A beautiful scene is not enough to make a good image. Photography is not about capturing, it’s about creating our own fantasies and illusions to express what we feel. For that, we need to stop seeing reality as it is, and start seeing “in images”.
I still remember the moment I threw that last cigarette butt on the ground. It’s been almost 5 years since I quit smoking.
Health had always been a concern, but at the time, all I could think about was all the money I was going to save by quitting -money I was planning to spend on new cameras and lenses, of course. It was an exciting plan and it helped me quit.
Indeed, I was spending a lot of money on tobacco. It was hard to see on a daily basis, it was “just” $5 a day. But I did the math, and turned out to be more $2,000 a year. Or, the way I started to see it, a new A7iii every year.
Humans are terrible at understanding things that are far away in time. That’s why most services today are based on subscriptions: it’s just X a month!. These little things add up, though, and quite fast. Translating the annual cost into photography gear helps me see the big picture.
These are other ways I stopped wasting my money:
I don’t drink alcohol anymore. I used to, at least one beer a day, and probably a glass of wine afterwards. Definitely more on the weekends. This amounted to even more money than smoking: 500 rolls of HP5 a year.
Starbucks must miss me. I used to go there on a daily basis, spending at least a couple of good ND filters a month, or a new RX100vii a year.
The brewery1 we had downstairs in Portland? We used to go there at least once a week, and going through the charges of 2017, I see we spent a Hasselblad 500cm with 80mm lens on that one place in just 10 months. Today, I go out less often -and yes, the pandemic has helped quite a bit here- and save a lot of money.
My phone (an iPhone 7 Plus) is 4 years old. I used to switch to a new phone every year, which cost me a round-trip to Iceland every 12 months.
A beer here. A coffee there. A dinner out. A new gadget. Nothing big, just little treats. But these small things add up and were making a dent on my savings.
Most people think that the key to save money is to make more, when it’s much easier -and faster- to lower your expenses and live below your means. And the good thing is, this doesn’t have to involve big changes, but we can do it by changing small bad habits we do on a daily basis.
Just by not smoking, not drinking alcohol, making coffee at home instead of getting it to go, cooking at home more often, and not buying a new phone every year, I’m saving a lot of money. Money I can invest on things like camera gear or a trip somewhere to make images. Translating those saving into specific things you can do with that money -like buying photography gear- can help.
Big change is always about the little things.
1: The brewery closed its doors just a few months after we left Portland. Apparently, they couldn’t afford rent anymore. Coincidence? Or did our departure have something to do? I will never know.
We, outdoor photographers, need to be able to deal with the heat and the cold, the sun and the snow, standing up at the same spot for hours waiting for that shot, or hiking for miles looking for an image.
If we can go further, stay out for longer, deal with uncomfortable situations better, and remain focused on the goal, our chances to make a good image increase exponentially.
For the last few years, but especially in this very challenging 2020, I’ve been experimenting with different approaches to nutrition, exercise and lifestyle in general that are making me stronger, and in the process, helping me grow as a photographer.
In this video, I want to share some of those ideas and practices, because they might help you too.
When was the last time you were hungry? I don’t mean a craving, nor your stomach complaining a bit around noon. I mean really hungry.
We are an overfed society. We’ve forgotten what it means to be hungry, to the point that we avoid it at all costs. We are always snacking. Always seeking comfort.
Our bodies are supposed to experience hunger from time to time. Somehow, it is when your body starts to complain about the lack of food, that we have the most mental clarity and even physical energy. The body is probably telling us is time to go out and pick some fruit, or hunt a rabbit.
I’ve been experimenting with intermittent fasting for almost 2 years. On average, I fast 2-3 days a week: I go through periods of time where I fast for 20 hours a day and eat all my calories within the other 4-hour window, what is called a 20:4 fast; other times, I settle on a 16:8 schedule.
As a bare minimum, I go 14 hours without food - the time between dinner and breakfast. I usually have dinner 2-3 hours before bed, and I don’t eat anything until at least 3 hours after waking.
While challenging at first, intermittent fasting has taught me many lessons about myself:
Is that feeling in your stomach hunger? Or is it produced by a craving? Could it even be anxiety? If you haven’t felt hungry in a while, it can be really hard to tell.
I’d forgotten what real hunger feels like. Now, I know, so I can act accordingly.
My mind is much sharper when my body isn’t busy digesting food. I try to do all my writing and reading on an empty stomach, and leave leisure and more passive activities (like watching YouTube) for after meals.
I go on a 6-mile walk / run every morning, followed by 100 push ups. Only then I have breakfast. I’m just unable to perform if I have food before any kind of exercise.
Of course, if the physical activity extends for a long period of time (say, a long hike), I’ll have snacks here and there to replenish my energy.
3:00pm is my favorite time of the day. After working out in my bedroom and an hour of incline walking on the treadmill, I’m ready for lunch. I reward myself with a huge -and I mean it, huge- salad.
Every bite tastes better than the previous one. I appreciate every single flavor in that salad because my body is ready for that food. When we keep ourselves fed all the time, meals become an almost automatic and mindless activity - there’s no joy, just comfort seeking.
In a time when society seems to seek comfort at all times, I believe it's more important than ever to embrace uncomfortable situations. If we never face discomfort, we become weak.
As photographers, we need to be ready to face the heat and the cold, the sun and the snow, standing up for hours waiting for a shot, or hiking for miles and miles looking for that image.
Fasting is just one thing we can practice often so we don’t get used to comfort, and we can remain strong. Exercising, and even taking cold showers are other two examples.
It's about time we tell our bodies to not get too comfy.
Stay hungry.
In this video, I'll try to show you why using APS-C lenses on a Full Frame body not only might make sense, but it can also be a great way to achieve performance that'd be very hard to get otherwise.
I used a Sony a7rii and the following APS-C lenses: Rokinon 12mm f/2, Sigma 16mm f/1.4, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, Sigma 56mm f/1.4, Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f/4, Sony 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3. Check out some of the examples in this gallery:
If you are just starting out your artistic journey, you are blessed with freedom. You can choose to do whatever you want. You get to build your skills, your style, and your portfolio along with your audience.
A body of work needs some consistency over time, for both the artist and the audience's sake. A singer builds an audience because they stay loyal to a genre and style.
All artists should evolve. But when you've established an audience, change is hard. When a band releases a new album that doesn't sound like them, fans complain. It doesn't matter if it's good or not, what matters is that it wasn't what they were expecting.
Take advantage of your current freedom, don't be afraid of experimenting and sharing the results. Eventually, you'll settle on a style that clicks with you and an audience.
A beautiful morning walking and making images around Lake Wawasee, Indiana.
In this video, I edit one of my black and white image as I guide through some of the most important tools I use on a daily basis.
One of the recurring themes in the messages I get from other photographers is about their struggle to find time for photography on a daily basis.
Today, we are so busy all the time! It's the busyness era. If you aren't doing something, you are falling behind. It's all about the hustle, right?
This is an issue I'm deeply interested in. Recently, I read the book related to this topic, Make Time, and in this video I share some of the key points from the book, along with some of my own, all applied to photography.
We'll see why we are so busy, why we need to make time for photography, the highlight of the day, and several tips to make time for photography.
A big storm was approaching really quick from the West. They were talking about winds up to 100mph and heavy rain -clearly a time to stay indoors, but nothing to worry about. Then, our phones started to go crazy with a sound I hadn't heard in years, and for very different reasons. Back then, it was an Amber alert. This time, though, it was a tornado warning, the first one I'd ever seen.
As we rushed to gather a few things -cameras included, of course- and went down to the crawl space, I thought about how cool it'd be to make an image of a tornado. Should I shelter or should I just wait at the window, ready to capture whatever might happen in the next few minutes?
After a few seconds of doubt, I decided to join the others. We sheltered for 15 minutes until the alert expired. An EF-1 tornado touched down some 10 miles away. A funnel cloud did a bit of damage in our local area as it took down a few trees on nearby power lines - we lost power for 24 hours and, as of the time of writing this, almost 5 days later, we still haven't gotten Internet back.
I'm glad I decided to shelter and not chase the possible tornado. This is one of those cases where an image is not worth risking your life. Capturing that photo would have made no difference.
I can think of just a handful of situations where it'd be worth it, though - scenarios where I'd put myself at risk to take the photo. After all, images have the potential to change the world, if the moment is powerful enough. From the photos of Tiananmen square to the video of George Floyd's death, visual records can spark a revolution and change -or even save- the lives of many.
When it comes to art, though, it's never worth it. It's not only about you - putting yourself at risk might put someone else in danger as well, like a rescue team trying to get to you. Think twice about the possible consequences of making that image.
I've left plenty of images behind because it felt unsafe. Maybe I had to get too close to a cliff, the terrain wasn't stable, it was too windy, or icy, or just too hard to get to. I regret none of those, because more important than getting that one image is to be able to come back tomorrow and get another one.
Please be safe out there, and happy shooting!
Perfection is just a distraction, yet another excuse to not do something. I tell myself this sunrise isn't good enough anyway, it's not foggy, it isn't even cloudy. All I want is to watch a few more reviews so I can choose a new lens and camera.
Photography is messy and chaotic, and that's the fun part of it. We need to embrace the uncertainity, make it part of our daily lives and create every day.
I love the default Notes app on iOS - because it synchronizes across all my devices, it's like having a notebook always with me.
One of the ways I use the Notes app is to capture all my thoughts and ideas, in whatever form they might happen. Every day, I create a new note and I start filling it with everything the day might bring: from a rough schedule of how I expect the day to go, to notes from books and articles I read, or podcasts I listen to, including images of stuff I find interesting, inspiring quotes, audio recordings of ideas that come to mind, and in general, anything that goes through my mind that might be useful or inspiring in the future.
Every once in a while, usually on the weekend, I'll go through my notes and pick the most interesting parts. This is how I come up with ideas for my videos / blog posts, places I want to photograph, and how I learn (some of the things I write down are good starting points to research more about the topic).
Inspiration comes from action, so start taking photos. Allow yourself to make bad photographs, do it for the sake of it, with no purpose in mind. Art is more about play and less about thinking.
There's always a new app that promises to make you more productive. When it comes to note taking and writing in general, I think I've tried dozens of them over the years. No more, I'm done wasting time.
My favorite app, by far, is the default Notes app on iOS / Mac OS. It's basic, and I love that. It does what's supposed to do, and no more. It synchronizes across all my devices, so I can script a video on my computer, draw something in that same note on my iPad, and add new ideas from my phone during my walks.
It's also free.
Productivity isn't about finding a new app / trick / life hack. It's about using what we already have, right in front of us.
I haven't released a new Image of the Month image in months, due to the coronavirus and the release of my book Becoming an American. So I decided to release 3 of them at the same time.
The first one is Moon, an image I made during the lockdown that kept us stuck at home for months. The sky became one of my favorite things to look at, especially the night sky. And there it was, of course, the Moon.
The Room is an image made back in 2019, during our first night in Chicago after a while in the countryside. It always shocks me how much light there is when the night comes. Even from our hotel room.
The last image is Couple. Made just before the pandemic hit, I had no idea I would spend the next few months observing these two storks who had settled in on top of a pole the previous summer. They are a young couple, and I witnessed their return from faraway lands to what they must call home, how hard they worked for weeks, and how they raised their first baby stork. I hope to see them again next year.
Remember: there are two sizes to choose from, 6x6 and 8x8 (inches). In both cases, the matt and frame are 12x12 (this means a bigger margin for the 6x6 print).
Shipping is free to the US. International shipping is a flat rate of $14.95.
A new image will be released every month and offered at a reduced price during that time. After 30 days, it will be sold at full price. They will never be on sale at any time in the future, the rate during the first month will be the lowest, ever.
You can find more information about how I create my images and all the details about pricing on The Art and Craft behind my prints.
These three images are available for purchase here.
I bought a new camera.
Actually, I bought it 3 months ago. I didn't mention it here or anywhere because the last thing I want is anyone thinking they need a new camera -or even worse, the camera I bought- to create good images.
But a few people have spotted it in my videos and asked about it. I also want to be as transparent as possible when it comes to what I use to make my images, so here we go.
Read MoreCreate everyday, no matter how small, and your portfolio will end up being impressive.
Be consistent, stay healthy, and put the effort.
Results to our hard work are often delayed; in photography, they can be delayed years in the future. But they will come.
Keep shooting.
A couple of years ago, the furthest I was able to run was around a hundred feet. On a good day, I might have been able to do a couple of push ups. A 5-mile hike felt like a huge achievement, deserving of a few beers and a week of rest.
Back then, those were my limits - I had never pushed my body to go beyond them. I thought running, push ups and long hikes were for somebody else, athletes, people who had had better luck than me in the DNA lottery. Nothing I could about it.
Thankfully, at some point I realized there was a lot I could do. I was never going to make it to the Olympics, but I wanted to see how far I'd be able to go.
Today, I know I can run 10 miles without much problem (I expect to run my first half-marathon this week). I know I can do 100 push ups every day... because I do them. After the Camino, I also know I can hike for 25 miles a day for a whole week.
Nothing impressive, but I'm very proud of my progression in the last couple of years. I'm in a much better shape now at 38 than when I was 20 - and I can't wait to see how much further I can go from here.
They say we are stronger than we think - we are. But we can get even stronger. Limits aren't fixed, they can be pushed further away, wherever you might be right now.
This can be applied to almost everything in our lives. There are so many limits we haven't tested yet - they can be pushed as well. This is how we grow.
I love reading physical books.
Most of them, though, only serve their purpose for a few days. Once I'm done with them, they become both a waste and a burden (my semi-nomadic life means I can't bring them with me). Reselling or donating them is the only option -if you can find anyone who wants them, that is.
This is why the vast majority of books I read are electronic: there's no waste and bringing them along is not an issue. But I miss the paper...
Libraries are the answer to this problem. In general, libraries here in the US work so much better than the ones I've used in Spain. Even though you might have to wait a few days (or even a few weeks if the book is popular), you get access to a huge catalog of physical and electronic books, plus a big collection of audiobooks.
One of the first things I did once my quarantine was over was to visit my local library and renew my membership. I also grabbed a few books, of course. And I have a few more on hold that should be on my way from other branches all over Indiana.
This way, I get to read and enjoy the paper version of the book, and return it for someone else's enjoyment. There's no waste, and no need for more storage.
If I like the book, I can buy the electronic version to keep as reference / for future readings.
We are back in the US. This was our experience traveling during a pandemic.
