Intro to Strong Composition: A Free Course

I’m happy to announce I’ve released a free email course on composition called Intro to Strong Composition. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, which grew out of a composition book I’ve been working on for a few years now (and hope to release soon). For me, composition is the most important part…

Read More

The Case for Committing

Have you ever had an image that seemed to work equally well in color and in black and white? During our last Academy session on black and white photography, a member asked a question that stayed with me long after we ended: if an image looks strong both ways, does it really have to be…

Read More

Why I Don’t Make the Picture (90% of the Time)

There’s a spot on the Hudson River about two miles from my home that I’ve visited hundreds of times over the years. I’ve photographed it, painted it, canoed and kayaked past it with my kids, and walked my dog there more times than I can remember. If any landscape in my life qualifies as overly…

Read More

Learning to See Is a Skill, the Slower Kind

When students tell me they’re stuck, it usually comes out in one of two ways. The first sounds like an apology: I still don’t understand what the Blacks slider actually does, I can never remember which way the paper feeds, my Lightroom workflow is a mess. The second way is more implied than said: I…

Read More