Just days after I reviewed the gorgeous photography eBooks by Craft and Vision, they go and release yet another wonderful title, The Vision Driven Photographer by outdoor and travel photographer extraordinaire, David duChemin.
I just have to say that if I could make the perfect eBook, it would be this one. I’ve long been a strong advocate of really digging in deep to explore your personal creative vision with photography, and as many of my students who take my online photo courses would attest, I’m always trying to get them to put serious thought into what they’re trying to say with their imagery. To me, vision is everything.
And I’m always encouraging people to push their limits and experiment with their methods, equipment, locations and vantage points in their quest to create photographs that not only wow the viewer, but speak to them and effectively communicate what it was that attracted you to the subject or scene in the first place.
I’ve also traveled and photographed in many of the same places as David has featured inside The Vision-Driven Photographer, and so just looking at the incredible imagery inside brings back strong memories and makes me reflect on my own photographs from these locations. His landscapes are stunning and his travel photography is unbelievably good. And, of course, when I read the text that accompanies his breathtaking shots, I think to myself: This guy says it all and he says it right.
“Vision matters”
“Vision is not style.”
“Our best work is play.”
See what I mean? This guy David duChemin knows what he’s talking about. He’s a true master of not only creating incredible photography, he’s also a master at explaining what should go into it and why.
The goal of this inspiring and insightful book is to help photographers of all levels to make stronger photographers by getting them to identify or re-discover their own photographic vision. In it, David asks the questions and makes the statements that lead you towards clarifying what it is that you want to say with your imagery and how you want to move others with your own visual expression.
After all, truly great photos come from within, and by helping you find or fine tune your own vision through thought provoking text and a series of creative exercises, he encourages you to look inside and unlock that personal expression that lives within you.
It’s so well done and perfectly balanced with words and pictures that are not just gorgeous, but highly creative. They’re designed to inspire you to not just shoot good photos, but your photos. Like I said, it’s the perfect photography eBook. It’s the one that I would have wanted to write, because as a photographer and teacher, who wouldn’t want to strive to be like David duChemin someday?
Of course, I am not David and I never will be. I’ll always be Dan, and so I’ll keep doing what I do and release my own eBook on photographic vision and creative technique, which by the way, is currently in the works, because each photographer has his or her own set of unique talents and teaching styles.
However, that’s not to say that I can’t learn a whole lot from David duChemin and his eBooks, because I do, and so will you. He’s a remarkable photographic visionary, certainly one of the best of our time, and what he says about the craft and art of photography is absolutely right on.
If you love photography, get this book. At only five dollars, how could you not? I already have my copy and it’s only been out for six hours.
Happy Thanksgiving.
