A Deeper Frame by David duChemin
Any time a new eBook is released by Craft and Vision, the photography community rejoices. Consistent, high quality publications from a variety of photographers who are leaders in their field. This newest release is extra special because it’s from the man who started in all, David du Chemin. A Deeper Frame : Creating Deeper Photographs and More Engaging Experiences is David’s first eBook in six months. He is perhaps best known for his Gear is Good, Vision is Better mantra, and this release discusses the expression of your vision as a photographer, especially as it relates to depth. Depth of vision, depth of expression and depth of experience for both photographer and reader.
Reader? For a photograph? Surely you mean viewer?
Yes, reader, and there’s an explanation of how reader differs from viewer. It’s about active participation versus passive participation. It resonates well with me as I’m someone who just doesn’t enjoy passive entertainment for the most part. I almost never watch TV as I feel it’s too much of a passive activity and this is kind of what I feel David is getting toward in regards to photographs. Do we simply look at an image, or are we engaged by it?
Deeper
Deeper images pull us in visually is one of the phrases in the eBook and as good an explanation of why depth matters as you’ll find. They draw us into the photograph and leave a resulting impression on us. The great photographers understand this – view works by Ansel Adams to take one early example – and that is often why their photographs still sit in the public consciousness decades after they were created. We have an engagement with them that resonates and continues to do so over time.
How we get there is what the meat of this publication is about. We can utilize perspective to help create depth. The use of position, leading lines, converging lines, parallel lines, areas of focus, image elements, optics, color, light and emotion can all help you as a photographer convey the sense of depth. These topics are all looked at, accompanied by creative exercises and detailed descriptions and comparisons.
Shoot What You Love
When I was making my first steps into the world of stock photography six or seven years ago, a successful photographer gave me the advice to shoot what I love. He said that’s the most best way to have success on a professional level. If you don’t shoot what you love, your clients will sense that and they won’t become repeat clients. For the minority of photographers who make their living from the craft that holds true, but I think it applies even more so to anyone who is creating photographs (or any art for that matter) solely for the love of it. The amateurs (in the true sense of the word) have every reason to shoot what they love. That’s kind of the point, isn’t it? Shoot what you love and you’ll have invested your emotions into the photograph. You’ll be telling your readers / viewers that they matter because you are giving yourself fully to your art and by extension, to them.
No matter how many times I hear (or say) “shoot what you love” it never gets old. And that’s probably what I take away the most from A Deeper Frame. For all the techniques, tools and processes you use, if you don’t start by shooting something you love, you’ll never create a photograph with depth.
As standard practice for the first five days only, if you use the promotional code DEEP4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of A Deeper Frame for only $4 OR use the code DEEP20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST July 2nd, 2011. Click here to visit Craft And Vision.
