I was leading a workshop in New Jersey last week, and whenever I teach I emphasize storytelling and how important that can be to an image. For me, the best images have story packed in. It might not be obvious, but it is always something that the viewer can take to interpret as they like. In this particular shot that I set up, it was all about the story. Forget fancy image compositing – that’s not what I’m all about…
It was 4:30AM. I was lying in my bed in France waiting for my alarm to go off. I was nervous and excited about the events that were to unfold. I hoped others felt the same. I instructed all of the retreat attendees to be up by 5AM and ready to go on a partially moonlit 45-minute walk to a waterfall where, at sunrise, we would all jump in. Needless to say, I wasn’t entirely sure what the turnout would…
I remember the exact moment that I truly believed I was an artist. It wasn’t the day I picked up my camera, or the day I made myself a website, or even the day I quit my job and decided to write “Photographer” on my Facebook page in the “Occupation” section. It was sometime in between there, on a day roughly in June of 2009. Someone looked at my photos, then so new and unpolished, and said, “You could be…