Harbinger: The Story Behind the Series
Harbinger No. 1 Several summers ago my son Jem and I were taking a road trip through the western states, it was meant to be both a photography trip as well as a father and son trip. We were in Utah and it was about 150 degrees (or so it felt) when I spied these
I have been thinking about two words lately: visualize and previsualize. What do they mean and how are they different? I’ve used both words to describe my creative process and yet I’m not really sure if I’m visualizing or previsualizing? So I looked them up in the dictionary: Visualize: form a mental image of; imagine. Previsualize: The
Harbinger No. 20 I’ve just watched the most extraordinary film entitled “Finding Vivian Maier.” The story begins with a man named John Maloof who purchases a box of negatives at an auction and becomes intrigued by the images and whoever created them. It is a detective story that reveals one of the most important street photographers
The Angel Gabriel Why do I focus on Vision so much? It’s because I believe that Vision is what makes an image great. It’s what makes the difference between a technically perfect image and one with feeling. It’s what makes your images unique. Great images do not come about because of equipment and processes, but
Why Not Let the Camera or Photoshop Create Your B&W Image?
I’ve spoken to a number of people who have assumed that I create my b&w images by putting my camera into monochrome mode or by simply desaturating my color images in Photoshop. That’s not how I create my black and white images, but why not? Why not let the camera or Photoshop do the work
A story… Every autumn I go to Bandon, Oregon to photograph Monoliths. I have very specific conditions that I prefer; clear skies with wispy clouds that allow me to use long exposures on the Monoliths. Unfortunately this last October I had not called ahead and made this request with Zeus, the god of clouds, rain, thunder
The Toughest Interview I’ve Ever Done – Vision Drawings: Session #1
Wedding Day My friend and photographer John Kosmopoulos recently interviewed me for his new series, Vision Drawings: Session #1 Honestly, it was one of the toughest interviews that I’ve ever done, not because John was tough, but because the questions were difficult for me to answer. At one point I frustratedly told John that I
Last weekend my wife and I stopped at a garage sale that was hosted by three very old ladies who were selling some very old things (both the ladies and their items were “vintage”). Amongst their knick knacks I spotted a leather camera bag with a post-it note that said “make offer.” I didn’t need
The Story Behind the Image – Iceland No. 30
Iceland No. 30 Why did I include this image in my Iceland portfolio, when I consider it just “average” at best? Because it reminds me of the story behind the image. It was in September of 2013 that I spend two weeks driving around Iceland and it was heaven: I was alone, I had no
Grain Silo No. 51 Lenswork Daily featured a 3 minute audio excerpt from my interview with Brook Jensen regarding this image. http://daily.lenswork.com/2014/03/the-art-of-grain-silos-by-cole-thompson.html
