Photograph © Teru Kuwayama 2009. All Rights Reserved.

In the latest episode of Advancing Your Photography (AYP), I interview photographer Teru Kuwayama, a veteran, well-traveled photographer who has made a name for himself as one of the leading documentary photojournalists in the industry. His work has been featured in magazines such as Outside, Fortune, Newsweek and National Geographic, and he has received numerous awards and accolades, including grants from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace and the New Fork Foundation for the Arts. He is currently on a John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University.

Teru’s passion for photography arises out of a need for exploration. He frequently finds himself on assignment in countries throughout Asia and the Middle East, always striving to dig deeper and ask questions. His travels in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan have brought him to the forefront of conflict, and still his curiosity pushes him further. In our interview, you’ll learn about what motivates Teru as a photographer, as well as his advice for  improving your own photography.

1. Curiosity – A desire to travel, to go deeper and to really connect with people plays a key role in Teru’s passionate photography. At the core of his work is sheer curiosity in the way things work, as well as how they don’t, and that should be your first step.

2. Be a contrarian – When Teru is handed an assignment and told to look for a specific shot, he tends to pursue the opposite. He looks for the “counter-narrative” in the story he is being told, and this allows him to be more aware of what’s really happening.

3. Compassion – The only way a viewer will be truly impacted by your work is if there is a palpable feeling between the photographer and subject. Photograph what you are passionate about.

4. Don’t think too much – Photographers, by nature, can be an obsessive breed. Even the best can lose themselves in the minutiae of their work. Ultimately, however, cameras and equipment are just a series of tools  at your disposal, and it is important not to get too distracted by anything more complicated than the act of looking at something beautiful and deciding to record it.

To hear more of Teru’s  advice on how to advance your photography, watch the latest episode of AYP. Also, be sure to check out Teru’s work over at TeruKuwayama.com.

Hey, like everything in life, if you don’t set your photography goals, they’re not likely to just happen on by and knock on your door.

Let me ask you, when was the last time you thought about your goals as a photographer? Lots of us keep going out and shooting the same pictures over and over—you know the ones I’m talking about.  Nice image the first few times you got it, but after a few hundred, even you’re tired of seeing it!  How does that happen? You get good at a certain type of photography and keep on going out and finding that image again.

This is a signal that it’s time to tune up your skills, or turn your photography on its head and do something totally different. An assignment I give students at my workshops is to “go out and get images that you normally wouldn’t—get out of your comfort zone.”

This takes us back to the subject of your goals. Ask yourself these questions about your photography:

1. What areas would you like to improve?

2. Are there types of images you’d like to get (nudes, black and white, artificial light, etc?)

3.   What are your plans to study other’s work? (getting out often to museums, exhibitions, books, etc.) Though this might be poor form to mention, subscribe to our show Advancing Your photography.  My purpose with the show is to bring you an inside look into many photographers’ worlds, to inspire and educate.

Then just put this all together and set yourself a goal. Oh, one more thing I bet each of us needs to do: Take more photographs. Unless you’re out there shooting daily, you’re probably not photographing enough, even if it’s with your iPhone as our friend Chase Jarvis recommends.

BTW, my goals? To return to my roots as a pure black and white photographer. In addition to shooting more digital B&W, I’ll be rescanning some old negatives to get full-frame images, and dusting off my Rolleiflex and old 4×5. Also to keep advancing with filmmaking and video.

Do me a favor, after you’ve done the exercise above, leave me a note and let me know what you come up with.

Photograph above © Camille Seaman 2009. All Rights Reserved.

In the latest episode of Advancing Your Photography (AYP), I had the chance to interview artist and photographer Camille Seaman. Aside from having her work featured in magazines like Newsweek, Outside, Men’s Journal, Camera Arts, Issues, PDN and American Photo, Camille has also self-published several books, like Melting Away: Polar Images and My China. On top of that she has won numerous awards, including a National Geographic Award in 2006 and the Critical Mass Top Monograph Award in 2007.

The daughter of a Native American father and an African American mother, Camille offers a unique perspective on the art of photography that is at once an artistic inspiration as well as a practical set of suggestions. Watch the interview and you’ll learn all about:

1. Having a connection to your work – Raised as a part of a small Native American fishing tribe, Camille grew up knowing that she was a part of everything around her. The goal of her photography is to help people feel this connection to their planet.

2. Capturing natural light – Be sensitive to the quality of light wherever you go. Look at old paintings from the masters — Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Caravaggio — and pay attention to how they sculpt light. After sharpening her awareness to the qualities of light, Camille finds she can photograph inanimate object (like the gorgeous iceberg above) with the same intimacy she would use to shoot portraits of people.

3. The importance of your card – Camille offers an amusing if slightly scary story about a trip to Antarctica, where it was so wet that her camera strap began to unharness without her knowing. Just as she was stepping off the ship, the camera fell into a pool and was ruined by saltwater. Amazingly, her Sandisk card remained in perfect shape.

4. Composition — According to Camille, the important thing to remember when considering composition is that, as a photographer, you are trying to arrange objects in order to activate space. To do this, don’t think of the shot as three-dimensional. Think of it as a dance, where objects can interact and draw the eye, and you are the choreographer.

To see more of Camille’s indispensable advice on the art of photography, watch the newest episode of AYP. Also, be sure to check out a collection of Camille’s work over at CamilleSeaman.com.

As we’re getting very near the close of this year and our first decade of the new millennium, I’m looking ahead to our goals for the next one.  But really more to the point, I’ve been looking over how much I’ve had the good fortune to learn as the host of my show now named Advancing Your Photography.

As a side note, you have no idea how hard it is to edit some of our interviews down to the short segments that we publish. I’m there with each guest, soaking in perhaps an hour or two of data and need to whittle it down to about 10 minutes or less. In addition, I’ve had several conversations with each guest, often a tour of their studio and their work and come away with a healthy plate of material to noodle on.

I keep pondering how to bring more of this information to you, and even more importantly, ways we can leverage what we already have out there. This has brought me to the realization that we need to start a new photography school for Advancing Your Photography— from whatever level, onto the next and the next…

From my own experience at the San Francisco Art Institute (BTW, never did graduate from) and my talk with Annie Leibovitz about this last year, I’d say offhand that these are the essential ingredients of a photography school:

1.    Instructors who know their business and can speak from experience and who can pass along, technical, compositional and even philosophical information that opens students’ eyes and help them to advance.
2.    Being exposed to the work of other students—as with sports, you learn by watching how others do it, along with a healthy competition built into the process. Annie talked about her experiences in the darkroom where her photos were in the wash along with other students, for everyone to see, and you naturally wanted them to be good.
3.    Being critiqued. This is can be a sweet and sour proposition as not all critiquing is positive (meaning effective in helping one advance) by a long shot.  I believe that opinions should be left out of it—including “nice shot” “wow” or “that’s just terrible” and my favorite “WHY did you take that photograph?” (with a condescending tone flavored into it.)  Critiques that cause you to look at your process and how you might improve your images are valuable.
4.   Along with 1. above, constantly being exposed to other accomplished artists and learning from them.
5.   Add to that the somewhat intangible quality of gaining a professional attitude, which hopefully is nurtured in the process of the above.

And of course, added to all the above, taking a boatload of photographs to develop your own style and voice.

I’m sure I left out many other factors, but the above boils down to:
1.    Learning from other accomplished photographers (instructors, guests and students alike.)
2.    Effective critiquing.
3.    Easy access to the knowledge-base of the school as well as to its members.
4.    An environment that both educates and inspires and opens up communication.
5.    Mix in some healthy competition in the form of contests.

This is the direction we’ll be going with in the new year and the new decade with ADVANCING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY. I’ll roll out the specifics of how we will accomplish these points, but for now our general plan is to create an online learning center (as well as real world seminars, photowalks, etc) that incorporates the above.

I would love to hear from you how this strikes you, if you’d like to participate and how you would like to advance your photography.  And may I say happy Thanksgiving to you and yours…

Central Park NYC,  click to see more

At my workshop last week in NYC we coved some very important points gleaned from my guests on my show. I wanted to give some points that you can try out, your homework assignment, if you will:

1. Ansel Adams said the “whole key” to a photograph lies in your ability to “visualize” or see in your mind’s eye what you intend to have as the final image. This point has been brought up by almost every one of my guests. Your assignment is to take a shot that you have throughly “pre-visualized.”

2. Framing your shots: Take a shot avoiding any sort of framing, then take the same shot, paying attention to framing it.

3. Capture the moment: Go out with your camera, fully prepared to “capture the moment” that is, get the action when you see it, and do so!

4. Putting subjects at ease: Practice taking portraits while putting your subject at ease: Take the posed shot, then have them move their position, or make them laugh, helping them to ease up, and compare with your first posed shot.

5. Make use of the light: Get out early for morning light or in the afternoon in the “golden hours.”

6.  Read your camera’s manual and find something you didn’t know about your camera, then put it to use.

7. Learn how to do the basics with your processing software: Crop, adjust contract, brightness, etc.  Then learn something new and use it to improve your images.

8.  Share your best photos from the above: Post on Flickr, Facebook, or print them and show them off.

Let me know how this goes and send me one or two of your best shots

Subscribe to my shows where we assist you in advancing your photography!

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It’s alway a pleasure and an adventure to talk with Chase. This time we met up in the bay area and talked about his new book The Best Camera, his new iPhone app and other amazing things he’s been up to.  He discussed some practical advice for “turning an image on its head,” which is his signature move.  What you’ll hear is how he keeps himself inspired, in fact you’ll find it rather catching, so get ready to go out and get shots after viewing this. And yes, he does tell you what the “best camera” is. So tune in and be prepared to advance your photography…

Images from 50 Photographs by Jessica Lange - Courtesy of Lange/Powerhouse Books

Jessica Lange knows a little something about being captured. The Academy Award-winning actress rose to fame in 1976’s King Kong when she played a damsel abducted by a giant ape. Since then she’s been captured on film in such notable movies as Frances, Tootsie and the recent Emmy-nominated HBO film, Grey Gardens.

But in Jessica Lange’s latest role, it will be her turn to do the capturing. In her new book,”50 Photographs by Jessica Lange,” the actress chronicles over 15 years of photos taken during her travels in North America, Africa and Europe. She is currently showcasing a select few from her work, including a special presentation in New Orleans on October 3rd.

Lange actually developed a love of photography when she enrolled in an intro class at the University of Minnesota in 1969. But, as apparently was common in the summer of love, she dropped out to wander the world and never gave the art of light-writing a second thought.

Until 15 years ago.  One evening her longtime partner, actor Sam Shepherd, came home from a movie set with a Leica, and Lange was immediately hooked. At first she just took pictures of the kids, but soon it became an artistic passion. “I’d go down into the basement after the kids were in bed,” she said, “put on some Al Green and Sam Cooke, and develop pictures.”

Now Lange is showing her work at exhibits. For her, as with many other artists of multiple mediums,  she is drawn to the simplicity of black-and-white images. “I can describe acting in much more concrete terms than I can photography,” she says. “But there’s something about presenting an image in black-and-white that’s so reductive in a way. It sort of eliminates all extraneous information.”

A preview of Lange’s book, “50 Photographs,” can be seen at the website for New Orlean’s A Gallery for Fine Photography.

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Deanne Fitzmaurice is a multi-award wining photographer, including Microsoft’s Icons of Imaging and the big kahuna, Pulitzer Prize.  She is an amazing mixture of talent, curiosity, sensitivity, yet raw courage, rolled into a disarming package—all of which have allowed her to reach deep into the lives of her subjects.

Her work is impressive and spans many genres from sports, to politics, human (very) interest, to candids on the street, she seems to handle these images equally well.

I had the pleasure of interviewing her and finding out about her approach to her subjects, which is open, direct and honest, leading her to be very much in touch with them. And did I mention she is gutsy? To illustrate: She told me about getting a shot of Barry Bonds, who in reply glared at her. Instead of backing off she hiked across the field and confronted him and asked if he were upset with her? He popped out of his scowl and got in touch with her, with the net result of their becoming fast friends on and off the field.

She passed along some very pragmatic advice about always checking your equipment, your cards, batteries, always being aware of exactly where you stand so you’re ready for that next shot.

And what about her host of celebrity shots? Same story, she gets right in there and charmingly breaks down the barriers. Like her five minutes with Matt Damon who seemed to be annoyingly putting up with this chore, until she, being from Boston, came out with “how ’bout the ‘Sox?” and she had him.

My favorite part was her description of what makes a very powerful image: Layering. No, not as in layers in PhotoShop, but in the images themselves as she shoots them. I’ve studied a lot of photography and talked with many, many photographers, but I’ve never heard this concept so well articulated. Watch the video for this; it’s worth the price of admission alone.

I’ve gotta say, the toughest part about our interview was deciding what to leave out, there was so much of interest. Let me know how you like it.

I asked my pal Thomas Hawk to answer this question about “getting results with with the right lens (Prime vs Zoom, f-stop and how it affects choices?”

I’d say that personally I much prefer primes over zooms.  I find that not only are they much faster and thus able to be used more effectively in lower lighting scenarios, but that I’ve found them to be much sharper than zooms.  I believe that the 135 f/2 prime lens is the sharpest lens that Canon makes.  It’s also my favorite lens personally speaking.  With bigger apertures (lower f-stops) especially, the depth of field on photos using a good prime with a low f-stop can yield remarkable results — big rich creamy bokeh*  Here’s an example of what I mean using the 135 f/2 at f/2.

* Bokeh: subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of an image projected by a camera lens.

The biggest disadvantage with primes of course is that they are very inflexible in terms of framing shots.  You have to move your feet physically instead of the lens.  Also because the fixed focal lengths are so rigid often times you cannot get the shot you want need with the lens on your camera.  This means often times carrying multiple prime lenses with you when you shoot which is a pain and having to change lenses a lot.  Changing lenses a lot also increases the chance that you get dust and other impurities inside your camera and especially on your sensor where it shows up on your images.  I’m fighting a constant battle with dust in my Canon 5D M2 and have with all of the Canons I’ve owned.

So there are pluses and minuses to zooms vs. primes.  I’m not sure there really is a 100% correct answer or that either are really better one than the other, but for me I typically use primes because I’d rather have faster sharper lenses than the flexibility provided by comparable zooms.  Of course bottom line is that whatever you use is only good as what you are able to see with your eye in composing and taking the shot in the first place.

Tom

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Not long ago, I was talking with Chris MacAskill, Co-founder of SmugMug, about filming some tips. He mentioned that he’s often asked for stories behind the huge shots taken by their members that hang on their HQ walls. That’s right folks, when you go there, after you’ve been greeted by their 3 yellow labs, the next next thing you suddenly realize is that you’re looking at grande photos everywhere. Makes sense as that’s their game. So Chris invited me over to hear about a few:

The shot of Horsetail Fall in Yosemite–was that a new “firefall” or a PhotoShop trick? How the hell did John Harrison get this shot?

Chris lead us on a tour and told us the stories of two more shots by Leping Zha, with amazing use of light and being in the right place at the right time.

And the moral to these stories? “Chance favors the prepared mind” as Ansel Adams was fond of saying. What can you learn from these shots? Go after those images that you’ve visualized, find the right moment and capture them. But watch for yourself.

Tell me your stories about your shots and attach them to your comment, love to see what you’ve got and hear how you captured it: the magic of photography and capturing the moment.

Hey guys,

Thanks for your feedback to my question about what you’d like us to cover.  Here’s what some of you said:

Metering with your camera when you don’t have a handheld meter

I’d like the above - posing and metering. Is it worth it to buy a light meter? If so, can you recommend a good brand/model? Thanks!

Simple way to learn manual shutter speed and aperture

How about post production? Like editing in photoshop.

HDR and stitching please

Photography basics - Getting results with with the right lens (Prime vs Zoom, f-stop and how it affects choises?
Post production tips - Always a good choise.

I don’t think you’ve covered it yet, but one thing that I struggle with is “style” … I can often tell that others have it, but it also seems so restrictive. How does a photographer build up a recognizable style without being confined within it.

———

Other ideas for tips?

Also “add ons” you’d like to see for the show like a contest? Forum? Critiques? Loive streaming shows wioth some of our past guests like Chase Jarvis?

Thoughts?

We’re busy mapping our our next series of photo shows and tips, but would love to hear your suggestions.So far this  is the feedback we’ve gotten* Photography basics– I’d love to know what points specifically* post production tips– we can drop by Adobe and get some, again let me know any specific points* Working with models for the first time. Where to find then and how to direct them– we covered this a bit but can go into more…* We’ll cover printing tips from a master…Let me know what you’d like us to cover, give me as much data as possible to zero in on your areas of interest… stay tuned for new shows…

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We had a wonderful time visiting Bambi Cantrell at her studio in Benicia last week. Winding our way through the sleepy artist town on the edge of the San Francisco Bay, we came upon her studio in a converted 19th century armory. Bambi greeted us with a smile and gave us a tour; I was immediately struck by her warm and welcoming personality and by this perfect environment for photography—immense ceilings, windows opening to the bay, tons of light and life.

Bambi is a total pro and when we were rolling she gave direct, spot on and immediately usable tips: How she identifies the key light in a room using her hand. How she puts her subjects at ease with her easy and playful approach. Her of course, anti-nerd reminder, “You have to know and f-stop from a bus stop but at the end of the day, cameras don’t take pictures, people do. At the end of the day, expression beats perfection”

Click to tune in and catch her great tips. Here’s a small sample of what you’ll see:

We’ll be shooting an episode covering fashion photography, a fascinating world, and one quite different than those we’ve covered to date.

RC Rivera has an intriguing portfolio and sent me a sample of his work with note about his lighting:

“Katherine”

“When I was starting out I thought the more complex the lighting, the better the shot. Now I think that getting a great photo using the most simple setup is actually more difficult but also more rewarding.  This model was shot in my studio with using just one soft box. Shooting from just below eye level is great for beauty shots, but too low can be very unflattering. Katherine was a great sport—my studio was unheated and it was in the middle of the winter. You can tell she’s a professional because she doesn’t even look chilly.”

We’ll be picking his brains, how he approaches a shoot, other lighting tips, etc. Let me know your questions and a may include them if you stay on the right track, guys Stay tuned for this episode coming your way on MSPS soon.

My concept when I began MSS (Marc Silber Show) was to find accomplished photographers who were also generous enough to share their know-how, and connect them with you the viewers as directly as possible. It actually began when I was delivering my workshops and I had the thought “wouldn’t it be amazing to hear directly from Ansel Adams himself?” But at that time I couldn’t find footage of him that covered his key points on photography.  But then the show began and I did my interview with Michael Adams who offered to loan us unreleased footage of Ansel—what gems!

From there the show’s idea grew to talking with various photographers who would show you and talk about their skills.  In addition, I started doing short video tips covering key points from these photographers or inside stories about their work.

So I thought it would be a good idea to summarize some of the point I’ve covered so far, but this is just one of those sample ice cream spoons, go to the video to get the whole bite!

1.   Ansel Adams:  What it means to visualize the shot. He quotes from Alfred Stieglitz, that the photograph should express what you saw and felt. The whole key lies in the process of visualization.

2.  Chase Jarvis:  Get out and get your shots: Look over the scene without using your camera to get the feel of it. Look at how you can “turn the shot on its head.”  Don’t be afraid to blow it, just “bang the streets, bang the shutter.”

3. Thomas Hawk: He carries his camera & backpack with him everywhere—he  shoots daily, “stealing moments” here and there. He looks for images of all types and is willing to do what it takes to get them—like wading into the cold Pacific in December to get the shot of the Golden Gate Bridge, near dark (I was there with him.)

4. Jeff Flindt: He travels the world getting shots of the best surfers on the planet. He can’t afford to miss a shot. He “babies” his equipment, doesn’t let sand and stuff get into his CF cards for example. He shoots early morning to get that great light. He  does his cropping in the camera and processes quickly.

5.    And my final point: I’ve heard this from so many photographers: Don’t get hung up in your equipment, get your shots.  It’s not about the machine, it’s about learning to see your shots, and having the passion to go out and find them. Look at other’s work to see what they saw and why you like the shot and go out and get your own images.

What sticks in your mind from MSS so far?

Whispering Secrets I Know I’m Not Supposed to Hear, originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk.

Thomas Hawk posted this amazing photo taken at the end of our very cold shoot! He was out in the water with a long exposure, as you can see from my iPhone shot: .

Here’s what he said:

I had a lot of fun a few weeks back out at the Golden Gate Bridge doing a video interview about my photography with Marc Silber for his new photography series Marc Silber’s Photo Show. We talk about my style, my equipment and what personally motivates me in photography. Thanks to Marc Silber for having me on his show and to Rocky Barbanica for doing a great job as usually filming and editing while out at Baker Beach at the Golden Gate Bridge. If you want to watch the video you can watch it here.

Sandisk is sponsoring Marc’s new show and I think it’s really great that they are willing to invest in social media this way. I’ve personally used Sandisk cards for many years and think they’re great! You can follow Marc’s blog here and his great new video series here.

The shot below is one of the shots I got of the Golden Gate Bridge while out shooting with Marc.

Tune in to to Thomas Hawk on Marc Silber Show

A few weeks ago  as the sun was about to set into the Pacific, Thomas Hawk and I, along with our producer Rocky, met up at Baker Beach in San Francisco–a tremendous view of the Golden Gate Bridge. With the bridge as our backdrop, I talked to Thomas about how he got his start in photography and some of his key points that he uses every time he takes a photograph. Click to view our show.

Top of his list:  He carries a camera with him everywhere, and I mean he always has his photo-backpack with him.  You’ll see what he carries in his pack and hear him talk about his “tipping point”– when he decided on his mission to publish one million photos, I’ve posted a few of his shots here but check into his blog to see more.

Thomas has gone out and recorded our modern life, prolifically.  You know, 20 years from now–or more, we’ll look back nostalgically at his images and wonder why we had missed those shots. He’s not missing them, he’s grabbing them and chronicling life all around him, every single day.

Amazing to see these shots coming my way–look at these two just taken today (that means TODAY as in May 20, well, OK with the date line not exactly our today, but dang close) in Tahiti by Jeff Flindt. As an avid surfer I can’t resist these waves but, but look at how Jeff uses the light and gets right in the “tube” with the surfers. If you haven’t seen my interview with him click here  you’ll get some great tips that you can go right out and use.  One point he mentions is getting out early for the “Larry” light, which is exactly what you see in these shots–wow.

I had a very enlightening talk with Ken Rockwell this afternoon about focusing in on composition.  He said that whereas painters have rules they go by, their objective is to put elements into the painting, building on each for the overall composition; photography on the other hand is more about taking things out of the shot.  But then how do you arrive at a really powerful shot?

We got into this discussion by talking about my interview with Chase Jarvis, Ken mentioned that he had posted a reference to his iPhone shots, “he can get better shots with it than all the expensive equipment many photographers use, or get hung up on. What makes him so able to see and shoot those shots?”

We interrupt this discussion for an important message from Chase about getting iPhone shots…

We return you to our discussion…He said it would be insightful to have photographers talk about why they took the shot, how they came to compose it, what made it a strong shot. This of course brings up Edward Weston’s definition of composition as “the strongest way of seeing.” Oxford defines strong as powerfully affecting the mind, senses or emotions; intense; clear or prominent; distinctive.  I think we agree that a strong photograph has those qualities, but exactly how do you get there?

Ken went on to say that there are some rules, for example, you can have out-of-focus elements in the background and this works, but it’s confusing to the eye to have out-of-focus foreground.  Strong contrasts of light and contrasting elements work too. Edge burning of the print works.  But what about getting these points (and many more) all together in one place? He said, “There are books and resources about the technical aspects of photography and there are books showing photographers work, but no one has really put together a good resource for composition.”  This struck me as important questions to add to interviews on my Photo Show, “how do you compose your shots? Can you take us through the process step by step?”

I can hear the protests –”you’re trying to make the art of photography too clinical”– but if it has been done with painting, why not with photography?

So Ken, thank you for helping me to see how answering this question for our viewers would be an essential addition to the mission of Photo Show: Learning how to express your strongest way of seeing, week by week and shooting in between. What do think?

Thomas Hawk, originally uploaded by marc silber.

On the “set” of the Marc Silber Show–our next episode with Thomas Hawk giving his tips, discussing his photography, and finally shooting the Golden Gate Bridge, tune in to the Marc Silber Show–Advancing Your Photography

We had an amazing shoot last night with Thomas– he covered his style of photography, his tips (get out and shot tons, of course) and don’t be afraid to break the rules..stay tuned for the video soon.

Thomas was shooting in the freezing water until it was nearly dark–now there’s dedication to getting the shot, but you’ll see how it paid off. Rocky our producer was capturing every moment of it, including the sun disappearing into the Pacific in an orange ball–breathtaking.