When Insurance Is No Insurance
Many folks ask me what do I do for camera and gear insurance when I am on the road. In theory I have it covered by a very credible company. Though this theory has never been put to the test. (It has on the other hand cost me a lot in premiums.) I joined the [...]
Video Blog #6 The Drobo Nightmare
Vlog #6 from Matt Brandon on Vimeo. Something new. Ok, it isn’t really new, I have done five other video blog post in the past. But I’ve never recorded any of them with the 5D MKII. So this is new. In this video I take a look at the Drobo storage device and how it [...]
New deal from an old friend: PhotoShelter
I love PhotoShelter and I think you will too. These folks have a love affair with photographers. Really, they love us and when we do well, they do well. Sort of a symbiotic thing. They provide photographers with valuable services for working photographers like a photo website or and online galleries that can be [...]
Prepping for a Cross Culture Shoot
While many of my friends and associates are off to India to attend the Pushkar Camel Festival this week I decided to go the opposite direction. I am headed to Jogjakarta, Indonesia to photograph Eid al-Adha or as we used to call it in India, Baqra Eid (Goat Eid). It is also known as the [...]
Is Fear Your Art Director?
This will be a short post. It’s really just a reminder to take advantage of the moment. This morning I went to Georgetown (Penang, Malaysia) scouting out some locations for an upcoming photo walk. As I was walking through Little India, I stopped and went inside a Hindu temple. These temples have always been inviting [...]
Off-Camera Flash Made Easy
Let me set the record straight right here, I am not a strobist. Ninety five percent of the time I shoot with available light, the other five percent I shoot with my flash set to rear curtain sync (It’s fun. You should try it!) I really don’t like the ugly flat light that on-camera flashes [...]
Going into depth
I am what some people call an intuitive photographer. By that I mean, I take photographs often by what feels right. Many times people that are intuitive at any craft or talent make bad instructors. When asked why they do something they simply reply, “I don’t know, it just feels right.” As an instructor, I [...]
A lite lesson in Light
Light is a funny thing. To be more precise, the photographers perception of light is a funny thing. I’ve noticed recently, many photographers look on light in terms that are very black and white (pun not intended). By that, I mean they describe light in terms of “good” or “bad” light. OK… I’ll admit that [...]
Packing…method or madness?
I’ve had a lot of people comment on the use of Packing Pro, the iPhone app I’m giving away this week. Many people couldn’t believe that I would be capable of getting all the items on the list in my bags and under the allotted weight limit. While I can guarantee you everything got [...]
Packing List
It is been a long time since I have published a packing list. For that matter, it’s been a long time since I’ve even talked to you about what I take on a trip. So as I begin packing for my Tibet to Kathmandu Overland Workshop, I thought it would be good to share [...]
Make it Yours
Click on an image to view full size. This is a short post today. Just long enough to encourage you to explore and stretch. I just wrote that the geek needs to play by the rules to develop an instinct, where as the artist can break the rules anytime. Note: I didn’t say anything about [...]
A Developed Instinct
Henri Cartier-Bresson said “In photography, visual organization can stem only from a developed instinct.” I think what he meant here by visual organization is basic design principles and composition. These are things that can definitely be developed over time and yet he still uses that word “instinct”. As much as we want to believe [...]
Pricing Your Work
Every now and then I receive e-mails from people asking how I price my work. Then just today, I was having a Skype conversation with my mother and she asked the same thing about the crafts she makes. Why is this so hard? When I first started to sell prints I was surprised at the [...]
Can The Right Photo Be No Photo?
We had such a great response from the last post, “What is your Un-Suck Filter” that I thought I would take the discussion over to ProPhotoCoalition.com and let others join in. So if you are interested in some ways to photograph people different than ourselves then by all means visit this link and give me [...]
What is your Un-Suck Filter?
Un-suckfilters, everybody has one. Oh sure, you might not want to admit it, but you have one. Everyone does. Back and white conversion or for the more creative duo-toned conversion has got to be the number one un-suck filter. We have all be tempted, but we must resist the evil that is known as duo-tone [...]
Thaipusam ’11, Day 2
Thanks for all the positive feedback yesterday. Thaipusam is a festival, a party, as well as a pilgrimage by foot. To me, today seemed to be about movement. As photographers human beings we get caught in patterns, ruts and favorites all the time. I am no different. But, this doesn’t have to be a bad [...]
When spending money gets out of focus
Last month I led two Introduction to Photography courses and one of the things I saw repeated in each course is that the beginners don’t want a lot. They are not asking to be the next Ansel Adams or Steve McCurry. But the one thing almost all of them do want is a simple portrait [...]
An Image Critique Primer
There’s been a lot of talk lately about growth. One of the components of developing as a photographer is seeing the areas where we are lacking in growth. We are often blind to these areas and it takes someone else to point them out for us. This can be achieved by quality image critiques. But how do you know you’re [...]
It’s Raining But, Here Comes the Sun…
It’s been done by everyone. Everyone but me, that is. Well, now everyone includes me. People say you never stop learning but no-one ever tells you what order you learn in. Sometime old tricks can be new to old dogs like me. I am not a strobist, in fact my use of a flash until [...]
A Photographic Workout
So, you want to get better at taking photos. Ok, great. Are you ready to work at it? I often get this comment either in the form of a question or a declarative statement. It reminds me of my own declarative statement that I keep coming back to: “I need to lose weight.” In many [...]
A few iPhone Offline Maps Apps
Often when I travel I find myself without cellphone coverage, for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes I am so remote there is just is no coverage. Sometimes there is coverage but I don’t have a local sim and I don’t want to spend the bucks on roaming. Then there are times like this next trip [...]
Geotagging: Just Because We Can
For most people the fun thing about geotagging, or adding the gps coordinates to a photo is simply because you can. But there are some practical uses. I have a client that hopes to create a database of their projects around the world. In this database they might store information and names of staff that [...]
Aristotle, Excellence and the Photographer
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Aristotle This morning I met with some friends of mine for coffee. My buddy Hans tossed out this quote he’d recently read in a runner’s magazine of all places. He thought it might spur some challenging conversation. We were discussing [...]
Dear Beginner, You make ripples!
Recently I had an email from a reader who had some basic photography questions. He was dealing with some pretty common issues that most beginners deal with. He has been frustrated that his images, though taken in some very exotic locations don’t seem to grab the viewer. After I looked over some of his images [...]
I shoot for mostly NGOs and nonprofits. I photograph images of the unknown, the forgotten and the helpless. These are often the stories that most people overlook. 
