Lessons from “The Zen of Creativity”

I recently finished reading “The Zen of Creativity” by the zen master and photographer John Daido Loori. This mix of skills gave me hope the book would offer a new and fresh perspective.

The book does indeed give valuable insights into applying some of the Zen art principles to photography and other creative areas.

Here are the main takeaways I got from it:

Beginner’s Mind

Embrace a mindset free from preconceived ideas and expectations. In photography, this might mean taking the time to fully observe familiar subjects. Also, visit locations or subjects that you haven’t seen before, with no prior knowledge about them, or exposure to another photographer’s work of them.

No Mind

The goal is to achieve a state of awareness devoid of distractions --achieved through meditation and consistent practice. I believe this is a very important aspect when it comes to photography, and that’s why I often emphasize the importance of practice. The more familiar we become with our equipment, the less it gets in the way, letting us to focus on what’s in front of the camera and on what we want to say.

Seeing with the Whole Body and Mind

Be mindful of what our senses, beyond vision, perceive and how we can communicate that through our photography. Evoking emotional responses in the viewer should be our primary objective. Even not on the book, I’d also like to point out here that those senses can trick us into believing our images are better than they really are. As photographers, we have a context the viewer does not have, and if the photographs are not strong enough to convey what’s necessary, then they’ll only speak to us.

Creative Feedback

Lastly, Loori emphasizes the significance of feedback. Not on technical aspects, but on the emotional impact our work has on the audience. He believes that most artists develop their career without truly knowing what their work means for their audience, if anything. They know what the art critics say, and whether the work is commercially successful or not. But beyond that, they are blind.

I go into much more detail on this book on my Patreon page.

Back "home"

I’m back home — whatever that means.

Over the years, I’ve called many places "home", some of them separated by oceans and several time zones. Each one has left its mark on me, and now, no matter where I am, there's a feeling of longing. Always missing something, somewhere.

My life feels like a collection of fragments that will never form a complete picture, because they are all far from each other. It's like a puzzle you can only glimpse one piece at a time, never the whole.

But don’t get me wrong: it’s a beautiful, big and rich puzzle. Imperfect, yes, and not without its downsides, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

Interview with Frames Magazine

I recently sat down (virtually) with Tomasz from Frames Magazine to talk about my work and photography in general.

I broke my one rule... and it cost me

I didn't follow the rules I've set up for myself... and I missed a couple of good shots.

Why I shoot with a high resolution camera (A7Riv)

For the past five years, I’ve been using high-resolution full-frame cameras for my photography -- starting with the A7Rii, and now the A7Riv. This choice might seem surprising, especially given the type of images I create.

The reason is very simple: cropping.

I crop every single photograph I take, even when I get the perfect framing in-camera. Creating square images means I “discard” a third of the pixels, every single time.

A7Riv’s 61MP let me crop even further, and I often do. Switching to APS-C mode gives that extra reach I sometimes need, effectively turning my 28-200mm superzoom into a 28-300mm, while still producing large, detailed files.

In fact, in APS-C mode, the A7Riv matches the 26MP of a dedicated crop-sensor camera like the a6700. This means I can mount a lens like the 70-350mm and get an equivalent 525mm focal length in a compact setup -- much smaller than the full-frame counterparts. Or mount a prime like the 35mm 1.4 and "switch" to 50mm with the press of a button.

So, it’s not about having 61MP images; I couldn’t care less about that. It's about the flexibility those megapixels give me: I don't have to carry as much gear; or I can shoot in bad weather and not have to worry about switching lenses to get the focal length I need. I like camera gear that gets out of the way, because I can focus on what really matters: subject and composition.

Am I consistent... or just repetitive?

Oh, the delicate balance between consistency, working a subject matter or location over years, and avoiding stagnation. To make matters even worse, we live in a fast paced world that demands new and shiny things every couple of weeks. What is a photographer to do with all of this?

This was my last chance

With a trip coming up, and the weather only offering a handful of opportunities, this was my last chance to photograph Half Dome from Glacier Point on a moody day. So when I saw there was a winter weather advisory for Yosemite, I immediately booked a campground.

Conditions over location

When it comes to choosing a location to photograph, I always base my decision on the conditions, not the place itself. I believe that with the right conditions, almost any location can look incredible.

That’s also why I haven’t left San Francisco in nearly 5 months — I didn’t need to go anywhere else. The magic has been right at my doorstep this whole time!

The best time of the year (for photography)

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I can feel it -- the weather is changing, the light is shifting, the mood is transforming. The best time of the year for photography is upon us.

The days are getting shorter, making it easier to catch both sunrise and sunset. The Sun now travels lower across the sky, creating a softer, more subtle, more beautiful light. Temperatures are finally pleasant.

Don't get me wrong, I had a terrific summer in San Francisco -- fun times filled with great photography on the streets of this beautiful city. But I am so ready to hit the road. Soon. Very, very soon.

This isn't my usual photography spot...

After months of doing most of my photography within the same 3-4 square miles in my neighborhood, I switch things up by going to downtown SF every day for a week. I got plenty of fog and some dramatic light.

On the iPhone 16 Pro's cameras

The annual introduction of Apple's new iPhones is arguably one of the biggest photography events of the year — after all, smartphones account for 94% of the almost 2 trillion photos taken every year.

The iPhone 16 Pro did get some upgrades, as it does every September, if only incremental as usual. The ultra-wide lens gets an upgrade from 12 to 48MP, the main sensor is now faster, and the 5x telephoto made its way to the regular Pro model.

I'm still mad at Apple for the deliberate incremental transition from 12 to 48MP in the iPhone's camera system. They are doing it one lens at a time, knowing very well that a new and better camera is one of the main reasons why people upgrade their phones. The technology is already here: the cheaper Google Pixel 9 Pro comes with 48MP across the board, and even a 24MP selfie camera. Of course, the iPhone 17 is rumored to get those upgrades — it will be the best iPhone ever.

The iPhone 16 Pro's cameras look great, though, especially if you look at where we come from. They might not be substantial upgrades from last year's phone, but on paper, my iPhone 12 mini is starting to look pretty outdated with much smaller sensors and very little resolution. Yes, 12MP is usually enough, but that becomes 9MP after I apply the square crop, severely limiting any further cropping. As a photographer who shoots with all kinds of cameras, I'm definitely tempted to upgrade to the 16 for the cameras alone.

I said it a year ago, and I still think Apple made a mistake with the 120mm lens. The current lineup of 13mm, 24mm, and 120mm leaves a huge gap between the main and telephoto lenses, missing out on key and very useful focal lengths for everyday situations. I'd rather see a 75mm lens on a 48MP sensor, with the ability to reach 120mm using the fancy cropping the main sensor has.

Apple are not the only ones with this problem, though, but I can't stop wondering whether smartphone manufacturers are taking this approach because the demand for very long focal lengths is real, or simply because a high mm number looks more impressive on the spec sheet. In any case, my guess is that next year we'll see a 120mm on a 48MP sensor with the ability to "zoom" to 200mm or so -- and I'll be all for it.

I was hoping for a bigger sensor for the main camera, as rumors had the iPhone 16 Pro Max using Sony's IMX903 1/1.14" sensor. Instead, we got the same one from last year but with faster readouts to enable 4k120p. Great for video, I suppose, but not for photography. This would have placed the iPhone so close to 1" cameras… but given the very incremental updates, and the most likely move to 48MP for the telephoto and 24MP for the selfie camera on the iPhone 17, we might need to wait a couple years before we get to see that kind of sensor.

On the software side, it remains to be seen how much processing the new iPhones will be applying to the photos, but I'm not confident seeing the path Apple has been following for the last few years. I do believe that the photos we are taking today will look awful in 20-30 years, when we look back at them. While old film photos have a nostalgic feeling to them, smartphone photos today feel over-processed and more real than reality. I appreciate apps like Halide and its new “Zero process” feature, something that should be offered by Apple in the default camera app. There's little RAW in Apple ProRAW.

Overall, these are great cameras on very solid phones — just like last year, and the year before that. Smartphones have matured and become extremely good at what they do.

I'll personally be upgrading from my 12 mini to a 16 Pro Max, despite holding a grudge against the feature creep with the transition to 48MP. It's not because of the cameras -- after all I don't use my smartphone much for my work because I almost always have a better camera with me, usually the RX100vii. But for someone who spends long periods of time living in a car alone, sometimes in remote places with spotty or non-existent cell service, having longer battery life, crash detection, and satellite connectivity can be literal life-saving features. The better cameras will be nice to have, too.

PS: I will need to try the Camera Control button, dial, or whatever they call it, to have a more informed opinion on it. I'm all for phsyical controls, so the more buttons, the better.

From snapshot to fine art photograph

Black and White takes whatever the world has to offer, and gives us the freedom to create our own version of it. Images that only existed in our mind before.

In this video, I share some tips and techniques to get creative with Black and White photography, how we can take a snapshot and transform it into a fine art piece.

How to pick your best photos

If you are like me, and like going out often and taking lots of pictures, you might have hundreds if not thousands of photographs sitting in your memory cards or in a hard drive. In this video, we'll see how we can go from hundreds of images to just a handful of ones, our very best photographs.

Photography must be difficult

"One of the downsides of the disposable camera is that it’s fun, which is in strict contrast to real professional photography which must always be stressful, or else you go to photography jail." - Casually Explained (YT)

The best photographers wear the most comfortable shoes

Photography is the best excuse to go explore the world. Even better, to discover a whole new dimension that has always been there, hiding in plain sight. The camera is a superpower. But it all starts with a pair of comfortable shoes.

This compact camera changed the way I do photography

I've used all kind of cameras over the years, from medium format film monsters to smartphones. All of them taught some valuable lessons about this art, but the camera that changed my photography forever was a tiny compact one. I lost it years ago on a beach in Oregon, but now, we are reunited again!

How great photography is done

This photo by photojournalist Evan Vucci is already an iconic image of our times. The amazing Imitative Photography YouTube channel has a great video showing how that photograph was made - a rare example of how great photography is done.

And yet, some still miss the point. “Right aperture / exposure / iso”, “there’s nothing special about being on this spot, they literally were right there” are some of the comments. Go figure.

Now, I have no idea what the exact settings were. Evan had much more important things to focus on, so it is likely that they were already dialed in for the conditions, or that he was shooting in some semi-automatic mode. In any case, he could've missed on some of those settings and the image would've still been as iconic as it finally turned out to be.

Indeed, the image is iconic not because it's perfectly exposed, it has no noise, or because the color balance is accurate. No, it's all about the story it tells. And making it might look easy, but it was anything but that.

What those commenters are missing is that the image was made because of Evan’s vision, who was able to anticipate what was going to happen next by moving to the right spots; the big balls it takes to point a camera at a presidential candidate when armed forces are looking for a shooter (who you don’t even know if is still active!); the experience it takes to frame your subject perfectly in a chaotic environment without thinking much about it; and the practice it requires to know how to use your camera as fast as Evan did, literally an extension of his body.

When something looks easy but yet only a few manage to do it, you know they are some of the best at what they do. Of course, there’s nothing especial to that shot, provided you are at the right spot, at the right time, ready and with the skills and experience required to make it happen. Other than that, nothing to see here.

The morning of the coyote

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I see coyotes very often during my morning walks. Some are shy, some let you get relatively close. This one was too busy looking for breakfast to mind my presence, so I was able to get quite near.

After taking dozens of shots, I witnessed something I’d never seen before: the coyote found a decently sized gopher and proceeded to eat it right in front of me.

This is why I love photography and getting out with a camera in hand. You just never know what you are going to find.

No other place I’d rather be

The feeling is always there, some days I’m barely aware of it; other days, it almost hurts: the desire to hit the road again. And yet, there’s no place I’d rather be than San Francisco right now.

It feels strange. I haven’t been in a situation like this in years. My “normal” is to be always on the move, nowhere for too long. But I keep scanning the map and I find nothing: there’s nowhere I want to go*.

The summer doesn’t inspire me. The bright sun and the heat make me feel miserable most of the time. I much prefer those gray cloudy days, slow rainy afternoons, and the magical foggy mornings. And of those mornings, I’m getting plenty here.

I spent the last two summers in Norway and Scotland, grayscale times I cherish now. I want that, I need that. So I’m learning to work on the same spots over and over, trying to find what I failed to see before. And while my desire to go somewhere is still there, I’m starting to love it. A project is building up here, I think. We shall see.

Come around September, though, I’ll be more than ready to hit that open road again. Where to, it doesn’t matter.

* By car, that is. I guess I could always take a flight to somewhere exotic on the other side of the world, but you know, I can’t afford that.

The key to great photography is boring

In a world that is constantly trying to sell us shortcuts and workarounds, it's important to realize that the road to great photography is rather unassuming and kind of boring. It is the accumulation of great work made over the years with hard work that we can start building a body of work. It is a very simple path, but not easy to follow.