Street Photography Makes Me Uncomfortable mk2
I was re-reading some of my old posts lately because I’ve started work on a mini book based on my Substack posts’…
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✦ Category
Theory
Teaching Photography #2: What Photography Is For
The first session with my niece will establish what photography is actually for, but not through abstract discussion. She’ll have her camera…
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The Beholder Has Changed
You already know the photograph. Nick Ut took it in 1972 on a road in Vietnam: a girl running, napalm smoke behind…
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Teaching Photography #1: Starting From Why
My niece is twelve. She loves taking photos with whatever’s in her pocket, but the 550D I gave her sits mostly untouched…
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The Evolution of Photographic Meaning
I’ve been thinking about how photographers develop over time. Looking at what I’ve been writing over the last few months, I see…
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How Photography Works In My Head #6: Working With Your Cognitive Style Instead of Against It
Once you understand your cognitive profile, the question becomes what to do with that understanding. You can fight your natural architecture, trying…
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The Two Objects of Photography
There’s a contradiction that’s been nagging at me for years, and I’ve only recently found a way to articulate why it’s a…
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How Photography Works In My Head #5: Finding Your People Through Cognitive Style
Your audience self-selects partly based on shared cognitive architecture. This isn’t about intelligence or sophistication. It’s about whether your mode of thinking…
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When You Stop Treating Photography As a Performance, You Can Embrace Your Self Image
My mother sometimes jokes that she raised a ghost, because there are barely any photographs of me as a child or teenager.…
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How Photography Works In My Head #4: Teaching Photography to Brains That Work Differently
Photography instruction assumes cognitive uniformity. Teachers describe their own process and expect students to replicate it. “Learn to see the light.” “Pre-visualise…
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