This site exists mostly for one reason: to help you to get comfortable with learning how to use your flashes. But what then? What next?
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Strobist
Posts Tagged ‘Ecosystems’
Ecosystems 101: Who Are You and What do You Want?
13
May
Dan Swift, of Buffalo, NY sits in the Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica where he is studying biodiversity at the Monteverde Institute. (From an OA post, here.)
__________
I married photography at a very young age.
That's a pretty loaded statement, and one that carries with it many connotations. That's because we all intuitively understand the risks in getting married too young. But the analogy holds true for photography, or at least my path in it.
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Strobist
Ecosystems 101: Photography as a Catalyst
13
May
Let's revisit that hammer analogy. Say you spent some time time learning how to hammer nails. After a couple of smashed thumbs you got pretty good at it. You bought a decent hammer, then decided that was not good enough for your nail-hammering prowess and bought a better one.
You even built a collection of all kinds of nails, to be ready to hammer nails into damn-near anything. Now you can proudly call yourself a nail hammerer. So you sit back and wait for the opportunities and experiences to roll in. Which they might, or might not. But worrying about all of that other stuff is not your problem. You're a nail hammerer, dammit.
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Strobist
Ecosystems 101: Mind the Gaps
13
May
The large rock in the photo above is a very special rock. It is known as the Rosetta Stone, and it is the showcase exhibit in the British Museum in London. It's technically just a rock with some scratching on it, but it was responsible for our learning how to decode Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
How? Because it was a decree issued in Egypt in 196 BC. Specifically, it was issued in three different languages (Ancient Greek, Demotic script and Egyptian hieroglyphs) and thus was the key to our being able to figure out the previously indecipherable language of Ancient Egypt. It was like capturing the other side's code book in WWII.
Which means this rock was literally a key to unlocking a heretofore opaque ancient language.
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Strobist
Ecosystems 101: Photography is a Currency
13
May
Whether you are a pro or an amateur, it is important to know that photography is more than just a language. It is also a currency. Which is to say that it has value, and it is fungible.
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Strobist
Ecosystems 101: Forging a Sustainable Path
12
May
You would think the formula for success as a photographer (or for anything, really) would be both varied and potentially complicated. But at this point in my life, I really don't think that is true.
In fact, I think that a formula for long-term success in, let's say photography, can be boiled down to seven words:
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Strobist
Ecosystems 101: Play the Long Game
12
May
Every day when I sit down to eat, there is a choice. I can eat clean protein, and fruits and veggies. Or I can have a some pizza and maybe a shot of Mountain Dew.
What do I want? I want the pizza. Because that is what I want right now, and it is delicious and an easy choice. That's my 'now' perspective.
A better way is probably to consider my future perspective of 20 years from now. As in, what do I wish I had been eating 20 years ago?
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Strobist
