Pro Techniques

"How do you get a handle on telling the story of life on earth in images? It took tons of research to master the material."

For his most recent book, Life: A Journey Through Time, Frans Lanting traveled, researched, and photographed for over six years, but when you consider that his goal was to document the story of life on earth, it seems a reasonable amount...

The personal project always finds you. It's never the other way around. We can't remember a pro shooter ever saying anything along the lines of, "I went looking for a labor of love." Maybe it's a subject you've been doing for years and suddenly realize how much you enjoy doing it. Or maybe you decide it's time to bring it to a wider...

"Another photographer will say, `I don't know anything about figure skating,' and I'll tell him, `Well, here's what's going to happen; here's what to watch for.'"

Funny how things work out sometimes.

Dave Black majored in commercial graphics design and studio drawing at Southern Illinois...

Detained

Best known for her images of global health issues, photojournalist Karen Kasmauski often finds herself in the world's hot zones, but she says the work she does isn't dangerous...until it is. One moment you're fine; the next, there's trouble, and you never saw it coming. "It's always...

Some years ago Steve Simon took a leave from his job as a newspaper photographer in his native Canada and headed south across the border on a self-assigned project. “I’d loved photography since I was a kid in Montreal, roaming the streets, inspired by Cartier-Bresson,” Simon says, “but I’d been working 10 years at the newspaper, doing the same things again and again. I was looking for a way to get the inspiration back, to explore the power of what photography can be.”

You can’t simply walk into an Operating Room (OR) and insinuate yourself into the scene. There are rules, there are boundaries. Greg Shapps knows them well. Still, he manages to produce telling images that convey the client’s message without blatantly advertising any product or service. The methodology involves a complete 180 from the way he approaches his small product photography, where the message is unmistakably to buy a specific product. His healthcare imagery is nuanced, often depicting healthcare givers and receivers alike. Specific products are not necessarily the focus. It’s more about what a product, service, or institution can do for the individual.