Photo by Trent Bailey
www.trent-bailey.com

Portraits and couple shots are deceptive. On the surface, there only seem to be so many options, making it difficult to make them stand out. This has lead many a photographer to shoot wider and wider. The result is striking, but in many ways, unsatisfying – it turns what was once a shot about the people into a shot about the environment. In the end, successful images of people are all about nuance. They are about a dozen imperceptibly small things that add up to something much more.

Trent has done a beautiful job making this image work. On the surface, it’s a textbook example of a well-taken image. Great lighting, perfect backdrop, and good … Read more...

I was a big West Wing fan back in the day, and I really think I learned more about the nature of politics there than in all my readings in high school, college, and law school. I suppose that doesn’t speak that well of either those educational institutions or my attendance records, but that’s a story for another time. In the last season of the series, the character Leo McGarry was running for Vice President. He was given one of the most useful pieces of advice I’ve heard about how to deal with questions. “If you don’t like what they’re asking, you don’t accept the premise of the question.”

Let’s take a look at my favorite scene from Thank You … Read more...

Photo by Brett Butterstein Photography
www.brettbutterstein.com
www.brettbutterstein.com/blog/

I really loved this shot from Brett. It is a bold gesture that doesn’t retreat to any cliches. It is conceptual, thoughtful, and abstract, yet utterly accessible and comprehensible at the same time. The palette goes against the grain of modern toning, which is usually either light and ethereal or high in contrast. Instead, it is heavy and classic – exactly what’s necessary to make the picture work – without excessive contrast. Showing a restrained elegance, it is an image of contrasts. Surprising yet thoughtful. Whimsical yet romantic. It is a simple pleasure with a rich concept. Whether you see it as two people lifted in an embrace, a flower in an open … Read more...

The images looked like they came straight off an album cover. Perfectly shot, well-executed, and thoughtfully crafted from top to bottom. But as well-taken as the pictures were, that wasn’t what really caught my eye. It was the piano. They were pictures of a couple sitting next to a piano in the middle of a field. Who does that? And that’s how I first learned of Clayton Austin.

I gave Clayton a call at his sunny hometown of Austin, Texas. It was a balmy 70 degrees that Thursday afternoon, a stark contrast to my office’s snow-covered windows and New York’s sub-zero temperatures. His tone is resonant and calming – he possesses a relaxed accessibility that belies his confidence. It surprised … Read more...

I hate timeless. Timeless is gutless. It’s dull and predictable. It is constipation – an idea stuck in the birth canal waiting for a little love. That doesn’t mean that some pictures don’t endure. But timeless is one of those loaded words that you use when your sales cap is on to justify pictures that don’t have much to say. Everything has a shelf-life, whether you’re Paul Strand or Paul Graham, because the moment you introduce something to market, it changes the market. Photography is a dialogue, and if that dialogue is doing nothing but repeating the same, tired, euphemisms, it’s just not worth saying. Timeless is boring, and photography has so much more to say than just that.… Read more...