Good Reads

Jul

2011

Your Creative Mix: the ebook

Well, I don’t know quite what to say. If there ever was a book, an article, a piece of writing that spoke true to the merits and pitfalls of being creative in one’s chosen field, this is it. Corwin Hiebert, business manager and entrepreneur, has written the “get to work” ebook for photographers (and arguably for other creatives as well.)

I won’t go into a lengthy review of the book-that would just serve to undermine a fantastic piece of work by Corwin-but rather I’ll say that I am enjoying reading this book. I believe it to be highly useful and helpful in encouraging and guiding anyone in the creative fields to create. I’m chewing on Corwin’s words a lot, and I’ll continue to do so.

If you are creative, want to create your good work, and even want to make a little money while doing it, spend you $4 for this ebook. In the interest of full disclosure if you buy this or any of the other Craft & Vision ebooks I’ll get a few shekels commission, but that is honestly not why I’m recommending it. I’m recommending it because he explores the nature of creativity with attention to the internal “inside the artist” perspective, to the external “outside of the artist” perspective, and supports community and collaboration. He also rants about “going pro” and what that really means as well as how an industry of like-minded people, no matter how well-meaning they may be, can squash creative thinking.

Buy the book. It’s a gem. There aren’t many who manage photographers and are willing to share their insights and thoughts about how they help their clients become and remain successful. Corwin Hiebert is one. And he doesn’t hold back.

Special Offer on PDFs
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code MIX4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of Your Creative Mix for only $4 OR use the code MIX20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST July 23rd, 2011.

Jun

2011

New Craft & Vision eBook: A Deeper Frame

The fine folks at Craft & Vision, and especially David duChemin, have done it again with the release of today’s ebook “A Deeper Frame.” The books author, humanitarian photographer, and photography teacher tackles how to make images with a greater sense of depth.

What I like about duChemin is that he appears to be a man of depth and substance and these qualities show through in this book. Not content to write strictly technical manuals, duChemin attacks depth through the use of perspective, optics, focus, colour, contrast, light, emotions, and my favorite, “cubing.”

I tend to make it a point to read most of what duChemin writes and he did not disappoint. I am happy I read A Deeper Frame. He really gave me a number of things to think about and pay attention to as I move forward on my photographic journey. Of particular interest is how thinking of the frame as a cube rather than a rectangle will affect my future images. Clear and concise in delivery I think A Deeper Frame may just be one of the books that will push the limits of your photography and encourage you into a new realm of visual creativity, moving you from two-dimensional conversations to deeper, three-dimensional ones.

Twelve! Deeper Discounts than Usual
For the next five days only you can have A DEEPER FRAME for $4 (discount code DEEP4). Or you can buy 5 eBooks for the price of 4 (discount code DEEP20). Also, because this is David duChemin’s 12th eBook he is offering 12 eBooks for $40. That’s about 34% off the already ridiculous price. That’s $3.33/eBook! Use discount code DEEPER12 when you Visit Craft&Vision, fill your shopping cart and check out. These codes expires at 11:59pm PST July 2, 2011.

Jun

2011

New Craft & Vision eBook: (Micro)Stock: From Passion to Paycheck

Regular readers of this blog, especially people that know me personally, are aware of how much I like eBooks. I’m a person that, while I love “traditional” forms of publishing for their handiness and physical beauty, just loves the paradigm change that the internet and digital media has brought to bear. The rapid and low-cost possibilities in publishing, as well as the democratization of the publishing process (and its return of control back to the artist/writer/musician) just excites me to no end.

The same can be said for how photography has changed in recent years; now photography in general is more widely available through sites like Flickr, FaceBook, Twitter, Tumblr, and individual artist websites such as this one. In addition, what used to be a fairly exclusive club of professional stock photography and photographers has had its doors thrown open, making stock photography sales more available to a wider range of photographers.

I’ve dabbled a bit in stock photography and have managed to get a few images listed and sold through Getty Images, a worldwide leader in stock images. It has been great fun getting notices by email that an image of mine has sold, especially when I see the dollar signs attached. I start dreaming of new lenses, creating photobooks, buying stuff online or, more realistically, buying that next package of diapers…(You can view my modest collection of stock images listed on Getty here.)

But I, like others, have wondered if there is a living in this thing called “stock photography.” If I can make some money on one-off pictures I throw into the mix, could I increase my income significantly (read: high reward for low effort) by throwing more pictures into the mix. Well, to answer that question along comes a timely little eBook from my favorite photography eBook store: Craft & Vision.

(Micro)Stock: From Passion to Paycheck by Nicole S. Young is both a description and guide to succeeding in the stock photography industry. The book is filled with helpful pointers about the stock photography field in the digital age and also includes several case studies for additional reference. I enjoyed reading this book and I suspect if you are interested in stock photography or, like me, have dipped your toes into the business, you will like it too. It is not heavy on “how-to” and direction, but it does contain good examples of sell-able stock images as well as suggestions on what stock companies are looking for. There is a nice section on how not to be rejected as well. Ms. Young also maintains a realistic perspective throughout the book describing the work as rewarding but challenging and far from a get-rich-quick opportunity. Rather, she encourages photographers to enter to the stock photography business in an effort to improve their photographic skills and grow as an artist. The money you might make on the side just might be a nice little bonus. I know it is for me.

Special Offer on PDFs
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code MICRO4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of (micro)STOCK for only $4 OR use the code MICRO20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST June 11, 2011.

May

2011

Inspiration Monday: Author Steven Pressfield

This is an umpteenth post in my series of people, places, things that inspires me to continue on this lively, rewarding, and often frustrating journey of creativity. Today I stear away from my usual photographic inclinations into one of my side inclinations: writing. Steven Pressfield is an author (most noted for The Legend of Bagger Vance among others) who has written two little books recently that I consider “must reads” for anyone living the creative life, wanting to live the creative life, or trying to live life creatively.

While he most often writes about war and warriors, Pressfield feels to me like a deeply spiritual, deeply connected individual who uses the warrior’s ethos in much the same way spiritual teachers such as Dan Millman (author of “The Peaceful Warrior“) do. He sees war as a metaphor for the internal struggles our individual psyches face and as such wrote The War of Art and, more recently, Do the Work as manifestos, directives, orders to we creatives to wrestle Resistance (his term for that force within each of us that thwarts creativity and its expression) to the ground, pin it there, and keep it subdued while we do the work of creating.

Let me tell you, for me reading 5 pages of either of Pressfield’s two manifestos and I am ready to tackle the largest possible projects that come to mind. Staying true to his ethos he defines Resistance, analyzes its methods and capabilities, and plans and executes a strategy for overcoming it. Written in a clear, direct, pull-no-punches style The War of Art and Do the Work offer an enormous service to those of us with fantastic ideas and a knack for being thwarted in our execution of them.

While The War of Art details Resistance and a method deal with it, Do the Work takes things one step farther and lays out the gameplan for how to begin and complete a project while simultaneously managing the wriggling demon of Resistance. I highly recommend reading and re-reading these two books to anyone who has more vision that voice, more getup than go, whose ability to begin new projects is more refined than their ability to complete them.

It is fortuitous that I was reading Do The Work this past week as one of the major manifestations of Resistance unleashed itself within me. Thankfully I had Pressfield’s book in hand to help identify it for what it was and guide me through the mental-emotional morass I found myself in. I will be writing an account of it in my next blog post; I am still working my way through the morass and have yet to find the right words to depict what I’ve been struggling with, but they are coming. So please bear with me as I put words to this confusing experience. It has been challenging, but so educational and timely!

Apr

2011

eBooks to Change Your Life

That is a bold statement above, I know it is. But really, if you are as passionate about the visual language of photography (as I am) and you really came into your photographic mojo with the advent of digital Single Lens Reflex (dSLR) cameras (meaning in the last 5-7 years, like I did) and therefore tend to shoot in color and allow the camera to pre-visualize the scene for you through the instant gratification (LCD) screen on the back with full hyper-saturated glory, it just might. Black and White photography is a dark and dreamy world for many photographers, a land of light and shadows where some things are revealed and some concealed, an extra step removed from reality creating an air of mystery and fascination, and while many of us just love black and white images we lack the ability to really understand how to make a compelling image this way.

Thankfully those that inhabit this world photographically are not so dark and mysterious as the medium and some have chosen to share their knowledge through several ebooks on the Craft and Vision website. At just $5 a pop they are probably the least expensive investment into your photographic journey and given the impact they can achieve on your photography I think they can change your (photographic) life quite dramatically for very little.

First off is Andrew Gibson’s “The Magic of Black and White” series (Parts I, II, and III) published through Craft and Vision where he guides the reader through the different thought processes required in making black and white images. I found that thinking about an image in terms of tones of grey, in terms of contrast, to be so beneficial that it has improved my photography overall, including my color photography.

The one drawback of Gibson’s books for me, if there really is one, is that he prefers to work in Photoshop and therefore his conversion techniques require extra work for Lightroom users such as me. Well, no longer. Craft and Vision this week announced the release of their first mega-ebook.

Weighing in at a hefty 100 pages “The Power of Black and White In Adobe Lightroom & Beyond: A Masterclass” by Piet Van den Eynde is everything the Lightroom enthusiast of black and white photography has been waiting for. This is by far the largest ebook produced by the good folks at Craft and Vision and for only $5 (or $4 if you use discount code BWLIGHT4 before April 16 2010) it is an outrageous deal. Imagine, at 100 2-page spreads this would easily be a 200 page print book! And the workflow described in detail by Van den Eynde is easily reproduced in Adobe Camera Raw.

While I have glanced through The Power of Black and White in Adobe Lightroom & Beyond: A Masterclass I cannot wait to really spend some time with this book. This is the kind of book that deserves some concentrated attention, study, and continued referencing to really mine the content. And in doing so, this might really alter your photography positively and, as a result, change your life.

But wait! There’s more! Because Piet spends a little time talking about the power of plug-ins like NiK Software’s Silver Efex pro, NiK has ponied up 3 full versions of Silver Efex Pro, which anyone that buys this masterclass is eligible to win if you buy the book within the first 5 days, which also happens to be the time frame during which you can get the book for $4, or buy 5 ebooks for the price of 4.

Special PDF Offer
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code BWLIGHT4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of The Power of Black & White in Adobe Lightroom & Beyond (A MASTERCLASS) for only $4 OR use the code BWLIGHT20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST April 16, 2011.

Dec

2010

New Craft & Vision eBook: Light and Land

Online photography eBook giant Craft & Vision released a new ebook today that I am very excited to read. Michael Frye’s Light and Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom is both a beautiful and technical read. The images he uses to illustrate his points are simply stunning images taken in and around Yosemite National Park.

What I like about this particular ebook is the explanation of the digital darkroom techniques that go into making the final image: the second part of the craft of photography that helps to fulfill the vision of the photographer. In addition, Frye’s images spur me to adventure by helping me to develop the skills to realize my dream of unique, creative, beautiful images of the natural world.

Special Offer on PDFs
For the first four days only, if you use the promotional code LAND4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of Light & Land for only $4 OR use the code LAND20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST December 19, 2010.