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The Changing Antarctic Light


As I set sail on my fifth voyage to Antarctica I’m wondering what the light and weather will be like this year.

In 2005 we had crystal clear skies that lit up with sunset color for 4 hours.

In 2007 we had weeks of low hanging clouds and low lying fog.

In 2009 we had high thin clouds that diffused the light with a golden glow.

In 2011 we had rain, sleet, hail, snow – if it was wet it was in the air.
Now, in 2013, I’d love to be surprised with something different. But what would that be? A combination of the intense color of 2005 and the sculptural form of 2007?


Each voyage, I’ve hoped for at least one calm passage across The Drake. They have a phrase to describe this body of water –  “lake or shake”. I’ve only seen the “lake” in the colorlful photographs of Eliot Porter and I’d love to see it with my own eyes and make my own photographs. Though I’d be happy to continue “paying the price” to visit Antarctica, I’ve had enough “shake”, which is one reason we plan to fly to Antarctica in 2014.
Discover our 2014 fly to Antarctica sail south of the circle workshop here.

We See As We Are

Reflection I, Cushing, Maine, 1999

There have been a few moments in my life filled with unimaginable stillness and clarity. I find myself continually looking for this quality wherever I go. I’ve found that what it takes to return to this state comes as much (or more) from within as from without.

The Buddhist tradition uses many metaphors that link states of sky or water with states of mind and these are in turn, used to cultivate specific qualities. I made this image (and others like it in the series) spontaneously, not to illustrate or practice Buddhist concepts, yet it arose out of a parallel impulse. I made this image to bring more of this quality into my life, into myself. All photographs are acknowledgments and recollections, some are aspirations too.
Though it’s rare to find incredibly still surfaces without a trace of distortion (by wind, weather, or currents), I have seen them many times. Few of them are picture-perfect, but they are nonetheless inspiring – even surfaces that are not perfectly still can be inspiring. So, to make this image, I made separate exposures of the sky and water and joined heaven and earth virtually. These images connect two moments of stillness and extend them through the creation of a third, one that is reenacted with each viewing.

Titles can speak volumes. How do you title images like this? Cushing, Maine 1998 and Clark Island, Maine 1996? The standard convention of place and date breaks down and if applied, seems complicated and ultimately beside the point. This image is a portrait of a state of mind rather than of a location – an internal space rather than an external place.

Whether unconsciously or consciously, whether unintended or intended, whether collective or individuated, all images portray states of mind. The most important question then becomes, what quality is that state of being?

What states of being are portrayed in the images you appreciate most?
What states of being are portrayed in your images?
Does intensifying your own state of being produce a reciprocal effect in your images?
Can you cultivate states of being through your practice of image-making?

Read more The Stories Behind The Images here.

Advanced Image Editing Techniques With Photoshop CS6


“Learn how to start with a everyday good image and then make it look like a prize winning photo. This will all be done with some tips and techniques found in Adobe Photoshop CS6. This project combines Adobe Camera Raw, Smart Objects, Adaptive Wide Angle, and finally Puppet Warp to enhance the image.”
View more Photoshop videos here.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

16 Quotes On Exploration


Here’s a collection of my favorite quotes on exploration.
“Not all who wander are lost.” – J R R Tolkien
“I’m not lost. I’m exploring.” – Jana Stanfield
“It’s important for the explorer to be willing to be led astray.” – Roger von Oech
“In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.” – Ansel Adams
“You can accelerate your development by giving yourself a fresh set of challenges, or the same set viewed from a different angle, every day. Explore a different path – if it’s a dead end, explore another.” –  Paul Foxton
“An artist has to be a little like Lewis and Clark, always exploring in new, uncharted directions.” – C W Mundy
“All art is a kind of exploring. To discover and reveal is the way every artist sets about his business.” – Robert Flaherty
“An artist is an explorer. He has to begin by self-discovery and by observation of his own procedure. After that he must not feel under any constraint.” – Henri Matisse
“I’m attracted to images that come from a personal exploration of a subject matter. When they have a personal stamp to them, then I think it becomes identifiable.” – Leonard Nimoy
“Acting is constant exploration.” – Paul Builfoyle
“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” – E L Doctorow
“Meaning is not thought up and then written down. The act of writing is an act of thought. All writing is experimental in the beginning. It is an attempt to solve a problem, to find a meaning, to discover its own way towards a meaning.” – Donald Murray
“I do not explain, I explore.” – Marshal McLuhan
“This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.” – John Steinbeck
“That is the exploration that awaits you! Not mapping stars and studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence.” – Leonard Nimoy
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T S Eliot
Find more Creativity Quotes here.
Discover more quotes daily in my Twitter and Facebook streams.

We Change Each Other’s Experiences

Inhalation I, Nantucket, Massachusetts, 1998

I find this image supremely challenging – because of other people’s reactions to it.

The first time I exhibited this image, over the space of a weekend, in front of this image, four women shared stories of personal loss – a friend, a son, a husband, a father. Over the years, this has happened more than sixteen times. Years later, in front of this image, in the same location in the same room, I found myself discussing the death of my first wife with one of the first women to share her own story of personal loss. I could pass this off as a coincidence, but that would be irrational. While it sheds a little light on this mystery, Jung’s concept of synchronicity furthers rather than solves it. I simply can’t explain this. This challenges me – and others. Though largely formed of conjecture, the discussions are interesting. Specific combinations of qualities, universal color codes, sacred geometry, archetypes, intuition, precognition … theories multiply. The mystery remains.

When I made this image, I wasn’t aware of the themes of death and loss weighing on my mind or heart. I was totally absorbed in making the image. Now, it’s almost impossible for me not to think of it, though I can still see much more in this image.

What people share about works of art may change their own and other people’s relationships to them. What the artist shares about their relationships to the works of art they create often changes the relationships their viewers strike up with them. This process is often encouraged and sought out. It can work the other way too. What people share about an artist’s works of art may change the artist’s relationship with his or her own work. While this type of process is less typical, it raises an interesting set of questions to consider, “When, where, and in what ways is encouraging this exchange most beneficial?”
The process of communicating the experiences stimulated by works of art and the results of those interactions, which continue spreading in many ways, often producing both intended and unintended consequences, is part of the life of a work of art. Though not entirely in the control of the artist, it is not separate from the work of art. Works of art connect us in unique ways.

It’s interesting that the amount of energy imbued in a work of art is not limited to the amount of energy invested by the artist; more is added through others’ experiences of them. How strongly a work of art does this is one criterion, among many, for evaluating its quality and success.

How many ways can you encourage meaningful discussion about your images?
How many ways can you seek useful feedback about your images?
How many ways can you give yourself useful feedback about your images?

Read more The Stories Behind The Images here.