‘Tis the Season …

[by Gail Mooney]

When my daughter was a young child she always used to draw a picture for our Christmas card.  Most times they were quite abstract and if we hadn’t titled her illustrations and written a Christmas greeting, the receiver might not have known it was a holiday card at all.  As she got older and her artistic ability improved, the cards became less abstract but still had the charm and the whimsy of a child.

Putting together these cards used to take a lot of time and wasn’t cheap.  We had to bring the original drawings to a prepress house for scanning and printing.  These days it’s a snap and I could get them done in house in less than a day’s time.

My daughter just graduated from college and is on her own now so we’ve had to come up with new ideas for holiday cards but to this day I still get comments from art directors who received those holiday cards so many years ago.

Here’s a question for you: How many clients do you need?

[by Judy Herrmann]

No, really – 1,000?  500? 50? 10?

If you’re like me, the number’s a lot closer to the right than the left.  In fact, what I really need, what I really want is a core group of repeat clients who I like and respect and who like and respect my work.

If you’re dying to be EVERYBODY’s photographer, read no further.  But if you, like me, are looking to build relationships with like-minded people with whom you can produce creatively satisfying work then I’ve got a crazy idea for you.

What if we stop scattering seeds to the wind in the hopes they’ll land on fertile ground?

What if we stop the mass mailings and emailers and broadcast marketing blasts that go to faceless, anonymous people who are already receiving thousands of these things from a multitude of faceless, anonymous photographers?

What if we take the time to find those individuals whose aesthetics and visual communications needs really resonate with what we love to do.

What if we took that common ground, mixed it with a little creativity, ingenuity and good-old fashioned chutzpah and used it to build relationships with those individuals instead of marketing to them?

Maybe, just maybe, we’d actually get what we want.

Good Data Supports Good Choices

[by Rosh Sillars]

Your opinion can cost you money.  The colors you choose for your Web site, the words you use, and the images you select all pay a role in the success of your site.  It is important to use good data to help you construct a Web site that attracts and retains your target market.

One of the most common methods of creating and tracking data is to install Google Analytics. Use Analytics to follow traffic sources to and bounce rates from your Web site. If you have not yet installed this, you are doing yourself a disservice.

There are additional services available on the Web that may answer questions you have not even thought to ask, such as:

How are your competitors doing? You can find the answer at www.compete.com.

What are the demographics of the people visiting your Web site? Are you attracting your target market? www.quantcast.com can help answer these questions.

If you are interested in one of the most current Internet analytic applications that offers a rich user interface and real-time data, you can sign up as a beta tester for www.woopra.com.

Be careful; don’t overwhelm yourself with useless data. Ask yourself questions first, then use the best tools available to gather quality data to help you make good decisions.

Web Design Essentials

[by Carolyn Potts]

What’s the business objective of my web site? As visual artists we’re primarily drawn to the play of
light, shadow, color and contrast as they often serve as the basis of our sheer delight. We’re also easily distracted by bright, shiny, and pretty things.

A marketing trap that one can fall into is to simply emulate the web design of a photographer whose photos and web site we admire. Award-winning web sites with lots of stunning visuals suck us right in and lead us to ‘be inspired” (i.e., copy them) when creating our own site; often there’s  little if no attention paid to asking if the design is resonant with our own branding and the needs of the people we want to attract.

An ironic liability of a too-over-the-top web design, is that it risks alienating a market segment who you could have served; they can end up thinking “they can no longer afford you.” (Yes, that’s actually happened).

Your best site design strategy is one that reflects both YOUR brand and what YOUR target audience needs. The photographer you admire may be serving a completely different market.

You must define who your “ideal client” is before you can build a site that will appeal to them.
Here are some questions to help you define your “ideal client.”

What do I know about my target customer’s needs when they first arrive on my site?
E.g. If you’re targeting ad agencies, your site must have features that serve the needs of the time-pressed and collaborative work environment. Some way of displaying thumbnails are a must.

The timeline in wedding photography is usually a lot less deadline-driven (shotgun weddings not withstanding..;-) and therefore the wedding market visitor arrives at a more leisurely pace often looking for an experience (usually romantic) from your imagery E.g. they might respond favorably to interactive and experiential features (e.g. music)–ironically the same ones which usually alienate business clients.

The corporate market customer may require more copy to about your services to gain purchasing approval from colleagues outside of the creative department. Some features (e.g. light-boxes) also might require more instructional copy in one market than another.

But what if either by geography or economic necessity you’re trying to reach several markets with one site?
You can. Just don’t try to be all things to all people all the time.
Develop a targeted web strategy to drive different market segments to specific areas of your site or to sub-domains.

You are essentially a service business. So are your insurance company and your bank; they have different marketing plans–and related web pages– to reach both the sports car driver and the soccer mom. Their marketing strategies are different based on the different needs of each market. You can do that too. Unless your target market is other photographers, design your web strategy accordingly.

Gaining the admiration of your fellow photographers–while it sure feels nice–might not be the best business goal for your bottom line.

No Time to Lose

[by Leslie Burns-Dell'Acqua]

A common complaint I hear from photographers is that they do not have the time to do everything. Welcome to modern life. We all are over-committed… but you can manage it if you do two things: use a schedule and say “no.”

The schedule is simply required. Find a calendar tool you like and use it. No excuses. Don’t over-think it– just find an app you like (and if you don’t know which that is, test drive one a week until you find it) and use it. You’re a grown-up and you know how this works. Successful people of all kinds schedule their lives and you need to as well. It stops sucking after a while, I promise.

Besides having “preached” this for years in business, I have put the whole scheduling and saying “no” thing to the test lately through experience. These days, I am a full-time law student as well as still running my consulting business. I have no “free” time. There is always more studying to do or another blog post or Manual to be written, etc. But that doesn’t mean I don’t get done what I need to, as well as do some things just for me (that’s important too). It does mean I have to schedule and to say “no” to some things I used to say “yes” to.

We all want to be liked, want to be helpful, and don’t want to do anything that may run the risk of not getting work. Lots of admirable traits there, but it’s unsustainable when you add up being a photographer, a small businessperson, and your personal/family role. You must start saying “no” to some things or you are going to burn out.

No, though appearing scary, is a liberator. The brother-in-law who wants your help with a project? No. The cheap client who wants you to do one for free? No. The extended family complaining that you don’t visit? No. The really demanding friend who is usually a downer and a drag and who shows up late for everything? No. At first it may feel a bit brutal, but really, after doing it a few times, with permission not to feel guilty, well, it’s almost fun.

Moreover, people are amazingly understanding and usually don’t care half as much as you think about whatever it is they are asking of you. If you say “no” they’ll get over it, and quickly, too. You don’t need to make excuses, either. Just say “No, I can’t help/do that/be there” and shut up.

Now, of course there are some things you cannot say “no” to. You’ve got to pay your taxes and do your marketing, for example. But by cutting out the crap you don’t have time for or don’t really want to do, you will have more time to do the necessary things and to schedule things you want to do. Make Tuesday afternoons into creative rejuvenation periods and go museums, etc., for example.

The biggest thing you can do, however, is to stop beating yourself up about not getting everything done. It is never done. As long as you are breathing, there is stuff to be done. You are in control, though, don’t forget. Choose to do what you want and need to, schedule those tasks, and do them as best you can. Things you don’t do you reschedule. For the things you do, pat yourself on the back.

Five Boosts for your Photoshop Workflow

[by Jay Kinghorn]

Much of my consulting and training work with clients results in a faster, more consistent workflow and more time in my clients’ days. Below is a list of seven things you can do to speed up your image processing and take control of your workflow.

1) Actions: If you perform a step more than twice, automate it. Actions are simple to learn, quick to create and highly efficient. I frequently make job-specific actions to ensure consistency from file to file or job to job. Even small tasks like flattening layers or opening specific dialog boxes is faster when you assign a function key to an action. There’s nothing like processing an entire job by pressing a few keys and having Photoshop do the work for you.

2) A graphics tablet for retouching: If you perform your own retouching you owe it to yourself to invest in a graphics tablet. Not only will your retouching be more accurate, but you’ll save boatloads of time on your retouching.

3) Camera Raw Presets: Many photographers perform the same set of corrections for every camera raw file. Add five points of contrast, seven points of saturation and so forth. Save this information as either a preset or the default for each of your cameras. Better still is to create a DNG profile for your camera. These steps will apply a series of baseline changes to each raw file as they’re loaded into Adobe Camera Raw. You will likely need to perform shoot-or-scene specific corrections on top of the baseline correction, but you’re starting from a better baseline than the default settings in ACR.

4) Metadata templates: With the specter of Orphan Works legislation perpetually looming over the horizon, it pays to make sure your copyright information is stored in the metadata of every photograph in your collection. The best strategy is to enter this information early and do it automatically. Whether you use PhotoMechanic, Bridge or Lightroom for your initial edit, be sure to build, and apply, a metadata template to insert your contact and copyright photo in every image as it is downloaded to your computer.

5) Productivity plug-ins: Plug-ins can be a productivity black hole. “Hmm, should I use the mossy rock or brilliant sunrise filter on this image?” That said, productivity plugins can often remove noise, improve sharpness, enlarge images or eliminate backgrounds faster, and with better quality than doing it by hand. Here are a few of my favorites:
Noise:
- Noise Ninja

Upsizing/Enlarging:
- Genuine Fractals
- Blow Up

Cut-out/Background Removal:
- Fluid Mask

Sharpening:
- Sharpener Pro
- Photo Kit Sharpener

Routines Keep Me More Productive

[by Rosh Sillars]

If you are an independent photographer, routine may not be in your vocabulary.  I enjoy my freedom. To me, the word routine conjures up images of restrictive cubicles, repetitive tasks and stressful commutes.

But, in order to keep my life on target I employ what I call my mini-routine.  It contains specific action items I do every business day.  Each of these actions only takes 10-20 minutes. My goal is to accomplish these tasks in the morning.

Each day is different and I need to be flexible. My only personal mandate is that each item in my routine be completed by end of day.  My list contains the same six to eight things every day. Every few months I reevaluate the mini-routine and make adjustments where they are necessary.

What is on my routine list? Everything that I traditionally don’t like or let slip away as a best practice: exercise, accounting, sending thank you notes and home repairs.

The idea is to prevent small things from turning into big problems or projects. In the past I’ve left my accounting unreconciled for months. By spending just minutes each day on minimal tasks I stay on top of the game.

If you like exercise and find it to be a favorite pastime, then it doesn’t belong on your list. If you’re really good at keeping on top of your accounting — find something else to put in your routine.

I know that if I don’t eat a good breakfast each morning I’m not as productive during the day.  Sometimes I need to put eating in my routine just to keep on the right path.

What are five or six things you don’t like or avoid that affects your business success or quality of life? If you create a mini-routine you will find it ultimately relieves stress, improves productivity and life harmony.

Time Saving Tips For Shooting and Editing Video

[by Gail Mooney]

The Shoot

• Have a plan – When I first started learning video at the Platypus Workshop, we weren’t even allowed near the camera until we could articulate our “commitment” or our story in a concise, one paragraph statement.
• Make a shot list if appropriate – If you go into a shoot with a list of shots that you want to walk away with, you will work more efficiently as well as make sure you’ve covered what you need to.  But always allow room for the unexpected by letting serendipity happen.
• Shoot tighter – this will happen naturally if you have a shot list
• Avoid lengthy interviews – you’ll be glad you did in the editing room.
• Have the edit in mind when shooting – you’ll shoot more efficiently and you’ll already be laying out the story for the edit.

The Edit

• Gather all assets before you start – I make sure that I prep and import all the content I will be using in my edit – still photos, logs, graphics, music, media. That way I don’t have to leave my editing application once I begin the edit. This helps me stay focused on the story.
• Organize your media – I separate my interview clips, b-roll, music, still photos etc. into separate bins.
• Make good log notes when capturing or importing your video clips – this will help you quickly find and select the clips you need.
• Edit your best clips and place them on separate tracks – I usually scrub through my material, selecting the best interviews, b-roll and live action and put them on different tracks.  Then I can pick the clips appropriate to that point in the story when working on the overall story track.
• Determine the length of the piece and set in and out points – I frequently will create my “start” and my “finish” and then work on the middle of the piece.
• Lay down the narrative or voiceover first – I generally lay down my audio track whether it is a voiceover narrative or interviews.  This is what drives my story.  Then I lay down the visuals.
• Get your rough cut down first – I lay down my story first – before I even begin to color correct, adjust exposure, sweeten the audio or move still images.
• Feel the piece – Every piece has it’s own feel and pace that drives it.  Make sure that you achieve what you’re after in telling the story before polishing for the final cut.
• Get away from the computer – Sometimes we need to take a break in an effort to ultimately save time.  I find when I walk away from the technology and let the story move in my head and then go back to the edit – I ultimately save time in the long run because I don’t get bogged down in the technical details.

It’s Not Rocket Science

[by Judy Herrmann]

For decades, my Dad, a real live Rocket Scientist, has been telling me I’ll be more productive if I work fewer hours and solve problems faster if I take more breaks. But did I listen? Of course not! Until, that is, I heard it from someone else…

The “Entrepreneurial Time Management System” by Dan Sullivan turns my Dad’s approach to life and work into a simple and effective formula.

The concept is to divide your time into 3 types of days:

Free Days – 24 hour periods during which you don’t think about your business or do any business related stuff.

Focus Days – 24 hour periods during which you spend the majority of your time focused on productive activities for your business including planning, dreaming, thinking, strategizing and producing.

Buffer Days – 24 hour periods where you deal with all the petty details that have to get taken care of for you to be able to schedule your Focus Days and Free Days.

As much as I recognize the value intellectually, I’m still not capable of dedicating entire DAYS to anything (Sorry, Pops!). But I have started scheduling chunks of time along these lines. I try to make sure that each week I have a chunk where I don’t check email, am not available for calls and am doing some kind of growth activity – brainstorming, reading, researching, writing, thinking, forecasting, etc.

Obviously that chunk gets sandwiched between chunks of “buffer” time. As for Free Days…well, going 24 hours straight without thinking about my business? Um yeah, probably not in this lifetime but I am forcing myself to take some big chunks of time, mostly on weekends, where I disengage from everything related to work and try to be as loose and free and relaxed as I’m capable of being.

Ok, so at this rate, I may never conquer space but I am making a good dent on time. As much as I hate to admit Dad was right, even my limited adoption of the “do more with less” strategy is working.

Be a Professional with dpBestflow

[by Jay Kinghorn]

Today, many photographers find themselves having to justify their creative fees and post-processing fees to clients. After all, it seems everybody these days has a digital SLR and a copy of Photoshop and thinks they can do it themselves. The truth is, your relationship with the client only begins with creating a compelling image. It is complete when the image is successfully reproduced in its final format.

Clients rely on you to know how to provide them with digital files that meet their technical needs and are delivered on time. With how quickly our industry is changing, you must make sure to use best practices for your digital workflow to stay organized, maximize image quality and keep clients happy.

The dpBestflow project, is a great guide to what works in digital photography workflows. Whether you need a high-level overview of best practices to compare your current system against or detailed info on a given topic like file-naming or backup systems strategies, dpBestflow puts this information right at your fingertips. Now it’s easier than ever to optimize your workflow so you can deliver creative projects to clients that meet both their creative and technical needs. Here are a few tips from dpBestflow that you can apply today.

3, 2, 1 backup strategy
Losing your images due to fire, flood, malfunction or theft would be catastrophic. Ensure  the safety of your files by storing them in at least three locations, on two different types of media with at least one copy stored off-site.

Raw Power
Use your raw image editing software to perform as many of your image corrections as possible. This gives you the best image quality and eliminates much of the need for destructive pixel editing.

Special Delivery
When delivering files to clients, be sure to include a Read Me file; a text file explaining the processes used in creating the file, including the color mode, ICC color profile, file size and image resolution, along with licensing rights and usage information.

Using the dpBestflow Website

[by Peter Krogh]

We’ve packed quite a bit of information in the website, so we thought we’d make a movie to show you how to navigate. We suggest you spend a few minutes looking over the video before you dive in.

We’re looking forward to hearing what you think.

dpBestflow – Join Us Tonight!

[by Judy Herrmann]

On December 3, 2002, Dave Harp, the president of ASMP at the time, asked Richard Anderson, Peter Krogh and me to meet with him and Gene Mopsik in Baltimore. The ASMP Digital Standards Committee was born that afternoon and I don’t think any of us remotely imagined the full import of what we began that day.

Today, it is my great honor to invite you to celebrate the launch of a unique and powerful information resource: dpBestflow. The culmination of years of research and hard-won knowledge, dpBestflow provides best practices and workflows for photographers.

Now, best practices and workflows may not sound like the most glamorous topic in the world but if you’re like me, you’re dying to just put the constant time-suck of keeping up with technological change behind you and focus on making great images.  dpBestflow helps you do just that.

Efficient workflows lead to more productive use of your time.  They increase your profitability and give you more time to focus on important things like diversifying your skill-set, marketing your work, achieving your goals or even just having dinner with your family.   Best practices preserve your visual legacy.  They ensure that your data is protected and interpreted exactly how you intended – today and in the future.  Until now, figuring out how to achieve efficient workflows and embrace best practices has been a real challenge for photographers.

The dpBestflow team has done the homework for you.  Instead of culling through countless books and websites, trying to piece information together.  You now have a one-stop-shop for all things workflow related.  Got a burning question about a single topic like sharpening or storage media? You’ll find a distillation of exactly what you need to know.  Searching for guidance on a broad category like how to organize your files or keep your data safe?  On the dpBestflow website, you’ll find concrete answers including informative how-to tutorials and movies.

I invite you to join us tonight to celebrate the launch of this exciting new initiative.

7pm
Navy Memorial Auditorium
701 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington DC

dpBestflow is a Multimedia Learning Environment

[by Peter Krogh]

As Richard points out in yesterday’s blog, the dpBestflow project is a muti-dimensional, multi-media effort.  We know you are visual people, and for some subjects, a movie makes the point better than text. You’ll find quite a bit of content on the site that walks you through some workflow by actually showing it in action.

This six minute video outlines the creation of metadata templates in Photoshop CS4.

Introducing dpBestflow

[by Richard Anderson]

dpBestflow is short for Digital Photography Best Practices and Workflow.

In August of 2007, the Library of Congress, through its National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), awarded eight private-sector organizations funds to conduct research into the preservation of commercial digital artwork. The American Society of Media Photographers received a major award to fund a three-year project, dpBestflow.

There are three components to the dpBestflow project.

1.)  A book, I co-authored with Patricia Russotti, a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology called Digital Photography Best Practices and Workflow Handbook, (Focal Press, 2009).

2.)  A web site called dpBestflow.org , which is filled with information from the dpBestflow Handbook, and Peter Krogh’s The DAM Book (O’Reilly Media, 2009).

3.)   A traveling seminar series designed to enhance your workflow and provide you with the tools for proper preservation of your images.

The dpBestflow.org site will be going live on November 11. Everyone on the project team is excited and proud to bring this important resource to completion. We have high hopes that the information in dpBestflow will make your workflow easier and more efficient, lead to better cooperation within the larger graphic arts community, as well as, help the Library of Congress achieve its goal of preserving our digital cultural heritage far into the future.

Work Begets Work

[by Susan Carr]

I had the privilege a few years back of hearing photographer Ken Josephson speak at the  Society for Photographic Education Midwest Regional conference. While discussing his own struggle with blocks in creativity or direction, he clearly stated his own mantra, “work begets work.” These three simple words have hung with me and continue to ring true.

The most difficult times for me, as an artist, are those periods between projects. It frequently takes me a while to know when a given personal project is complete, thus, the creating new work slows gradually, the emphasis shifts to exhibitions or other outlets for the project and my lack of producing new work sort of creeps in unexpectedly.  Ideas for new projects start brewing, but the day-to-day work of making a living and getting my existing images seen takes over. Then, what feels like all of sudden, it will hit me that the real love of my life, making photographs, is being neglected.

I moved to Chicago four years ago. Relocating my home after 25 years was a daunting task and my move coincided with the completion of a significant personal photography project. Between actively exhibiting this body of work – a documentary project of home interiors – and settling into a new home and business community, I didn’t think about photographing beyond my commercial client work. Fast forward to this year, I acknowledged that my own photography needed to become a priority again. I simply feel lost without it.

My idea is to photograph my new home, the Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park. I struggled with how to get started. I predictably tried to answer the why and how of the project before I initiated the work. Then I remembered Ken Josephson’s lecture. Work begets work. The process of creating work is the process of discovering the why and how. I wasn’t going to solve anything unless I simply walked the neighborhood camera in hand.

I am happy to say that this past spring and summer were productive. I walked miles, shot many rolls of film (yes, film for this work) and slowly the project is taking form. My advice for anyone struggling with their own vision is to simply get to work, pick up a camera and stop asking yourself so many questions.

Make It Your Own

[by Paul Bartholomew]

I think most photographers struggle with direction and style from time to time especially when starting out. It’s a never ending process, at least in my opinion because I think artists are constantly striving and moving in different directions. This constant striving is very fluid, you may try to predict where you’ll be 10 years from now but if you hold on to that idea in your head too much, it may also hold you back.

What do I mean by being held back? Sometimes we tend to get tunnel vision as we become inspired. This is fine and it’s good to experiment with new styles but also take that influence and make it your own. I guess it’s a part of evolving, but what I’m trying get at is developing your own style and not trying to replicate someone else’s style. I’m constantly looking at the work of photographers from the past and present. Of course I have my favorite photographers and gravitate toward them but I also try to find more. Other incredible influences may come from many kinds of artists such as master painters from all kinds of styles. A trip to an art museum once in a while will help and also buying books. I’m an addict when it comes to books and I tend to have them all over the place because I’m always looking through them for ideas.

We are a product of all artists before us. We take influences and integrate them into our own work. Making mistakes and going through the pains are part of growing. Making mistakes shouldn’t be thought of as negative but a part of progression. If you think of it, not making mistakes may be worse because you may not be pushing your limits enough. Perhaps staying in the safe zone.

Just some thoughts.

What If ?

[by Sean Kernan]

In your wildest dreams, what would you do, you stopped take pictures, starting today,?
What would you do your thoughts didn’t have to express as photos, or even be visible?
What if they could be verbal or sonic, or could just streak through consciousness like shooting stars, like those peak experiences we’ve all had that have nothing to do with photography?
What would you do if no one else could see what it was you were doing or knew what you were thinking?
If it didn’t have to “come out?”
If you could sing images, or just make words or sounds or colors?
If it didn’t have to somehow make money?
Or add to some definition of yourself?
What if you just got off alone and thought of a list of things to do that would knock you out, surprise you, even scare you a bit?
What if you somehow isolated yourself and did that, for a week or two, or however it took to interrupt your habits of thinking, seeing, and doing.
Then if you even took pictures…what might they look like?

Lessons from Childhood

[by Judy Herrmann]

My daughter, Julia, judges books by their covers.  At 2 ½ she walks through the library and says “I want the baby blue one” or “That one, with the dog.”

She recently checked out a story called Franklin Goes To the Hospital in which a young turtle with a cracked shell is afraid the x-ray will show how scared he is on the inside.  Dr. Bear assures him that bravery isn’t about fearlessness, but rather “doing what you have to do, no matter how scared you feel.”

As children we all heard variations on this theme in countless books, stories and movies.  As adults, though, fear often paralyses us – stopping us from being able to clearly see what we have to do, let alone actually doing it.

Producing creative work that comes from deep within you is scary.  Putting that work out for the world to see and respond to is scary.  Being self-employed is scary.  Taking risks is scary.  Adapting to change is scary.  Doing none of those things, though, is even scarier.

My partner, Mike and I, are in the process of reinventing our visual style for the 5^th time in 20 years.  I don’t mind telling you that I’m scared.  Will anyone like it? Will they point and laugh? Are we tapping into something new and cool and wonderful or have we completely lost it?

So I’m taking Dr. Bear’s advice and doing what I have to do even thought it’s scary.  And, you know what?  Now that I’ve made that commitment, there’s a growing bubble of excitement and exhilaration that’s slowly but surely drowning out the doubts.

And in doing this process again, and again, and again, I’ve come to recognize that the one begets the other – you don’t get that excitement and exhilaration without pushing yourself through the fear.  I’ve also grown to understand that it’s when we’re NOT scared that we’re in real trouble.

A Week Focused on Creative Thinking

[by Thomas Werner]

This is an artists statement from an exhibition at my gallery a few years ago. The only time that I used an artists statement in promoting an exhibition was this one. I came across it again the other day and think that it addresses something essential about our work and wanted to share with with you.

Artist Statement – Gabriela Maj

There once existed an idea that articulated the human capacity for a particular type of transcendental experience. An experience in which nature, at its most fierce, most violent and most monumental would allow for a brief glimpse of the divine. It was an idea that offered the possibility of the most utterly private experience. It was about enlightenment, about the soul and about beauty in its most painful of definitions.

Today we are left with residue. Dead philosophers, old poems.

Nature is harnessed, we are irreverent. These images were created in quiet homage to an old idea.