It was a dull and a rainy afternoon and my journey to the historic town of Kutna Hora outside of Prague had been a bust. No blue sky, no photographs. Returning to Prague and stuck in traffic I was drawn to the raindrops on the windshield, and started shooting through the drops on the glass, changing focus, trying different angles. As I drove around town looking for mood subjects, this wet bicyclist passed on the cobble streets of Mala Strana- Old Town.

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Driving through the lush Irish countryside, I was struck by the simplicity and energy of the stone walls. There is an earthy contrast between the rough-hewn gray stones, the deep green of the pastures and the white wooled grazing sheep.

The walls enclose the land, define boundaries between neighbors, and protect the sheep from wandering off.

Climbing carefully on a wall on the narrow verge of a country lane, I composed the image to crop closely, eliminating the sky and letting the walls partition the image into geometric segments. The single wall leads the eye into the distance, while the two sheep lying in the field counterbalance and keep the viewer in the picture.

© David Sanger. Click on image for licensing and fine art prints.

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Sometime the most difficult part of photography is getting out of the front door. All sorts of events conspire against you. Once you get started, creativity can come easily, but it is that first step that is often the tough one. Here are a couple of suggestions of how to jump-start your photographic day and get moving.

Go anywhere

Sometimes we get hung up on waiting for the perfect project, or the best day, or for inspiration to strike, waiting for our Muse. These are all understandable, perfectly rational…. excuses. We can wait forever. When I am stuck like that, sometimes I just walk out the door with my camera, get in the car, and drive. If you don’t know where to go, go anywhere, anywhere at all. What you find there will lead you to the next place, and the next. Sometimes you remember an old location or subject you’ve forgotten about. Or some new and unanticipated situation presents itself. When you step out, then new photographic opportunities have a way of appearing.

Go, even if you don’t feel like it

“Honey, I’m not in the mood.” Another good excuse for not photographing, and this too can be a block. When I am discouraged or depressed and don’t feel like making the effort, simply getting out the door gets me out of that sorry state and engaged with something interesting, something on the other side of the lens. Invariably, getting absorbed with a photographic subject can be the best therapy. The photography leads to feeling better, and not vice-versa.

Change your style, your subject, your equipment

Sometimes being bored can be what is holding you back. If you have shot one too many landscapes, then mix it up. Try playing with portraiture. Or if sports is losing its thrill, try macro. Heavy equipment? try your iPhone. Stills? Try motion. Shifting to a new and unfamiliar context can be just the challenge needed to get excited again. It can even lead to a new appreciation of your current specialty if you return to it.

Let go of expectations

Stock photographers can be subject to a peculiar affliction : thinking that every photo must be highly marketable, well-seen, able to impress editors and photo buyers, and generate a good return. Forget it. Aside from being quite unrealistic, such an attitude is really unfair. We wouldn’t expect that of our kids. So make a decision that there is no need to get even one usable image. Give yourself permission. This will free your creative spirit to explore, play and risk new ways of seeing

Just Do It

It’s too bad Nike got this slogan – we all can use it. Thinking about photography, thinking about going out to photograph, thinking about all the reasons why and why not and where and when and what for, really doesn’t help. The way to get out the door is to pick up the camera bag, grab the door handle, open the door… and Just Do It.

….

If you have your own favorite ways of getting unstuck, or stories to tell about how the process works for you, please add them in the comments. I’ll collate the most helpful ones into another post.

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Several new features are now available on the David Sanger Photography stock pages. You’ll notice that both search pages and individual image pages are now white-background, completing the conversion described in the November post Black on White.

The images are larger as well. Search result thumbnails are now 100×150 pixels and image previews 324×486 pixels. Also I’ve reinstated direct print sales, now with a shopping cart and Google checkout for easy credit card payment (US sales only right now). Lastly there’s more engagement features – comments on the image pages, a Tweet button, and link to the Facebook fan page.

Coming up next will be more products, links to the Photoshelter archive and special features for bloggers.

I hope you like them. Please add any comments and suggestions, and if you find any bugs, email or DM me on Twitter.

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Directly underneath the landmark Golden Gate Bridge, hidden from the view of the steady stream of daily commuters and tourists, lies a surprising and secret treasure – a Civil War era brick and mortar fort built to protect the San Francisco Bay from unknown invaders, and now an unlikely tourist attraction.

The contrast is startling. The massive four-storey masonry walls of Fort Point, a National Historic Site, enclose a damp and austere stone courtyard where Civil War soldiers once stood guard. Overhead the international red girders and trusses of the bridge undercarriage convey the constant roar of traffic. Old and new. Brick and steel. Yesterday and today.

Fort Point is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open Friday through Sunday 10 AM to 5 PM

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On Tuesday Google released its new social media application Google Buzz and by Thursday it had 10 million users. Is this a harbinger of things to come? What does Buzz offer photographers seeking to engage with customers.

Many photographers have discovered how social media can be a great tool for establishing contact with user groups (and peer groups). Here’s a look at the emerging social media landscape as it stands now,

Twitter

Twitter offers instantaneous conversation within the confines of 140 character text-only tweets. Well known photographers like Jack Hollingsworth  @photojack,   @stockphotoguy, @JoeMcNallyPhoto, @ScottKelby and @TreyRatcliff share news, insight and encouragement in the photographic community, both pro and amateur. Many others are building a following and using Twitter a resource for networking and keeping current in the industry. Vendors, publications and professional associations all have an active presence. Twitter can be readily searched for specific topics, eg. Nikon D3 and anyone can follow and read your tweets.

Facebook

Facebook offers two modes of involvement for photographers: a personal profile tied to their name, and a visual artists fan page associated with their business. Many photographers have both, sharing more personally and informally with friends and colleagues on their profile and with customers and acquaintances on the fan page. Friending on personal pages is based on mutual agreement, but fan pages are asymmetrical; any Facebook user can follow are share.

Since Facebook supports images and links, plus the importing of blog feeds, the experience is richer. However Facebook is mainly a closed community so only Facebook members can see and comment on shared items. Even so many photographers, photo associations and publications and vendors have fan pages with active discussions and sharing among a wide audience. With 400 million users (vs. Twitter’s 55 million) the potential market is huge.

Buzz

As a latecomer to social media (except for the ill-fated Orkut) Google Buzz has burst onto the scene with gusto. Buzz is built in to the Gmail application and namespace so is immediately available to more that 150 million Gmail users have access to Buzz without the need for additional software. Within the new Buzz tab, users can post an entry with links and embedded images and video, and anyone can add text comments which appear in realtime. Like Twitter anyone can follow you or comment on your thread.

What Google adds is a rich user profile which identifies all of your various web presences: blogs, Photoshelter, Flickr and Picasa sites, Tumblr Twitter, FriendFeed, and Facebook. Buzz then gives you the opportunity to connect most of these (though not yet Facebook) so they update your Buzz stream (some in near real-time). Eventually updates and comments will flow back upstream to the originating source.

The larger area for display of images and quick posting gives more room for extended conversations. It is not uncommon for threads to run over 100 comments, and Buzz conversations tend to be very animated, though that be because many early adopters are techies eager to test out the new tool.

RIght now Buzz is definitely a place to explore, feed in content from other sources, though do be careful to avoid overlap. We will soon see the shape of the photographic community which develops.

To continue the conversation in Buzz, join the thread at David Sanger on Buzz.

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Focus. Concentration. Iconic. Impact. Travel images work best when they communicate simply and directly with the viewer. Making a simple picture, however, is often more difficult and time-consuming than taking a complicated photo. The difference lies in the process of engaging with the subject — a culture, city or location — over a long period of time until you find out what to shoot and what to leave out.

Shanghai is a fascinating mix of super-modern, cutting- edge architecture and a traditional cultural sensibility dating back thousands of years. The city presents itself as crowded, chaotic and fast-moving, day and night. For the first few days of a week-long shoot I focused on capturing the obvious landmarks: the Pudong skyline across the Huangpo River from the Bund, crowds on Nanjing Road’s busy shopping promenade, market stalls, noodle and dumpling shops, the steady flow of river boats and early morning tai-chi practice.

Working a city is always a similar process for me. There’s a gradual shift from the obvious to the subtle, from cliché shots to more uniquely seen images. Once the everyday shots are taken there’s time to wander and see what appears next. Sifting through the onrush of perceptions and sensations, I gradually become aware of key iconic themes that can speak more simply of the experience of a place and a people.

In Shanghai I wanted to show the traditional religious and spiritual basis of the culture, now re-emerging since the opening of China to the West. Beneath the frantic 21st- century world of commerce and business is a deeper flow of traditional culture, still vital after all the upheavals of the last century. Several Buddhist temples are open to tourists. I chose the large complex of Longhua Si on the outskirts of the city. I arrived just after sunrise on a Sunday while residents were still coming in for morning practice and meditation.

(Also published in SATW traveler. Thanks to Christine Loomis for editing help. )

(yes I know the same image was used in the post on Creating Value in Travel Photography. Sorry, it just worked out that way.)

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This timeless and tranquil image of waves was selected by the book designer for the title page of my San Francisco Bay book with John Hart. As a counterpoint to many of the bold and colorful landscapes in the book, this simple closeup shot – fluid, undulating and without reference to land – conveys the simplicity of water which fills the Bay. The image was shot with a 200mm lens from the deck of a party boat after an all-day sturgeon fishing expedition in San Pablo Bay

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Tuesday afternoon, just before 2pm PST, the 7.0 quake hit Haiti leveling much of Port au Prince. Not content with texting a contribution, San Francisco photojournalist Lane Hartwell wanted to do more. Why not produce a magazine as a fundraiser?

Two days later, Thursday evening at 11pm Lane tweeted that the 40-page color magazine Onè Respe, with images and stories of Haiti, had been edited, designed, printed and published. Online orders would ship immediately with proceeds going to the American Red Cross.

How did this happen so quickly? and what does it mean for the future of print photojournalism and humanitarian efforts?

“My first instinct was to want to go there and shoot,” said Lane, “but that wasn’t possible.” “How can I help?” she asked. The next morning the answer came. She’d been aware of HP’s print-on-demand magazine project MagCloud  and had worked with consultant Derek Powazek in the past.  ”Let’s do a MagCloud magazine,” she thought. A few phone calls and Derek was on board, offering to design the layout and shepherd the project to completion.  HP discounted, and then donated all the printing costs.

Fellow photojournalist Peter Pereira and Lane had kicked around the idea of a magazine and he had been in Haiti in November. He quickly agreed to contribute an essay. The idea of images of Haiti before the earthquake was appealing.  Seeing the real life of the people of Haiti could be educational, and give a feeling of hope rather than despair.

By Wednesday afternoon the project had taken on a life of its own. Working with partner and co-editor Michael Biven, Lane put word out on Facebook for photographers with images of Haiti. Things were happening fast. Newspaper staff photographer Chet Gordon, who works with NGOs, had shot in Haiti in 1993 and sent scans of Port au Prince street scenes.

what else is there to say?
Originally uploaded by LindsayStark

Lane also searched Flickr and found a strong portfolio of Haiti portraits by Lindsay Stark, a researcher, photographer and aid worker with Columbia University’s Group for Children in Adversity.

The last piece seemed like a long shot. Lane had had a portfolio review with Mary Ellen Mark and kept in touch with her, so wrote asking if she’d like to contribute. “Of course,” was the reply. “I feel honored to give an image.” Her image, an ethereal black and white of Mother Teresa giving communion to a nun, was specifically chosen to give a message of hope, compassion and charity.

Once the images were gathered, uploaded, and edited, the layout was designed in pdf form and sent up to the printer. Forgoing the normal print proof, the team reviewed the final version online and by Thursday evening the full 40 page issue was ready for HP’s Indigo printers. Online orders, paid by credit card, started shipping immediately. Mine arrived in two days by US Post. The color is sharp, the paper good quality, though not brilliant, and the color wraparound cover of a schoolboy at a desk is strong and poignant.

After the rush to create came the hard work of publicity, but with coverage from bloggers, Wired magazine, the New York Times, and donations from Moo Cards the word spread.

With all the emphasis on online, it might seem surprising to put such effort into creating a print publication. Online is more immediate, but the attention span is short; people donate, and move on. A print magazine is tangible, so fundraising becomes a two way street. People give generously to relief efforts; they receive in return a window into the actual life of the people of Haiti, not disaster images, but photos of children and families, of day-to-day life and work, of what it is like to live in the country. The magazine is something they can keep, and pass around. Months from now, when the daily news has moved on, the images will still inform and inspire.

The quick turnaround from MagCloud offers photographers, not just photojournalists, new options for presenting their work and telling their story. There are no up-front costs. You can update the layout and add or change images at any point. In addition to humanitarian fundraising, magazines could be a revenue source to support ongoing projects, or simply another avenue for publicity and marketing. No doubt we’ll see more issues from MagCloud as photographers experiment with this new outlet.

If you haven’t ordered a copy, please do so. The price is $12, all of which goes to the American Red Cross International Response Fund for Haiti relief (plus US postage). You might even order several and give one to your community library.

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Prague has an ethereal, dreamy tone to it at times. The cobbled streets, the restrained excitement of the crowds, the busy shopping streets, and yet an understated satisfaction at simply being a new, brisk and energetic European city. In the summer is is bustling. full of movement. Yet after sunset, when the hawkers leave the Charles Bridge and the trams have carried the commuters home, a quiet settles on the Vlatava River. The same quiet deepens until the still hour before sunrise.

To get an overview of the river with the full moon over the rooftops, I climbed the ramparts of the park opposite Hradcany castle. The pink glow came and went quickly. It always does..

Something about the pallet of the digital medium lends itself to this scene. There’s a historical air about it, reminding me of a painting

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