Guy Tal | Photographer, Author
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The important and only vital question is, how much greater, finer, am I than I was yesterday? Have I fulfilled my possibilities, made the most of my potentialities? ~Edward Weston In preparing for a recent medical treatment I had to pass a standard assessment of my cognitive state, which included such common questions as, “do... Continue Reading →
You never know what is enough, until you know what is more than enough. ~William Blake This rant (and it is exactly that) is as close to a gear-related post as you will find in my writings. I deliberately omitted brand and model names, because to me they are not important, and because I don't... Continue Reading →
Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What... Continue Reading →
In my teaching, I wish to promote the concept of expressive photographs—photographs that are not just original or appealing in themselves, but that also communicate some subjective thoughts and feelings form the mind of the photographer.
Disclaimer: my friend, Bruce Heinemann, sent me a copy of his new book, which I feel is well worth recommending. I have absolutely no financial interest in the book. *** Photography, among all of its noble characteristics is perhaps first, and foremost about relationships... between ideas, themes, colors, shapes, textures, metaphors. ~Bruce Heinemann Although neither... Continue Reading →
Nothing in the world is more exciting than a moment of sudden discovery or invention, and many more people are capable of experiencing such moments than is sometimes thought. ~Bertrand Russell I’m delighted to see various “influencers” promoting the idea of not revealing location information. Recently, even a local tourism board (in Jackson Hole, WY)... Continue Reading →
What can we do but keep on breathing in and out, modest and willing, and in our places? ~Mary Oliver It may be that the last couple of years have been the most difficult in my life. I may elaborate on the reasons in a future post, but I will say now that my recent... Continue Reading →
There are no moments. Moments exist in theory alone. To live, to feel, to experience, to think, is to be in a constant state of becoming. It is the dialectic nature of living, and why experiences cannot be contained in moments any more than a movie can be contained in a single frame.
Whether a photograph is art is less important than whether the photographer is an artist.
Searching for a respite from grief, I backpacked through the wilderness and scrambled up the peaks with a near-desperate vigor. Long, hard hikes temporarily soothed my pain and helped me to fall into exhausted sleep at night. At some deep level, the beauty of my surroundings seeped into my subconscious—the lush colors of a meadow dense... Continue Reading →