Guy Tal | Photographer, Author
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But perhaps the great work of art has less importance in itself than in the ordeal it demands of a man and the opportunity it provides him of overcoming his phantoms and approaching a little closer to his naked reality. —Albert Camus Note: This article contains passages borrowed from various sections of the manuscript-in-progress for... Continue Reading →
To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over, but part of the stream of life flowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown future. —Bertrand Russell Based on some readers’ responses to... Continue Reading →
Please note: I am taking a (perhaps permanent) break from teaching workshops in 2025. If you would like to join Michael Gordon and me on our Visionary Death Valley workshop, don’t wait. We only have a few seats remaining in 2024. I delight in photographs I delight in words I delight in mixing both To... Continue Reading →
The idea of an art detached from its creator is not only outmoded; it is false. —Albert Camus In recent weeks, I was asked by two different people for advice on how to become a professional landscape photographer. One was an ambitious and precocious young teenager who, at age 13, had already decided that this... Continue Reading →
I could have done lots more, put in much more work and developed more pictures, but I had also a desire to say what I felt about life. —Consuelo Kanaga I’ve had several conversations recently about the topic of legacy. In hindsight, I realized, this has been one of the most consistent topics of conversation... Continue Reading →
This is an edited version of an article originally published in LensWork Magazine. I've had the great privilege of contributing to LensWork regularly for nearly a decade. I consider it the finest print magazine available today for creative photographers. I hope you consider subscribing. The state of mind of the photographer while creating is a... Continue Reading →
A casual phone call earlier this week became an on-the-spot decision to record a podcast episode with friends Jack Graham and John Pedersen. Tune in to hear my thoughts about the book I'm currently working on and a few other philosophical tidbits. I hope you enjoy it! Watch on YouTube, or listen to the audio... Continue Reading →
The photographs that excite me are photographs that say something in a new manner; not for the sake of being different, but ones that are different because the individual is different and the individual expresses himself. I realize that we all do express ourselves, but those who express that which is always being done are... Continue Reading →
This article brought to you—in full and free of advertising—by the generosity of my Patreon supporters. Please consider becoming one. Away with ideals. Let each individual act spontaneously from the forever incalculable prompting of the creative wellhead within him. There is no universal law. —D.H. Lawrence Working in projects is, without a doubt, a better, more artistic,... Continue Reading →
The fine arts and the hard sciences have more in common than most people believe, because both are driven by dopamine. The poet composing lines about a hopeless lover is not so different from the physicist scribbling formulas about excited electrons. They both require the ability to look beyond the world of the senses into... Continue Reading →