The Main Frame: About a year ago, on one of those typical Saturday mornings, I was at my son's cricket practice. Cricket is one of those sports that’s impossible to explain if you weren't raised with it, but all you really need to know for this story is that it involves a very solid wooden bat. The setting was gorgeous. A big green field, trees caught in the breeze. Sunny day, optional We were lounging on the grass with the other parents when my son came running over, tripped, and his bat...

Welcome back! It's great to have you here for another edition of Notes On Seeing. The Main Frame: Photography is meant to be simple. Not easy. Simple. There's a difference, and it matters. Because somewhere along the way, a lot of us picked up the idea that getting better meant adding more. More technique. More rules. More equipment. More post-processing steps. More things to remember before we press the shutter. And the weight of all that "more" is quietly crushing the thing that drew us to...

Right. I need to make a confession. For years — and I mean a long time — I avoided harsh light. Or at the very least, I struggled with it. Growing up in South Africa, the sun was usually high and the shadows usually hard. So more often than not, the camera went back in the bag. And I think I know why. I'd learned photography on a diet of magazines — that was my education. Beautiful soft light, golden tones, everything looking effortless. So when I was standing in the midday sun with nowhere...