How ideas and creativity work together

Ideas are the fuel of creativity.

This is the conclusion I’ve come to after years of hearing my students who have hit a wall and feel that it is insurmountable and who say to me,

“I go out to take photos because it is what I really, really love to do, but I keep shooting the same things over and over. I am bored with my photography. Why do I keep shooting the same things? What else is there to this craft? How can I get better at taking photos?!”

When a photographer plateaus with their camera I found that what it usually comes down to is a lack of ideas and imagination.

I wanted to share a story with you about my day yesterday and include photos of the live shooting/thinking/ process I went through and I am hoping you will see how even a simple (even bad!) idea can get you moving in a fresh direction with how you are seeing the world and make you think a lot about what you do find truly interesting.

A couple of years ago I ended up walking along the highway. It wasn’t nice. It was hot and the sun was glaring and I didn’t have my camera or phone (long story!). I wasn’t thinking of photography at the time, just when I would get my next drink of water!

But as I was walking along the shoulder I saw something that we all know is there. Pollution. Untouched, never to be taken away, just sitting there baking in the Andalucian sun year after year: bottles, cans, cigarette packs, tossed bottles of urine and worse, and plastic, plastic. Yuck.

It was gross and made me fear for our world. But at the same time it germinated an idea in me “As a photographer I would like people to see this, they know it’s there, most likely, but I want to confront them with the reality that it is there, and they will never notice it unless there is an emergency and they have to stop the car!”

That was my idea and I sat on it for at least a year. Not a very friendly or one that came from a place of love, but pollution has been something I have been repulsed by my entire life. If not me, then who?

I found myself back on the highway yesterday (voluntarily this time) and found what looked exactly like my expectations. (Normally I am not a fan of having expectations because then one becomes predictable and as a result so does the art. Expectations can close you off to new things: If your mind is full of it then there is little room for the unknown and the Unexpected! It is here that inspiration and motivation can be nourished. And it is also here where new ideas can form.)

So I am on the shoulder looking at this awful pollution and I have another idea (the 2nd one!) about the interaction and impact of pollution on nature and how nature deals with our detritus. Not original at all I know! Doesn’t matter at all. I just wanted to be creative.

I felt my idea was coming along nicely and then I had another idea (idea#3) of trying to create odd compositions that related to my dismay for the situation – odd angles, lines that make no sense, no classic subject placement for me!

Later as I was heading back home, almost off the highway, feeling like, “ that was good but what did I miss?”,

I noticed in the road, things tossed from cars – mostly tinfoil that doesn’t move much in the wind – it just sits there getting run over again and again and takes on the form of the road itself. New idea no. #4 – how about if the pollution is changed again, from a once discarded thing into something that is both attractive to me and repellent at the same time.

This idea took me right back to my love for the abstract! Did I try to make it beautiful? Of course, I am predictable that way. It is what I do best.

The point is I had new ideas inspired by an old one. I carried my expectations with me but I didn’t let them limit me. I went to the highway to create photos of detritus and ended up with more abstract work I like. It was a great exercise in observing and letting my mind roam free.

And I guess that is the point of it all my friends – let your mind roam free, trust in it and you never know where it will lead you. If you have what feels like a pointless thought that was brought on by a shadow, a glimmer of your past, something smelly, whatever, go with it, don’t hold back, but follow your instinct and open yourself to it.

If you are stuck with your photography then drop or control your expectations, and open yourself to new opportunities; by cultivating new thoughts, and with new thoughts come new ideas. They may not all be great ideas but that is beside the point – generating new ideas is how creativity starts. And when the creativity starts it flows like water. Ideas in all forms are the fuel that creativity needs.

If you take anything from this post it is this – photography is more than just being a good observer and understanding light – it is a thinking craft where one must generate ideas to keep your photography moving forward into new places – new ideas that make you feel excited about what you are doing and why you are doing it!

It should be a journey of joy and personal satisfaction.

If you would like to see more of my work of things “at my feet ” I have a collection called Concrete Alibi that you can view over at the Albumen Gallery.
I took several portfolios with me when I went to meet Albumen Gallery in London. And to my surprise it was the simplest idea I carried that made the most impact with them. Just goes to show I guess!

I ended up searching for more of this type of foil – fully incorporated into the road.

Boundless Bubbles/Light Music

I hope you are all well. I wanted to give you some insight into a project I have been working on the past few weeks.

You probably don’t know this about me but one of my hobbies is creating giant bubbles. I am known in town as Tony the Bubblero!

I have been entertaining kids and anyone else around for about ten years with my giant bubbles. I have gotten very good at it and I don’t think anyone enjoys the beauty of the bubbles more than I do. I am always mesmerised and enchanted by them no matter their size. But I do make some really really massive bubbles – my largest wands are over 3 metres long, they are that long so the membrane loop does not touch the ground to give you an idea of the sizes I am talking about. You could easily fit two grown men in one bubble.

I make the bubble juice myself. I started with a recipe I found online but now after ten years of practice I have created Anthony The BubblerO’s Secret Bubble Juice Mix. It’s awesome (and not really a secret. I actually taught a workshop on how to make it…)!

Like being in the darkroom with photos, making bubble juice is a simple chemistry and I find it very enjoyable.

I started this photo project with the simple idea of capturing bubbles with my camera. This has been something I wanted to do from the very first time I did the bubbles, but like most things in life – when the time is right you will know.

So I went out on a day with good weather for bubbles (high humidity, low breeze) and started to shoot. Instantly, I knew I could make this something special. The qualities they possess when interacting with light are astounding. The variation in colour seems infinite – a bubbles thickness (a few microns) determines what colours are reflected and refracted.

On an overcast day with direct sun I can make the bubbles look like they’ve been blown from glass.

In another shoot it was capturing the bursting that I wanted (not as hard as you would think it would be). With some fancy post processing the bursted bubble takes on a figurative presence.

I was liking the photos a lot but was feeling I needed to take it to a more abstract place. So, working with a model I decided I would aim to achieve a figurative scene and shoot through a bubble at slow shutter speed to see what it would look like. This first test was very encouraging and I learned a lot about how to shoot bubbles.

This is from the second model shoot.

Everything so far, visually, I could predict with some accuracy. It is when night came that the real magic started. I am working on these images with Zippy, my bubble wizard and creative partner who controls the wands as I am shooting and also has a new ideas coming out of his ears!

It was nearly dark and I was stowing my camera when Zippy shrieks and tells me to come see this. I looked and was instantly awed by what I saw – the interior of the bubble was alive with light. They were just specular white points zooming around but I saw the potential in them. So I unstowed my camera and guessed the exposure for what I saw in my mind.

I went home that night and dreamed bubbles and light – a sleep of falling into wells of swirling chaos. It was awesome!

I mulled over the technical applications and possibilities of what was achievable. It seemed anything was. We did five more shoots and with varying concepts and goals over the next few weeks.

I am feeling really excited about these images. I personally have never seen anything quite like them before. They are unique, gorgeous and nothing but pure chaotic light. For those of you who know my teaching and how I am constantly going on and on about light and its qualities, you may have an understanding of the visceral feelings I am having…wow. I am very pleased!

There is still much I want to explore and experiment with. The penultimate image is one with a model (figurative or not) inside the dancing lights. I just need to figure out how to light it…

Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts please. Commenting below would work the best.

Shooting the Full Moon

Hello friends

I hope you are all good today and finding your life in a content place.

This Friday is another full moon and I am preparing to do another shoot up in the mountains here in Spain. As you may already know I love to shoot in the moonlight. It is not just the wonderful light and locations, but the feelings I get from being out on an adventure either solo or with a friend. I love convincing my non-photographer friends to come alone and share the experience – they are always blown away by the tranquility and beauty of the moment, many decide then that they should have brought a camera. And those that are photographers have an unforgettable experience

My first forays into full moon shooting began when I first arrived here in Spain

I was first inspired by the first weeks living here. I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. There was a window that overlooked the sea and high above it was a full moon (I was not aware of this one!). The moon was stunning but it was the reflection on the sea that inspired me at that moment to get dressed and go down to the beach to capture the scene at 3am. I was not disappointed.

I think when photographers think of shooting the moon they think of literally capturing the moon in the image with all its glorious detail of shadows, light and craters. The problem with this approach is the full moon is a daylight exposure (the moon is luminated just as a sunny day is) and this exposure requires that anything not near this exposure value will be severely underexposed. This is easy enough to fix with a large exposure bracket and some Photoshop, but I want something a lot more holistic. I want it to be about the light and not the material moon. After all, I am drawn out there by the moonlight.

So for a more creative outcome I do not include the moon in a lot of my full moon images and when I do the moon has no detail and is blurry and overexposed, which I like (looks more like a giant star than a small orbiting ball of rock).

How the moon actually turns out in the image has a lot to do with exposure time and haze in the atmosphere – the more hazy, the more blurry it becomes.

I still have other images in my head under a full moon for locations around my area involving the sea but the opportunity has not yet arrived to make it happen. There is, after all, just one chance per month! Instead I have been exploring the many ruins around and finding it to be much more satisfying to me personally than the sea imagery. These ruins are almost the opposite of the sea and moon photo in terms of feel; the sea and moon are tranquil, transcending and evocative. What the ruins photos bring are feelings of mystery and abandonment and fantasy (fantasy being the dying dystopian feelings).

There is something about the ruined architecture that really evokes a sense of time. There has not been one occasion where I am shooting in a ruin and not wondering how long it has been there and what it was like when it was loved and occupied.

The ruins also depart from the sea in terms of the graphic nature of the buildings when revealed under moonlight; shadows are their blackest and the angles create large shapes to work with and examine.

WHAT TO BRING

All you need is a good sturdy tripod and some kit to help you in the low light.

I would recommend you at least bring the following:

a torch for walking and focusing the image
warm clothing
gloves and scarf and hat (all optional)
an intervalometer (remote timer)
a tripod
the Photopills app (not needed on location, usually, but essential for prepping the shoot)
water and snacks

Also, a good pair of ankle supporting boots is nice to have. There can be many stumbles in the dark.

Moonlight is actually quite bright if you give your eyes time to adjust to it. This takes me around 20 minutes for my eyes to become catlike!

TIPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING IN MOONLIGHT

There is not a lot of technical skill needed to create these types of images. The exposures can be long or short depending on the ISO being used.

My advice is to prioritise aperture to whatever you are shooting (landscape, detail, etc) and let the shutter speed adjust the exposure. And you most likely will want results with a low ISO for greater detail. You will be amazed by what a camera can pick up in moonlight: colours and textures that you cannot see will be resolved easily by the camera.

Also, make sure you know how to setup your camera and timer to do exposures over 30 seconds. I find a lot of people do not know how to do this so be sure to learn this before you get on location.

Your exposure should always be on the dark side as you don’t want to sacrifice ambience for detail. It is, after all, about a mood you are trying to capture. So an EV of -1 to -1.5 is perfect for most situations.

The most difficult thing you will discover is focusing. Rarely do I put the focus on the moon. I will more likely focus on the foreground or ⅓ into the image using an aperture of f/11-16 for great depth of field. If you are going to focus on the foreground then the torch can be really helpful in illuminating it for easier focusing.

That’s it really. I find I prefer longer exposures if there are clouds. Creating wispy clouds in moonlight is surreal!

This Friday is another full moon. I will use my Photopills app to find the elevation of the moon and be sure to start shooting then. I like an elevation between 40 to 60 degrees. This makes for great shadowed angles and interesting shapes.

SCOUTING

It is a great idea to do beforehand. It makes it much easier when you scout with full light. You can compose your shots and get used to the terrain in advance. Also, familiarity with a location makes it more comfortable when it is dark.

This is my location for this coming Friday. I found this place last month on my Spain workshop. It will have a completely spooky feel as my intention is to photograph the interiors of the ruins.

*This building above has a big hole in the roof and I am imagining moonlight pouring into it.*

It is also critical that you check the weather. If there is heavy cloud cover your moonlight shots will not work. But again, 50 percent cloud coverage I find amazing. With a partly cloudy sky and the moon obscured you can make longer exposures and get the nice wispy clouds, then when the moon is revealed again (assuming the clouds are moving) you can go back to capturing the light in all its glory.

I hope you found this post helpful and it is motivating you to go out and experience what it is like to be under a full moon prepared to create amazing photos.

If you have any comments or want to know something particular about shooting in moonlight just reply to this post and I will answer your questions.

Happy shooting

Anthony

Nostalgia and Dreams

Hello friends,

I have had an intense feeling of nostalgia the past few weeks. Maybe it is because my son has left home for school or maybe it is the change in the seasons. It is very hard to tell with these types of emotions.

It got me thinking about film and how much the craft of photography has changed so much.

It started thinking about my film cameras I still have but never use anymore, so I decided to share with you my last real film project, Arboreal Dreams. This was very successful for me, and I sold editions of almost every print (except the one below, Fairyroots).

Strangely enough this is still my favourite from the project even though I felt it was rejected out of hand the last time it was on the walls.

Maybe I am feeling more sentimental than nostalgic.

I’ve included some words about the project and my film technique below, and you can also see the full gallery on my website. I would love to hear your thoughts on this project. As always, hit reply to be in touch.

Thank you for support,

Anthony

Fairyroots: This image never sold at a gallery even though it is my favourite of the project.

This is the statement that explained the project when people arrived at the gallery

Arboreal Dreams

As a young child growing up in Maine the forest was my back garden. I would leave my house early in the morning and wander the forest all day. For me the natural world is a second life, a fantasy land of purity and calm that I escape to when the violence of our concrete city gets too much for me.

In Arboreal Dreams I want to convey the powerful feelings that I get when I wander through a forest, as well as drawing in that fantasy element into my work. The images are developed through a dual film process which I have evolved in order to get a sense of ‘hyper reality’.

I feel an attachment to the artistic tradition of reverence for natural beauty and reverence for the technical skill of the artist. The rejection of beauty and skill in much of modern photography makes me return with stronger conviction to my beliefs.

Arboreal Dreams Photo Gallery

..and this I felt I needed also so people would not think the images were made digitally. It was about that time just as digital art became wide spread.

A note about my photographic technique:

The images in Arboreal Dreams were shot on medium format film(Hasselblad) and hand processed through a technique called Colour Acceleration. It is process I have been experimenting with for fifteen years.
Colour Acceleration is a “dual film” process not a “cross process”, as most altered film is. In the first phase the film is processed in black and white chemistry, fixated, then bleached and re-exposed to light. The result is a negative that has been “solarized”, which I control in the bleach step.

The images in Arboreal Dreams are printed on Fuji Supergloss polyester based photographic paper. It’s qualities are deep saturation, and high contrast with an archival life of five hundred years.

The image colours are natural and are inherent qualities of its negative and are not manipulated digitally or enhanced.

Arboreal Dreams Photo Gallery

Walking: The Secret to Great Photography

“Walking brings me back to myself.” Laurette Mortimer

Hello friends,

How are you today? I hope this is finding you and yours safe and well.

You know what – I hate walking.

I admit it!

I am not someone who will ever say, hey let’s go for a walk!

Unlike my wife and son, who love walks, and will walk for hours and hours – with no purpose or destination in mind!

That seems so unappealing to me.

But!

If I have a purpose, a destination or a reason to be walking – other than just walking – I love it.

And guess what my favourite purpose is?

Yes! Taking photos. You got it.

Walking with my camera and exploring is my very very very favourite thing to do.

The whole process of walking for a few hours or more at a time becomes almost a meditative practice with my photography that is simply essential to how I love to shoot.

Walking and getting lost – are usually the best combo for me.

And I imagine you might feel the same.

Today I’d like to share some of the reasons why walking is the secret to great photography.

Set your intention

“Most of the time walking is merely practical, the unconsidered locomotive means between two sites. To make walking into an investigation, a ritual, a meditation, is a special subset of walking, physiologically like and philosophically unlike the way the mail carrier brings the mail and the office worker reaches the train. Which is to say that the subject of walking is, in some sense, about how we invest universal acts with particular meanings.” Rebecca Solnit

For me walking and shooting requires me to set an intention to be open to everything on my walk and to approach this experience not as a journey to getting anywhere – but to simply be on a journey of curiosity and seeing.

Clear your mind and go without expectations

This can actually be pretty challenging – removing yourself from expectation. The reason you should do this is because it makes you ready to receive more photographic opportunities. It opens you up to see more.

The reason it’s tough is because our lives are dominated by expectations. We expect our walks to end at a certain destination, we expect our spouse to stack the dishes in the sink a certain way, we expect our kids to be less noisy.

When we are out walking with our camera we want to stop expecting to see certain things because it limits our capacity for observation.

To give you a basic example – when you’re walking around Paris, you don’t want to keep looking for the Eiffel Tower all the time, because you’ll miss so many other things by spending our attention looking and expecting to see the Eiffel Tower.

We only have so much attention to give at each moment.

Brings deeper meaning to simple pleasures

“Nature’s particular gift to the walker… is to set the mind jogging, to make it garrulous, exalted, a little mad maybe — certainly creative and suprasensitive.” Kenneth Grahame

Walking is something that almost all of us have access to, even if we’re limited to how far we can go. It’s not about going to exotic new locations, or buying more kit.

It’s just about being outside, probably being alone – and becoming ‘suprasenstive’ to what’s around us.

Travel light – one body, one lens

I travel with my full kit because I am well practised with it, I can change things without being pulled out of the creative experience. So until you feel like this – try walks with just one body, one lens.

The lens you feel most comfortable with, and then you are not wrestling with kit, but being awake and curious to the world around you – and shooting with as much ease as possible.

Look behind you – regularly

Light directionality changes the world around you, so don’t always be looking ahead – see how the light is changing where you have come from. Plus your perspective changes the light.

Nurture your curiosity when your walking

“With the utmost love and attention the man who walks must study and observe every smallest living thing, be it a child, a dog, a fly, a butterfly, a sparrow, a worm, a flower, a man, a house, a tree, a hedge, a snail, a mouse, a cloud, a hill, a leaf, or no more than a poor discarded scrap of paper on which, perhaps, a dear good child at school has written his first clumsy letters.” Robert Walser, from his short story “The Walk

What’s in that old building, what’s behind that fence, what’s down that path, what is that person doing? Going slow and being insanely curious about anything that piques your interest – this is guaranteed to lead you to some interesting things.

Don’t have a set path & use your senses to guide you

I try as much as possible not to set out on a route, or have a destination in mind. I often like to guide myself through sounds and smells around me. To use senses other than my eyes to give me a different perspective, and help me find different things.

Get out of your rut: walking gets creativity and inspiration flowing

“I suspect that the mind, like the feet, works at about three miles an hour. If this is so, then modern life is moving faster than the speed of thought, or thoughtfulness.” Rebecca Solnit

I find it easy to get locked into working on my computer, being at home and thinking about my photography. I know I am in a bit of a rut when I start working on my images for the 4th or 5th time.

This is a sign to me that I need to get myself out the house and just walk somewhere and shoot.

The process of walking almost always sets off ideas and thoughts that I wouldn’t get sitting at home. Even if I walk somewhere and then think – this is not what I want to shoot!

And I love the quote above about how slow we actually think – so giving ourselves a task that fits in with our mental processes is going to make ideas and creative inspiration easier to flow in right?

Don’t be afraid to go to the same place over and over

I made a whole project where I shot the sea from the very same spot, same framing, over several months. The whole point of this project was about capturing the changing colours and textures of the sea and light. It’s one of my favourite recent pieces of work.

By the way if you are interested in doing a photo project – I have a new class coming up in a few weeks all about that. I will help you develop an idea and help you complete it. It’s super cool, details here and I’ve made this an excellent price for this 6-class online workshop of £397. Limited spots.

Life changes all of the time. Be prepared to pay attention and notice. See what’s new and different when you go to the same location over and over. Challenge yourself to see in your ‘old haunts’ what you haven’t seen before.

This article reminded me of to another one we wrote a few years ago on the The power of Silence.

I hope you enjoyed those ideas and thoughts about the creative art of walking!

Do you regularly use walking to aid your photography? I’d love to know, comment on our blog or hit reply.

Have a great day,

Anthony and Diana

“Every walk is a sort of crusade.” Thoreau

Lightning: How I got the shot

Hey friends,

One of my most successful shots of 2020 was also one of the easiest I made during that year. Living by the sea on the south coast of Spain is very peaceful and beautiful, but being on the edge of the sea also brings tempestuous weather. Like most southern European houses, mine has roll-down steel shutters.

On the morning of November 26th I was woken up by my shutters rattling in the frame; just another day on the coast I thought. The shutters were down in the living room overlooking the sea (I had put them down due to the storm warning the previous day) so I pulled them up and was greeted by a dark sky and rolling sea only illuminated by multiple lightning strikes.

My heart jumped! Camera! Camera I need a….Oh, here it is, all setup already from the still life I was shooting the day before. (Zero effort before coffee is always a good thing in my book.)

So here I am still in my pyjamas going onto the balcony with my camera and tripod. It was still 30 minutes before blue hour, leaving astronomical twilight (when the sun is 12 degrees below horizon) and coming into nautical twilight (when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon).

It wasn’t easy framing with barely any light, so I mostly just filled the frame with sky and put it on a timer to take continuous shots. I set the aperture at f/6.3 for 10 seconds as a test shot. This is what I got:

This is NOT sunlight but light from the lightning!
10sec @f/6.3 ISO640

When shooting lightning you don’t want to use small apertures. Why? Because apertures control the INTENSITY of light. And you want the lightning to be intense yes? If you shoot, say at, F/16 then you get thinner, weaker looking lightning. Apertures between 2.8- 8 work best.

This image is actually f/10. But still too skinny and dull.

Once my camera was on the tripod with the 50mm I attached the remote release that I use mostly for timelapses, and set the exposure time for 13 seconds @ f/6.3. Then I went to go make coffee.

After about 3 minutes of exposing, I reviewed (chimped) the images to see what I’d caught. There were loads of good lightning strikes! I made another 2 minutes of exposures adjusting as I went along.

50mm 20sec@ f/5.6 ISO50

The 50mm was working well but as I was shooting the lightning strikes kept getting closer. I mean really close, right overhead – if I had been on the open beach I would have left, that close! But since I was safe on my balcony undercover on the side of a building, I felt secure in my now cold pyjamas… So I switched to a 17mm to achieve more coverage and distort the angle-up perspective a bit.

Now that I could see better I reframed to include the top of a tree and the horizon for added perspective. I think without the tree the size and magnitude of the lighting is lost. Now it was just a matter of luck and patience.

2.5sec @f/6.3 ISO50

At this point in time it was blue hour and the sun had just started to warm up the Eastern sky, which you can see in the final shot. I started the remote again with 2.5 second exposures. I was sipping my coffee transfixed by how awesome nature is when bang! A strike so close and so bright.

I was looking right at the space it happened and it burned itself into my retina as I heard my camera shutter go click and I thought: ” Yeah, I got that!” – followed by the instant rumble of deep thunder. Amazing I tell you!

Soon after, the storm moved away and the sunrise came up and I was done.

I reviewed the camera images again and there it was – the perfect strike right on top of me. And I hadn’t even finished my whole cup of coffee yet. A second cup of coffee later and I was sitting at my computer uploading.

A few people have asked me how I processed this image so I will start by showing you the out-of-camera file:

Doesn’t appear so colourful, in fact, it looks rather flat and dull. But don’t judge a file until you have a good look at the histogram. What do you see here?:

Out-of-camera histogram

Low contrast, yes, to be expected by looking at the file itself. But what I want you to notice are the colour channels of yellow and blue.

That is a lot of yellow towards the darker tones and a lot of blue towards the lighter tones. What this tells me is that I can push these channels and really make the image colourful without making it seem over-processed and fake. I am taking the inherent qualities and enhancing them with saturation and contrast.

And when I do I get a histogram that looks like this:

After processing histogram

I have spread all the tones out, increasing contrast. I also upped the vibrance and saturation which you can see in the colour channels.

This is my best processing result but not my first. When I first worked on this image I was into my 2nd cup of coffee the same morning, still hadn’t eaten and was “over-excited”, and when I am “over-excited” I tend to push sliders too far to the right, especially Clarity and sometimes Dehaze (ouch!).

This is what that looks like:

For me this did not reflect my personal experience as it feels too dark and brooding when it was actually highly energetic and intense. This feeling is also mostly due to over using the Dehaze slider. It is a cool look but later I felt I wanted it to be more natural.

I could shoot lighting everyday for the rest of my life and still love it. I love zooming in at 200% and looking super close at lightning. It is awe-inspiring for me. And so, so beautiful. I did 263 frames over 45 minutes. Maybe 30 with strikes!

I now have weather apps that forewarn me of lightning in my area so next time I will be ready to go…as long as I can stay safely on my balcony drinking coffee 8).

A couple of the last strikes of the morning. It was amazing how the colour dramatically cooled at sunrise. Strange, strange weather but I live for it.

I’d love to know what you think of this, or if you have questions ask them here on my blog and I’ll answer them.

Have a great day,

Anthony and Diana

A plethora of ideas for Abstract Street Photography

Hey friends,

How are you? I hope life is good. Today I have some awesome ideas for you.

What I love about photography is that anything, and I mean anything, can be your subject. In photography, we are limited only by our abilities to see interesting things in the world around us and to use our imagination to put them together in compelling ways.

Sounds simple, right? Well, today I would love to talk to you about one of my favourite things. We can call it abstract street photography, but I like to think of it as exploring the streets with my camera and letting my imagination go wild.

For me, almost nothing allows us to use our imagination in such a personal and interesting way as abstract photography. And because I spend a lot of time travelling and shooting cities, abstract street photography is one of the genres of photography I love to shoot the most.

I would, though, offer a caveat. I am not an abstract photographer. In fact, I wouldn’t assign myself to any genre of photography. Too restrictive! There is so much of the world I love to explore with my camera, and so much more to learn, that I have stopped even trying to confine myself and my curiosity.

Today I would love to give you a bunch of different ideas about how you can jump into this liberating style of photography – either if you’re new to shooting in this style or not!

If we’re going to define abstract photos I would start with this quote from the writer Henry Miller:

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world itself.”

Everything for me about abstracts is removing the realism, the candid, the obvious from our images, and making images that, as Miller says, evoke mystery and provoke our minds into thinking about magnificent new worlds.

Abstracts are creating new subjects, new worlds that have sprung completely from our imagination. We are leaping away from the old, familiar world around us.

What’s at your feet?

A big thing I see in my students is how little they look around when observing a scene. People are used to looking in the obvious places – but what about what’s at your feet? What’s behind you, what’s up high, and what’s around the corner?

Having infinite curiosity to explore the space around you from every angle is a really strong sign you are becoming more adept in your photography. Usually I am looking around to find interesting patterns of light, and watching where light is bouncing, streaming and falling.

And I love to find interesting things at my feet. Strange discarded items, colours, patterns, textures, dirt and hidden treasures. The world of the actual street is super interesting.

Always be looking at what’s at your feet!

Walls

Another fairly obvious, but often forgotten, place that I look all the time for intriguing elements are walls. I love to shoot things like torn posters, interesting shapes, bad wiring, holes, moss growing, light illuminating a dank and dark wall. The possibilities for creating a mini-universe all of your own is completely open and up to you!

Look at this crazy wall I found in Havana, so cool!

Playing with the shapes, lines and perspective of walls and corners is exciting. You have here in Morocco some very simple colours and lines, giving a nice depth with the angle I chose.

Architecture

Playing with buildings and perspective in my photos is a favourite. Shooting buildings straight on in a realistic way can be good, but also trying out different angles and perspectives is super fun.

I shot this one below in Paris, and I was intrigued by the shapes and colours of the buildings all slotted together in this small area of the city. I wanted to capture their looming feeling, but I also was really intrigued by the golden disc. It created a strange element, something unrecognisable, and added a quality that meant the buildings stopped being pure buildings but with this perspective became a series of shapes and colours.

It’s also great to use the windows, lines and textures of buildings to fill your frame and disconnect the viewer from the whole scene. I like how the lines of windows converge; it looked to me like the building was being folded in half.

Textures

The world is awash with fascinating textures! And often I find things that normally would be ignored or were thought to be ugly, but when you go close in and shoot them, they become quite unctuous and touchable.

The rain on a road with broken tarmac feels like a case in point:

As I mentioned earlier, shooting torn posters on walls is a favourite. I find that you get this interesting mix of poster and wall, which means you can have these strange elements left on the wall, out of context.

If you’ve never looked for torn posters I would encourage you to now. It’s super fun to find how many remnants are left on walls, and the fun starts when you find many stuck on top of each other, each torn and worn. Then there exists an interesting collection of contrasting images.

What I really love too is how the textures of the paper and the wall create their own strong element in the photo. And you know what they say, one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure. How cool that we can repurpose the unneeded and discarded for something interesting and new?

Reflections

I am often on the lookout for reflections because I am ALWAYS on the lookout for interesting light. And light creates all kinds of interesting effects.

I really love creating these kinds of discombobulated reflections:

Having lots of overlapping elements in the frame that take some time to really see what’s happening in the photo. You can do a lot of fun things with reflections like these, creating a sort of ordered chaos:

What can you create with all of the elements around you?

Light

“Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography” George Eastman

If I were to pick a subject or general way to describe myself, it would be as a photographer of light. Light is really my main subject. And therefore what light falls upon is really my secondary subject.

I love to chase light, follow it, explore and play with it, and I observe it constantly to see how it’s changing the world around me.

Because light is always changing how we see the world around us. You can be at a scene that looks one way at midday and completely different two hours later, all because of the light.

One of the biggest challenges I see many of my students face in their photography is that they are thinking too much about their subject and not about the light surrounding them.

If people haven’t a deep awareness of light, I always encourage them to spend time just observing the light, seeing what it’s doing where they are now, and then how it starts to change.

Where is the light going? Is it bouncing off a window and creating pools of light on the floor? Is it creating shadows? Is the light warm, cold? How does the light feel and what does that feeling do to your subject?

Motion

“Energy and motion made visible – memories arrested in space” Jackson Pollock

Motion is just pure fun in my mind. It’s really about having fun with light and your subject, and totally ignoring reality. The sensation of movement, the colours of it, are wonderful to capture.

I like this idea that these connect with memories too – and how so much of what we shoot, especially in this abstract style, is about things that remind us of experiences, places, ideas, people, books, events, characters from films etc.

We could even say that so much of our photography is about shooting our memories, because what we are curious about, what we notice and what fascinates us is filtered through who we are. Our entire life experience comes into every shot we take.

Colour

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” Georgia O’Keeffe

Colour is a very important subject for me. Almost as important as light! Shooting colours is awesome – and they can be their very own subject.

Colours bring all kinds of feelings to an image; joy, melancholy, danger, fear, fun, exhilaration…. And are often very impactful. What do these colours below feel like?

Shape

Abstracts are obviously not about creating clarity, but using the world around us in a new way to make something that fires up our imagination. We are looking for the elements to take on a life of their own. To become something else.

Like in this photo. The shapes of the branches and the barbed wire fence are easy to figure out, but what is interesting is seeing the shapes together, stripped of colour, and only in silhouette. An intriguing contrast I think.

Here we have some great bold colour and a simple strong shape:

In the photo above this is just a piece of an element I found whilst wandering around. It’s nothing fancy or unusual, I just made the shape from the larger whole object, taking the little piece of it that I found interesting, and ignoring the rest.

People

These shots of mine are not really abstract photography, more surrealism. Surrealism is in a very similar realm to abstraction, because it’s using our imagination rather than being committed to documenting the reality of the world around us.

We can tell stories, reveal people’s lives or just create interesting moments by not making literal, realism-based photos.

Finding quirky moments, odd situations or sad experiences. We don’t need to get everything in frame to tell a story.

We are always working to open up our awareness as photographers, to see more. This is so important because we don’t see anything close to what is actually there in the environment around us. Our brains focus our attention so we don’t get overwhelmed by the billions of bits of visual information around us.

It is why I can take six photographers to the same spot and they all capture something different. So opening up our awareness to take in more visually will help us find more awesome moments to capture.

Shadow and silhouettes

The feeling of silhouettes and shadows can be immensely powerful. The darkness and the shapes they create can bring so much feeling to an image. For example in the photo below I at first used a correct exposure so I got the detail of the man. But it was a really boring image.

So I went down a couple of stops and created him in silhouette instead, and I think it was perfect. The simplified outline of his posture is so much more powerful than having all of the detail.

Here we have the pattern of the repetitive shapes and that is very pleasing to the eye. The brain loves order and repeating patterns create that soothing feeling for the eye.

There we have my collection of ideas for creating engaging and compelling street abstracts. I really hope that sparked some ideas for you, and you are inspired to go out and see what you can capture.

I would love to know if you’ve got some ideas from this article – let me know in the comments below. It’s always great to hear your ideas!

Have a deeply awesome day.

Anthony and Diana

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7 things Van Gogh can teach us about photography

It might sound strange to suggest that painters can teach us anything about photography.

I believe, though, that any creative pursuit springs from the same space within us – whether it’s photography, writing, painting or even making exquisitely beautiful cakes.

Creativity comes from a desire to express ourselves, to verbalize our experiences, thoughts, ideas and what fascinates us about the world.

The ways we express ourselves are merely our personal preferences, but the fact that we choose to create, that is a universal desire and, what I would argue, is also a need.

In keeping myself motivated as a photographer I love to look for inspiration from all across the creative spectrum.

I like to take the advice of my favourite photographer Ernst Haas in this, when he recommended to:

“refine your senses through the great masters of music, painting, and poetry. In short, try indirect inspirations, and everything will come by itself.”

Not only do I love Van Gogh’s paintings, but I love how he talks about being an artist. I feel he expresses that desire to see the world in a new way so uniquely.

I liked too how he wrote very simply of the life-giving qualities of being creative.

Today I wanted to indulge in his brilliance and see what we can draw from his life to help us with our photography.

1. We are all deeply creative

“Does what goes on inside show on the outside? Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney.” Van Gogh

I have met too many people who say they aren’t creative types or arty types. And yet they have a huge desire to create, to be people who make things.

That desire is enough. That fire within is enough to take you to where you need to go with your photography.

2. The strange magic of creation

“What is drawing? How does one get there? It’s working one’s way through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. How can one get through that wall? — since hammering on it doesn’t help at all. In my view, one must undermine the wall and grind through it slowly and patiently.” Van Gogh

I love this quote. It shows some of that strange magic that is involved in the act of creativity, but also the grind of just doing the work.

Sometimes I don’t know where my images come from. I just know my role is to show up, push through discomfort when it arises and keep going.

3. Paying attention to your subject changes what it is

“It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.” Van Gogh

When you look deeply at a subject it starts to transform into other things.

Perhaps it becomes intertwined with your imagination, your memories, and thoughts. Your imagination transforming it from one thing to another.

Perhaps it changes because as you look, really look at something, you notice its many facets, its individual details, its many elements. It becomes less a part of a whole, and more a whole world in itself.

4. We all need to be courageous

“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? Van Gogh

I need this stapled to my forehead sometimes. I feel that my life requires a lot of courage, often. I’ve chosen a different path to others, so I see what this would be. When I overcome fear and feel courageous, wow, it’s an amazing feeling. When I succumb to fear and am not courageous, then, yes, it doesn’t feel great. But the mere act of attempting courageous acts induces a lot of creative energy within me.

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore” Van Gogh

5. Taking photos is the most important thing I can do

I wonder if it’s my age, but my desire to create photographs feels in some ways more urgent than when I was younger. Maybe urgent is the wrong word. It feels more essential than it ever has.

When I was younger taking photos was a deep pleasure, it was fun, it was adventurous! I have loved all of my work and projects and learning.

But there is something about getting older when you see with starker and starker clarity what is essential to your life and what is unnecessary filler.

I want to only fill my life now with things that are essential to my being. That makes me proud, that push me to be a better person, that help me grow and learn and help me experience the world in beautiful new dimensions.

6. Kill self-doubt with action

This connects to my last post about how we all need creative pursuits in our lives. I love this quote of Van Gogh’s:

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”

Self-doubt is the enemy of creativity, and it’s one we all face. But self-doubt only controls us if we let it. If we plough on regardless, self-doubt is eradicated by taking action.

7. When we are seeking to do what we love, life is complete

“I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.” Van Gogh

This is the true test for me of a good life – are we in it with all of our hearts? I like to think I am in mine, and like family, photography is a natural conduit to living in a wholehearted, connected way.

So I hope these are some nice thoughts for you, giving you some inspiration for your photo practice.

I’d like to leave with one last quote from the great man, one I have quoted several times before on my blog, but is always a good reminder for me:

“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” Van Gogh

So there is no reason not to do things. The time to do things is now, regardless of where you are and what you don’t know (yet.)

Can I help you become a more creative, confident and artistic photographer?

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Any questions feel free to email us on info@anthonyepes.com – we’re always here to help!

Anthony and Diana

PS: Want to know more about us?

I’m from California, but I now live in Andalucia, Spain with my beautiful family. I came to Europe to shoot London twenty years ago for my first book, London at Dawn, and stayed to create a series of books and exhibitions on Cities at Dawn. I run my business with my wife Diana who is a writer and marketing genius. My projects and work have been featured on The Guardian, BBC World, French Photo Magazine, The Economist, CNN, Atlas Obscura and Digital Photographer. As well as sharing my knowledge and passion for photography in regular articles + videos I also run photo workshops around the world and inspiring live online classes.

How to photograph dawn in London

“London goes beyond any boundary or convention. It contains every wish or word ever spoken, every action or gesture ever made, every harsh or noble statement ever expressed. It is illimitable. It is Infinite London.” Peter Ackroyd, London

I spent almost twenty years shooting London, in particular at the dawn hours for my two books about the city. This city is for me one of the most inspiring and interesting to photograph, even (maybe especially!) because of the challenges of steely grey skies, abundant drizzly weather and the short daylight hours through the winter. Seeking out good light in London is an adventure in itself, you appreciate it so much when it comes.

The biggest challenge most photographers face when shooting London is creating interesting and unusual shots of the landscape and buildings. Most photographers who are famous for shooting London are known for their street life work. This city is hard to get a handle on.

But what’s special about London is the the landscape and the buildings. They are not just a backdrop for portraits. They can be the subject. And what will help you capture this aspect of the city is being up at dawn – shooting these incredible buildings and cityscapes when no-one one is around. You’ll catch a purer experience of the city.

Here is what I what I want to cover in this post:

I will:

Outline the basics of how to technically capture dawn
Give you ideas on some of my favourite places to shoot in the city (the city is way to big for me to tell you all in one post)
Tell you how I captured some of my favourite shots of London

What is fundamentally interesting about shooting London at dawn is that contrast of the urban environment, the overwhelming imprint of human beings on its streets and the ethereal, floating, piercing beauty of mother nature’s light at dawn.

Even the most busy tourist sites, where hundreds and thousands of people swarm to see the stunning views, are empty at dawn. And dawn is time away from distraction when you are connecting with your subject, alone.

Incidentally, Monet believed that most people are blind to their environment. They don’t notice what lies before them, so habitually are we locked into the habit of our minds. But he believed that the light of dawn and sunset actually coloured reality, making it easier for people to see the wonder of the world around them. And that was why he spent so much time painting in the twilight hours. So if Monet believed in the power of dawn, then so can you 🙂

Dawn can be wondrous at any time of the year, but spring, summer and early autumn are my favourites. The transience of the light makes dawn special. And you know that within an hour or two that it will be gone and the feeling of life returning to normal will have invaded the landscape.

“Just before dawn I have the world all to myself.” Terri Guillemets

Note – from here, I have chosen photos of details of London that are interesting to me. I haven’t got any more sweeping views because, quite frankly, they aren’t that difficult to take. Instead I want to look at how you can tell the story of a city by picking out details and smaller scenes.

And I love London’s abundant oddities, like the law that says it’s illegal to die in the Palace of Westminster. I mean how crazy is that?

So here are some ideas, tips and techniques on shooting this great city.

The sheer joy of it

I don’t know why being up when the sun rises is so powerful – but it is. It feels like you are at the beginning of something really special. It is a truly magical feeling seeing the rebirth of the day. As I wander through empty streets I feel I could be wandering through a forest, or a vast expanse of green, or even along the sea shore. There is that sense of freedom for myself – away from the distractions of people.

“Have you ever seen the dawn? Not a dawn groggy with lack of sleep or hectic with mindless obligations and you about to rush off on an early adventure or business, but full of deep silence and absolute clarity of perception? A dawning which you truly observe, degree by degree. It is the most amazing moment of birth. And more than anything it can spur you to action. Have a burning day.” Vera Nazarian

Now for the technical bit….

Every photo that I have taken for my dawn books, before sunrise, was exposed at -1.5 stops. As the sun rises this exposure gets closer to 0 as the light increases. Why, you may ask? Well, I will give you a quick lesson on the camera meter. The camera meter is an averaging system. It looks at all the tones in an image frame and averages it all to a middle grey. From now on and forever think of the 0 exposure as a bland middle grey.

For example, say you had a black wall that filled your frame. If you were to expose that wall at the meter’s 0 setting – like the image below – your black wall image would not be black but middle grey. Same for a white wall. If you made the exposure at the 0 setting your white wall image would come out middle grey. You would have two photos looking exactly the same. Your meter is telling you that the black wall is way too dark and the white wall is way too bright, so here is the proper exposure. Stupid thing doesn’t know anything. You have to know and interpret the information.

The correct exposure for the black wall is at -2 stops (darker) and for the white wall +2 stops (brighter). Dawn being darker than a middle grey needs to be underexposed to retain the deep shadows and rich colours that are inherent for that specific time. NOTE: This is something about auto-modes that people need to understand. If you are on an auto-mode (shutter or aperture priority, etc) your base exposure will ALWAYS be on the 0 exposure, unless you move it with exposure compensation.

I can go into much more detail about this in another post. Just remember, if your tones are predominantly dark your exposure will most likely need to be darker. Inversely, if your tones are mostly bright, or at least brighter than middle grey your exposure will need to be brighter. Counterintuitive, yes? Essential, absolutely!

For most shooting situations that 0 exposure is going to work fine. But not for dawn!

People

I think crowds and busyness make people act a bit un-human, and so when there are less people around, people are definitely friendlier (and often they’ve been up all night and still on that all-night high of happiness). There is a sense of camaraderie.

When you do happen upon people at dawn it’s much easier to really see them. What they are occupied with? Who they are? They can be very interested in what you are doing photographing at such a crazy hour. Often they want to be a part of it (I’ve had loads of people want to be in my photos over the years. I think that may be a great blog post!) Here are a few of the people I have seen:

What do you think this guy is feeling? I sense tiredness and resignation. Other people have seen humour, that his face is turned in the direction of the gorilla’s behind. I like that people see different things in this photo. And I love the little pops of colour of blue, yellow and red in the sea of grey and brown. There is a lot of muted colour (and grey!) in London. So looking out for strong colours is a great way to provide interest points and contrast.

When I first came to London my good friend Nick, who was a black cab driver, drove me around. One fantastic thing I discovered through him were various all-night places to buy tea, like the Blackheath Tea Hut below (someone even made a documentary about it) and Cabman’s shelters – cafes in little green huts dotted around the London streets for cabbies.

I love this photo of the tea hut, situated in the middle of a vast stretch of green, Blackheath, and edging the A2. An odd place for an all-night cafe, but it was always busy with workers, late-night partiers and other random night folk when I visited.

But apart from the memory, I love the colours. Even though the heath looked scrawny and dusty, I managed to position the red and green colours of the hut against the deep blue of the morning sky. I love simple bold colours and contrast! It doesn’t even matter that the people aren’t all in focus, which is sort of unusual for me. It’s the feeling you get when you look at the people that makes it.

When in doubt, wander

The photo below was the very first one that I took in London for my book. I was walking around at 5am, fresh off the boat from LA and I was freaking out. I didn’t know London at all. My only previous visit had been for two weeks over Christmas with Diana, which was mainly spent in pubs and at parties.

I had been commissioned to do a book about London and once I had actually arrived it seemed like the most daunting task in the world. How could I do this (unknown-to-me) city justice? What I have learnt over the years, though, is I always freak out at the beginning of a project – my wife says she can predict it down to the minute. The first step is to just get my ass out of bed and wander.

So I was walking around feeling excited about new discoveries and suddenly I turned a corner and saw this scene in front of me and I thought, wow. Yes that’s it, I can do this. This is so London to me. Pubs! History! A jumble of mismatched low buildings.

I then walked up to St Paul’s and took this one, below, which is almost the same view but in the opposite direction (always remember – don’t just take the photo of the iconic view or building, look behind you, go inside, look for a different angle).

I love this photo even though it doesn’t have great light; you can feel the grimness of the city, and in spite of the greyness of the scene the scene works. (Can I just repeat – I know this repetition is probably deafening – but can I encourage you to always, always, always consider the light before you take your photo. You don’t have to have great light, as this photo shows, but you do need to be completely in tune with the light and you want to try and respond to what the light is doing, and if necessary adjust accordingly).

This photo would not have worked without the little orange lights. So, again, when you have an abundance of grey or quite similar colours, look for some pops of colour or light that will allow the scene to be what it is but adds some depth or points of interest.

Going east

I love photographing at the Thames Barrier. It’s an otherworldly spot in the very far east of London. It’s a wonderful view way down the river and I think it’s the only place in London I’ve seen the sun rise just as it comes up on to the horizon.

Tip – I use the Photographer’s Ephemeris app to tell me where the sun will rise so I can get in position in time. The light changes very quickly and so I want to be exactly in the right spot.

The photo below is of the canal in Hackney. (You can walk for six miles along these canals.) Those houses are very London – all squashed together (or that’s how they seem to me; I’m from the land of ranch styles homes). It’s this closeness that struck me and the blandness of the light that said to me I’m no longer home! Very English. Very London.

The Square Mile as ‘the city’ is nicknamed is fantastic for the mix of old and new buildings – and represents that constant changing nature of the city. This is probably one of my favourite shots as it mixes shiny, reflective new buildings (love those to photograph) and an old house and church. And then a lush tree at the top.

This photo may not be my most well composed or technically amazing, but it does something that photos should do – which is to capture and communicate the essence of my subject. It tells a story about London, and that’s what I’m here for.

Other photographers who like the east

Hoxton Mini Press produce cool little photo books focused around East London (although they are now expanding their projects). I liked their book I’ve Lived in East London for 86 ½ years and the street photography book Shoreditch Wild Life
There is also many stories of the area on the blog Spitalfields Life, which also has a small publishing arm. I loved Bob Mizer’s book of photographs of London in the 70’s and 80’s. Very different look to the city then.
David Bailey is famous for shooting the East End (and here is David Bailey on his favourite photo)
Short video about why I love shooting East London and my book East London at Dawn.

Going south

Along the Southbank there’s a lot of Brutalist architecture (which has become a bit of a fetish I think for some photographers. It looks to me like big slabs of concrete, one-colour Lego put together by a symmetry obsessed child. Here are some interesting buildings in the Brutalist style). Below is my image of the now demolished Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle.

Here you can see that I have some very muted colours to play with but then some rich sunlight appeared, and because beautiful light makes everything look interesting, you can see that it makes these subtle browns, yellows and greens look sumptuous.

This photo below personifies that urban/dawn contrast very well. We have beautiful light penetrating and illuminating the dense London graffiti (which is Leake Street by the way, a legal graffiti tunnel started by Banksy and a place I like to go pretty often. Mostly the graffiti is your standard words and tags, but sometimes some really cool pieces of art pop up.)

“London is a roost for every bird.” Benjamin Disraeli

Walking along the Southbank from Waterloo to Tower Bridge is a favourite, but usually I veer off into the side streets. Just one or two blocks south of the river you’ve got a hodgepodge of buildings and architecture that create all kinds of interesting opportunities for light to bounce, reflect and refract from.

There are also cool little roads – like the workmen’s cottages of Roupell Street and the almshouses of Hopton Street, tiny little old cottages set against a dramatically large new shiny office building.

Just north of the river is this hidden view of the Shard. I love this photo because it’s a view that very few people spot. I was walking along Upper Ground and caught this through a gap in the buildings. You would miss it if you were in a car and maybe even a bicycle. It’s a very small gap.

London will always keep you on your toes. Its views aren’t organised in the way that those in Paris are; nothing feels ordered about London. It’s almost like a treasure hunt where you are walking miles and miles to spot things in little gaps, down side streets or on top of buildings.

Battersea Power station is a great structure; shame it’s surrounded by some pretty boring landscape. The photo below uses natural framing. It’s a fairly simple technique where you use an internal frame within the photo – either something natural or manmade – which works nicely when you have a strong subject that you want to draw the eye to. It also creates a pleasing layer and additional element. Make sure what you choose as your natural frame is distinct and doesn’t blend in with the subject or background.

A touch of the west and the north

If I’m honest, south and east London are my favourite places to shoot. There is tonnes of history in both areas, and many more contrasting buildings than in the west. Although West London suffers from ‘same-ness’ (sorry), I do live there because it’s a fabulous place to bring up kids, very green and the river is awesome.

The photo above is of Richmond. If you head directly up Richmond Hill from here there is such an awesome view stretching across the river and out to the west, one that Turner painted. Then you can head into Richmond Park, a great little stretch of wildness (well, manicured in my opinion, but wild for a city.)

Other good green spots

My preference is for shooting places like Hampstead Heath and Richmond Park in winter or autumn when the leaves are not so thick and allow for a bit more depth to the photo.

Can you see in this photo the leading line that is taking the viewer on a journey through the photo? I love leading lines, they are one of the few compositional techniques that I still avidly use.

Now, photographing dawn is a challenge

It’s a big challenge to get up before dawn, I ain’t gonna lie! Sometimes I am awake at 3 or 4am to start out. And it can be cold – even on a hot day. And it’s dark, and hard to get around. There are so many things that make it inconvenient when you sit down and analyse it. But didn’t Nietzsche say that the hardest things in life are often the most satisfying?

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep. ~Rumi

But…it is exhilarating. And not many people do it. So go for it!

So that’s it for me. I would love to know how you would photograph London. Please comment on my blog below -I love hearing from you.

Have an amazing week. I’m heading off to the Redwoods now!

Happy photographing,

Anthony and my word-shaping amazing partner Diana

10 Powerful Ideas For Your Photography

Hello everyone,

Today I’m sharing some interesting ideas that I think will help you leap into a good photo practice if you are stuck in a rut or struggling to get inspired.

1. Photography should always bring you joy

A few days ago, we were having lunch with some friends and one of them mentioned how his photography education had been quite a joyless experience. There was such a focus on what wasn’t working with the students’ work, and what needed to work better, that it sucked all the enjoyment out of taking photos.

I can see that too in some of the emails we get – people worried about their lack of skill or experience, worried they haven’t got far enough or berating themselves for not using their camera more.

To all of this I want to say – Stop. Just stop.

Photography – and the act of creating anything – should not a be negative or endlessly difficult experience. No way. If we are weaving this beautiful practice into our lives, don’t we want it to be fun?

Of course, there is challenge and difficulty in any creative practice, and there are hurdles to overcome. There are the forces of boredom, the procrastination to deal with. Naturally, there is the need to put in effort and learn things you find difficult.

But ultimately, it should bring something wonderful into your life.

Ideas & resources:

This is a brilliant book exploring in-depth where creativity comes from. Fun and inspiring. Imagine – How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer

2. Find your good photos – and hang them on your wall

When you want to get good at something, it’s important to build positive momentum. Which means you have to recognise your progress and all the good photos you are taking – not just those which need to be improved.

We wrote about why you should print your photos a few years ago – and we encourage you to start printing your work if you haven’t.

Photos should be living, breathing things – adorning your house, given as gifts, made into books, posters, prints – whatever you desire for them. Don’t let the images that you work so hard to take languish on your memory cards or hard drives.

Ideas & resources:

If you’re a bit stuck, Anthony did a webinar about How to Print from Lightroom
We love the joy and fun of Self Publish, Be Happy – the photo organisation dedicated to you taking control of your work and putting it out there.
Why not enter your best photos into the Sony World Photo Awards. It’s one of the few comps you can enter free – so risk-free. Just go!

3. Look for people whose ideas and work fascinate you

I was reading about Tina Modotti recently, admiring her famous photo of a worker’s hands.I love to explore the lives of artists who are lesser known or whose work has fallen out of fashion.

In reading about her, I then came to Edward Weston, from whom Modotti learnt much of her craft. Modotti was actually only one of two female photographers who were very significant in Weston’s life.

Edward Weston is considered one of the masters of twentieth century photography. He made his still lives of cabbage leaves, peppers and shells incredibly emotive and sensual.

Margrethe Mather, was once the most famous female photographer in America but appears to have been almost forgotten. She played an important role in Weston’s life, teaching him and developing his interest in photographing still lives of shells, flowers and everyday objects.

Mather and Weston worked together for several years – and you can read more about them in Margrethe Mather and Edward Weston: A Passionate Collaboration

After Mather, Modotti came into Weston’s life, and he taught her much of the craft of photography. They moved to Mexico together in the 1920’s and she became increasingly interested in documenting the social and political world of Mexico City.

Her short career (she died aged 45) was prolific. In her work she was innovative, and she mixed her fine art sensibilities with her strong social conscience. Tina Modotti Photos

Ideas & resources:

I loved this incredible collection of images Of Love & War from photojournalist Lynsey Addario, where the stories of unbearable human tragedy are weaved interchangeably through images of resilience of the human spirit.
I am rarely a fan of contemporary street photography. The abundance of comedic images often feel empty. To me, photos need to give me something more substantive – a little idea about being human, a glimpse of a story, a feeling. But I do love cities, and I love to explore them. So to expand my awareness of the possibilities of this genre, I have ordered the updated edition of Bystander – A History of Street Photography by Colin Westerbeck and Joel Meyerowitz, a collection of some of the most interesting street photography going back to the 19th century.

4. Commit to your progress

I remember when Anthony bought his first digital camera and started to practise using it alongside his film cameras. I was shocked by the results – they were dreadful.

Possibly it was the new world of digital cameras as they weren’t as good as now – but it was also that it was a whole new system for him to learn. I admired that he jumped in head first and spent hours and hours learning and perfecting.

Even now I often find him watching YouTube videos or reading articles about different techniques. I remember when he started really getting into HDR he’d be reading and practising, unswayed by his initial mediocre results.

While it’s obviously necessary to keep up with technology as a professional photographer, one thing that I have learnt from Anthony that I try to remember in my own work is to not get impatient with the learning journey.

Anthony starts learning something and keeps going. He starts out with no skill, keeps practising over time, is never in a great rush, and eventually gets to the proficiency he seeks.

He accomplished exactly this when learning about editing for our new video course, and he did it with time lapses and little videos that he wanted to make of his travels.

He is patient with himself – and this is what I’d like to share with you. So many people get frustrated with their progress, expecting to make massive leaps immediately. I do. Always. I am impatient, I am in a rush.

But learning is an every day, every year, lifetime experience.

Take pleasure in the learning journey. Recognise that you will get to where you want to go. Consistent incremental progress will get you everywhere.

Ideas & resources:

Learn Manual / Tips for thinking more artistically when you process your images / Video: Learn how to process your images like an artist /

5. Create the environment you need to take photos

“Leisure, is not the same as the absence of activity… or even as an inner quiet. It is rather like the stillness in the conversation of lovers, which is fed by their oneness.” Josef Pieper

If I were to have a goal right now, it would be to bring more space and silence into my life. Because I know when I am not working or distracted or doing, then I will naturally turn to the act of creating.

You have to create the environment around you that will help you do the things you love to do.

For me, it’s – turn off my phone, log off my laptop and be alone. That’s all I need.

For Anthony, it’s often having enough energy and time to get up before dawn and go out. So exercising, and early nights.

It is different for everyone – the point is to know about what environment you need to create to take photos, and to make sure you have that in your life on a regular basis.

Ideas & resources:

Simple ideas for your photography: The Power of Silence

6. Ignore everyone

Everything that is within us comes out in our photography, or writing, or creative practice.

When we are in deep creative flow, we are untethered from what others think of us: lying on the ground taking that shot, or asking that stranger for a portrait, or spending months photographing beautiful feathers because they are just so interesting to us.

But when we are showing people our images, all that is unique about ourselves can suddenly feel vulnerable. And let’s be honest, for all the yes, that’s great, we are so much more sensitive to criticism.

I have developed more of a thick skin over the years, but what made me filter criticism more vigorously was when Brene Brown said she won’t listen to criticism from people who aren’t putting themselves out there and doing something themselves.

It’s easy to just sit there and critique. But to say – this is who I am and this is what I’ve made is actually pretty brave. Even if it’s just putting your photos on social media or getting them printed to show to friends, it’s a brave act to reveal your work.

If you want to truly be creative, you have to unhook yourself from the judgements of others – and commit to that.

Ideas & resources:

A recent favourite photo project of Anthony’s was The Last Testament by Jonas Bendiksen. Anthony saw the exhibition during our Arles workshop in the summer, and brought home the book. It’s an in-depth exploration into the lives of men who think they are the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

The photography is stunning, but made much more poignant accompanied by the men’s stories and teachings. Bendiksen’s approach is very respectful – as this could have turned into a giant comedy project. Instead, he gained the trust of his subjects and brought their lives and worlds vividly to life.

7. Drop the self criticism

Strangely, though, it’s often not what others think that is so destructive to our creativity. It is our own personal inner voice that scuppers our work.

Adam Phillips wrote a wonderful essay called Against Self-Criticism, in which he says:

“Were we to meet this figure socially, as it were, this accusatory character, this internal critic, we would think there was something wrong with him. He would just be boring and cruel. We might think that something terrible had happened to him. That he was living in the aftermath, in the fallout of some catastrophe. And we would be right.”

And yet…

“Nothing makes us more critical, more confounded — more suspicious, or appalled, or even mildly amused — than the suggestion that we should drop all this relentless criticism; that we should be less impressed by it. Or at least that self-criticism should cease to have the hold over us that it does.”

How about doing something radical in 2019 and just completely and totally dropping the self-criticism? Instead of beration – think celebration. Instead of worrying about where you need to go, celebrate where you are at.

Print the photos. Enjoy your photography. Let it take you places you had no idea you wanted to go.

8. The power of surrendering to the world

Let’s be honest, so much of our lives are lived on the surface. It’s looking at things in the same way, doing the same things – not questioning the status quo. Our own personal status quo, our families or our cultures, how we work and what we do with our free time.

Travelling has given me a new perspective on habit and routine. I see now, truly see, that the maxim ‘wherever you go, there you are’ is 100% true.

So travel won’t take you out of habits, out of your routines of thinking and doing, and help you experience the world anew unless you allow it to.

If your thoughts are – things should be like this and like that, which I most certainly suffer from, you will have a similar experience whether you travel or stay at home.

You have to surrender that certainty and those thoughts about who you are and how things should be.

Nothing is certain, nothing is 100%. You have to allow travel and new experiences to change you. You have to unhook your habit and see what emerges.

Surrender to the new experience – allowing all of the new sensations to be alive in your body, even if this involves fear. Especially if it involves fear.

Trying to hold on to habits or preformed ideas you have about yourself and the world because you feel fear will block the potential for so many new enlivening experiences that could be dancing around in your life.

As Anthony and I are in mid-life, we are attempting to buck the trend – to consciously go in the opposite direction to where we are expected to be, in order to open up more possibilities.

It takes a lot of effort and overcoming of fears to become more of who we can be. But it’s an exhilarating experience of what life can become – and when you do it can elevate your creativity beyond your wildest imagination.

9. Find ways to be amazingly inspired on a regular basis

There is a sensation that I feel when I know I am deep in a creative flow state. I realise that somehow my worries or things I have been going over and over in my mind – although still there – seem to have shrunk.

I also notice that there is a beautiful, light feeling within me.

This is not an everyday state for me – yet. But it is a state that I’m trying to bring more into my life. One way I do this is meditating regularly which helps to ‘declutter’ my busy mind from excessive thoughts – and that’s the best way I can describe the benefits.

Meditating gives me space to be more thoughtful and creative, rather than obsessing over how we are getting to the airport tomorrow or wondering if Anthony called the accountant like I asked him to.

Another way is to fill my life with things that are deeply inspiring.

When I was in London I would take regular trips to the woods near us on the outer edges of West London. It’s scientifically proven that seeing trees every day (I think seeing at least 14 trees is the magic number) improves your mental health.

I can attest that whenever I found life too stressful, spending time in the woods would alleviate so much anxiety.

It’s what the Japanese call forest bathing – or Shinrin-yoku.

“It is simply being in nature, connecting with it through our senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Shinrin-yoku is like a bridge. By opening our senses, it bridges the gap between us and the natural world.” Dr. Qing Li – who wrote the book Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness.

(And did you know that trees have feelings, families and communities that they communicate with? The Hidden Life of Trees is a fascinating book proposing this new understanding of tree life.)

Anthony and I have found being by the sea intensely inspiring this year.

The vast expanse of it is so hypnotic. Some days it’s beautifully calm and still, translucent so you can see the sea floor. And then it’s wild and angry. Deep green with big waves, telling us all to keep away.

As Lord Byron said “There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.”

Ideas & resources:

Anthony’s video: For the Love of Light
Anthony’s video: Hong by Night
Incidentally, trees and the sea are both subjects Anthony has done photo projects on. A decade ago it was his project on trees, Arboreal Dreams, and this year his ongoing work on the sea where we live, which has the working title of Meditations.

10. Give up what binds your creativity

I am addicted to Facebook. There I said it. I admitted it to the world. Why do I need to say this out loud? Because it angers me that it almost seems like an unconscious act that, having put my daughter to bed, I fire up Facebook and suddenly realise an hour has disappeared from my life.

If I came off Facebook full of joy and ideas and inspiration then, hey, it’d be an hour well spent. But really, no-one expects to say that it makes me happy, right?

I don’t want to get into should’s though. I should be doing something else, I should be being productive, I should be better in every way. That to me just leads to the above point of intense self-criticism.

I would, however, like to give myself the time to potentially pick up my pen, to commit to what I love to do, to make progress on another book I have been writing for over a year now. That would be awesome.

So I am going to become Facebook-free.

I am going to remove just one thing from my life as the new year gets under way, and that’s the thing that binds me the most, and keeps me away from creating.

We all have things that impinge on taking photos or being creative. What is yours?

I hope you have enjoyed those ideas and they ignite something within you that will help your photography. Let us know in the comments below.

Read more of our articles …

One of my favourite articles was about Ara Guler. He was a phenomenal photographer – as you can see in the documentary about him – The Eye of Istanbul. I also deeply, deeply love Istanbul. It might be my favourite city in the world. Or how about these:

Dissecting the shot series. See more here, here and here
Photos: the beach at dawn in southern Spain
The truth of long-term travel with your family

Happy photographing,

Diana and Anthony

11 Tips for Awesome Abstract Photos

One thing I haven’t written about before is abstract photography. And you may have seen it is a genre of photography I really enjoy – but it isn’t something I think about as separate from my other images.

In fact I don’t consider myself a genre-specific photographer. For me, sticking to specific genres is so limiting. I like to go out, explore the world and see what attracts my eye.

So although I am going to share some ideas about abstract photography – it’s not definitive or exclusive.

These ideas and photos are aimed at inspiring you and sparking ideas for your photography.

“Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colors, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential.” Wassily Kandinsky

And I feel the same is true of abstract photography. It seems easy and simple – but in fact requires real attention, a ‘heightened sensitivity’ to both composition and to the world around you.

So what is abstract photography?

There are many definitions, but what it means to me is that you are removing the context of the subject so that you don’t know what you are looking at.

You are creating a photo that is all about colour, light, shape, form or texture.

And you are re-forming the world to make your own subjects, things that are not what they appear to be in real life.

It’s a really fun medium to play with, because I think so much of photography can be about recreating reality. This genre is about breaking rules and escaping reality.

My definition of an abstract image is when someone looks at it and they say: what is that?

1. Abstraction is pure imagination

I talk about imagination a lot in my courses, because imagination is so important to my photography.

It’s all about looking around the world and letting my imagination run completely free.

Asking questions and dreaming up scenarios….

That reminds me of…
That makes me think of…
I wonder what that would look like if…

“To deal with the chaos of life, I escape into the prism of glass, dancing to the visual music in my mind. My photographs express my interior movement from darkness into light and back.” Polly Norman

This to me is like some old broken, 70’s colour TV.

2. Textures

I love to capture textures, and they make a great focus for abstract shots.

Textures are a really easy way to create a feeling in a photo, to translate how something feels when you touch it.

Textures are a way of thinking not just what your subjects look like, but what are the textures that make up the world.

The fronds of long grass.
The sleek shine of marble..
The unctuous feeling of bread dough.
The tense feeling of the grit in a pavement.

How can you play with textures in your photography?

3. Reduction

Photography for me is what you take out, not just what you include. Because often people include too much, or don’t consider every element of their frame, leaving bits and random pieces in their shot that distract the viewer’s eye.

Abstracts are a great way to focus so completely on your subject, you can be ruthless in reducing what you include in the frame.

You can also play with colour?

4. Abstracts can invoke a feeling of mystery

“Abstraction generally involves implication, suggestion and mystery, rather than obvious description.” Robert Genn

This photo is not maybe what you would think of as abstraction – but to me it looks like a lost head on a moon crater:

It’s a little mysterious right?

Looking at the world beyond the obvious, finding the mysterious all around you – using suggestions and questions…these are all good things to consider.

5. Breaking the world down into elements

For me abstraction is all about having FUN. Making images that are strange or weird or mysterious.

It’s about breaking the world down into elements, but more than that, into its purest forms, making what we see in the world completely about shape, colour, light and form.

It’s not recording a subject but almost inventing your own subjects.

What are the elements that make up our world? What do things look like when disconnected from their whole?

6. It’s not easy photography

In fact it’s harder to make abstract photos interesting because there is less going on.

“Abstraction forces you to reach the highest level of the basics.” Alan Soffer

It’s celebrating the simplicity of elements, forcing your brain to disassociate from the known and making the simplest of lines and shapes interesting.

7. Bringing the essence of our subject out

“To abstract is to draw out the essence of a matter. To abstract in art is to separate certain fundamentals from irrelevant material which surrounds them.” Ben Shahn

Using shape and form, colour and light, to create something completely new.

To try and capture the feeling of different elements around you – and bring their inherent qualities to the forefront of your images.

8. Refreshment for the eye, and the imagination!

Abstract images are creating something stripped down and giving the eye and the mind something completely different to look at.

“I understand abstract art as an attempt to feed imagination with a world built through the basic sensations of the eyes.” Jean Helion

And I love that! Feeding the imagination, and generating different sensations for the eye to behold.

9. Perspective

Finding unusual angles for things is a great way to shoot everyday things so they appear untethered from what you usually see.

10. Celebrating the pure emotional impact of form or colour or light

“Abstract art has helped us to experience the emotional power inherent in pure form.” Anton Ehrenzweig

I love anything that is about creating simple images that evoke feeling through colour and shape:

11. Light

And, of course, because for me everything is about light – playing with light to make your elements more interesting, more imaginative, more exciting to look at. Or even just capturing light by itself.

I want to have a lot of fun with my photography.

To play, to be absorbed in it and to have it really enhance my life.

I hope these ideas have helped spark some ideas about what you can do with your photos this week. Regardless of whether you are inside or able to explore outside.

I’d love to know what you thought – comment below.

Stay safe, Stay creative,

Anthony

Lessons from Master Photographer: Ernst Haas

Photographer Ernst Haas taught me that anything could be a subject, and that it is only our curiosity and awareness that limits us in photography.

Haas was an incredible photographer and his work taught me the most profound and exciting lessons.

This is one of our favourite articles on our site – and I think pretty timeless. Check it out:

13 Things Ernst Haas Taught me about Photography

And let me know what you thought!

Anthony & Diana

6 lessons Henri Cartier-Bresson can teach you about photography

“To take a photograph is to align the head, the eye and the heart. It’s a way of life. ” Henri Cartier-Bresson

I hope you are all doing well and you are doing some great things with your day.

Today I am continuing my occasional series about photographers that I love.

I’ve done Ernst Haas (my all time favourite photographer and king, in my view, of communicating feeling with colour), Elliot Erwitt (master of seeing poignant and amusing moments of life) as well as:

I love looking in detail at another photographer’s work, because to immerse yourself in the space of someone else’s creativity and seeing what their ideas spark in you, what excites you, what makes you sit up and think – wow, that’s really cool – that’s all great fuel for your own photography.

My subject today is Henri Cartier -Bresson. Born in 1908 he was initially drawn to painting before discovering photography at the age of 24 (and the Leica camera!). After a spectacular career he started to move away from photography at the age of 60 and spent the rest of his long life focused more on drawing and painting.

Although I can’t ever imagine giving up on photography I really admire it when people take big leaps in their creativity like this. I mean he was a world famous photographer, he could have coasted on that for the next thirty years, but instead he was drawn back to his first love.

I aim to be that fearless with my decisions in life. To just go for what moves me, and not what makes most practical sense.

What I love about Cartier-Bresson’s photography is his steadied and almost scientific approach to composition – he had a great feel for shape and form and putting that together into compelling compositions.

In this article I am using my own photos that I think draw from is style and influence.

He is very much known for his street photography which, as a genre, I often find comes across in a cold, slightly sterile feeling. But I think Cartier-Bresson’s photographs, and his street photography, have a real warmth combined with a concern for humanity.

So here are some things Henri Cartier-Bresson can teach you about photography.

Patience

You know what all good photographers have? Patience. You know what almost every person who comes on my workshops needs more of? Patience.

You have to accept that if you want to be a great photographer (or even almost-great. Or anywhere above average) you need the ability to not rush the moment.

You need to enter into the moment that you are in, be totally present and to let it just run as it sees fit. To observe the world around you with no expectation, to drift through the place you are in, and to completely resist the temptation to keep moving on.

“One minute of patience, ten years of peace.” Greek proverb

If there is one thing I would like you to take away from this post that will make your photography instantly better, it is to take twice the amount of time looking than you usually do.

To fight your mind and your body in the urge to keep moving on.

When you find a scene that interests you, stay put.

Explore it, probe it, wait for things to happen. And in general, walk twice as slowly, stay out taking photos for twice as long.

But as Joyce Meyer says – “Patience is not just about waiting for something… it’s about how you wait, or your attitude while waiting.”

Be patient in your patience 🙂

2) Find the perfect expression of your subject

Cartier-Bresson is most famous for coming up with the term the decisive moment. The term actually came from the English title of his book. The book opens with the quote from Cardinal de Retz, who wrote in the 17th century:

“There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment and the masterpiece of good ruling is to know and seize this moment.”

There are all kinds of interpretations of the decisive moment, I like this one from a great article about The Decisive Moment and the Brain:

“The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself.”

When they talk about the decisive moment it could come across as being that you wait for that perfect moment, then you take a photo, then you move on.

But actually Cartier-Bresson worked the scene like most of the rest of us, taking lots of photos. And from this he would pick a photo that most accurately captured the essence of the situation – that gave the viewer the most information and feeling about the subject.

3) Use your intuition

“Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.” Cartier-Bresson

This to me again speaks of shutting off your chatty, worky, to-do mind and trying to just enter into the moment. There is a lot that we intuit that we probably don’t acknowledge, so occupied are we at listening to our endless thoughts.

I feel like it’s like you need to get out of your mind and into your body – and see what it is noticing about where you are at, ignoring that busy mind of yours.

“Photography is not documentary, but intuition, a poetic experience. It’s drowning yourself, dissolving yourself, and then sniff, sniff, sniff – being sensitive to coincidence. You can’t go looking for it; you can’t want it, or you won’t get it. First you must lose yourself. Then it happens.” Cartier-Bresson

I like that, you must lose yourself. It’s exactly what I feel when I am in the ‘zone’ or the ‘creative flow state’. I am losing track of space and time, and just completely immersed in my subject. It doesn’t happen every time I shoot, but I know that when it happens I am getting something very special.

4) The beauty of shape and form

Cartier-Bresson was very into lines, shapes, organising and balancing the geometry of the world.

“In order to “give a meaning” to the world, one has to feel oneself involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, a discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry– it is by great economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression. One must always take photographs with the greatest respect for the subject and for oneself.” Cartier-Bresson

5) Take the time to reveal your subject

“The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt.” Cartier-Bresson

This for me perfectly captures what you need to be doing when taking someone’s photo. And this isn’t easy! Taking a portrait for me is about your subject revealing something about themselves or their experience.

It could be through their movement, the expression within their eyes or face – but it has to tell you something about the person or the situation they are in.

Almost everyone (with the exception of young children) have a veneer that they present to the world, and this veneer will harden when you put a camera up in front of them.

People are programmed to want to project a certain image – but that image is boring to photograph most of the time.

So what this comes down to again is time. Spending time with your subject or watching your subject so that they start to relax and reveal something about themselves.

You want them to go from feeling consciously looked at, to feeling unconsciously looked at. Because that veneer is hard to maintain, and people will forget about a camera after a while.

So, in order to get to that point where people are losing their guard and starting to reveal something interesting about themselves you need to push through the discomfort you are likely to experience whilst waiting.

It’s weirdly self conscious pointing a camera at someone you aren’t acquainted with for long periods of time. So again, be patient with yourself and move through the discomfort.

It could be that you are just clicking away, having the subject get used to you. Gradually they will.

Or talk to them – or watch them if you are shooting them unawares. Wait for those fluttering changes in their face, their eyes. See what they do with their hands, where their eyes turn when their preoccupations come back to occupy their minds.

But then sometimes it’s more interesting to see not what I think of people, or my view – but what they think of themselves and of the world.

6) Don’t be nostalgic about your photos

“Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.” Cartier-Bresson

I think a lot of us photographers worry that we aren’t ever going to take a truly original photo. When I visit to new cities I certainly worry about that. I mean there are photographers everywhere! (This writer worked out that “Every two minutes, humans take more photos than ever existed in total 150 years ago.”)

I think there is a little bit of nostalgia in wanting to take photos. Life is such a flowing, never stopping act, that to take a photo and halt that process of always changing, always moving on, is to gain a small window of time to stop and reflect. To have an opportunity to stop and breathe.

Photography is a weird dichotomy of being completely present and living in a very rich connected way, and this constant reflecting back on the past. On past moments that you have captured.

But Cartier-Bresson was someone who constantly pushed forward and gave very little thought to his earlier photos.

“The creative act lasts but a brief moment, a lightning instant of give-and-take, just long enough for you to level the camera and to trap the fleeting prey in your little box.”

I hope you are inspired to explore his work more. A good place to start is the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation, set up with his wife Martine Franck (a great photographer in her own right), and his daughter. And as he was one of the co-founders of Magnum.

And, as always, we love hearing what you think, so if you’ve got some thoughts on Cartier-Bresson please comment below. And please share with anyone who you think would enjoy this post, it means a lot, thanks!

Happy photographing!

Anthony and Diana

4 things I’ve learnt about photography in 2020 (so far)

Hey friends

What a strange year this has been, right? Yet curiously this has been a year in which I have probably taken the greatest leaps in my photography for some time.

I’ve been pushed into being more creative, more expressive and more imaginative with less resources that I have for a long time. It’s been really exciting.

It’s also been a time when Di and I had to stop business-as-usual (along with the rest of the world of course) and think – how do we want to move forward now, given all that is going on?

And ask ourselves – can we carry on living this creative life? Sharing our passions and knowledge for photography? Will this new normal allow that?

And because we love to push ourselves – can we create things that are even better than what we’ve been doing before?

So it’s amazing to think, 6 months into the pandemic, we have transformed and done so much to create a new way of life, and new work along the way.

Because when you are doing something new, or have been pushed into a new way of life, you can either freeze and panic, or you can use it as an opportunity to try new things. To innovate.

Of course we’ve had our share of freezing and panicking, but over all we have been focusing on this idea from Albert Einstein as a way to keep ourselves inspired:

“In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.”

I would love to share 4 more ideas that have made an impact and helped me develop my photography this year.

Being a beginner is an awesome opportunity

During the lockdown I got super into watching youtube videos of people painting with a tablet. It really inspired me!

So I ordered a tablet and have been, in my odd moments of time, usually late at night when my kids are in bed, playing around with it.

And I am pretty terrible at it so far!

But you know what is so cool about being a beginner – you know that you’re not supposed to be good so you can just play around and have fun. Experiment.

Being a beginner means you aren’t constrained by any previous ideas, you can relax and just go with the learning process.

People can be at their most creative when they ‘don’t know’ the proper way to do things. And that is something to celebrate!

When you are bogged down in knowing a lot, it can actually constrain and confine you. It can make you think of the rules too much and what is and what isn’t possible.

So this is to say – if you are new to photography, if you are feeling intimidated by how much there is to learn – try to throw out that feeling of overwhelm and instead celebrate the experience of not knowing.

Knowledge and skills will come. But the magic of a beginner’s mind happens only once, and you’ll never know what you can make until you get started!

And if you aren’t new to photography, take a leaf out of the Zen Buddhists’ book, and try to cultivate this concept of a beginner’s mind as a way to approach your shooting:

“Shoshin (初心) is a word from Zen Buddhism meaning “beginner’s mind.” It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner would.”

I’ve also been starting out the learning process with my new HD filters, and I’ll tell you this – I’ve already created some downright boring shots!

But you know what I also know as a professional? That you often have to go through a lot of boring or rubbish shots when you are trying something new, trying out new ideas and concepts, or new kit.

It’s rare to get good at something straight away, and get something beautiful and incredible.

So I am in no way disheartened. In fact I know it’s just part of the process.

I’ll soon be ready with some of my HD filter shots, and show you the journey I’ve gone from terribly boring to completely beautiful.

(And this is a cool 3 min video from the mindfulness teaching of Jon Kabat-Zinn about how you can bring Beginner’s Mind to all of your experiences. I think it’s a cool idea to bring to your photography.)

Constraints can be magic for your creativity and imagination

It’s important to me as a photographer to be taking photos on a regular basis.

To remember that it’s important to me, even if it’s not directly related to work or a commission or a project.

And so when we were in lockdown, I decided to look around my apartment and find something I could do inside that would be a great project.

This was a huge challenge for me because I am not a still life photographer, I very, very rarely shoot inside.

My love is for natural light and for exploring and wandering around outside – and I am just as happy in a cool city as in nature. The point for me is exploration and looking for interesting light.

So setting myself a project inside was pretty strange, but ended up unbelievably cool.

So cool in fact that the work I made is the best I have done in probably the last year or two – so much so it’s going to be my next gallery show!

I won’t share it with you right now, but the cool thing is when you have endless choices it can often feel like – what the heck do I shoot?

But when you have very few choices it can get your imagination into working overtime to create something.

And I have often felt like my imagination works best when confined by time or place or location. It makes me work that bit harder to make something beautiful.

So what can you create right now with your photography? Regardless of the situation you are in – on a long commute, confined at home, over busy with kids – how could you use the limitations you are under to make something?

Everything ordinary is extraordinary

You’ve probably, like most of us, already experienced deeply challenging things in life. Like who alive hasn’t had their life upended by grief, loss or pain?

But there is something pretty unique about this pandemic situation – it’s an issue that we all share, a challenge that we all face.

Of course, there are people who are suffering way, way, way more than others. Financially, physically and emotionally. It has created a lot of havoc.

It has also for many of us made us remember (or realise) what is important.

We really only have one thing in this world, and that is the moment right here. Not yesterday – that is like ancient history now – or even tomorrow because that is not a given.

We have now. And so what do we do with it?

What I have realised is that I don’t want to spend endless time worrying unnecessarily. Or not fully and totally appreciate every single thing that I have.

I have remembered that I don’t want to put off the opportunities to go out shooting because I am feeling lazy or distracted.

I want to fully and totally appreciate the moonlight on the sea, rather than getting getting sucked into stupid discussions on Facebook.

I want to spend time talking with my kids until they run out of energy, not just thinking about the million emails I need to answer – because who knows when they’ll want to talk to me again? Well, my teen at least. Our 8 year old still thinks I am pretty interesting. Lol!

How long will that last?

So how does this relate to photography?

It is to remember that we can use this medium, this craft to create something extraordinary from our lives at any moment.

Focusing parts of our life on creating and not just consuming or doing – brings so many benefits.

I can’t be reminded enough to look at the big picture and make sure I’m doing things that make me deeply satisfied.

It is to say that I encourage you to always be taking photos, to try and make a photo project, to weave your passions more and more into your daily life.

To live these moments of our life with as much reverence and gratitude as possible.

To always always always have our fingers in the creative pie, as it were.

To not put off shooting because we have too many other things to do.

Because emails never end. Websites are never perfect. Accountants always need replies.

Photography is a journey

And it’s OK to go in and out of it, to have ups and downs

And this sounds almost like the opposite of the idea above, but in fact it’s not. It’s accepting the flow of life and therefore the flow of photography.

Even though I try to be regularly doing my own photos, my own projects, I often fall out of the habit of shooting for myself.

And that’s totally cool. We are not machines, we can attempt consistency, we can strive for it, but we can also not get het up with ourselves when we stop being creative.

I have periods when I don’t shoot, don’t feel creative, have no new ideas, get distracted, have important life things to do etc.

But I know that when I allow myself complete freedom with my photography, and don’t have expectations of what I should be doing, that’s when I come back to photography full of ideas and energy.

So remembering that you love taking photos, but not giving yourself a hard time when it falls out of your life. Just get back to it when you can.

That is awesome and super powerful.

I mean we have expectations about so many areas of our life, so many shoulds, so don’t let this mysterious, amazing and wonderful area of photography be tainted by such negative concepts.

I would love to know if any of these ideas resonate with you. If you experienced any of these things this year with your photography?

And what have you learnt in 2020? What has made your photography better this year?

I’d love to know, let me know in the comments below.

Stay tuned, stay safe and stay creative!
Anthony and Diana

How I scout, plan and capture my very best shots

Hey folks,

How are you today? I hope things are good and you are doing some interesting things with your photography at the moment.

As usual I am always thinking of ways to teach and inspire you, and I am really excited about today’s article because it is jam-packed with some really useful ideas + teaching.

I decided I would love to take you ‘behind the scenes’ on a shoot I’ve been planning for some time, using a new piece of kit that I am super thrilled about (ND filters!).

I want to give you all of the tools and techniques I will be using to capture an incredible shot that although it is a little vague and foggy in my mind, feels like it will be one of my best shots of the year.

I want to share my whole process so you can get ideas of your own and start shooting with more intention and with more ideas about planning.

I want to take you through my process:

The idea
Kit and tools
Scouting & Planning the shot
Test Shot
Final shot

Because this is a lot of info, and I have good resources to share, I am going to split this into a couple of newsletters.

So let’s get started!

The idea

Where do ideas come from? Who knows! It feels sometimes like a really weird and mystical experience. And sometimes it feels very clear and logical.

But what I know is that it starts with curiosity. Something that I seek peaks my curiosity and my imagination starts to create images and ideas in my mind.

Here’s how I got the idea for this upcoming shot.

A few weeks ago some friends and I were taking a boat trip along the coast, heading towards a very beautiful waterfall where we wanted to stop and snorkel.

The snorkelling was wicked by the way, I got to play with an octopus! My free diving training came in handy as to access the very best snorkeling spot we had to swim underwater, under a 12 foot overhang. So awesome…!

So here I am having a great time, and I spotted this as we were speeding along:

It’s called Torre de la Miel as I found out later…

Now, it may not seem like much but I’ll tell you what attracted me. Can you see the old ruin on the hill? This coast is dotted with old watchtowers and ruins like this, and the shape of this one looked very cool.

But what I also really liked the look of were the big rocks just off shore. That looked super interesting, the shapes of them as they jutted out of the bluey-green water – and I wondered what it would be like to capture both the rocks and the ruin. My imagination was lit up!

I snapped the shot on my phone to capture the GPS data coordinates from it, and decided that was my next spot for a shot.

I later used the GPS info to locate the tower and find access roads on Google maps.

Kit and Tools

When I saw this location I started to think about creating a beautiful long exposure. For a while now I have wanted to buy some heavy ND filters for my camera. Like 16 stops of ND. It felt like the perfect excuse to buy the ND filters I’ve been dreaming about, and then use it straight away to capture something breathtaking (no pressure right?!)

Now you may be asking – what are the filters for and how will they help me?

These filters will allow me to go out in full sunlight and get up to minus 16 stops of exposure.

So in full sunlight I can have an exposure of around 5 minutes. Nuts!

When they arrived, I shot a quick video to share with you some more info about why they are such a cool piece of kit and what you can do with them.

Scouting & Planning the shot

Now my next step is to scout the area so I can think about what kind of shot I want and how I want to shoot it.

For planning I used the very wicked PhotoPills app.

Photopills are my key planning tools when I want to capture specific light, where the moon or sun will be, for a specific location. It is really effective if you can scout the location beforehand and use the app to capture interesting dates to come back and shoot.

For instance, here are the positions of the Sun and Moon at very specific places at the best times for amazing light. See the images below.

I had the huge pleasure of interviewing Rafael Pons of PhotoPills about how to use their App and let it help you capture the perfect shot:

This is a super informative 20 minutes, and I really recommend you watch it if you want to get the best out of PhotoPills, or learn more about planning your shots in different light conditions.

Because I am a super experienced photographer, and because I know this area pretty well, the location I picked turns out to be magnificent. The perfect location!

When you are scouting for yourself it might take more time, you might have ideas about places that don’t turn out to be as wicked as you’d hoped, or you can’t get to it in the right light.

This still happens to me sometimes, so don’t fear! I always think of scouting and exploring as a really pleasurable, fun and essential part of getting great shots.

Regardless of if you end up with the perfect location or not – you are doing something you really love! Looking for wonderful moments in the world around us.

So be patient my friend, be patient!

After my scouting I have a good idea about when and where I want to shoot, and I am ready to start shooting some test shots.

I wonder what they will be like? Will all of this effort be worth it?

Stay tuned! My next shoot, and the final shoot are still to come…!

If you have any questions or comments about this, my process, I’d love to answer them in the comments below.

Cool?

I hope you enjoyed this, and I’ll see you soon with the next stage….!

Anthony

7 Things Van Gogh Can Teach Us About Photography

Hey friends,

Hope today is excellent for you!

Every few months we write an article for Digital Photography School and this months is a cracker!

The article is inspired by the creative genius that was Van Gogh.

7 Things Van Gogh Can Teach Us About Photography

He really inspires me, not just with the art that he made, but how he talked about creativity and how we can all tap into that inner realm of mystery and magic to make things that are unique to us, our soul, our vision, our selves.

“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.” Vincent Van Gogh

And this is what we are all trying, right? To capture the beauty and poetry that we see all around us.

What’s being a member of Light Monkeys really like?

I recently created a membership site for people who want to learn my artist-led approach to photography.

It’s been a freakin awesome experience!

We have so much fun learning together, sharing photos, giving and getting feedback, doing live classes – all backed up with my library of recorded courses and classes which are…well why should tell you, when my members can do the talking….

Later this week I’m going to be sharing a very awesome way to sample the membership and try the lessons, join my live sessions & experience community.

If you’d like to get an inside peek drop a comment below or email me info@anthonyepes.com

Live Photography Class

My new free Photo Facebook group: The Art of the Image

Monthly Class + Challenge + Critiquing

Our new Facebook group will be focused around three things:

MONTHLY CLASS

A deep, deep dive into one photo subject that I am really passionate about and want to share.

MONTHLY PHOTO CHALLENGE

I will then set a challenge for you to do based on this class. And the classes will all stack up together, so we’ll be covering a range of skills over the coming months.

MONTHLY CRITIQUING SESSION

At the end of the challenge I am going to pick my favourite images for an in-depth critique. This is all about learning to dissect your images, reflect and work out how to make them better.

Even if your photos aren’t picked this will be such a good experience because learning why a photo works or doesn’t work is JUST as important as learning how to take a photo.

These masterclasses will be so rich with knowledge that I will be taking them down after a few weeks to sell them as stand-alone courses. That’s how good they will be!

But when you join the group you’ll get access to them every month for FREE 🥳

(For this year at least, if you are in my Membership Program I will be dropping them into your library of courses.)

So if you want to do these monthly Free Classes + Challenges + Critiquing sessions with me, then sign up to my new Facebook group today!

Join here: The Art of the Image Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/916575435437723/

Upcoming Masterclasses:
July 3: Master Techniques for Processing
Aug 7: How I Create My Images
Sep 4: Using the Power of your Imagination

Thanks again for being part of this community. We would love to bring even more awesome photo teaching to the world so we hope you join us in this next chapter!

The Winners of our Photo Challenge + Our next Masterclass

Hey folks,

How are you? I hope life is good, and you and yours are safe and well.

Last week I had the pleasure of doing a live critique of the submissions from our latest photo challenge.

We themed the challenge around my Masterclass on How to Tell Stories with your Images.

(And if you didn’t catch the Masterclass you still have two more days for free access. Either by joining the Facebook group or if you’re not on Facebook, watch it here.)

I challenged everyone to either shoot something new or find something in their archives (I know it’s tough to shoot for many of us still) in this theme.

I love hosting critiquing sessions, because analysing photos – your own or other peoples – is a really good way to develop your eye.

Learning to break down what works and doesn’t work is an excellent way of learning to ‘create’ shots and be aware of everything in the frame.

There were some great entries to the challenge – and I couldn’t pick one favourite – so I picked two! And here they are – in no particular order:

Winner no.1
Liliane Clement

Winner no. 2
Sarah Poirier

What do you think? Do you agree these tell a story?

Let me know in the comments below.

The winners received a copy of one of my photo books.

There is still time to catch my critique if you submitted our images or you’d like to see how I analyse photos, visit the group for the video.

My next Masterclass

And the next Masterclass + Photo Challenge starts this Friday.

All hosted in my group, join here: The Art of the Image Photo Group

I hope to connect with you in the group, and please feel free to share with any photo-loving friends. We love sharing these lessons and teachings!

Have an awesome day everyone,
Anthony and Diana

The problem almost all photographers have!

Hey friends,

How are you?

Have you photographed an awesome subject – then felt disappointed that your images don’t capture the brilliance of what you saw?

Your subject gets lost in the background, the subject doesn’t pop, the image falls flat in someway.

Frustrating right?!

Well you might be getting trapped in the problem of Subject Fixation.

It’s a problem I see almost all photographers get fall into without realising when they are learning.

In this 5 minute video I explain how we often so captivated by our subjects, we forget to consider the whole frame.

And I share how to avoid doing this in the future!

Would love to know what you think – do you do this?

Let me know in the comments below.

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