Use Postcards As Props

Creativity - Exercises, Destination - Iceland, Images - iPhone, Images - Studies, Workshop  Comment
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I often like to use props to make photographs. One of my favorite props to use is images. Photographing other images, in many cases, photographing other photographs, adds layers of complexity and offers many poetic opportunities. Images ask you to look and to look in certain ways. Two images ask you to look and look again and to look in multiple ways. I find this extremely stimulating. Making images with other images in them can be a fantastic creative wellspring.
Here’s a selection of images with postcards in them that I made during my 2011 Iceland workshop.
Find out about my 2012 Iceland digital photography workshop here.
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Make Your Own Postcards

Creativity - Exercises, Destination - Iceland, Images - Studies, Workshop  Comment
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For a time, I swore off making photographs that were like postcards. I was looking for something else then. I was looking for my own unique approach to making images. My thinking was that if I took a vow of abstinence from what I knew I wasn’t looking for, I’d eventually find what I was looking for. Eventually, I did.
After some time, I reconsidered this aversion to making postcard-like images. I started making them, again. Making postcards is excellent practice. You have to be fairly competent to make good postcards. Postcards survey a subject, tell a story, offer human interest, present strong color, and are composed of relatively strong graphic structures. Sometimes, postcards make strong emotional appeals. When you think about it, that’s a pretty tall order.
Postcards try to do it all – and do it all competently. It’s interesting to note that to transcend postcards, all you need to do is emphasize one of these qualities over the others and do that one thing excellently. Making postcards is great practice. To make good postcards you have to understand them clearly. To transcend them, you have to know the difference between them and what you’re really looking for.
Below is a selection of iPhone postcards from my 2011 Iceland workshop.
Find out about my 2012 Iceland digital photography workshop here.
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iPhone At Play – Charles Adams

Creativity - Exercises, iPhone, Photographers, Photography, Workshop  Comment
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My assistant, Charles Adams, spent this years Maine Fall Foliage Workshop photographing with the iPhone. Below he talks about his experience.
“Making images with an iPhone can be a terrific creative exercise. If you regularly shoot with a DSLR, the iPhone can simplify things and offer a new experience. I found this to be the case during this years fall foliage workshop. I left my Canon in the car along with all of the photographic requirements and responsibilities that I usually attach to it. It was a freeing experience. Suddenly the pressure to make the best photographs of my life was no longer there. I was free to play.
Being able to process your images seconds after shooting them is also key to the iPhone experience. The many apps available make it possible to shoot, edit, share, and get feedback before even getting back in the car. In my case, apps had a direct effect on which pictures I chose to make. I knew I was going to apply water color and oil painting filters to my images, so I tried to shoot accordingly. I set out to find good compositions with strong “bones.” “Bones” meaning solid structure that could benefit from the addition of dramatic effects.
The resulting images were fun to create. Changing the tools you use to make your images can offer new insights into your own photography. I strongly recommend allowing yourself to play.”
Visit Charles’ website here.
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

You're Invited ! – Annual Open Studio Exhibit – 7/31-8/1

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cae2010
You’re invited! Come visit my annual open studio event July 31 – August 1 from 10-5. Gallery talks are at 2.
It’s been one of my most prolific years to date. Producing more than one hundred new images, four bodies of work, in progress for ten years, have been brought to completion. The results are surprising, even for me.
Three new books featuring this work have been released – Reflection, Condensation, and Correspondence – which you can preview and purchase online.
Also on hand will be my playful iPhone photo sketches, some of which are featured in my column on the Huffington Post. I’ll even take, process, and transmit some during my daily artist’s talks at 2 pm.
Come enjoy prints, books, web galleries, performances and conversations during this very special event.
Click here for more information including directions, previews, reviews, statements, audio, video, and press kit.

Harry Sandler's New Book – iPhone Antics

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“My personal exploration of the IPhone and it’s relevant applications stated 18 months ago. Since that time, wherever I am in the world, the phone is always with me – a camera and darkroom in my pocket. I really enjoy having the ability to capture, process, and share an image instantly from anywhere in the world – not to mention the applications for sunrise, sunset, position of light and various other pieces of information specific to photographers out on the road. The IPhone is an instant feedback and a visual record that helps us expand how we think about our images. It’s a valuable creative tool for any photographer.”
Find out more about Harry Sandler here.

Chris Alvanas' Book – Apple 3GS

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“Apple 3GS marks a career passage for me in that I felt the need to quiet all of the gear aspects of image making and get right down to perspective, light and composition – nothing else. It was so helpful that I have felt such an improvement in how I see an image or should I say pre-visualize an image before actually taking it. Adding the tools on top of this advanced my work greatly.
I recently showed a small portion of this body of work at a workshop with John Paul Caponigro in Maine. To my surprise and enjoyment, the work was so well received by all it lead me to go a bit deeper and continue the quest of simplifying the process.”
Find out more about Chris Alvanas here.