For many years, I was a writer for hire. I wrote countless magazine articles and books as the means by which I made a living. I loved writing and I loved photography and so I counted myself lucky that I could earn money by doing two things that I enjoyed and felt that I did well.
But about three years ago, I burned out. I was writing, but doing so for the sake of a paycheck. I had lost the joy and passion that had spurred me to make this my life’s work. That decision resulted in a big financial hit, but I just didn’t have it in me to keep pressing on.
It was especially the case with magazine work, which had been just as adversely affected by the drop in advertising revenue as was the newspaper industry. Increasingly, page counts in magazines decreased and as a result the need for content from freelancers. Articles that might have been assigned to someone like me was handled in-house and if it was doled out to a freelancer it was for a considerable lesser fee than before. Same work. Smaller check.
Writing a book was no less challenging. The difference is the long-term commitment to produce a title that might or might not do well in the market.
It was that in mind that I made the decision to not write a book again until I had an idea that I really wanted to tackle. I wasn’t going to say yes just for a paycheck or because I wanted to keep my name out there. No, I wanted to produce a book that I was excited to write about. The result is my latest book, Making Photographs: Developing a Personal Visual Workflow.
The book was born from the principles of photography that I teach in my street photography workshops. In those sessions, I shared with people not just how to make photographs, but how to learn to see. I discussed the importance of light and shadow, line and shape, color and gesture. I guided them as to how to see with intent and purpose and to make the transition from taking photographs to actually making them.
The growth of my students in those workshops was always heartening. I was able to see a significant change in their photographs over the course of a couple of days. Photographs that they might not have ever considered making before were suddenly possible as a result of a slight shift of vision. Time after time I witnessed how people found a renewed joy in their photography as a result, not of the purchase of a new camera, but because they had learned a different way of seeing.
It was that experience that led me to write Making Photographs which is being published by Rocky Nook Press. It’s provided me the opportunity to translate what I share in the classroom but now on the printed page. It’s my hope that I will be able to reach out to thousands of more people than I could ever reach in individual workshops.
By teaching people how to see with purpose, of understanding how to parse a scene for light and composition and later cull their images, I hope to instill in them a clear approach to being a more consistent and creative photographer.
Each chapter begins with an image and the story behind it. I then explore a different aspect of photography that I believe is applicable regardless of what genre of photography you practice. Though I am often identified as a street photographer, I believe that what I share in this book goes far beyond one particular genre of photography.
The eBook version of Making Photographs is available now, with the softback version due out in December. You can purchase the ebook today or place a pre-order through the Rocky Nook website. Just use the promo code PERELLO40 to receive a 40% discount on your purchase of either version.
If you enjoyed my first book, Chasing the Light, you will find that Making Photographs as a natural extension of that approach. As I have changed and evolved as a photographer so has my approach and I think that you will find in this title the means by which you can and will derive more joy and satisfaction from your photography.
Barbara Peacock is a photographer and director living in Portland, Maine. Since having started American Bedroom in 2016, she has won the Getty Editorial Grant, the Women Photograph/Getty Grant, three LensCulture Awards, four Top 50 Critical Mass Awards, and was named one of the Top 100 Photographers in America 2020.
Nick Carver is a working photographer and photography instructor based in Southern California with over eighteen years shooting experience and a professional career spanning more than a decade. Although his teaching and commercial work hinges primarily on digital photography, his passion is fueled by a love for analog film and creating fine art prints. Nick has sought to educate, entertain, and inspire other photographers both in the classroom and through his YouTube videos.
Robbie Quinn is an award-winning, New York–based commercial photographer specializing in environmental portraits. His work, which has brought him to more than a dozen countries, speaks to current issues, including race, immigration, gender identity, and sexual orientation, emphasizing promoting diversity and inclusion.
Rachelle Steele is a Master Photographer based out of Northern California. She is most known for dynamic black and white environmental portraiture and her ability to fill a single frame with design elements of intense storytelling and passionate compositions. Her unique background brings depth and power to her images, communicating something from the eye, heart, and mind.
Joel Meyerowtiz is an award-winning photographer whose work has appeared in over 350 exhibitions in museums and galleries worldwide. Celebrated as a pioneer of color photography, he is a two-time Guggenheim Fellow, a recipient of both the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities awards and The Royal Society’s Centenary Medal. He has published over 53 books. His latest release is titled. The Pleasure of Seeing.
Kirsten Elstner is the founder and director of National Geographic Photo Camp, whose mission is to work with youth from diverse communities worldwide, guiding them as they use photography to tell their own stories and develop meaningful connections with others.
George Lange is a photographer whose pictures have appeared in almost all major magazines, ranging from Entertainment Weekly to Esquire. George has shot advertising photos for many movies and TV shows, including; Seinfeld, The Today Show, Cake Boss, and Jim Carrey’s movies. Most recently, he has worked with Norwest Venture Partners, Twilio, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Grammy Award-winning Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. George's new book, Picturing Joy: Stories of Connection, is a lively guide to George’s approach to life and the highlights of his career.
Michael Honegger is a visual artist born in Germany with a B.A. in History & Spanish from Duke University, a M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and a Professional Certificate in Visual Arts from Maine Media College. His practice as a fine art and documentary photographer explores the performative nature of self-portraiture, the complexities of memory and family, and an investigation of the ironies of American culture with an expatriate’s eye. His most recent book is The Need to Know.
Barbara Mensch is a fine art photographer who probes her subject matter with the curiosity and stamina of a detective. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she began to draw at an early age, attending classes at The Brooklyn Museum Studio School and the Art Students League as a teenager.
James Payne is a social documentary photographer based in Los Angeles, California.
He is fascinated by how people interact with the places they inhabit, particularly in their homes and on the streets. He has been capturing images of both for decades. American Portraits (in 3D) are a unique series of environmental portraits that are rendered in three dimension using his own approach for showcasing these images.
Jorge Delgado-Ureña is a photographer and the co-founder of The Raw Society. Originally a commercial and fashion photographer, an assignment in Nepal opened up a whole new world of photography and inspired him to create The Raw Society.
Christelle Enquist is a photographer and co-founder of The Raw Society. She speaks four languages and was raised in Singapore; her curiosity about other cultures and passion for travel started at an early age, instigated by her mother and father. A 6-month solo travel at 33 awoke her passion for photography.
Sandy Sugawara and Catiana Garcia Kilroy collaborate on a book project titled Show Me the Way Home. It is an immersive, visual journey through the incarceration camps that held 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War 2. Sugawara and Kilroy tell the story of each camp through original and archival photographs, personal stories, and government documents. It’s a frightening tale of a society that failed to protect its vulnerable.
Jason Langer is an American photographer best known for his psychological and norish visions of contemporary photography urban life. Langer apprenticed with renowned photographers including Ruth Bernhard, Arthur Tess, and Michael Kenna. Langer is known for his fine-art black-and-white photography. His latest book is titled Berlin.
Richard Sandler is a street photographer and documentary filmmaker. He has directed and shot eight non-fiction films, including “The Gods of Times Square,” “Brave New York,” and “Radioactive City.”
Nina Welch-Kling is a New York City-based photographer originally from a small town in southern Germany. Her background in fine art and architecture, combined with a love for roaming the city streets, inform her photographic depictions of everyday life.
Raquel Natalicchio is a photographer from Los Angeles, CA, now based in Houston, TX as a staff visual journalist for The Houston Chronicle. Raquel documents social issues, community-driven stories, political mobilization, and migration across the US/Mexico border. Her work focuses on the universality of humanity, including themes of love, struggle, resilience, and community.
Bob Patterson is the founder and publisher of Street Photography Magazine. For the past 10 years, Bob has produced a magazine dedicated to showcasing a diverse range of street photography and documentary photographers. An early adopter of digital publications, Bob combined his savvy for web design with his personal love for photography.
Larry Niehues is a French-born author and photographer who immigrated to the United States in 2010. While working as a commercial photographer for a variety of brands and publications, Mr. Niehues has tended to his passion for motorcycles, music, and the open road, traveling intensively over the last seven years creating the images that compose Nothing Has Changed, a photographic journey across America that connects the present with the past in ways that make us contemplate our collective future. His latest book is Mississippi Dream.
After graduating from California State University, Los Angeles with a Master of Arts Degree in Pictorial/Documentary History, Mark Edward Harris started his professional photography career doing the stills for the Merv Griffin Show and various television and movie companies. Mark has worked on numerous documentary projects. His latest project focuses on the challenges of orangutans, their habitat, and the people that are helping them to survive.
Elinor Carucci (born 1971) is an Israeli American photographer and educator living in New York City. She is noted for her intimate portraits of her family's lives.[2][3][4] She has published four monographs: Closer (2002), Diary of a Dancer (2005), Mother (2013), and Midlife (2019). She teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Shortly after RBG’s passing in September 2020, Time magazine commissioned Carucci to write a commemorative piece on the late justice, focused on the stories behind her legendary collars.