.  We  always have our phone camera ready for that unexpected moment when life's meager expositions are revealed in an instant, and then captured for no other purpose than to store on some social media site for eager eyes. And then easily forgotten.

The image capture is now a naive sampling of a subject without thought, a casual, random exploitation of the trivial as art.

June 1, 2014

Photography does allow us the ability to see deeper into our subjects, eliminating extraneous details that don't enhance our intended vision.

When I see a potential subject I always have in the back of my mind a close up image.  I like to yank the subject from its moorings in the visual roots we all share and give the viewer a new sense of the subject and its beauty.

Back lit leaf taped to a window and then photographed with a macro lens.  You have to make sure that your sensor is parallel to the leaf surface so you can get even sharpness through the entire frame.

May 11, 2014

Photography should be purposeful.  It should illuminate your subject in a way that express in visual content, an inner landscape,  that gives to the viewer a insight into your spiritual being.  Photography is an expression that adds to the conversation concerning the lives we lead.  It does not degrade life by useless information that exposes the raw sloth of the human condition.  We all know that life is to short to be distracted by these redundant copycat images that are so profuse now in the market place that it is hard to sift through the clutter to find an original expression, a unique vision of someones inner world.

Not every subject can make a good photograph.  The substance of a purposeful image is character.  A glimpse unknown at a new world of revelation.  Someones inner world brought forth to connect with the viewer on a deeper level. Everything photographed should not be broadcast to the world. If you don't think before shooting an image why bother with holding your camera to your eye..  

Why not attach a small camera to your lapel and have it fire off every 30 seconds or so a snapshot of your day.  We now have these types of cameras and it won't be long until our lives are not lived in the external world but lived through viewing images that document the surreal existence we all share in.  Live a life and explore and be mind present when you are making images.  

I have a series of images that I think gives you a good example of the evolution of a photo concept.  You see something interesting to shoot and then realize that there is something more present than meets the casual eye.  You look at the light and see that it had potential.  You looked at some of the details of the scene and realized that if you added a few more interesting props this image would become better. So you begin to add or subtract little details that worked or didn't work.  You looked for a better composition and then zeroed in on your true subject as you began to connect with the scene more and more. 

You saw something in the scene that spoke to you and made you stop and listen to your inner voice and forced you to study the possibilities to create a better image. And as you worked on your idea it began to evolve through light and composition until you created a meaningful image.

April 27, 2014

Burk Uzzle said, "Photography is robust, vital, and demands honesty. Pretensions are reflected mercilessly by the imprecision of a mentality that has no hiding place with an instrument so totally dependent upon its user for its character".  Uzzle goes on to say that the equipment needs guidance and to really see is the function of a complete and giving photographer.

In order for an image to have power and represent an insight into the character of the subject and the one taking the photograph, a photographer has to reflect on why he is attracted to the subject.  The photographer might not know at first the attraction, he might instinctively know he has to shoot it, but eventually he will reflect on it and try to understand his fascination with the scene. Whether we know it or not, we are in a relationship with the world.  Our time line, our choices move us in different directions. Because of this, we are allowed to see our own private perceptions form from our unique vantage point. In order to express these revelations, we must be in tune to our inner world and our perceptions of the outer universe.

What I think is happening in today's world of photography is an exploitation of the ordinary life.  The life we all lead has powerful influences on society and is shaping our future directions.  This ordinary life is attractive to advertisers because it reflects a deep seated moral consciousness in us.  I hear all the time from my photo agencies that they want something authentic, a natural feel. It has to look real, alive and the product placement must be validated by their happy involved experience.

Nothing new here, this is adman 101.  But what is different, is the changing landscape of the manipulations.  In the past ads used (think political ads) abstract ideas like freedom, respect and love of country to sell the product without getting into the actual details of what is underneath those abstract concepts. If you reflect on these ads you kind of scratch your head because really the ad didn't say much of about anything.  In fact, they were hiding their true motives behind an emblem to manipulate the viewing public.  Some would have called it subliminal advertising.

Now, however, there is a race to exploit the details behind the abstract concepts.  We are seeing a fragmentation of advertising from the general to a specific target with images that reflect a real bond between the product and the person.  There has been a conscious change in the way advertisers exploit the masses and social media right now is the engine driving information to the people.

In fact, advertisers are happy to exploit images that were created for personal family use.  These make the perfect realness they need to connect to a select population and influence them to buy the products.  Make no mistake about it, in this material world it is all about selling and profit.

I think we need to be more autonomous and free from the constant distractions and copy cat photography in web culture.  Your life is your life.  A family image becomes a piece taken from your world, abstracted from its place in time, and now posted on a social media site. Is this private experience becoming a public spectacle, devaluing the importance of the person in the picture?

This sharing can be obsessive. Are those connections really important to who you are and what you want to become?  Or, are they a distraction from living a life you want versus posting a life for all to see. Are we now finally experiencing the beginning of the me/now consciousness and becoming forever rushed in this reality of instant voyeurism, succumbing to the trivial and it's addictive power.

The real problem in photography today is the amount of pictures bleeding over into and influencing the behavior of young photographers who seem to think that anything is a photo worth taking.  Get this out of your head, be more selective, more purposeful and your images will be understood on a deeper level and have meaning for future image makers.

April 20, 2014

I talked about window light and how during the spring and summer months the sun light coming in our west facing bedroom window is a wonderful softbox. We have a white cloth blind that softens the direct sun and illuminates most subjects with this beautiful even and diffused light.  We also have this blind in our living room and I have used this window light to take portraits.  Finding good light is half the battle in creating good images.

April 20, 2014

Happy Easter to Everyone!

April 12, 2014


What I love about photography is the evolution of an image.  You start out one way thinking this is the best angle, best composition and then your mind begins to see other possibilities.  You delve deeper into the subject and then begin to add the necessary elements to make an even better image than you started with.  I have been guilty sometimes of throwing the kitchen sink into my photos but eventually I spare down the clutter and focus on the true subject I wanted to make.  It is just a matter of seeing deeper into your subject and then exploring the varying light, composition and props that make the image purposeful.

I could have photographed the Calla Lily the usual way by taking an image of the whole flower.  But where is the fun in doing that?  I like to create an image that can lead a viewer to experience maybe a deeper connection to the subject.

Here I am photographing a firm root in the ground but yet we are free and fluid to explore and spread our wings to see our true nature.

April 5, 2014 


Sometimes creating a good photograph is just putting your subject in the right light.  I like to use natural light when ever possible. During the spring and summer months the sun light coming in our west facing bedroom window is a wonderful softbox. We have a white cloth blind that softens the direct sun and illuminates most subjects with this beautiful even and diffused light. Sometimes in order to have alittle more contrast in my photograph I will put a dark reflector opposite the window light to give my subject a more Rembrandt look. When shooting indoors with soft diffused light you might have to use a tripod to steady the camera to get depth of field.

                     

March 30, 2014

Photography is a run and gun exploitation of the now. Shoot without thinking, capture the moment no matter what it is, be first on your block to post and reap the benefits of more followers.  This throw yourself at others and at the world is narcissistic.  We shoot to see if something sticks to the pop culture posting board and then you hope it will go viral and you will make a fortune and life will be good.

Photography should be purposeful, illuminating your subject in a way that expresses in visual content an inner landscape, that gives the viewer an insight into your inner being.  Photography is an expression that adds to the conversation concerning the lives we lead.  It does not degrade life by careless subject matter that exposes the raw sloth of the human condition for more clicks on a media site.  We all know that life is moving fast. To be distracted by these redundant copycat images (that are so profuse now in the market place) it is hard to sift through the clutter to find an original expression, a unique vision of someone's true life.

Not everything can make a good photograph.  The substance of an image is character.  An image gives us a glimpse of what is first unknown, but now revealed.  Someone's inner world brought forth to connect with the viewer on a deeper level.

Real life is growing and maturing and delving deeper into your experiences. Finding some harmony between your inner and outer world. We seem to live in a shallow life of distractions without purpose. Posting the minutia of your daily routines and hoping for approval. Nowadays, if you were to give life a purpose, it is to try and capitalize on your seconds of trite expressions to others. Never seeking a deeper meaning that is waiting to be discovered.  Never wanting to seek a different expression that has substance.  Now the shallow expression is king.

We might think we are expressing an image with substance, but really what is the purpose and the effect of this image being posted on a social media sight?  Is it to express your deep connection to the subject and your wish that others share your underlying feelings? Sometimes, yes.  But more often we are hoping for a few likes or maybe a comment or two that expresses empathy for your photo record.  And if you don't get any responses, are you then sad that your image was discarded and never fully appreciated? Do you feel lonely and sad that no one understands you or likes your life?

Social media is advertising pure and simple. You become shrills for those moments in your life you were never meant to share and you react to the response like ad agents doing the sales history books.  "This worked so let me post more of the same...  And if I get more looks and likes then I can show ads on my site and make pennies on the dollar"...doing the same old tired thing. Your happiness depends on the reaction to your post and not the intent of the post.  Or maybe the reaction to your image post whether good or bad is your intent.  In order feel alive we need a response any response to our existence.  If you post something sad you might get a reaction of empathy.  If you post a happy image you will get a happy response. We think this is a connection but it is just a click on someone elses web site without background information to fully understand the purpose of the image. We connect now on a shallow playing field, where redundant automated responses are welcome to verify our lives as useful and meaningful.

But this doesn't get to who you are and what is your drive and goals in life. We all want to be seen and heard, that is life's necessity.  Without others, we would go mad with the sounds of our own inner mosaic, as Minor White expressed it, "The sound of one hand clapping."

As we lose our status through economic loss, we are tempted through needy desires to be visible to this physical world in some capacity.  Social Media is waiting to accept your information greedily, and exploit your images and words for its own profit.  We give ourselves away and then wonder why we continually feel, in some hidden corner of our brain, that we are being used.

This ordinary life we try and lead now, was a revolution from the abstract concepts of good and bad dictated to us through religion and men of power in the earlier centuries (1600's to the 1800's).
A transition from top down management to the people becoming aware of their purpose and their dignity internally. While braking away from the remote ideals of authority that give us glimpses of a perfection that we can never fully grasp or understand, therefore, we could never really live up to.  We now know that we have a dignity and a responsibility to live a life, and create a better world for all in the here and now.  Through marriage, raising children, morals and ethics we find purpose in our lives and work hard to find our calling.

But now a new master has risen and it is working overtime to exploit the resources and energy of the masses for profit....

Erick Kahler, the philosopher said "This thoroughly collectivized capitalism is not likely to rescue our world from peril of becoming a total collective; it is, on the contrary, training the people for it.  Capitalism has ceased to help us to human ends.  No longer does the adventure of personal success carry a general, pioneer meaning.  It has become a purely singular, private striving for material advantages, money, objects, status and influence.  The degeneration of the American drama is pathetically pictured in Scott Fitzgerald's, Great Gatsby and in Arthur Miller's, Death of a Salesman."

What we see on social media sights is this sanctity of life reduced to images of absurdity, which were never meant to be exposed to the world. When we see them we react to the craziness and laugh at the absurdity of this world.  We disconnect from our own purpose in life and are diverted from our own personal expressions that are waiting to be unearthed. We have been lead astray from the creation of our own life's powerful message.

This flippant disregard for the sanctity of the ordinary life is continually undermined by the overexposure of content that is nonsensical, and as we see more and more of this absurdity in everyday life broadcasted on the web, life itself loses its value.

We seem to love distractions, especially in this hyper economic depression. We are overwhelmed by meaningless tidbits of knowledge that we share almost on remote control as conversations become redundant news clips and our lives get further and further away from us.

Social media discord misinforms us, makes our lives less real, more agitated without taking action to control our own lives. No longer do we hear our voices talking to each other with inflection and feeling.

All this useless counter productive information keeps us insulated from our real world.  We are the new gods witnessing the human misery and madness from above.  Looking down at our hand held device instead of looking at someones face and into their eyes.

March 15, 2014


I recently took photos at a Vietnamese Temple.   The Temple was built in honor of the great Ksitigarbho Bodhisattva for his vows of compassion.  This was a perfect example of getting to a place and being overwhelmed with the subject.  Everywhere there was a bombardment of color, statues and incense burning. There was so much to see and be part of that I had to take a step back and decide how I wanted to approach my subjects. I knew immediately that I couldn't interfere with the people who were coming to worship at the shrines and pray for their loved ones.

First off, my tripod was put back in the car.  Then I put 3 lenses (24mm, 50mm and my 105 macro lens) into a smaller shoulder bag.  This way I was more light footed and could go with the flow as more and more worshippers arrived.

In these situations if you are sensitive to others and respect their space you still can get in close to your intended subjects without imposing a barrier between you and the people coming to show their devotion to the colorful shrines.  However, one time I did get caught up shooting one shrine and didn't hear the quiet voice behind me asking me to move.  I apologized and she smiled and moved toward the shrine to pray.

It is a good idea to look for natural barriers that you can stand by and shoot your subject from. This way you become part of the scene and you don't have to worry about people running into you while you compose and try and make a photo.  Also, because I was hand holding my camera, I set my ISO a little higher and used a shutter speed around 250-320 of a second.  This gave me good depth of field and I still could stop motion if necessary.

When you are shooting in crowds it is a delicate dance to capture the subject you have been hunting and not make your presence an annoyance to the other people who are there to enjoy themselves as much as you want to make pictures.  You must anticipate movement around your intended target and move quickly to get closer and take your photograph and then move away again.  Have your exposure and shutter speed set and the lens that works with your intended vision.  As you move away you can regroup and take another look at your intended subject and then decide if there might be another, better angle to shoot from.  Also, maybe changing the lens this time will work better with your subject and off you go again and again if necessary as you explore your subject, experimenting with composition, lens and perspective.

Over all it was a wonderful experience and next year I hope to get there when the Monks allow visitors into the temple at night.  I have heard it is even more spectacular than the daytime beauty when the colorful lights are on.

March 8, 2014

Erich Kahler wrote in his book, The Tower and the Abyss, of the fragmented knowledge we are gaining and without syntheses of this knowledge we are unable to make a meaningful whole of our purpose in life. He says, "we have lost all control over the state of our learning, all orientation in the vast wilderness of factuality and, since there exists no whole any longer in which to determine anybody's or anythings position and the role in this world, our hugely expanded knowledge ends up in suggesting that, apart from practical purposes, everything is meaningless".

No one studies photography anymore, now they just shoot pictures, millions of pictures, billions of pictures exposed on the worldwide web each week. Ever more burdening our minds with fragments of other peoples lives and useless information.  Some of these images are funny and positive and these milliseconds of info puts us in a good mood in a day of redundant work and dreary silence. But more and more human nature takes over and these images are cruel and embarrassing to the one being photographed.  We laugh openly at the stupidity of others and once again feel good about ourselves that we are superior to those fools.  We are dumbing down our sensibilities to others as we move further and further into a realm of instant reactions to stimulus without concern or thought for the people in the photos.  We are walling off ourselves from others and are treating the outer world as a play thing and for our entertainment to satisfy our need to be and feel better than another.

Photography is the perfect vehicle to identify the fragmentation of our lives.  A photograph captures a moment in time.  Yanks it from the time sequence and fatally creates a separation from the flow of visual continuity.  The picture now is a flat two dimensional surface that is removed from its timeline and now can be viewed as an abstraction from the real world we live in and thus has no purpose but to delight the senses and enslave the viewer for more and more gratification from the ever increasing visuals that are evolving humans into fragmented voracious voyeurs.

We must gain control of this ever widening gap between living a life and viewing a life.  When we create images we must have a deeper purpose and an intent to inform and enlighten each another to our inner universe.  Pictures of happy faces are an abstract concept under the guise of a meaningful purpose.  These are ads for ones life as you wish you could live it.  But if we were to delve deeper into the person in the photo then we would begin to see the complexity of their life and a more meaningful, deeper understanding of that smile.  

March 2, 2014


I was driving along some back streets in Seattle and spotted this guy working on his red mustang.  The sun was rising and I had a choice to make, go to my intended subject I wanted to shoot or stay and make pictures of the mechanic.  I liked the feel of the image and what made up my mind was his orange work clothes.