I have over 400,000 photographs on my hard drives. Of those, only 2,000 images have been compelling enough over the years to consider them final photographs or “keepers.” I suspect I’d have even fewer if I went through them all now. That’s a so-called keeper rate of 0.5% or less. After almost 40 years behind a camera, only half of one percent of ... The post My Keeper Rate is Getting Worse first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

The right gear matters. I get a dozen emails a month that start with “I know you don’t like to talk about gear, but…” So let me stop you right there. I love talking about gear. As long as we’re talking about gear in terms of how it allows us to make the photographs we want to make, and doesn’t ... The post What’s in My Bag? first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

Lying in a mud hole, looking up at a white rhino snuffling just inches from my camera, I was having a tough time not giggling or wetting my pants. I might have been a little nervous, but mostly, it was the thrill and the absurdity of it. To be this close to a massive rhinoceros with no remote gear—just me and ... The post Mwangaza: Light! first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

Among wildlife photographers, it is the long lens that gets all the glory. The bigger the glass, the more serious one is assumed to be about one’s craft. Less a tool than a symbol, sometimes, the bigger telephoto lenses telegraph to the world that we mean business. How I envied those photographers as a younger man, how incredible I imagined ... The post The Long & The Short of It first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

My Land Rover pulled up just in time to watch the lions finish their meal. What remained had once been…what? A zebra? It’s sometimes hard to tell. Whatever it was, it’s mostly gone now. “We’re too late,” I hear someone say. “Nothing to see here.” Maybe it was the voice in my head. But hang on a moment. In the ... The post It’s Not a Photograph. Yet. first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

The notes below are specific to Kenya but having done safaris in Zimbabwe and South Africa as well, most of these suggestions apply just as well to other places. I’ve been asked over the years, both by my safari clients and others, what and how to pack for a trip like this, so it felt like this might be a good time ... The post Packing For An African Safari (Updated) first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

I do a little moonlighting for a small computer and imaging company that rhymes with Snapple. They are under the mistaken impression that my nearly 40 years behind the camera means I know what I’m talking about. Still, I like the challenge. One of my first tasks as their Creative Storytelling Specialist (yeah, I don’t know what that means, either) ... The post The Problem with Mood first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

Photography can be many things. For some, it’s about capturing scenes. For me, it’s about conveying emotions and suggesting narratives that resonate deeply, first with me and then with the viewers who might experience the image. I’m not so much after eyes as I am hearts and minds. Mood does that. The mood of a photograph is its emotional tone—a ... The post The Power of Mood first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

Spoiler alert: 15 years ago I found the perfect camera bag, and I’m giving one away. Keep reading. I am embarrassed by how many camera bags I own. Unlike the cameras and lenses that have come into my life and served their purposes before being sold to find a new life with someone else, my camera bags seem to have ... The post The Perfect Camera Bag first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more

I have a confession: I only know what 5% of the buttons, dials, and menu items on my camera do. I haven’t done the math; I’m guessing it could be even less than that. But I know that my first cameras only had the ability to focus, select the aperture, change the shutter speed, and specify the ISO. The menu options ... The post Are You Pushing the Right Buttons? first appeared on David duChemin - Photographer, Author, Creative Instigator ..read more