Posts

How to Build a Carry-Anywhere Journaling Kit That Actually Fits in Your Camera Bag
Video Tutorials

How to Build a Carry-Anywhere Journaling Kit That Actually Fits in Your Camera Bag

There is a specific kind of frustration I know well: you are somewhere genuinely interesting, the light is doing something strange and beautiful, and you want to sketch it, write a note about it, or stamp the date into a little notebook page to remember the moment, but you left the supplies at home because they were too bulky to bother with. I have missed more creative moments to that excuse than I care to count.

What Your RAW Files Actually Look Like (And Why That Should Excite You)
Video Tutorials

What Your RAW Files Actually Look Like (And Why That Should Excite You)

Every photographer I know has had this experience: you see a stunning image online, you assume the photographer has some kind of magical eye or expensive gear you’ll never afford, and you quietly feel a little defeated. I spent years doing this before I started paying closer attention to what RAW files actually look like before editing. Turns out, even the pros are working from flat, underwhelming captures. The magic isn’t entirely in the moment the shutter fires.

How to Scout and Shoot Waterfall Compositions During Fall Foliage Season
Video Tutorials

How to Scout and Shoot Waterfall Compositions During Fall Foliage Season

There is a specific kind of frustration that comes from arriving at a waterfall location and realizing you have no plan. You are standing in front of something genuinely beautiful, the light is doing something interesting overhead, and you are fumbling with your tripod trying to figure out where to even point your camera. I have been that person more times than I want to admit. One particularly humbling trip involved a waterfall in Oregon, three days of missed dinner, and a husband who was very patient about it.

What Happens When a 17-Year Veteran Shoots With a Fixed Lens Camera (And Why You Should Try It Too)
Video Tutorials

What Happens When a 17-Year Veteran Shoots With a Fixed Lens Camera (And Why You Should Try It Too)

There’s a particular kind of creative rut that’s hard to name but easy to recognize. You’re not taking bad photos. You’re just taking the same photos. Same focal length, same approach, same instincts firing in the same order. I lived in that rut for longer than I’d like to admit, mostly because my system worked and nothing forced me to question it. It wasn’t until I started paying attention to photographers who deliberately boxed themselves in that I understood constraints could be the most useful tool in the bag.

How a Pro Edits His Favorite Shots: A Lightroom Workflow Breakdown Worth Studying
Video Tutorials

How a Pro Edits His Favorite Shots: A Lightroom Workflow Breakdown Worth Studying

Every January I do a little ritual: I go back through the previous year’s photos and force myself to look at the ones I skipped over. It’s uncomfortable, honestly. Some of them turn out to be better than I remembered, and some of them remind me of what I was trying to do before I gave up and moved on. What I’ve learned is that the gap between a forgotten photo and a favorite one is usually just a thoughtful edit.

Wide-Angle Lenses Are Harder Than They Look — Here's How to Stop Fighting Yours
Video Tutorials

Wide-Angle Lenses Are Harder Than They Look — Here's How to Stop Fighting Yours

There’s a specific kind of frustration I remember from my early landscape work: standing in front of something genuinely breathtaking, shooting with the widest lens I owned, and still walking away with photos that felt… flat. Crowded. Like I’d tried to describe an entire novel in a single sentence. I owned a 16-35mm zoom, and for an embarrassingly long stretch, I shot everything at 16mm because I thought wider automatically meant better.

What Happens When You Let a Community Edit Your Green Screen Footage (And What It Teaches Us About VFX)
Video Tutorials

What Happens When You Let a Community Edit Your Green Screen Footage (And What It Teaches Us About VFX)

I have a playlist I made called “big project energy.” It’s the one I put on when I’m staring down a creative problem that feels bigger than my skill set. Green screen compositing used to be that problem for me. I’d shoot the footage, key out the background, and end up with something that looked like a local news segment from 2003. The edges were rough, the lighting never matched, and the whole thing screamed “fake.

The One Landscape Composition Rule I Follow on Almost Every Single Shoot
Video Tutorials

The One Landscape Composition Rule I Follow on Almost Every Single Shoot

There’s a compositional habit I picked up years ago that quietly fixed something I didn’t even know was broken in my landscape photos. I kept shooting wide, loving how epic everything looked through the viewfinder, then getting home and feeling vaguely disappointed. The shots weren’t bad, exactly. They just felt empty. Thin. Like I’d photographed the idea of a place rather than the place itself. When I came across this tutorial from landscape photographer Matt Kloskowski, I immediately recognized what I’d been doing wrong.

Photograph It Like You've Never Seen It Before: Mark Denney's One Rule That Changed How I Shoot
Video Tutorials

Photograph It Like You've Never Seen It Before: Mark Denney's One Rule That Changed How I Shoot

There’s a habit I picked up early in my photography life that quietly held me back for years. I’d find a good location, nail a shot I was happy with, and then mentally file that place away as “done.” Visited. Captured. Move on. It wasn’t until I started paying attention to how working landscape photographers approach their locations that I realized how much I was leaving behind every single time.

Steel Wool Photography: How to Spin Fire Into Stunning Long Exposure Shots
Video Tutorials

Steel Wool Photography: How to Spin Fire Into Stunning Long Exposure Shots

Every few months I’ll stumble across a photo on Instagram that stops me mid-scroll. You know the kind. Someone standing in the middle of a dark field, surrounded by what looks like a galaxy of sparks, orange and gold streaks radiating outward like a living firework. I’d double-tapped those shots a dozen times before I ever understood how they were made. That changed when I watched Peter McKinnon’s steel wool tutorial with his collaborator, photographer and creative director Chris Hau, who actually leads the technique breakdown.

Understanding How Camera Stabilization Ratings Are Actually Measured
News

Understanding How Camera Stabilization Ratings Are Actually Measured

Understanding How Camera Stabilization Ratings Are Actually Measured When you’re shopping for your next camera, you’ve probably seen those impressive stabilization numbers: 8.5 stops, 7 stops, sometimes even more. But have you ever wondered how manufacturers arrive at these ratings? I recently learned that the answer is far more technical—and controlled—than most photographers realize. The Lab, Not the Field Here’s what surprised me most: those stabilization ratings don’t come from photographers handheld shooting in real-world conditions.

How to Shoot Minimalist Beach Photography with a Film Camera (Lessons from Thomas Heaton)
Video Tutorials

How to Shoot Minimalist Beach Photography with a Film Camera (Lessons from Thomas Heaton)

There’s a specific kind of frustration I know well: arriving at a beautiful location, feeling the pressure of fading light, and having absolutely no idea where to point your camera. I’ve stood at the edge of Puget Sound on a Sunday morning walk with a perfect golden sky overhead and a completely blank mind. No anchor. No composition. Just pretty light and nothing to do with it. That problem, the gap between a beautiful scene and a compelling photograph, is exactly what this tutorial addresses.