I’m no Grand National Neat-nick, but I coulda been a contender. The boys have won though.

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One of the Helpful Ideas that didn’t make the cut was the Repeatertron 1000. I got a megaphone, some vinyl letters, and a knob, and the idea was a bullhorn that repeats what you say into it. I was going to have the switch have “1X”, “12X”, and “1000X” settings. It turned out to be [...]

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I met with an editor, who suggested that my photographs that have even a little bit of interest in the background, versus a plain background, are much more interesting. And I think that’s true. So, for the new Helpful Ideas for Busy Dads, I wanted to do a product side for the series, so I [...]

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I can be real dogmatic, in my work, when I’m trying to get to the expression of some grand or clever idea. And that’s, you know, useful. At the same time, I always seem to have some line on something more abstract, more open-ended and maybe just pretty. Which, pretty is important too. In advertising, [...]

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I suppose it’s a reliable question: put expensive things with cheap things, or put expensive things with expensive things? Contrast or complement? Tension or calm? It’s not like you have to commit to one path or another for a lifetime, but within one photograph, you do. 30″ Pearl Strand with Diamond Clasp at Kathleen Dughi [...]

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Shot this in the middle of the night, after shooting the jewelry on white, for a client. I’ve moved jewelry into my territory now. Large 18k gold ring with multi-colored sapphire cabachons and diamonds.

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What’s the most important prerequisite to creativity? Trust. How do you learn to trust yourself enough to create? Practice your art. What do you need in order to practice? Humility. How do you get humble? Be honest. What do you need to do to get honest? Have courage. What gives you courage? Hope. What fosters [...]

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As a freelancer, it’s real easy to get off track. Keri Smith lays out a structure to help avoid that. “Ignore cool. Successful people do not try to be hip, they just do work that excites them.” Secrets of the Self-Employed

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Further on whether or not ideas are ‘mine’. I listened to Radiolab in December, in which Kevin Kelly described how multiple patents for the telephone were claimed in a short span of time. Same for light bulbs. The gist of the Radiolab discussion is that, with technology, at least, once the conditions become right for [...]

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I like to think of my ideas as mine, and that’s a convenient shorthand, but really, the routine way I think about ideas is incorrect. I think of an idea as something I come up with in my head, or something that appears in the intersection between my mind, my heart and my body. But [...]

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