PHOTOGRAPH eMagazine – Issue 7

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PHOTOGRAPH 7 is out. This issue showcases portfolios from David Baker (Sea Fever), Michelle Morris Denniston, Mitchell Kanashkevich (Vanuatu), and Dave Morrow (nightscapes). The featured article is from Bret Edge, and the usual columnists are here, including Bruce Percy’s Natural Light column including a new column by Guy Tal.
In my column Creative Composition I discuss Pattern.
Here’s an excerpt.
“Many of the mysteries of the universe have been discovered by recognizing and describing patterns. The Golden Section/Ratio (8:5), the Fibonacci Series (1,2,3,5,8,13,21, etc), and the Mandelbrot Set (a shape characterized by repetitions of self-similar forms at all scales) are three examples of patterns that have been used for many different purposes – scientific, industrial, architectural, aesthetic, etc. Discover the type of repetition or change associated with a pattern and you too will unlock the key to understanding it – and possibly a universal principle.
People are pattern seeking / making animals. Even when patterns are absent, we experience them through our own projections. Making images is all about sensing and creating patterns. The same could be said of making any form of art – including life. Life itself follows patterns. You can make your images livelier by using the power of pattern; the clearer you make the pattern, the stronger the image. Increase your powers of pattern recognition and you’ll increase your visual versatility. Increase your sensitivity the unique qualities of each pattern as well as its differences from other patterns and you’ll increase the depth of your expression.
The modernist painter Josef Albers said, “A pattern is interesting. A pattern interrupted is more interesting.” Interrupting a pattern is a visual strategy that tends to produce strongly organized yet dramatic images. The pattern provides the organization. The interruption provides the drama. The pattern makes the images easily grasped, setting up expectations that are reversed by the interruption, like an unexpected plot twist in a story. An interesting distinction can be made between two different kinds of interruption; accents simply interrupt patterns; counterpoints not only interrupt patterns but they do so in ways that contrast with either the pattern or the main message of an image; both accents and counterpoints often become the new focus of the image.
Once you start seeing patterns you won’t be able to stop – and neither will anybody else. Understand the patterns you are naturally drawn to and you’ll better understand your visual voice and creative intentions – and if you make those patterns clear to others they will too. Because pattern is so powerful, it doesn’t take much; some artists have spent a lifetime exploring just one of these universal, organizing principles. Of course, you’re not limited to one pattern and there are so many to choose from. Simply use the power of pattern in your images and you’ll make your images more powerful.”
There’s more similar content in this and every issue of PHOTOGRAPH.
Download PHOTOGRAPH 7 here.

Check Out PHOTOGRAPH – Issue 4

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Issue 4 of PHOTOGRAPH (quarterly add free emagazine) is now available.
It’s packed with Portfolios / Q+As (this time from Nick Hall, Kathy Beal, and Sam Krisch – two of whom are members of my Next Step Alumni) and columns / articles (including contributions by David duChemin, Martin Bailey, Michael Frye, Chris Orwig and more). My Creative Composition column focuses on using Space in compelling ways.
Purchase PHOTOGRAPH issue 4 for $8.
Subscribe to PHOTOGRAPH for $24 (save $8).
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PHOTOGRAPH Issue 3




Digital magazine PHOTOGRAPH Issue 3 is now available.
Articles are written by Martin Bailey, John Paul Caponigro, Kevin Clark, David DuChemin, Jay Goodrich, Chris Orwig, Al Smith, Piet Van Den Eynde, Nicole S Young.
In my column Creative Composition I cover the interactions of The Essential Building Blocks Of Composition (point, line, shape, plane, volume).
Portfolios and Q&As include Kevin Clark, Dave Delnea, and Hengki Koentjoro.
Koentjoro is one of my favorite photographers to follow on Google+.
Buy the PDF here for $8.
4 issue subscribers receive a 25% discount.
Learn more with my photography eBooks.

PHOTOGRAPH – Issue 2


There’s lots of inspiration in Issue 2 of PHOTOGRAPH magazine, which includes featured portfolios and interviews with Martin Bailey, Andy Biggs, and Chris Orwig, as well as articles from David duChemin, Nicole S. Young, John Paul Caponigro, Martin Bailey, Al Smith, Jay Goodrich, Piet Van den Eynde, Younes Bounhar, Kevin Clark, and Chris Orwig.
My Creative Composition article discusses using the frame creatively, perhaps the most essential skill in photography.
Purchase it here – $8 single issue or $24 quarterly subscription.
 

PHOTOGRAPH – The New eMagazine


There’s a new electronic magazine in town – and I’m delighted to be a part of it.
The 132 pages in Issue One of PHOTOGRAPH, A Digitial Quarterly Magazine for Creative Photographers. features …
Columns include Martin Bailey’s The Art of the Print, John Paul Caponigro’s Creative Composition, Kevin Clark’s The Studio Sketchbook, David Duchemin’s Without The Camera, Chris Orwig’s Creativity, and Piet van Den Eynde’s Lightroom Before + After.
Portfolios by Art Wolfe, Nate Parker, and Bruce Percy are followed by short interviews.
Featured articles by Younes Bounhar, Andrew Gibson, Jay Goodrich, Al Smith, and Nicole Young.
PHOTOGRAPH is available now through Craft & Vision, as a PDF download, for USD$8. A 4-issue subscription for US$24 (or buy 3 issues and get one free). You can subscribe today, or, if you want to do so risk-free, we’ll send a short email to everyone that buys Issue One and give you the chance to top-up your subscription with the remaining 3 issues for US$16, as long as you do it before the end of November 2012.
Find out more and subscribe on David Duchemin’s blog.

Here’s an excerpt from the first article in my column Creative Composition.
Dynamics Not Rules
“When it comes to composition, there are no rules . . . except, perhaps, never say never and always avoid saying always. I recommend you don’t ask, “Should I . . .?”; rather, ask “What happens when I . . . ?”. But there are principles. Each element has a unique force and contributes to the whole. Each element influences the other, creating a cascading chain of action, reaction, and interaction. These forces are definable and consistent, so you can understand them and apply them repeatedly. An understanding of what these elements are will open up possibilities and create opportunities for you. An understanding of how each element works will help you apply it so that you can improvise given the unique characteristics of a specific situation and your own con- cerns. Versatility with many strategies enables you to be more successful in more varied situations and to make more varied statements. Understanding the principles of visual dynamics will help make your decision making pro- cess more informed, but it won’t make choices for you. Awareness is the key. Better awareness brings better choices. Better choices bring better results …”