Three Things About Time
He told me I was one of the most productive people he knows. Somewhere in the same breath he used the word “lucky,” as though my “luck” was the only reason I get so much done. I think he meant it as...
View ArticleChains All The Same
I’m finally hitting Publish on this post. It’s long. It’s not about photography. And it’s none of my business. But it is yours and as I’ve been talking about freedom a lot, I feel strongly that...
View ArticleFor Jennifer, Whomever You Are.
Jennifer is a composite of all the students who’ve asked me to look at their work online and offer some advice. My advice has changed over the years. Dear David, I’m a second-year photography student....
View ArticleA Beautiful Anarchy
Colour outside the lines and make the best art of your life! To my core I believe that our lives can be lived boldly, intentionally, and as our truest work of art. I believe we are all capable of...
View ArticleThe Artist’s Journey
One of the great revelations of my life came when I discovered Joseph Campbell and his book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. I read it while studying films and screenplays and trying to understand...
View ArticleThe Art of Exclusion
If life is short, then it follows that there is more to do in our brief, beautiful days than we could ever accomplish. It is said that photography is the art of exclusion. What the photographer leaves...
View ArticleKnow Your Rhythm
Every person I know—whether they identify as creative or not—goes through ups and downs, though I think the self-identifying creative or artist can feel it more acutely, as though our creative life...
View ArticleProcess & Product
We’re stopping in Ottawa right now, after a couple days at the cottage, on the way to Labrador and Newfoundland to work on making images for my next coffee-table book. Emily, the Jeep, is in for...
View ArticleBe Your Own Patron
Remember those days of old when creative people did what they did because some guy with money paid them to do it, all for the privilege of calling themselves a patron? Well those days are over. Unless...
View ArticleA Bigger Story
Dusk. Fogo Island, Newfoundland. 2014 Do you know why Apple succeeds the way it does? OK, aside from sexy products? They tap into something bigger than technology. Sure, they’re a technology company,...
View ArticleForget Jumping.
Here’s another Q&A from The Big Q. This time we’re talking about making the jump from full-time job to full-time photographer. If you’ve got questions you’d like answered, I’d love to help: leave...
View ArticleHungry?
“When your hands are full of thorns but you can’t quit groping for the rose…” ~Bruce Cockburn. I feel myself getting hungry. Or perhaps I’m always hungry but only now recognizing that gnawing feeling...
View ArticleForget Practice
Boat under Snow. Hokkaido, Japan. 2015. Yesterday I linked my social media accounts out to an old blog post – Toward Mastery. One of the replies I got was refreshingly honest: I’ve hit a brick wall,...
View ArticleTend the Fire
Most of us have a fire in the belly, a passion or desire that burns brightest in us. It’s the heat and energy from this fire that moves us forward, gives momentum to our projects, and authenticity to...
View ArticleOn Wanting More.
“What if we longed, not for more things, but for bigger things? Wouldn’t that desire lead us, almost automatically, so long as we actually, and actively, seek these bigger things, to a bigger story?”...
View ArticleNow and Then
Tomorrow I’m speaking to a group of creative directors for one of Canada’s most recognized ad agencies. But as I write this I’m still going over my thoughts for the presentation. I don’t have much to...
View ArticleTell Me a Story
I just finished reading a book about the power of story. Another one. I keep coming back to this topic because I can’t escape the feeling that photographers are missing something. Sure, we acknowledge...
View ArticleF/ The Rules
Several years ago, we were enjoying a lively dinner in Oaxaca, Mexico during the Day of the Dead festivals, a small group of us together on a workshop, when the table across from us got up, all of them...
View ArticleStoke the Fire
Sometimes you lose the fire. Sometimes, after years of loving something, you can’t find the spark. I’ve had a couple photographers recently tell me they’ve lost it, that they awoke one morning to find...
View ArticleCourage & Gratitude
I woke up this morning, too early thanks to jet-lag, to find Victoria lying under a rare blanket of snow and silence. We got home about 36 hours ago, a day late thanks to fog in Lisbon where we spent a...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....