David duChemin – författare

In The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer''s Place in Picture-Making, photographer David duChemin uses photography essays accompanied by beautiful black-and-white photos to inspire photography with a human connection. 

As both an art form and a universal language, the photograph has an extraordinary ability to connect and communicate with others. But with over one trillion photos taken each year, why do so few of them truly connect? Why do so few of them grab our emotions or our imaginations? It is not because the images lack focus or proper exposure; with advances in technology, the camera does that so well these days. Photographer David duChemin believes the majority of our images fall short because they lack soul. And without soul, the images have no ability to resonate with others. They simply cannot connect with the viewer, or even—if we’re being truthful—with ourselves.

In The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer’s Place in Picture-Making, David explores what it means to make better photographs. Illustrated with a collection of beautiful black-and-white images, the book’s essays address topics such as craft, mastery, vision, audience, discipline, story, and authenticity. The Soul of the Camera is a personal and deeply pragmatic book that quietly yet forcefully challenges the idea that our cameras, lenses, and settings are anything more than dumb and mute tools. It is the photographer, not the camera, that can and must learn to make better photographs—photographs that convey our vision, connect with others, and, at their core, contain our humanity. The Soul of the Camera helps us do that.

In The Soul of the Camera: The Photographer’s Place in Picture-Making, David explores what it means to make better photographs. Illustrated with a collection of beautiful black-and-white images, the book’s essays address topics such as craft, mastery, vision, audience, discipline, story, and authenticity. The Soul of the Camera is a personal and deeply pragmatic book that quietly yet forcefully challenges the idea that our cameras, lenses, and settings are anything more than dumb and mute tools. It is the photographer, not the camera, that can and must learn to make better photographs—photographs that convey our vision, connect with others, and, at their core, contain our humanity. The Soul of the Camera helps us do that.

A Beautiful Anarchy is a vulnerable, honest, and insightful book about the human longing to create, whether you’re creating a family, a business, a book, or a photograph. Your greatest creation can be an intentional life lived on your own terms. What is our life but a chance to make the greatest art of all?

If you already identify as a creative person, this book is an invitation to more intentionally explore your creative process. If you''ve ever said, “But I’m not really creative,” it’s a call to exhume a part of yourself that desperately needs to get out and breathe.

This is an honest discussion about creativity and the obstacles that stand in your way on that journey. It’s an invitation to consider the creative in all of us, and to recognize that your best work will always be done when you colour outside the lines and listen first to your own voice. Truly exceptional, authentic lives have never belonged to the talented or the fearless, but to those who find the courage to do their work, and to be themselves.

When Within the Frame was first published in 2009, it received high praise for both its practical teaching and its humanity. Ten years later, it is a best-selling modern classic and a must-read.

Author David duChemin’s masterful and balanced emphasis on both the head and the heart—craft and technique on the one hand, passion and vision on the other—mirror the process of creating compelling, meaningful photographs that convey your vision. Filled with engaging photography, thought-provoking text, actionable takeaways, and creative exercises, the book’s message continues to resonate strongly with readers across the globe.

Celebrating a decade since its original publication, this 10th Anniversary Edition of Within the Frame has been given a hardcover treatment and an updated, refined design, but retains everything that has made it so well received in over a dozen languages.

Whether you’re encountering this classic for the first time or revisiting its universal themes, you’ll find the book inspirational and instructional in its real-world wisdom and beautiful photography. David continues to encourage you to reach beyond the usual shortcuts and search for what matters to you, not giving up until you convey it through your photography: “I’m chasing my vision, and you will chase yours in the places best suited to that. What’s important is that you chase that vision intentionally and with passion, refusing to let it be anything but yours and yours alone.”

Through a genuine and soulful discussion about creating photographs of people, places, cultures, and the discovery of a personal point of view that makes those stories compelling and authentic, David teaches how to seek and serve your creative vision through the art of photography. He shares the nuances of approaching different subjects, the value of scouting locations (and wandering in unfamiliar places), techniques for photographing landscapes, how to capture a sense of place and culture with sensitivity through images of food, festivals, art, faith, and more. Most importantly, David maintains the crucial theme of vision and helps you find, cultivate, and pursue your own—and then fit it within the frame.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Author David duChemin’s masterful and balanced emphasis on both the head and the heart—craft and technique on the one hand, passion and vision on the other—mirror the process of creating compelling, meaningful photographs that convey one’s vision. Filled with engaging photography, thought-provoking text, actionable takeaways, and creative exercises, the book’s message continues to resonate strongly with readers across the globe.

In this 10th Anniversary Edition of Within the Frame, celebrating a decade since its original publication, the book is given a hardcover treatment and an updated, refined design.

Whether you’re encountering this classic for the first time or revisiting its universal themes, you’ll find the book inspirational and instructional in its real-world wisdom and beautiful photography. David continues to encourage you to reach beyond the usual shortcuts and search for what matters to you, not giving up until you convey it through your photography: “I’m chasing my vision, and you will chase yours in the places best suited to that. What’s important is that you chase that vision intentionally and with passion, refusing to let it be anything but yours and yours alone.”

Through a heartfelt discussion about creating photographs of people, places, cultures, and the discovery of a personal point of view that makes those stories compelling and authentic, David teaches how to seek and serve your creative vision through the art of photography. He shares the nuances of approaching different subjects, the value of scouting locations (and wandering in unfamiliar places), techniques for photographing landscapes, how to capture a sense of place and culture with sensitivity through images of food, festivals, art, faith, and more. Most importantly, David maintains the crucial theme of vision—and he helps you find, cultivate, and pursue your own, and then fit it within the frame.

Photographers often look at an image—one they’ve either already created or are in the process of making—and ask themselves a simple question: “Is this a good photograph?” It’s an understandable question, but the truth is that it’s profoundly unhelpful. How are you supposed to answer that? What does “good” even mean?

What if you were equipped to ask better, more specific questions of your work so that you could answer them more directly, and in doing so, bring more specific action and intention to the act of creating photographs? What if asking the right questions allowed you to establish a more helpful and pragmatic approach to your image-making? In The Heart of the Photograph, photographer and author David duChemin helps you learn to ask (and find your own answers to) better questions of your work in order to craft more successful photographs. Photographs that express and connect, photographs that are strong and, above all, yours.

From the big-picture questions—What do I want this image to accomplish?—to the more detail-oriented questions that help you get there—What is the light doing? Where do the lines lead?—David walks you through his own questions and process so that you can establish your own. Along the way, there are discussions of the building blocks from which compelling photographs are made, such as gesture, balance, scale, harmony, perspective, story, memory, symbolism, and much more. The Heart of the Photograph is not a theoretical book. It is an immensely practical and truly useful book that empowers you to ask better, more helpful questions of you and your work so that you can produce images that fulfill your vision and intention for them.

Photographers often look at an image—one they’ve either already created or are in the process of making—and ask themselves a simple question: “Is this a good photograph?” It’s an understandable question, but the truth is that it’s profoundly unhelpful. How are you supposed to answer that? What does “good” even mean?

What if you were equipped to ask better, more specific questions of your work so that you could answer them more directly, and in doing so, bring more specific action and intention to the act of creating photographs? What if asking the right questions allowed you to establish a more helpful and pragmatic approach to your image-making? In The Heart of the Photograph, photographer and author David duChemin helps you learn to ask (and find your own answers to) better questions of your work in order to craft more successful photographs. Photographs that express and connect, photographs that are strong and, above all, yours.

From the big-picture questions—What do I want this image to accomplish?—to the more detail-oriented questions that help you get there—What is the light doing? Where do the lines lead?—David walks you through his own questions and process so that you can establish your own. Along the way, there are discussions of the building blocks from which compelling photographs are made, such as gesture, balance, scale, harmony, perspective, story, memory, symbolism, and much more. The Heart of the Photograph is not a theoretical book. It is an immensely practical and truly useful book that empowers you to ask better, more helpful questions of you and your work so that you can produce images that fulfill your vision and intention for them.

Was ist eigentlich ein gutes Bild?

Ist dieses Bild gut? Nach welchen Kriterien bewerte ich eigentlich meine eigene Arbeit? Und wie sehen das Andere? Diese Fragen stellt sich wohl jeder Fotograf bei der Durchsicht seiner Bilder – und bleibt dabei oft ratlos. Bildkritik ist nicht leicht, eine kritische Analyse der eigenen Arbeiten noch schwerer. Regeln, Formeln oder Rezepte helfen nicht wirklich, um zum Kern der Frage vorzustoßen: Was genau ist ein gutes Bild?

David duChemin gibt in seinem Buch auch keine Antwort auf diese Frage, liefert keine Rezepte für das "gute Bild" – er stellt Fragen. Fragen wie "Wo ist die Geschichte?", "Wie sieht es mit Balance und Spannung aus?", "Welche Rolle spielt das Licht?", "Wie führen die Linien den Blick des Betrachters?", Fragen, die dem Fotografen helfen sollen, Bilder besser zu verstehen, ihre Qualität zu erkennen. Die ihm aber auch helfen sollen, den kreativen Prozess des Fotografierens bewusster zu steuern und die Qualität seiner Arbeit zu verbessern.

Doch duChemin stellt nicht nur Fragen. Er erklärt, er illustriert mit eigenen Bildern, welche Bedeutung seine Fragen haben, wohin der Weg führt, den er dem Leser mit diesem Buch weist: Zu stärkeren und authentischeren Bildern.

Was ist eigentlich ein gutes Bild?

Ist dieses Bild gut? Nach welchen Kriterien bewerte ich eigentlich meine eigene Arbeit? Und wie sehen das Andere? Diese Fragen stellt sich wohl jeder Fotograf bei der Durchsicht seiner Bilder – und bleibt dabei oft ratlos. Bildkritik ist nicht leicht, eine kritische Analyse der eigenen Arbeiten noch schwerer. Regeln, Formeln oder Rezepte helfen nicht wirklich, um zum Kern der Frage vorzustoßen: Was genau ist ein gutes Bild?

David duChemin gibt in seinem Buch auch keine Antwort auf diese Frage, liefert keine Rezepte für das "gute Bild" – er stellt Fragen. Fragen wie "Wo ist die Geschichte?", "Wie sieht es mit Balance und Spannung aus?", "Welche Rolle spielt das Licht?", "Wie führen die Linien den Blick des Betrachters?", Fragen, die dem Fotografen helfen sollen, Bilder besser zu verstehen, ihre Qualität zu erkennen. Die ihm aber auch helfen sollen, den kreativen Prozess des Fotografierens bewusster zu steuern und die Qualität seiner Arbeit zu verbessern.

Doch duChemin stellt nicht nur Fragen. Er erklärt, er illustriert mit eigenen Bildern, welche Bedeutung seine Fragen haben, wohin der Weg führt, den er dem Leser mit diesem Buch weist: Zu stärkeren und authentischeren Bildern.