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How Shooting for the Crop Changed the Way I Think About Composition
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How Shooting for the Crop Changed the Way I Think About Composition

For a long time, composition felt like the part of photography where the rules multiplied faster than I could memorize them. Rule of thirds, leading lines, negative space, golden ratio — all useful, all valid, and yet somehow none of it answered the most practical question I kept running into in the field: what do I actually do when I’m not sure if I have the shot? I’d come home from a shoot, pull up my files, and realize the thing that was bothering me about an image was something I could have fixed right there on location if I’d only given myself a little room to work.

Why I Always Have a Compact Camera in My Pocket (And How Sean Tucker Convinced Me to Stop Making Excuses)
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Why I Always Have a Compact Camera in My Pocket (And How Sean Tucker Convinced Me to Stop Making Excuses)

Every Sunday morning I do a photo walk. Rain, shine, or the kind of Seattle gray that makes you question your life choices. The ritual is the point. But I’ll be honest with you — there have been plenty of Sundays where I nearly talked myself out of going because I didn’t feel like hauling my whole kit. And on those days, the camera that saves the walk is always the small one stuffed into my jacket pocket.

How to Edit Protest Photography with Purpose: Radial Masks, Drama, and Timeless Tone
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How to Edit Protest Photography with Purpose: Radial Masks, Drama, and Timeless Tone

There’s a specific challenge that comes up when you’re editing photos that carry real emotional weight. Vacation shots and portraits have a certain forgiving quality to them. But when the image is documenting something that matters, something that needs to hold up a decade from now, the editing decisions feel higher stakes. You don’t want the processing to date the photo, and you don’t want style to get in the way of substance.

What Modern Camera Manufacturers Can Learn From User Feedback
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What Modern Camera Manufacturers Can Learn From User Feedback

What Modern Camera Manufacturers Can Learn From User Feedback After spending considerable time with numerous camera systems—from mirrorless bodies to compact rangefinders—I’ve developed some clear perspectives on what separates good camera design from exceptional camera design. While no camera manufacturer has achieved perfection, some are getting much closer than others by listening to what photographers actually need. The Features That Matter Most When evaluating cameras across different brands, I consistently return to one fundamental question: Does this camera solve real problems I face in the field?

What Happens When You Leave Your Digital Camera at Home (And Only Shoot Film)
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What Happens When You Leave Your Digital Camera at Home (And Only Shoot Film)

There’s a specific kind of anxiety that hits when you realize you can’t rely on your usual tools. I know it well. I once spent an entire vacation trying to nail one waterfall shot, missing dinner every night, convinced that if I just got the settings right I’d finally have the image. What I actually needed was to stop fussing and start seeing. That tension between gear dependency and genuine vision is exactly what Thomas Heaton explores in his recent trip to the Outer Hebrides, a rugged cluster of islands off the coast of Scotland.

You Don't Need a Story: How to Make Compelling Photos from Pure Shape, Light, and Color
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You Don't Need a Story: How to Make Compelling Photos from Pure Shape, Light, and Color

Every Sunday morning I’m out walking before most of my neighborhood has had coffee, and for a long time I felt a low-level guilt about my favorite shots from those walks. No people. No dramatic moment. Just a patch of light cutting across a concrete wall, or the geometry of a fire escape against a pale sky. Were those even “real” photographs? Was I doing it wrong? Turns out, no. And I needed someone else to articulate why before I fully believed it.

How to Composite Fake Backgrounds Into Your Photos Using Photoshop (And Why You Shouldn't Feel Guilty About It)
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How to Composite Fake Backgrounds Into Your Photos Using Photoshop (And Why You Shouldn't Feel Guilty About It)

Every Sunday morning I do a photo walk around Seattle, and I come back with about two hundred shots. Maybe ten of them are genuinely interesting. A handful have great light but a cluttered background. A few have a compelling subject and a completely dead sky. For years I either published the mediocre version or deleted the file entirely. It took watching other photographers talk openly about compositing for me to realize there was a third option.

What Hasselblad's Photokina 2014 Stand Taught Me About Printing Big and Shooting Wireless
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What Hasselblad's Photokina 2014 Stand Taught Me About Printing Big and Shooting Wireless

There’s a moment every photographer chases where you see your work printed at a scale you weren’t quite prepared for. Not on a screen, not in a proof, but on a wall so large you have to step back just to take it all in. For me, that kind of moment usually happens by accident, and it always asks the same uncomfortable question: did my camera actually capture enough? Resolution, sharpness, dynamic range.

10 Premiere Pro Tips That Will Actually Change How You Edit (Organized by How Much Time They'll Save You)
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10 Premiere Pro Tips That Will Actually Change How You Edit (Organized by How Much Time They'll Save You)

I shoot a lot. Between client work, travel content, and the Sunday photo walks I refuse to give up no matter the Seattle weather, I end up with a genuinely embarrassing amount of footage to sort through. For a long time, my editing workflow was the digital equivalent of throwing clothes on a chair and hoping for the best. Bins named “stuff,” clips in the wrong sequence, color grades applied one painstaking cut at a time.

sRGB, Adobe RGB, or ProPhoto RGB? Here's How to Actually Choose the Right Color Space
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sRGB, Adobe RGB, or ProPhoto RGB? Here's How to Actually Choose the Right Color Space

I used to export photos straight from Lightroom without giving color spaces a second thought. The images looked fine on my monitor, I’d post them, and then wonder why they looked slightly dull or weirdly shifted on my phone or a friend’s laptop. It wasn’t until I started digging into color management that I realized I had been skipping one of the most consequential settings in my entire workflow. This is one of those invisible problems that affects every single image you share, and most photographers don’t even know it’s happening.

Why Content Creators Should Care About Premium Audio Equipment
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Why Content Creators Should Care About Premium Audio Equipment

Why Content Creators Should Care About Premium Audio Equipment As a photographer and content creator, I’ve long focused on the visual side of my work—lighting, composition, and color grading dominate my workflow. But lately, I’ve been noticing something important: the creative industry is increasingly recognizing that exceptional audio is just as crucial as stunning visuals. This realization hit home when I learned that major tech manufacturers are now developing specialized audio solutions designed specifically for creators and enthusiasts.

How to Actually Edit RAW Landscape Photos: A 5-Step Lightroom Workflow That Works
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How to Actually Edit RAW Landscape Photos: A 5-Step Lightroom Workflow That Works

I spent an entire vacation chasing a waterfall shot. Five days, missed dinners, soaked boots. When I finally got home and opened the RAW files, I had no idea what I was doing in Lightroom and nearly threw away some of the best frames I’d ever captured. That experience is exactly why I get a little emotional when beginners tell me they just shoot JPEG because it’s “easier.” I understand the logic.