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(c) 2010 Brian E. Miller Photography

This is my fifth in a series of blog posts about creative people or creative works that inspire me to follow my passion in photography and living a creative life.  As I find myself more committed to writing, photographing, and living a creative existence I thought I might introduce a photographer who inspired me before I even began photographing in earnest: Dewitt Jones.

Dewitt Jones is a photographer who has made a living making pictures and has spent a lot of time on assignment for National Geographic Magazine.  Because National Geographic does not seem to hire hack photographers I imagine Dewitt is quite accomplished photographically.  But, oddly enough, it is not his images that have inspired me: It’s his approach.

You see, I was first made aware of Dewitt during a graduate course in counseling psychology when we watched a DVD video of Dewitt doing his “other” job: motivational speaking.  He has taken what he’s learned from photography, what it takes to make good images, and has distilled it to several key points in an effort to help people maintain the motivation to carry out their goals.  I liked it so much I took good notes, begged my wife to buy the video for me for my birthday, and have written the steps into the notebook I carry in my camera bag.

Dewitt expounds on these points and uses them and his photographic imagery to encourage his viewers in their lives and business, but I particularly like how these points apply to the pursuit of photography.

The points are following, but I will not do them justice here in written form.  I suggest you visit Dewitt’s web page and view clips from two of his popular motivational DVD’s “Extraordinary Visions” and “Clear Visions.”

1. Focus Your Vision: celebrate what is right with the world.
2. Train Your Technique.
3. Put Yourself In The Place Of Most Potential.
4. Truly Be Open To The Possibilities: What will I be given today and will I be open to receive it?
5. Continuously Find The Next Right Answer.

As a person in continuous search for images, photographs, stories, emotions, memories, and keepsakes, I am also in continuous search of better abilities with which to communicate.  Dewitt Jones does not provide me with the technical “how” of photography, but instead provides a road-map that will help guide my quest.  Dewitt has walked and experienced this process many more numerous times than I, and I can learn and be inspired by his suggestions.  And while we can, and often do, focus on perfecting our technique, it might perhaps be more advantageous to focus instead, as Dewitt suggests, on our frame of mind in the creation of our art.

Note: The image above is the old adobe church in Golden, New Mexico, on the Turquoise Trail.  I took it in the wee hours of the morning a couple of months ago.  I just love going out to shoot in the dark and waiting for the beginnings of light.  It feels a little scary to me at times to be out in the dark but it is also exhilarating to feel like I am one of the few awake at 4 in the morning.  I also find it quite exiting to wonder about the images I will return home with as the sun climbs higher in the sky and becomes less conducive to photography, particularly here in the desert.  I have more ideas for this church so stay tuned as I search for the next right answer and celebrate what is right with the world.

David duChemin has release yet another ebook through his online store, Craft and Vision, dedicated to improving the craft and vision of photographers. This ebook, the second in the Print & Process series, stems from his Safari trip in Kenya last year and is aptly named “Safari: A Monograph.”

While I have loved everything I have read of David’s in the past year, I have been skeptical of this series. I was not certain it would impart anything more in my quest to learn photography. In fact, I did not read the first in the series “Venice: A Monograph” released about a month ago. So it was with hesitation that I sat down to read Safari. Boy, I am glad I did.

True to form, David stays close to his mission and spends the time to reveal his thought processes and the reasons behind the premise of the Print and Process series. He begins the book by explaining the premise and how he came to be traveling in Kenya and very quickly moves into presenting the final images from the journey. The images are each presented alone, without commentary. The idea here is to let the images tell their own story; to allow the viewer to create a relationship with each image unaffected by the input of the photographer.

Then David writes some thoughts about what it is like, and what it takes, to photograph a country, a people, an experience so far removed from his own experience living in Vancouver, Canada. He also walks the reader through an approach to overcoming preconceptions about a setting such as Kenya; the Serengeti; Africa, and to draw out, or allow to bubble forth, the images that want to be made. He’s a spiritual guy, David is. And I just love it! This is art-making! At least to me it is.

Following is a short description of what it took to make each shot; from technical details such as ISO settings and shutter speeds, to the admittance of just being lucky at times, David walks the reader through what it was like and what it took to make these images.

And what images!! The images alone are worth the price of admission in my eyes. The writing and thoughts can be pure bonus.

So I highly recommend this ebook as well as the others David has written and makes available on his Craft and Vision website. They are a great way to improve your photography without spending huge sums of money on more gear.

Note: I very much relate to what David is saying in the ebook and am tempted to share that here. However, I would like to preserve David’s efforts and not dilute your experience of his images as they attempt to tell their stories. So check back here to this blog for a follow-up post about what I learned from David through this project.

BONUS: For the first four days only, if you use the promotional code SAFARI4 when you checkout, you can have SAFARI, A Monograph for only $4 OR use the code SAFARI20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more books from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST JULY 11, 2010.

(c) 2010 Brian E. Miller Photography

This is the fourth of my weekly posts where I introduce a photographer, piece of art, or person that inspires me to pursue my artistic vision.  This week, since it is my birthday and I don’t have a lot of time to compose in front of the computer, the Tour de France is on and currently racing through my old neighborhoods in Belgium (Tour de France in Belgium?? Yes, it does happen), and I get a bit cycling mad during this time, I thought I would introduce Graham Watson.

Graham is a world famous bicycle racing photographer.  Think about that for a while.  He photographs racing cyclists, in Europe mostly, from the back of a motorcycle, facing the wrong direction, in all kinds of weather, in all kinds of terrain, in all kinds of light.

For years I wondered over his images not because I was amazed at his photographic skill.  No, Graham is too good for that.  He is so good he makes me forget about the about the photography and wonder at the cyclists.  He has the ability to bring me into the action of cyclist grinding up steep hills in the woods of the Ardennes or sprinters hurtling themselves headlong toward the finish line on the Champs-Élysées.  He’s captured Lance Armstrong’s steely-eyed look in the high alpes and iconically picturesque views of the colorful race passing fields of blooming lavender in Provence.  And he does all this with only the gear he can strap to himself on the back of a motorbike with minimal time to set up a shot, in all kinds of weather.

If that wasn’t enough Graham posts processed images from each day’s race on his website the same day.  He has even, with the advent of the iPad’s 3G connectivity, posted an image mid-race which is a first, I think.

As I watch the Tour de France this month and marvel at the professional cyclists (some of whom are friends of mine) who spend each July pedaling speedily around France I will also be watching for Graham perched precariously on the back of a motorcycle or crouching on the inside of a hairpin curve in the mountains capturing all of the action.

So check out Graham’s website at www.grahamwatson.com.  It might not be your favorite type of photography but you might just find his abilities impressive.  Click on the “race updates” link and scroll down to July for the Tour de France, or click on any other links on that page for other races.  His galleries page is also worth checking out especially the one with photo-montage and description of what life as a cycling photographer is like.  You can find that here. (It was put together back in 2002 before digital really took off so he used film cameras then.  Can you image changing film on the back of a motorbike in the rain?)

(c) Brian E. Miller Photography 2010

This is the third in my weekly series entitled Inspiration Monday.  In these posts I attempt to spotlight a particular photographer, artist, work of art, or person that inspires me to pursue and create my chosen art form of photography.  This week’s pick is professional humanistic travel photographer Lisa Kristine.

I was first encouraged to explore Lisa’s gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico by my good friend Marc Gutierrez about a year ago.  I trust Marc’s eye for quality photography and made a note to visit the gallery the next weekend.  When I got there I realized it was the same gallery I had spotted the last time I was in Santa Fe.  It’s hard to miss.  Located on West San Francisco street, just west of the plaza, the gallery has enormous and colorful prints of people from distant colorful lands.  They are the kind of images that draw the eye of every passerby.

Once inside her gallery I realized Lisa makes full use of the exotic nature of such distant lands as India, Vietnam, Morocco, Burma, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Japan, and the Sahara Desert in her imagery.  The bold colors, the exotic cultures, and the use of natural light all blend to awaken and evoke a longing for travel, exploration, and adventure in the viewer.  The locations and general nature of her subjects touch on elements of the divine and are powerful at evoking a sense of peace, awe, and wonder within the witness.

At the back of the gallery is playing a video documentary of Lisa Kristine explaining her work, her travels, the challenges she endures, the successes she enjoys, and the people and cultures she comes to know.  In it she reports using strictly film and natural light to capture the world as she experiences it, maintaining that this approach best replicates the enchantment of the moment.

Lisa’s photography has inspired and motivated me to take more risks when photographing.  I imagine what it must be like to travel to these distant and often remote places and ask people from distinctly different cultures if she can photograph them.  And then, once establishing a relationship with the subject, managing to take such captivating photographs.  This thought has spurred me to approach more people about photographing them.  If Lisa can do this with her subjects I suppose I can attempt to take some images of people in my backyard, who share the same language, customs, and culture.  Lisa’s photography has also inspired me to seek that which touches me spiritually; she has encouraged me through her work to look for that which is enchanting, spiritual, divine in daily life.  I feel more compelled to photograph that which moves me.

The image above is of a local coffee roaster in Albuquerque and is an example of how Lisa’s work has motivated mine.  This coffee roaster often roasts his coffee by some large picture windows in the coffee shop where he works.  When I first saw him working several months ago I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee and watched in awe as the early morning light filtered through the window illuminating him beautifully.  I marveled how such simple light could draw out the contrast between his red beard, his smiling eyes, his pale skin, and the canvas coffee bags hanging on the wall behind him.  I sat there and let that image burn into my mind, and I didn’t approach him to ask if I could take his picture.  Several weeks later, with that undocumented moment still burning in my mind, I returned to the coffee shop for breakfast and found him there once again.  This time, remembering the motivation gleaned from viewing Lisa’s work, I approached him and asked about taking his picture.  He was hesitant at first but as we spoke more he agreed; he even came to get me when the coffee was ready to pour out of the roaster and the shot would be better.  I didn’t get the same light as the day I sat glued to my chair, but I did get a shot I really like.  And I emboldened my motivation by facing my fear, taking a risk, and asking for permission.  I also met a nice person and had a nice conversation.

So take a few minutes to explore Lisa Kristine’s work.  If you can visit one of her galleries, do so.  You will not be disappointed.  There is a gallery in Sonoma, CA and one in Santa Fe, NM.  And if visiting these locations is challenging, at least take the time to browse through her online galleries at her website, www.lisakristine.com.  While you do that I’m going down to a coffee shop I like and wait for that light…

One of my favorite photographers has a fantastic mission: he wants to support the passion for photography that many people have and wants to educate people in how to maintain and communicate their vision. With that in mind he has created an online company called “Craft and Vision” where he writes and produces eBooks dedicated to helping people express their vision through the photographic medium.

David duChemin has written several books through the traditional medium of printed material and has written numerous eBooks taking advantage of the new medium of digital media, especially the iPad. Each month Craft and Vision releases at least one, if not two, new eBooks and I have to say each has been wonderful. Filled with beautiful images, oriented for rich viewing interaction with computers and the iPad, filled with wonderfully instructive reading, the books are a joy to read and re-read.

On Thursday, June 24th Craft and Vision released an interesting new eBook addressing movie making entitled Vision in Motion: a Photographer’s Introduction to Digital Video by Trevor Meier.  This ebook is a response to the recently available HD movie filming mode now made available on many DSLR cameras.  It seems many people originally interested in still photography are now also interested in shooting video due of this new feature.  While this appears to be a very good introductory ebook on the subject of video creation, I have to admit my interest was not held for long.  This has more to do with my current general lack of interest in creating any videos other than those of my children exploring their environment.   While I marvel at, and thoroughly enjoy good cinematography, I am also keenly aware of my limited skill and limited time, and therefore my limited ability, to create compelling video.

However, if the medium of video is compelling to you, this is probably a quick and quite inexpensive way to become exposed to some of the aspects of videography.  With specific attention paid to vision, story, sequencing, technique, lighting and color control, and a review of basic equipment, Meir does a good job of providing a grounded introduction to video production.  He is adept at describing the differences between aspects of videography and still photography as well as describing where the two mediums intersect.  The book is also filled with beautiful images artfully depicting the current subject discussed and even contains a montage of still photographs illuminating the importance of sequencing in cinematography.

While Craft and Vision generally sell their eBooks for $5 a piece (a steal, if you ask me!!) this new release will be available for only $4 through Sunday June 27th using the coupon code Motion4 upon checkout.  And if (like me) video isn’t your thing I can highly recommend the other eBooks available for purchase.  You can receive 20% off these titles if you buy 5 or more and use the coupon code Motion20.  I will make an effort to review some of the other titles in future posts as I am quite fond of them.

(c) Brian E. Miller Photography 2010

This is the second post in my new series entitled “Inspiration Mondays,” a series where I explore, review, and present an artist, a piece of work, an approach that inspires me to pursue my artistic work.  Last week I wrote a short piece about my good friend Nancy Newell and received lots of good feedback so I hope this post enthuses people much the same way.  For this post I have chosen someone I do not know personally and who has made quite a career being a photographer: Michael Kenna.

I was first introduced to Michael’s work quite by accident.  A friend’s neighbor was a photographer and was moving and giving away boxes of books.  My friend asked if I would like the photography books and I think I quite literally shrugged, saying “sure, why not?”  I received lots of old photoshop tutorials, books on film processing, and a bunch of what looks like run-of-the-mill old photographer’s books.  Upon discarding the obsolete items I settled on flipping through some of the photography books to see what I could see and learn what I could.  One of them, it turned out, was a book of Michael Kenna’s well known collection of black and white night images entitled “Night Walk.”  I had never thought of photographing industrial buildings, gondola peers, and smokestacks as particularly enticing but here I was staring in wonder at just such images.  They are strange and moody and  ethereal.  The long nighttime exposures allow clouds and fog and gondolas on the water to create beautifully blurred forms.  This approach de-realizes aspects of the images, creating ghostly areas.  This, I realized, was art.  Michael Kenna was not just taking pictures in the way that I was.  He was making pictures in studied and conscientious way.  I had never even conceptualized using the camera in this way.  And to be honest, I have a hard time remembering to do so even now.

The very next day I came across a link to a video on a blog I was following asking if we, the reader, had the same passion about photography and making art as the man in video.  It took about two minutes for me to realize that the man in the video was the same man from the book I had read, and it took me about another minute to just love his work.  And it took me less than another minute to decide to buy a tripod.  Check out the video; check out his work.

To me there is something serene and meditative about Michael’s approach.  He possesses a patience, it seems, born of many years spent making images that require lots of time spent outdoors, at odd hours.  I just love how he is able to reduce an environment to just a few necessary elements, wait for the right light, shoot it, refine it, shoot it again.

I am continually inspired by Michael’s video and by his images.  They remind me of the importance of mood, tone, and especially form in a photograph.  They inspire me to move away from the “snapshot” that first captured my imagination in photography and to move toward a more conscious and otherworldly aspect of photographic artistry.

Michael’s work can be found in his galleries on his website www.michaelkenna.net and through numerous books available through Amazon.com and other booksellers.  While you are at it, make a point to look at his commercial work.  I find it amazing how mainstream companies fit his work into their advertising.

Oh, and don’t contact me to see if I am willing to sell my copy of Night Walks; I think I am keeping it.

(c) Brian E. Miller Photography 2010

The medium of digital photography has not been around for very long, perhaps 10 years or so in its current “serious” guise. Before that there were some digital camera efforts but nothing that could compete with film. Indeed, I owned one of those early “cameras.” It was shaped like a VHS cassette, was about as wieldy, could snap a picture at a whopping 1 megapixel, and had a refresh rate (the speed at which the photographer could shoot another picture) of about 10 seconds. I carried that thing everywhere. I had to. I had a job traveling the United States and I even made forays to Malaysia and Japan with it, attempting to chronicle my journeys.  It wasn’t a great camera, but I could share images of my travels with friends and family back home over this newish thing called “email.”

In today’s world of high megapixel, digital single lens reflex cameras with the capability of shooting HD video, that box-like camera is the equivalent of the photographic Edsel. But something happened during my tenure with the box. A drive was unleashed within me. The ease and availability of the digital image provided a medium for the creative urge in me to express itself. It is almost as if my soul was waiting for a way to talk and “the box” gave it a voice.

I have a funny feeling I am not so different from others; the democratization of photography through the advent of digital imaging and the computer age has provided us a medium to express our soul where before we might have lacked the skill in more “traditional” arts, or the money to do so. And I think it is great.

There appears to be a drive within we humans; a drive toward creativity. Shelter and food are a couple of the rudimentary necessities that our ancestors strove to provide, but they (and we) don’t just stop there. No. We decorate.  We become chefs! We become interior decorators.  We invent (or at least the French do) haut-cuisine.  We create! That’s what we do once our basic needs are met.  (Heck, even that male peacock in the picture above does it, although perhaps his drive is fueled by hubris.  Who knows.)

I have met many people along my journey that have their basic needs met but feel something is missing.  Some say they lost their mojo.  Others have it a bit worse and suffer depression.  Some describe it as being empty inside.  All, it seems to me, have had their drive to creativity thwarted for some reason.  The current climate of democratized photography has helped to stem that tide somewhat and allowed millions of people a voice and a creative outlet that previously was not available.  And that is a good thing.

Digital photography has helped provide some meaning and creativity in my life, how does it do so in yours? How do you create?  I would love to hear how you bring aliveness to your life and to the world through creativity.

(c) Brian E. Miller Photography 2010

I’ve received some feedback regarding the pictures of the horses I posted recently (thanks for all the love!) and thought I might post another.

In addition people also mentioned how much they liked my idea of Inspiration Mondays as well as Nancy Newell’s work. Thank you so much for all the feedback. I am looking forward to creating some more Inspiration Monday posts and have some fun stuff in store for the blog as well.  And if you like what I am doing so far with this blog please spread the word, list me your blogroll, link to me on FaceBook or Twitter.  And let me know that you have stopped by too.  I would love to check out your site/blog/feed etc.  Who knows, you might just end up on my Inspiration Mondays.  🙂

I have added an email sign-up button on the right of the blog page for your convenience, or you can follow the blog by subscribing to the RSS feed.  That link is here or on the right side of the page as well.

~Brian

So, I had an idea…

Part of what moves me, motivates me, gets me out of bed in the morning, keeps me from going to bed in the evening, is creativity.  I just love things, people, events that are creative.  They inspire me.  And they drive me to create.  Often times I am inspired to attempt to recreate something I have seen; a kind of “wow, I want to do that!”  And eventually I become inspired to seek out my own vision, and to express it.

Being a photographer, and with the advent of the web as the modern art gallery, I am a blog and artist website junkie!!  I darn near collect blogs: photo blogs, blogs about photography, blogs about vision, blogs about craft, blogs about gear, blogs about creativity and the creative process.  And why do I collect these blogs?  Well, to get inspired, to learn something new, to discover what others are doing in order to push my own creativity.  And that got me thinking.  If I have such a good (well, I think it’s good) collection of inspiring blogs, perhaps there is a way to share them beyond simply listing them on my blogroll (although my blogroll, albeit short at the time of this writing, is filled with inspiration for me.)

So here is my idea: Each Monday I will blog about something or someone that inspires me.  I will start with photographers but I imagine over time I will post about other creatives that inspire my art and could inspire yours as well.  I am really excited about this little project and hope you will like it.

Now the big question: who do I kick off this endeavor with?  Well, I think it is going to have to be my good friend Nancy Newell.  Nancy is a photographer in Albuquerque whom I met through Flickr.com where she has been a prolific poster for the past several years.  She was pretty good in the beginning and in 2009 she started “A Year In Pictures” project where she took and posted a picture every single day of the year.  Her dedication to the project (and her husband’s support of it) over the course of the entire year is inspiring in itself.  But what inspired me more was watching her progression as a photographer and as a post-processor.  Each month she created a different theme around her daily photographs in order to learn some new aspect of the craft; one month it was black and whites, another month it was adding textures, another macro shots, and yet another was reading her camera manual and applying something she had learned.  As a result she closed out 2010 with an incredible body of work that shows a progression from good photographer to amazing photographer that inspires others.  Her following on Flickr is a testament to her skill and creativity and I think she should have an equally large following here in the blog-o-sphere.

And she’s at it again.  She is undertaking another year of “A Year in Pictures” on Flickr.  In addition she has hung some prints in a “Flower Power” show in Albuquerque at the Wooden Cow Gallery and is a featured artist on Joy’s Gallery.

So do me, Nancy, and especially yourself, a favor and stop my her blog, her website, her Flickr stream, and spend some time wandering along with her on her photographic journey.  I think you will be impressed.  I even think you might be inspired.

(c) Brian E. Miller Photography

Another shot of the blue-eyed horse from the ranch.  He’s a nice fellow but a bit of a leadfoot.  I’ve been trying to capture one particular shot that my wife saw in an art gallery in Taos some years ago and am discovering just how challenging it can be working with horses.  They’re wonderful animals and all, but this one just wouldn’t stand still for me (and he kept trying to bite my camera.)  Sheesh!  Still, it’s a project I am very interested in completing so I’ll keep at it and post it here when I finally finish it (complete with fireworks and everything!