books
Photography vs. Art
Guy Tal wonders [http://guytal.com/wordpress/2013/03/28/words-matter/] why photographers are usually differentiated from artists: > “Try looking for books on Amazon.com and you will find a category for ‘Arts & Photography.’ Barnes & Noble goes further by separating 'Art, Architecture & Photography.’ Even a
The Folly of Jiro
The talk of my little corner of the web for a year has been the film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbV6knbeUFE], a documentary about mastery and craftsmanship. It’s been used to quite a bit to rebuke the “follow your passion” crowd, but the
The Worthwhile Obsession
In deciding which photo blogs, books and magazines are worth your valuable time, it helps to remember our obsession is not cameras, it’s photography. This eliminates roughly 99% of the filler out there.
Freedom Is..
The best books get you to rethink your approach to life, career, country…you name it. Hugh MacLeod’s first book Ignore Everybody [http://gapingvoid.com/ie/] was just such a book for me back in 2009. It was the kick in the ass every creativity-driven person deserves at least
Pass Along Your Best Stories
Images corrupt and apps are unreliable. Your backups may not be backing up what you thought. Websites suffer neglect. A few years after you die, your files may not even be readable, if someone even cares to look after them. The truth is, there’s no such thing as an
Storytellers
Photography classes would be better served with textbooks like the forthcoming book from photographer Jerod Foster, Storytellers [http://www.jerodfoster.com/2011/10/20/new-book-announcement-storytellers/]: > Sprinkled among the 288 pages are numerous tips, anecdotes, and exercises to help challenge readers to push their storytelling abilities. To me, that could
VHE Updates
I’ve started a twitter feed for my first book, The Van Halen Encyclopedia, currently being revised for its third edition. Follow @vhencyclopedia [http://twitter.com/#!/vhencyclopedia] for updates, insider info and news on future versions of the book.
My First Web Book
The logical progression of writing on a niche topic these days seems to be: create a blog, establish a following and, if the stars align, write a book. In the spirit of contrarianism and experimentation, I did the opposite with my 1998 book The Van Halen Encylopedia. The idea was
Why Books Still Matter
From Seth Godin’s new Domino Project [http://www.thedominoproject.com/2011/03/books-notes-tweets-and-the-change.html] : > This is why books matter. Books, used properly, immerse us in a single idea. Books bring a voice into our head, create a different brain chemistry, open doors to a more powerful lever, a
Poke the Box by Seth Godin
When Seth Godin released Linchpin [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591843162/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=musicjournalist&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1591843162] , it was the culmination of his life’s work, effectively encapsulating all his previous books and