Category Archives: Learn

30 Strangers exhibit – behind the scenes

The 30 Strangers exhibit is this Friday. July 2nd. It’s going to be great fun. I hope to see you there. I thought I’d share with you the process of selecting the images that will go in the show. I estimate that over the course of the month of April, I shot 6,000 – 8,000 [...]
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Photography students visit Provo

Yesterday a group of photography and design students from BYU-Idaho came to Utah to visit a few businesses in Utah and see how things are done on a daily basis. They stopped at The Mandate Press (smart move) in Salt Lake and came by my studio in the afternoon. It was great fun to host [...]
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Vegas, Baby – WPPI

Don’t wait up. I’m headed to Vegas. Every year, there is a trade show and convention for wedding and portrait photographers. It’s called WPPI. I love being there and meeting other photographers doing great work and meeting with vendors that can help us make our business better and increase our service to our clients. This [...]
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Utah photography group: Salt Lake Seven

The Salt Lake Seven is a group of photographers that meet each month to show and talk about their work. It started in 1996 when I asked Kent Miles to be a private instructor for me. He suggested that instead, I find some other like-minded photographers, who also wanted to improve their craft, and that [...]
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Take a camera with you

It’s always good to carry your camera with you. That way, when you show up and your friends haven’t arrived yet, you can spend your time making pictures. And that’s just what happened here. This photograph was made a few days ago while I was waiting for my friends. Pretty good way to pass the [...]
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What to photograph

Giving specific advice on what to photograph would not be appreciated even if it was possible. The answer is provided by a question: What are you really interested in? In other words: What is it that can sustain your enthusiasm for a long time? Bill Jay, Occam’s Razor …..
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Photography Books

Here are the photography books I got for my birthday. I’m so excited!
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How to be a photographer

You cannot be a photographer by aspiring to be one, or by learning everything there is to be known about photography. Photographers produce photographs. And many of them. Like every other skill, photography is learned by continuous and dedicated practice. Bill Jay, Occam’s Razor
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A Photographer’s Style

Young photographers are often pressured into an emphasis on individual style, a search for distinction, a quest for newness and differentness. Yet the truth of the matter is that a unique style is a by-product of visual exploration, not its goal. Personal vision only comes from not aiming for it. In dim light, objects emerge [...]
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BYU Idaho – Art Seminar

Thanks to everyone that came to the Art Seminar lecture at BYU Idaho last Thursday. I really did have the time of my life. It was great to meet everyone that came up after and I really appreciate what Kelly Burgener, dean of the art school said. “That was as good as any Art Seminar [...]
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Utah photographer in Idaho – BYU-Idaho Art Seminar

Thursday, October 22 at 6pm I’m giving a lecture at BYU-Idaho for their Art Seminar series. I’m going to be telling the story about the first time I kissed a girl (it was during the TV show Family Feud) and about the time a guy was walking around Rexburg without a coat when it was [...]
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BYU Idaho – Art Seminar

In about three weeks I’m going to drive up to Rexburg Idaho and speak at BYU-Idaho. It’s for their Art Seminar series. Each semester, BYU Idaho invites artists from a variety of disciplines to speak about their work. From their site: “The course is designed to expose Art majors to a variety of contemporary artists, [...]
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What is Talent?

Rodney Smith is one of my favorite photographers. Here’s a recent quote from his blog: To say a photographer has a vision is to say the photographer has something unique to say to about the world. Why do some photographers have something unique to say, when so many others just shoot pictures that are general [...]
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Vegas, baby!

Amy and I are leaving for Vegas today. We’re going to be attending WPPI. It’s a big convention for wedding and portrait photographers. See you in a while. Don’t wait up.
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WPPI – Who’s going?

Who’s going? If we’ve never met before–now’s our chance.
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Six ways to be a better photographer

I wrote a short article called “Six Ways To Be A Better Photographer – Right Now” and it’s now posted on one of my favorite blogs: Stephmodo.com. Here’s the link: http://www.stephmodo.com/2009/01/six-ways-to-be-better-photographer.html
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Beyond Shutter Speed

I remember trying to photograph my friend Christian about one year after I got my first camera. I moved slow, making sure that little needle inside (light meter) was lined up just right. Check the shutter speed. Ok. Got it. Check the aperture. Ok. It’s where it needs to be. Then focus. By that time, [...]
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Advice for photographers

Advice for photographers: Never think photography is easy. It’s like poetry in that it’s easy enough to make a few rhymes, but that’s not a good poem. –Chris Steele-Perkins There’s so much more where that came from on Magnum’s blog.
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Photo Expo 2008

To any photographers that may read my blog, I’m wondering if you are going to Photo Expo this year. If so, let me know and let’s meet up. What is Photo Expo? Here it is from their website: PDN PhotoPlus continues to be on the cutting edge of what’s happening in photography and imaging. Since [...]
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