Things are moving swiftly, and I should have my eBooks up on Apple's iBooks store soon. In the meantime, here are a few snaps showing you the eBooks on the iPad.
New eBook - Visual Sense Released
I'm just back from the isle of Harris. I must say, it's been all go this week...... But I'm pleased to now tell you all that my new eBook, which covers 'visualisation' is now available for purchase on my store.
Please note, you may need to refresh your browser!
It has been an interesting project working on this one, as I feel 'visualisation' is a much more abstract subject to discuss than say, composition. Once I found my thread though, things just seemed to take on a life of their own. Anyway, the subjects discussed in the eBook include:
* Converting a scene from 3D to 2D * Visualising in the aspect ratio of your camera * Understanding lens characteristics and their role in visualisation * Translation of a moving scene into a static one * Visualisation is tightly coupled to Style * Automation and lack of engagement encountered * Reasons that visualisation may fail
This is part 1 of an intended set of 2 eBooks about visualisation. Part 2, will discuss the printing techniques I use in the digital darkroom to realise the final image. But that's a long way off at the moment, so I hope you'll be happy with Part 1.
You can buy The Visual Sense here while I'm off now to have a cup of tea and a well earned rest :-)
Visual Sense
I've been busy writing an eBook about 'visualisation', to compliment my existing ebooks, which I am pleased to let you all know that I've currently finished the first draft of. It is now in the hands of some reviewers to proof read it and also, to get back to me on what they feel may be missing. Writing about what you're passionate about is an enjoyable endeavour. But like anything creative, it takes time to distill ideas, to put things in the right order, to let it be born correctly.
Over the past few years that I've been doing my workshops, I've found it immensely helpful to myself to 'understand' why I choose certain compositions over others, or why I'm drawn to one subject over another. It's helped me become a stronger photographer. I understand that there is a relationship between vision and your own style (or 'voice' as others like to call it).
Take this contact sheet for instance.
This is a collection of images I made whilst in Bolivia in 2009. One thing I've learned about visualisation is to be able to visualise my imagery in a style that suits what I do. That *is* what I do. We should not be only striving to create good images through visualisation, but we should also be striving to create a body of work that has a cohesive feel to it. Everything must sit together as part of a whole. I like the idea that the final collection is greater than the sum of its parts.
Having a strong sense of your own style helps you form your vision, helps you visualise just what it is you want to do, and where you need to go with your own photography. We only reach that by being able to interrogate ourselves, analyse our previous efforts and find out what our style is.
Often I hear participants on my workshops tell me they don't know what their style is, or if they even have one. I think this is down to looking at your own work and filtering it down to what matters. What you are left with should indicate your style, what you're drawn to, and also, where you are probably heading too. Just don't forget that visualisation and style are interlinked.
I'll let you know when my new eBook is out. I hope to have it out end of this month, depending on any amendments or further things come my way that I'd like to add :-)
New Store & Monographs
Just a quick note to let you all know that my 'Store front' has been redesigned. You will find all my eBooks split into featured / technique / monograph sections. There are some new features - each eBook has a little slideshow showing you the contents of the books so you can get an idea of what is inside them. The technique eBooks also have a sample page you can download so you can check out the quality of the images and also the quality of my writing. I hope you find these features of use to you.
Lastly, I'd like to tell you that I've got 3 new monographs up on the store now:
Easter Island, Patagonia and the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. All of these monographs contain some short essays on my experiences at each location along with some nice high resolution images from each portfolio.
I'm busy working on an eBook about Visualisation. I hope to have some further news about this by the end of this Month. Suffice to say that it is turning out to be a lot easier to write than I had anticipated. I had so much procrastination - often I find with any new project that I do, it's hard to get the ball rolling, but once the inertia has been breached, projects just take on a pace and spirit of their own - often dragging me along with them !
Thanks to all of you who have bought my eBooks to date. The interest has been something I didn't quite anticipate (otherwise I would have done them much sooner!). :-)
Barra is still cloudless by the way. Excellent 'summer holidays' weather, but crap for photo making. So I'm just taking the time out to enjoy myself.
Enjoy the eBooks!
A new eBook, HD Podcasts & eMonographs
Over the past few years, I've noticed that the internet seems to be changing. With social networking coming more to the fore, it almost feels sometimes, that there's a lot of information out there, but it's hard work to find what you want.
With that in mind, I've been wanting to share more of my experiences, share more of my thought processes and perhaps pass on a thing or two to you all.
I'm very passionate about what I do. Making photographs is only part of it, but I love to teach people, help them on their way if I can, and feel I've contributed in some way. I do this by running workshops, which can be immensely satisfying. They're a great way to spend time in a small group of like-minded people who all share the same enthusiasm for photography, and learn some new things. I find the trips great because not only does everyone pick up new things, I get to learn more too.
But It's become more evident that some of you can't participate and perhaps some of you are not sure if a workshop would be right for you, so what better way to pass on a bit of my experiences and tips, than in in the form of eBooks?
With all this in mind, I've been busy putting together a lot of e-Books for you all. I wanted to share my images in a better viewing experience than just a gallery on the web, and I also wanted them to be inspiring in some way. I've put together some short stories in the monographs (picture books). Hey, it was great for me to do this - getting to review what I'd done, relive my experiences was fun and I'm sure you'll get a lot of inspiration out of the results too.
So with all this in mind, I'm pleased to let you know that the e-Books shown in the above picture are available now, and I intend to add a lot more in the coming months too.
You may notice there is an 'HD movie' icon in the above illustration. In case you didn't know - I do a little podcast for iTunes (see the subscription link on the right hand banner to this page). The podcasts are a great way for me to share what I do and try to give you an insight into the experiences I had whilst out shooting in some place like India or Iceland.
The podcasts are something I care about deeply. Due to the bandwidth nature of iPods and iTunes, the quality is, to me, somewhat lacking. So I've prepared some HD versions of the podcasts for you too. They let you see the images in full resolution on a nice big monitor while you enjoy Hi-Fi quality sound too. Trust me - it's a much improved experience from looking at them in a tiny iPod screen or in low-res on the web.
Lastly, I'd like to let you all know about my latest 'technique' book - 'Nocturne - mastering low light photography'.
This eBook covers the essentials if you are to go and make some nice dreamy otherworldly landscape images at the edge of daylight.
I've had a lot of folk over the years ask me how I make some of my images. Why is the light the way it is for example. I've covered some of this on this very blog, but I feel that sometimes, a blog isn't really the best mode of communication. Now that i've discovered the power of the eBook format, I think it's a great medium for sharing my technical experiences and tips with you. You can find out more about it here.
I hope you're all as excited as I am about where this is all going. Being able to communicate, share ideas, teach, inspire - it's all wonderful stuff and I think that with all the new mediums that the web is now starting to provide - it's just getting better and better.
This'll probably be my last post on the blog for the next week as I head out to the Isle of Eigg this Sunday. A whole week of workshop teaching, good eating, great beaches and good company I'm sure, await me. See you all in a week or so's time.
Iceland & Bolivia Monographs
I was going to release a new eBook this month titled 'Examples - the making of 40 photographs', but things have changed in the last week. I'm shelving this project as an eBook for the time being as I feel it is going to be the basis for a physical, cloth bound book. It's very early days at the moment so don't hold your breath for a physical book anytime soon. But suffice to say that a project is underway.
Instead, I'll be offering a different eBook at the end of April about low-light photography where I cover all the technical requirements for shooting in low light with digital and film. More information about this later on.
In the meantime, I'm pleased to let you know that i've got two monographs now available:
Iceland - a photographer's monograph
Monographs by definition are about single subjects. In this case, I've put together a collection of my Iceland images with some short essays about my time and experiences whilst there in 2004.
I feel Iceland has been one of my most successful photographic endeavours, so it's great to be able to offer this eBook which contains high resolution images to be enjoyed on a 24" and even a 30" screen if you are lucky to own one.
Bolivia - a photographer's monograph
Likewise, I'm pleased to announce a monograph about Bolivia at the same time.
For me, Iceland and Bolivia conveyed the more alien aspects of the Earth's natural landscape. Bolivia went one step further because not only did it look alien, it felt alien too. With high altitude symptoms - headaches and breathlessness, I felt sometimes that I could have been on another world.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy these eBooks. I'll let you know when the 'low-light-photography' book is available.
Until that is available, you can buy the monographs here.
Examples - work in progress
Many thanks to all of you who bought my new eBook - Simplifying Composition. It has been a great project for me to work on. I thought I'd let you know about the next title that I will be releasing. Titled 'Examples - the making of 40 photographs', I expect it to be out at the end of April.
This is of course, work permitting, as I have a workshop running on the isle of Eigg at the end of April, and one to one client time booked for this month.
But until it's finished, here are some tasters for the new book. It's got 40 high resolution images in it, so it displays beautifully on the largest of computer monitors.
The book contains images from my entire portfolio: Bolivia, Cambodia, Cuba, Easter Island, Iceland, Portugal, Patagonia, Scotland.... and is a combination of portraiture and landscape work.
Until then, if you don't already know about my latest eBook, it's called Simplifying Composition and you can find out more information about it here.
Composition eBook Released!
I'm pleased to announce the release of my 2nd eBook - 'Simplifying Composition'. Containing 33 pages with images from my portfolio, It's been a great project for me to work on.
Having to think about composition and why some of my images work, has been enlightening for me and I'm sure you'll find it of great benefit to you.
There are illustrations within showing how I dissect some of the images.
You can buy it here.
If you haven't already bought my Taj Mahal book about approaching a subject, then it's possible to buy both books at the same time and get a discount. Check it out on my Store page.
Composition eBook
Work is underway on completing my book about composition. It's been very interesting working on several eBooks all at once, this past three or four months.
It does get to the point that I feel I've worked on them so much, that I can't quite see the wood for the trees. So I'm off to the Lake district today to see a friend and spend some time getting to know a landscape I'm not that familiar with!
Anyway, I thought I'd show a teaser for the book above. :-)
Book Diagrams
I've not been on my blog for a while. It's been a busy week while I was in Glencoe conducting a Photo-workshop. I'm in the process of writing a little book about composition and thought, that it might be fun to show some diagrams from the proof copy.
I think composition is key to making great images.
There are certain subconscious rules that we employ - we're not really fully aware of why we choose a composition - it just feel's 'right'. Being too aware, I feel, may make you a more competent photographer, but it won't make you a great one.
There has to be a sense of engagement in the photos you are making.
Making a good photo is easy. Making a great one requires for you to look for that extra special something in the landscape. And that only happens when you're fully engaged.