The mountains were calling

Hello from Arco, Italy,

Sadly, we had to leave Austria one week earlier than anticipated due to bad weather. Snow and ice prevented me from doing many of the things I wanted to do there, but it was those same conditions that gifted me with a magical day that made me miss the mountains.

I lived in Portland, OR, for 5 years. While the city might not get snow every winter (we got one big snowstorm in all of those years), the mountains around it are covered in white powder for several months a year. It's easy to find snow even during the summer, if you hike high enough. I absolutely loved it.

I find snow fascinating. I grew up in a place that barely gets any: flurries are scarce, seeing the snow stick on the ground is a once-in-a-lifetime-event. The nearby mountains do get snow but it's short-lived as the warmer temperatures melt it away rather quickly.

Innsbruck got pummeled with snow last Wednesday. The locals might have found it annoying for their commutes, but it was a gift for me: unable to reach the snowy mountains, they came to me.

Placed among giants, it was easy for me to reach high altitudes by simply walking from our place near downtown Innsbruck. I walked in the snow for hours, going as high on the mountain as I could. I knew it wasn't going to last (it's still November, after all) and I wanted to take it all in.

When I left the city behind and reached the forest, it was like being back in the mountains of Oregon. I was once again walking into magical scenes from a fairy tale.

I loved my time in Innsbruck, definitely on top of my list of places to go back to. Next time, hopefully, better prepared for the winter.

New addition to the family: RX100VII

I just doubled down on my approach to go compact with the purchase of the newest RX100, the mark VII.

The combo mark II + VA is near perfect for what I do. There were two main problems, though:

• The mark II is falling apart, and I'm afraid it'll stop to work at any moment.
• The lack of mic input in the VA has proven to be more painful than I initially thought, making my video workflow much more complicated.

The mark VII feels familiar in every sense, slightly bigger but the same camera. The mic input and the 200mm alone might be worth the huge price tag.

It's already been in the rain and heavy snow since I got it a couple of days ago, and it behaved like a champ. I'll share my final thoughts on this camera very soon for those who are on the fence.

The Church in Mösern

A couple of days ago and while driving around Mösern, I stumbled upon a church located in an incredible vantage point. Surrounded by mountains, it seems as though a photographer placed it there.

As the forecast was predicting quite a bit of snow up there for the next few days, I knew yesterday would be my only chance to photograph it again. So I went back.

This is the contact sheet. As you can see, I worked the scene from different angles and at different focal lengths. They require some more work, but I love two of those shots.

Ditch the viewfinder

Update: I've published a video where I talk about this.

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Daido Moriyama explains why he doesn't like SLR cameras in his documentary "Near Equal" (10:02):

"If you use a SLR, you see things like this (through the viewfinder)
[...]
and when you do this, you want to have perfect focus"

I've been shooting compact cameras for a few weeks now and I have to agree with Daido.

Viewfinders put you inside your image. Using the LCD screen keeps you in the present, aware of your environment. You don't see the fine details, only the big picture of what you are trying to create. You don't worry as much about the exposure or the focus.

All of this makes for a more spontaneous photography, and creates imagery that comes from the gut.

I've been trying to apply street photography principles to landscape and fine art, as opposed to the more meditative and slower process that is usually involved in the making of this kind of images. Instead of adjusting my composition and settings to perfection, I take in my surroundings: the sounds, the smells, the textures, the colors. And then I shoot what feels right.

I don't think either approach is better or worse than the other, and images might not be that different after all. I do enjoy the process more this way, though, and in that sense it's been liberating.

I'd encourage you to give this a try: ditch the viewfinder and embrace the LCD screen for a distraction-free photography.

Building momentum

As photographers, we often have to deal with resistance. As Steven Pressfield puts it, resistance "is a force that will stop an individual's creative activity through any means necessary", including "rationalizing, inspiring fear and anxiety".

After a long trip through Spain, France and Germany, I took a break for 3 days. It was a short one, but enough to "break the momentum" I had.

In this video, I face that resistance and try build momentum again. From beautiful Innsbruck, Austria.

How to shoot everyday

I need to photograph everyday.

A day without taking pictures is a sad day for me. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I always bring my camera with me and shoot, a lot. Most of these photographs never become an image.

Don't forget: motivation comes after action. When we do something, we get motivated and the wheel starts moving. Even on days when I can’t get out as much as I want, I still try to photograph: taking photos of myself, documenting what I do and what I have around me.

There doesn’t have to be a grandiose purpose or a life changing project, these are images for our inner artist, because we need to create.

These are some tips and ideas to help you stay motivated to shoot everyday:

• Start your day by accomplishing something, no matter how small that can be.
• Wake up and get out early, as often as you can. As Pablo Picasso put it, “inspiration exists, but it has to find you working”
• Daily walk and / or run with no destination in mind, do it for the sake of it. No matter where you live, you should be able to do this.
• Always, always, always bring a camera with you. It can be your phone, it can be a GoPro. Whatever.
• Just take that first photo. It'll get your creativity flowing and it'll build momentum.
• There's always an image to be made, keep your mind open and pay close attention. If you see anything interesting, capture it.
• Travel. Josef Koudelka said that he needs to move to a different place every few months because he gets used to places and stops seeing. That's why I travel and also how I got started in photography: when I moved to the US, everything was new to me, I started to see.

Fear is normal

"I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do." - Georgia O'Keeffe

Most of us don't know what we are doing. I surely don't.

We try our best but it isn't easy, there will be plenty of mistakes, frustrations and disappointments on the way, waiting for us.

But right now, they are only fears. Overthinking what could happen will only drag us down. Let's start making today and we'll face the challenges if they ever come up.

In a GoT fashion:

There's only one thing we say to fear: not today.

Photography isn't a formula

You may nail the composition, you and / or your camera might expose the shot perfectly, even the conditions could be ideal. And yet, the final image can be a bad one.

An imperfect composition, a rather dark or bright image, and less than ideal conditions could be ingredients for a great image.

We don’t know. Because photography isn’t a formula we can follow. Fortunately.

Photography is about uncertainty, about unpredictability, almost randomness. Perhaps this is what makes it so enjoyable.

Great images are rare - forget about formulas and be ready for when they come.

A week in Germany

8 days in Germany weren't enough, not even close. We visited many locations across SW and Southern Germany and we only wished we had more time. Bacharach and the Rhine, Freiburg and the Black Forest, Lindau and Lake Constance, Füssen and the Neuschwanstein Castle, Eibsee and Zugspitze. These are the highlights of our trip.

How to achieve excellence in photography

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."
- Aristotle

I don't believe excellence in photography (or any art) is something we can reach through some kind of progression. As I've argued before, we are only one click away from our best image ever.

Skills play a role in photography, but in my opinion it is minimal. Once you master your camera and have an idea of what you want to create, experience takes a back seat.

Experience could in fact be harmful: we play it safe and repeat what's worked well in the past. Better to be a beginner forever instead.

How, then, are we supposed to achieve excellence in photography?

By doing, of course. By getting out and making more and more images. We have to create a lot of bad ones before we achieve that excellence we are looking for. Then we'll have to create more mediocre ones if we want to excel again.

Excellence is born when the right circumstances get together: an artist with the will to be at the right location, the passion to be there under the right conditions, a vision in mind -even if still in the subconscious-, and the right amount of luck.

Most of these factors are out of our control, the only thing we can do to create good art is to simply do it.

How to stay motivated in photography

Sometimes we go through phases where we don't feel like creating new images. Willpower is important in photography -even more if it's done outdoors-, but even the strongest determination will eventually fade away.

Make it simple

The only way to stay motivated in anything is to make it enjoyable -and the best way to make it enjoyable is to make it simple.

Simplifying our photography process will make it more fun and in turn, that will motivate us to do it more often, to create more.

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Less gear makes photography simpler

Imagine a camera that fits in your pocket and you can have with you at all times. I'm not talking about phones: even though I think they are more than good enough they are not my favorite cameras to use.

I'm currently experimenting with compact cameras as my only drivers: one for video (Sony RX100VA) and one for stills (Sony RX100ii), but most of the time I use just one for both (the RX100VA).

I don't have lenses to carry but most importantly, I don't have lenses to choose from. There's no second guessing, I take the camera, I put it in my pocket and I go out the front door. I embrace its strengths and flaws because I have no other choice.

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Photography as a habit

This has led to some somewhat unexpected consequences: this morning during my morning walk I noticed something in my raincoat's right pocket: it was my camera. I had put it there unconsciously while I was getting ready. At this point, it's become a habit.

Carrying a bigger camera would've been less enjoyable, no doubt. It would never be a habit the way grabbing a compact camera is. And with no camera comes no images, no action, thus no motivation.

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Decrease the complexity to increase your motivation

Anything you can do to decrease the complexity of your photography workflow will help. These are some additional ideas to simplify your photography, besides minimizing your camera gear:

• Shoot in P mode and use autofocus
• Create your own preset and use it upon importing
• Be merciless with the images you don't like and delete them right away
• Back your images up in the cloud, perhaps have an external hard drive for fast access
• Loosen up

And don't forget about the key to making great images: wake up and get out.

Leaving is hard

Hello from Innsbruck, Austria.

I was thinking about the crazy last few weeks we've had: it was only two months ago when we were arriving in New York City. It feels like it happened a long time ago, it's been a lot of traveling since then. Even though things get easier over time, I still find it difficult to leave.

We spent two months in Indiana this summer. A month in Spain this last October. Sounds like very short periods of time -they were- and still, I got used to it. I had a routine.

Leaving for this trip was, as usual, hard at first. Don't get me wrong, I love to travel and see new places, but if I lose the momentum it's not easy to get it back. It's a resistance I encounter very often -it's not hard to beat, but it does require some effort.

I'm sure many other photographers feel the same way before a backpacking trip or boarding a plane on their way to a new place: that mix of excitement for the new images you are about to make and the uncertainty, the fear of the unknown, being out of your comfort zone. Maybe that's why so many keep returning to photograph the same places over and over.

This resistance we might face is short-lived, though. The way to beat it is by taking action, by doing. In my case I'd forgotten about the routine and comfort as soon as I reached Zumaia. There's nothing like some beautiful nature to put you in the present.

Zumaia, land of dragons

Rain and wind, the most feared elements by a photographer. They are also the forces that shape and build most of the cliffs, rocks and beaches of the coast. Here, they’ve been working on it for eons. Millions of years in the making, Zumaia shows the passing of time and tells a story, the biggest of all. Speaking of stories, Game of Thrones used a very near location as the spot for Dragonstone. I can see why they chose this place.

I only had a day there, but what was supposed to be a little appetizer for the rest of my fall trip, quickly became a major destination. I can’t wait to go back.

This short movie is the story of my day there, and the images I was able to make. I hope you enjoy it.

Image of the Month, November 2019: "Wawasee"

Wawasee is the new Image of the Month for the month of November. I made this image on a rainy and moody day at Lake Wawasee, Indiana.

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two sizes

Remember: there are two sizes to choose from, 6x6 and 8x8 (inches). In both cases, the matt and frame are 12x12 (this means a bigger margin for the 6x6 print).

shipping included

Shipping is free to the US. International shipping is a flat rate of $14.95.

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artist contract

A new image will be released every month and offered at a reduced price during that time. After 30 days, it will be sold at full price. They will never be on sale at any time in the future, the rate during the first month will be the lowest, ever.

want to know more?

You can find more information about how I create my images and all the details about pricing on The Art and Craft behind my prints.

Wawasee is available for purchase here.

Life update: fall trip and going compact

You already know about my fall trip and my decision to go compact on this trip. This is that same information but in video form, plus some of the highlights of my drive from NW Spain to SW Germany.

Outubro

A slightly different video with some highlights from October, my favorite month of the year.

Photographing my old high school

I visit and photograph my old high school, where I studied more than 20 years ago.

Cies Islands, part III: "It's not a goodbye"

Last day on the Cies Islands, but it's not a goodbye. I look forward to visiting this amazing place again next year, if not sooner.