Sequencing in Photography

This video is brought to you by Squarespace. Welcome back everyone. We are going to do something a little bit different this time. I'm going to do mail time, but this is different because all of the mail that I'm going to show you today come from alumni of the Zen courses that I did this summer. And for those of you who don't know, I do teach an online Zen course where we meet on Zoom and then we do some one-on- ones and some group sessions. And I'm going to do this a little bit differently because I've already critiqued and been through this work with everybody. And I thought it might be more fun just to kind of do a rapid fire these and actually talk about the process behind some of these. So that's kind of where we're coming at. So first up, I want to share this scene which comes to us from Shereice Granon. This is called Through a Glass Darkly. Full disclosure, I have known Shereice for years. She is an old dear friend of mine and I've noticed since before either one of us were doing photography, we were both doing music at the time and it's been really cool the last couple years to see her develop her own style which I think is very difficult to do as a photographer and you'll see that throughout this scene. So, she came to me and had this kind of abstract concept that was um very different and I thought it was going to be very challenging for her and she pulled it off very gracefully. I'll read you just a little of the intro here. It says, "These personal images reference the human experience of looking into dark glass and the glimmers of God we find there. May you discover the hope hidden within your own dark glass experiences. Uh it's a beautiful zen that deals with uh coming to terms with the ideas of death and the unknown. And I think she's just done a wonderful job here. She's got a really nice style where she incorporates reflections, uh a lot of light, uh embracing blur, and uh it borders right on the edge of abstraction and reality. And I think she did just a beautiful job on this. It's very nicely printed. There were some technical challenges in getting this printed, but in the end, she overcame them all. I think the paper weight is fantastic in here, and this is just a really solid piece. And so, Sharice, this is awesome. Thank you for sending, and I'm glad to be sharing this with everybody here. So, next up is this lovely little zen that comes to us from Ward Sanderson, who is a photographer from Alberta, Canada. This is called Thinking Upon a Place. Ward has a wonderful style and I've seen these pictures actually develop over a couple years because I've known Ward through other venues, but uh I think this really came out nicely and it's really nice to see this body of work kind of come together into something that works uh as a as a unit. And what I really love here is the way he treated spreads. Uh his style and the way of shooting incorporates a lot of geometrical aspects and though sometimes it is abstract, it comes off as a really different type of landscape photography than I think we're used to seeing. And so Ward, you did an outstanding job on this, my man. Thank you for sharing and uh I will link up to everybody by the way in the show description. So if you guys want to support your colleagues and get one of these, um they're really nicely done. So Ward, awesome work. Okay, so next up is this piece that comes to us from Wendy Russell. Wendy had this concept that she came to me with where she wanted to do a zen that was somewhat nostalgic and dedicated to her mother who she lost uh not too long ago. and she wanted to combine and I think she really did this beautifully and you'll see this as you go out uh remembering mom is a combination of family photographs that are older uh and mixed with her botanical images which I think she did a beautiful job with this and it's really interesting to see these two things kind of come together and live together and one of the concerns was is that maybe it would not work for an entire book and one of the things that I love is she does a departure on this and it comes in the section the ending with the photo of her mother and then we have a blank page So there's a rest here and then it takes you in a different direction. This is one of the things that we talked about a lot in the course and it's something that I talk about in my book and you know for me I don't have a formal photography background. I have a music background. One of the biggest differences between photography and music is that music takes time. It develops over a period of time. A photograph is still and when you're doing something like a book or a zen you do kind of break that fourth wall in that sense because all of a sudden you are dealing with progress in time and in music what we call form. So, in this section, she gives you a couple pauses, and then she takes you into a series of images, and I think this gets kind of uh it's a little bit dark and sad in a way, but they're pictures with no people. Uh they're a departure at first from the botanical images, even though we start moving back into those. And then she brings it back into a lighter note uh towards the end that gives you a sense of hope and ends with a landscape and a wonderful quote. Wendy, you did an outstanding job on this. And I've already talked to Wendy about this and I think she's really happy with the way it came out, too. and she's got some other zenes in mind also. But I think it's very interesting because a lot of times we think of a zen as something that is kind of loose and informal, but you can add those formal qualities into it. And I think this is uh proof that uh it's just it has a really interesting result when you incorporate that. Well, so Wendy, hats off. This is awesome. So next up is something that is very fun and very much a departure from what we've already seen. This comes to us from Dave Bashard and Dave came to me and he had an idea that he wanted to do something on newsprint. I have featured Zenes on NewSprint before. I've even done one of my own that way. And it's something that's just very different. It's an unusual format for a Zen. And he had this idea that he's been working on for a long time of doing comic strips and

how he could approach that as a photographer. So, here we go with photons. And this is the collector's edition, which I am flattered to have. Uh Dave does this with his wife Mavis. So, Dave and Mave is who you're going to see throughout. And these are actually a lot of fun. One of the things that David was very uh defined about was his process on these. He wanted really bright colors, uh, light humor. He didn't want to be too obscure with things. And these are actually, uh, very laborious to do, uh, even though you can tell they're done in Photoshop with filters, but a lot of them are composits of multiple images. So, not only was there kind of the technique behind it, but also his process in creating these was coming up with comic strips with still photographs. So, we're looking at plates that either have one or multiple images that come together, and they're very quirky, wonderful sense of humor. Dave, this came out great and I love the fact that it's on newsprint and it does feel like the cartoon section of the newspaper and so very well done. And uh again, I'll link up to everybody below. This is really cool, Dave. Oh, and one other thing that I want to add and I think that Dave has really nailed this here is you're going to notice that there is a wide range to the variety of work that comes in. One of the things that's interesting is, you know, I teach this as a Zen workshop and though it is a photography workshop in a sense, really what we're talking about is bringing work that you've already done in they're not photography tutorials. So what we talk about, we talk about the design elements, the sequencing of images, how a cover works, uh how a body of work works and relates to images within that body. And so it's something that's very interesting. So people will bring a wide range of stuff in and it's really interesting to see the diversity involved. And so you will see that in a couple more that I want to share with you. But uh if you have a zen that you've done and maybe you want to sell it, you probably need a website. That's where our sponsor comes in today. And so I want to give a quick shout out to our sponsor this week who were the awesome folks over at Squarespace. How easy is it to build an amazing website in a matter of minutes? Squarespace has you covered. It's dead simple. Head over to Squarespace, hit get started. You can start by using Squarespace blueprint AI and SEO tools which will give you an impressive website in no time. Something unique because you know you're not like other websites. Give your site a name. Next, you can build your homepage. We'll start with a few preset layouts just to get us going. Want to sell products like prints, books, maybe you make a zen? Well, you can feature those on your homepage. Create a few more sections if you want. Let's also give it a color palette. There's a whole bunch to choose from. and then just get us started. We can change this all later. Next, let's select the typography choices. Welcome to your website. Everything is set up and it's all ready for you to customize. Squarespace is built on Fluid Engine, the next generation of website design. Select edit and Fluid Engine allows you to drag, place, and resize any element on the page. You can snap these to a grid. You can make them float on top of one another. You can free however you like. You can even preview and adjust how the site looks on either desktop or mobile. The layouts are independent. Of course, you'll want a portfolio for your work. Creating an image gallery is as easy as dropping a folder of images on your web browser. Once uploaded, you can drag to resort, customize the look, and Squarespace writes all of the code for you. Everything just works, and it looks fabulous. Want to sell your own prints, books, or z? Flexible payments allow you to make the checkout process absolutely seamless when you sell products or services. You can accept credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and in eligible countries, you can offer customers the option to buy now and pay later with Afterpay and Clear Pay. You should try Squarespace for yourself. It's absolutely free. No credit card required. Just go to squarespace. com/aop. Sign up for that free trial. If you decide Squarespace is right for you, I can save you an additional 10% on your order by using offer code AOP on checkout. That's right, the code is AOP. So, stop procrastinating. Go build your website today. And I want to give a special shout out and thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Okay, so next up is a project from Randy Cookie. This is called Proximity Fall 2025. Randy came to me with a group of images. He's a very good photographer and it was really interesting to see how these images spoke uh as spreads and I love the way this came out. The images look great on the paper choice. The colors are exceptional. But what I remember from the process of this is the way that Randy was working with images in a spread. And so I've talked about this a lot before, but when you have a spread or two pages that are open and the reader is looking at it, whether you like it or not, those images have a relationship with one another. And I really love the pairings that he did on these. I think with the subject matter that's in here, which is essentially street photography, but it's really more from an architectural standpoint to see how these hard lines and shapes come together and in an instance like this, and I remember telling him in the class, you end up with a landscape that is fabricated between two images and it's not the same place. It could be miles apart. It could be countries apart even.

And I think that's a really interesting idea to explore with photography at times is how those images relate to one another. and you come up with a third reality as a result from two realities that are set next to one another. So Randy, this is outstanding. Uh, awesome work. I'll link up Randy below. All right, so next up is Mountains Come Out of the Sky. This comes to us from Kent Rebman. Uh, we both have a passion for the band. Yes. And so that's where the quote comes from. This is a really interesting project and I kind of went back and forth with Kent a few times uh when we did this course cuz one of his concerns was is that this seemed like a vanity project and what reason did he have to do this? And I told him about a video that I did years ago called Nobody Cares About Your Photography, which he did watch. And I think, yeah, so what if it's a vanity project? You're compiling images that are communicating something to a viewer. He did an outstanding job on this. Obviously, the material is coming from Antarctica on a trip that he went on. But I love the way that he tied this in with the Shackleton third voyage of the Imperial Transarctic expedition from 1914 to 1917. He's got text around that in this uh zen. Um, for those of you who are not familiar with, uh, this was, uh, the boat Endurance, which was an expedition to Antarctica that had a wreck, and the crew actually spent, I think it was 2 years in Antarctica, if I'm not mistaken, uh, basically waiting to be rescued. Uh, but anyway, his view is obviously one that's modern. The photos came out beautiful. Uh, he was very happy. He told me about the quality and the way this came out. He didn't really have any issues with color or anything. Kent, this is outstanding. I really appreciate you sharing it. I will link up, Kent, below. I'm really glad to see you get this done, man. Okay, so next up is not one but two zenes and I'll talk about how these came to be. These come to us from Tom Fielder. Tom has done several workshops with me and he is doing some really cool stuff. The first one I want to talk about is Communique which is an interesting project shot in New York City and just to read you a little bit of his intro that'll set the tone here. It's a reoccurring observation was the prevalence of sharing mobile phone images as a means of connection among friends and couples. Additionally, the photographs capture moments of genuine joy and camaraderie among colleagues and friends. I think this is very well done. Uh it's a very simple exercise. He had a group of images that he had shot in New York and wanted to learn in design and actually get these into a Zen format and he did so here. And he took his skills that he got with there and went for this second one which is called Conjure 2025. This is for the Lexington Camera Club of which he is a member. And so this is actually a group effort of uh images that were photographed for the camera club and Tom put them together in this scene format and he did an outstanding job and I think that is kind of representative of what a lot of people get out of doing this course and certainly for me too is that once you've started doing some print work like this it becomes very addictive and you just want to do more and so Tom you've done an outstanding job on these and I really appreciate you sharing them. Next up is the ultimate party. This comes to us from Vince Brashier. This is a really interesting project because the entire thing was shot in one evening. And this is another thing that I love about the idea of a zen is that it can just be an event or it can be something. It doesn't need to be years of collecting work that is compiled. It can be something that's very uh improvised and spontaneous. And so this was done at a concert and I'll read you a little of his note. It says, "Dear Ted, I've been wanting to make a zen for some time. So your workshop was just what I needed. The zen, as you may recall, is based on a tribute group concert that I photographed. The three bands of the night were performing the music of Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mack, and Tom Petty. All artists that I enjoy, but the funny thing is that I was so focused on photography and really didn't listen to the music. Once again, thank you for the workshop and imparting your knowledge to me and the other participants. Sincerely, Vince. Vince, this came out really cool. The other thing that I like about this and we talked about it a little bit uh when we were doing the uh the workshop and by the way this is a wraparound cover which I think is very cool but the whole idea of photographing a concert and obviously this starts earlier in the day and ends up uh in the darkness with the final act and so you have this light that changes through and so there are variables that kind of propel that narrative forward. Anyway, I think Vince you've done an outstanding job with this and I want to thank you for sharing. This has all been great work and some of you may be wondering if I have any Zen workshops planned for the future and I don't at this point. However, we did three last year. I did two this summer and I will be programming into 2026. And so if you want to stay up on that, the best thing you can do is actually subscribe to the email list and there will be a link to that in the show description of this video. And so that usually people on the email list we tell about first because they want to know. And so that's a really good way to uh find out when we have Zen workshops coming up. Uh we will be doing them in 2026. And so I'm super excited about that. But I want to thank everybody for sharing work. Uh from a personal standpoint for me, it's really inspiring to have a group of people that take a workshop. And so I've seen each one of these zenes throughout their entire process. And when we do the small groups and people are actually showing us what they're working on, it's never the finished copy. And so what will happen is we'll do critiques, make suggestions, usually on pairings and sequencing. And sometimes people need more images or they need different images or maybe it needs to be paired

down to something that's less. And so it's really exciting when I get mail and somebody has sent me their final copy. So I want to thank everybody who shared today and I hope this was inspiring with some of you. So drop me a comment below if you have any questions. I will see you guys in the next video. Until then