Photography

According to National Geographic photographer Sam Abell (1945-present), the place to start is with the background. I recently watched a video of Abell where he talks about "The Life of a Photograph: What makes a lasting photograph?" ( linked here ). My sh...  

The link to Sam Abell was very interesting. He is a great photographer and I just love some of his work. Thanks for reminding us ! This is one of my personal favourites: Photo Credit: Sam Abell ...  

I particularly like his approach... Compose and wait... setting, expression, gesture plus... make the best picture you can. Push yourself a bit is always good advice. Casey

An interesting discussion way back was by Sherman Hines a portrait and landscape photographer, who shot in color, when asked to compare his style to Ansel Adams who famously would find his shot and plant his tripod in the ground and set up his camera and ... 

I can understand why Sam Abell's approach to photography served him well at NatGeo and I enjoyed the video for the detail description of his technical style. For me it was the discussion and examples of Micro Composition and horizon line... Thanks for the... 

As with watches, less is often more.

That photo was from Feb-2019 when I was visiting Zenkō-ji Temple ‌in Nagano City. It was a street scene along the 2.2 km walk from the station to the temple... up hill going, but less than 30 minutes without stopping to take photos... impossible since I a... 

I've been reading a lot of Haruki Murakami lately (e.g., Kafka on the Shore) and your location reminds me of the book. Nothing like a walk to inspire good photography. John

1Q84 was a bridge too far ; )... The two most recent Murakami books that I have enjoyed are Fiction: "Killing Commendatore" (2018 - English Translation). Worth picking up if only for the list of recommend reading... some gems in that list, it's also a ver... 

I admit to enjoying 1Q84, along with Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, and Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I struggled with Wind Up Bird Chronicles but may give it another try one day. I enjoy Murakami's writing style (even with the tra... 

Another one of Murakami's non fiction books is... "Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche" about the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. The book is a series of interviews with individuals caught up and/or impacted ... 

but I'd never limit myself by being absolute about how to approach photography. I am of a far more spontaneous nature . By the way, I love your 'test' image and dislike the chaotic nature of Abell's 'cowboys' photograph. Cheers, Filip

In some strange twist I find myself attracted to what I initially reject... the exception being that "life is too short to drink bad wine". I enjoyed Abell's technique of planning, preparation, style to slow down time and give intuition, the artistic eye,... 

Read his name Abell, till now I hardly have the patient to wait that long. Yes put a frame of the background then imagine interesting object to blend in. BTW, I do like the also so call layering technic like the cowboys photo, so many rich way to take gre... 

When I was a kid we subscribed to National Geographic (where Abell worked most of his career)... along with subscriptions to Life and Reader's Digest. But it was NatGeo that I always looked forward to. The color photos were always excellent and inspiratio...