Here's how you know that your photographs are showing a personal style: Someone familiar with your work comes to you one day and says, "You know, I saw a picture recently that kind of looked like the pictures you...
Maybe it's the approaching holiday season that made me think of this--you know, books as gifts for friends and relatives who travel and take pictures--or maybe it's the impending move of my home and studio, and the cardboard boxes I've got lined up in which to pack my collection of books. In any case, I wanted to talk this time about the books that have...
Ready to take the next step in travel photography? Then get ready for world photography. Open up one of the big travel magazines--Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Travel Holiday, Island--or one of the airline magazines or...
I've talked before about going to the next level in travel photography--in the way you choose your subjects (moving beyond landmarks to include touches of fashion, food, and lifestyle photography) and the way you photograph people (getting the...
When I'm going to be photographing in another country, whether on an assignment for a client or an assignment for myself to produce stock images, there are three things I'm acutely aware of: my own safety; the need for me to be respectful of cultures...
My first overseas trip combining travel and photography came in the summer of 1973, when I was one year out of high school. My uncle was the president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, and all his nephews got to work on a Merchant Marine ship over one summer in their lives. When it was my turn I worked in the kitchen on the ship and traveled to Scandinavia, England, and...
It's the seeing that's
the magic, not the technique, the execution, or the equipment. The magic
that makes the difference between an okay photograph and a great one is
seeing the scene or the element in the scene, capturing it and moving...
I've spoken to photographers who believe that "color for color's sake" is a crutch, a cheap shot, because a photograph based on color is not doing what a photograph should do. It doesn't tell you anything, doesn't reveal...
If I try to tell you that cruise photography is hard work, you probably won't believe me. And you'd be right. It's work...but the "hard" part doesn't make it. For me it's a combination of work and pleasure, and...
I was talking with an editor friend of mine recently. He sees a lot of photographs--most of them taken by professionals, but some by amateurs. Every once in a while he's involved in judging amateurs' photos for online photo contests. He was telling me that many of the contest pictures he sees are...
Noting my apparent success at photographing people, a writer once asked me how I did it--how I overcame the pitfalls, perils, and problems of travel portraits. After complimenting him on his alliteration, I said, "It's the...
The assignment was to photograph on the Caribbean island of Curacao. The clients were the Curacao tourism board and the public relations agency representing the board. Their slogan: "Curacao--for people who...
I'm a landmarks guy. I'm fascinated by their grandeur, and I never get tired of photographing them. No matter how many times I visit Machu Picchu, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty, or the Great Wall of China, I never lose...
Not long ago I headed down to Mexico City from my home base in Austin for a week's worth of shooting and a few days of time off. I was the guest of my studio manager, Susannah, who is from Mexico City. She'd invited me down to visit her family, and I thought I'd combine the invitation with some serious stock shooting, complete with a crew, models--and...
It used to be an adage of the trade that you judged the work of a professional photographer by looking at his contact sheets. The thinking was, anyone can get lucky now and then, but real talent will be revealed by the contacts. Today I guess you'd say, "show me the memory card," but you could be looking at it after all the losers have been deleted.