If a hotel puts up a sign that says that recycling your towels instead of having them changed everyday is beneficial, it increases recycling. That’s no surprise. What is a surprising is that if a hotel simply adds to that sign that people previously using the room have done so, there’s another 26% bump in recycling. That’s remarkable, since that information seems irrelevant. Why would it matter what other people have done? And, yet, it absolutely does.

Yesterday, I was riding in a cab, and in the course of conversation, the driver was telling me about tips and how much people tipped. There was the time he made $40 on a $26 ride, and the time he shockingly received $12 … Read more...

Photo by Elizabeth Messina
http://www.kissthegroom.com/

The limo shot is surely one of the most played out images in the repertoire of the wedding photographer. We’ve watched its value dissolve from an elegant moment of anticipation into a saccharin-filled tool of second-rate studios across the country. Elizabeth does a wonderful job restoring integrity to this theme. Played as confrontational and mysterious instead of joyous and sentimental, the gaze from the bride becomes a durable portrait – a statement about who she is, instead of how she felt. There’s a nice bit of integrity there, enhanced by the thoughtful composition and that bit of hair falling in the her face. It just tells you, this picture’s about the honesty of it all.… Read more...

Just a thought for the day. I was recently looking over a photographer’s work. It was full of off-composed images and tilt-shift effects. But I couldn’t get a handle on the work. Timing was generally good, technique was good, but it felt like the timing and technique were being controlled by two different halves of the brain that didn’t bother to sit down for coffee and see what each was up to. The technique had nothing to do with the subject matter. In fact, the technique was so distinct, I couldn’t pay attention to anything but the technique. I couldn’t feel a mood, I couldn’t watch the emotion. All I could see were oddly composed pictures of random things that … Read more...

When you think about it, taking pictures is nothing more than finding a way to make sure that people can tell the picture you took is intentional. Everything else is essentially subservient to that purpose. Composition? Just a way to prove you did what you did on purpose. Nice light? Shows you see the world in an aesthetic fashion. Dramatic moment? Shows you have good timing. Or think of the opposites. Messy? Doesn’t feel like anyone would want to capture something that way. Miscomposed? Looks like a mistake.

My favorites photographs are actually the really plain or even downright ugly ones. Signaling intentionality when something looks nice is easy. The very fact that a picture looks good is enough to … Read more...

Photo by Craig Fritz
http://www.twinlensimages.com/

As a parent, I think I can fairly say that this is an image that hits the nail on the head. This is parenthood. And it’s weddings, too. Stealing away to tend to your family, the break in the lobby or the room to the side. Weddings are living, breathing things. For every bride and groom taking center stage, there’s a guest, a relative, or family member doing their own thing, as well, and it’s all part of it.

Three things really made the picture for me. The first is simply the body language. The girl flopped over, the hand on the man’s head. Nicely captured. The other two things are a little more subtle. … Read more...