timing

now is the time......i just sense it.....the most amazing summer storm is just rolling through right now 6:30am my time....inspirational!!  great light , but the whole family is asleep , so i was forced to shoot one of my rare "landscapes"...but, it is not the storm  that i am talking about..

everything in life is always timing, timing and timing....knowing when the "time is right" is a sense that perhaps some people have naturally , but surely is a skill to be developed....

i sense that NOW is the time for all of you who are interested to start photographing something for this site ....now and until  the first week of september...i am interested in  your work from july 1 - september 1...(i will of course link to your past work).....

this "something" should be an essay of your choice that would ideally be a subject close to you both physically and emotionally...and i am interested in publishing here all types of photography....now is the time for you to  show me and our respected audience  what you  can do....

i well know  the writing skills of many of you.....now i would like  to see your photographic skills....most of my students and emerging photographers i know WANT a good portfolio review.....most of them NEED to just go out and work....

all of us must put our past work in the "back of our minds" and go out and create a new body of work....this is difficult, because most photographers get "married" to their portfolios....and this is totally understandable..but, experience with working almost every day  myself and critiquing the work of so many students over the years proves to me that the  best thing any of us can do is to "start over" each and every day ....

so, please start thinking.....and start working.....you may want to begin a new project or continue with an existing one.....i may publish single pictures from some of you or essays from others.....

please do not worry now about where all of this will be uploaded....i am working on this now....we have many choices, so this will be no problem....by mid-september we should have something magical to "put on the table"...

please start your thinking process from the heart.....give yourself the "assignment" that you would dream of receiving from a "mythical" editor ...your best work will be something so so obvious... you do not have to catch a plane or a train to do good work...

i want to see how you see....i want to feel how you feel....i want to know how you think...i want to "read" you  as "visual authors"....

you cannot "say something" if you have nothing to say....and remember, the best stories you have ever read, the best films you have ever watched  and the best photographic essays you have ever seen have usually been personalized visions of what could have been a casual observation or not  noticed by someone not attuned...

i simply want to provide you with a new venue.....a sophisticated photographic venue for others to see what you are able to do in a specific time frame....please trust me in on this one...the magazine editors i know value this more than anything you can ever show them in your portfolio of "greatest hits"....

so, let's give this a try....none of us have anything to lose....this is exactly how i teach my workshops.....i throw my students "out into the cold" and make them produce...it works....i have seen it over and over again..

details for submissions  will follow of course.....but, please forget these kinds of  "details" for right now....

just think...but do not over think....relax.....enjoy.....play....work harder than hard...have no fear...be instinctive....get "inside" yourself...get "inside" someone else...be a mirror....be a window.....

you now have total freedom!!! ....please use your time wisely....

Comments

[Arie]

Dear David...

Very exciting experience! I am in!

Arie

['Pong]

Yes, it's an excellent timing. At the moment, I am in between projects and feeling empty after finished a little short film. This will definitely fuel my eager.

[Paul]

ok my heart is thumping an the adrenalin is pumping...just gotta find something to shoot around here!

[Jeff James]

Count me in.

[Rene Braun]

cool great timing. I've started 2 project ideas last week.

[neven grujic]

haw many`photos we send you
un saludo desde españa

[Mirko]

I will start with my first long-term project...
Really exciting this post!
:)

[Carlos Rubin]

Incredible...today a friend offered me 100%access to something very, very interesting to shoot and now you're offering us this great opportunity....I can't wait to start shooting!

thank you.
Carlos

[jason hobbs]

hi david,

as you may remember i'm working on a personal project at the moment, and i'm going to spain for two weeks at the end of the month - so talk about timing, it couldn't be better - i'm going to shoot 'til i drop!

you can count me IN, IN, IN!!!!!!!!!!

jason.

[Giancarlo A. Mori]

Yeah, timing is everything, and mine is just right for this.

I am *IN* as well.

Have we thanked you enough for this opportunity?

- Giancarlo

[Edgard Marques]

I'm always starting over... and this time i won't take it as a burden, but as blessing. Let's go to work. See you later.

[Asher]

Please count me in too.

David- it's like we're a football team, you're our coach, and this was the half-time pep talk!!

[Omar Figueroa]

David.
So wanderful idea,for many photographers all over the world who folow a master like you.Saludos amigo.
Omar Figueroa

[Akaky]

I don't actually do new projects, only the same old project, which takes up more and more space, both physical and digital, as time goes by and makes me wonder sometimes where I am going to stash my ratty old sneakers when I have no more room left for them anywhere else in the house. But if no one minds looking at pictures of little Rust Belt river towns, then I will ride the wave of enthusiasm and say I'm in as well. Having said that, of course, I wonder how fast some of the really good surfers here will knock me off of my boogie board.

[robert]

we can now reflect and be true mirrors of these times

[Aga_Luczakowska]

it looks like i should choose one project and concentrate on it :-)

[David Ryder]

Is this my big break? Well, whatever it is, I'm pumped to go shoot now!

[Skinstorm]

I'm in. Thanks for all this!

[Austin]

This sounds great, David. I've been taking photos in Bangkok's Chinatown for an impending exhibition, and your blog would be a great forum to showcase them and get some excellent feedback.

Austin

[Siddhartha Hajra]

I'll try...time to think ... :)

[Rafal Pruszynski]

well, what luck. I sort of just finished a project, and its really fresh, though its not really finished as I could see expending it later. Also just started a bit of a project and seeing how it is going to develop.

[alex]

Hi David, this is alex from down-under (Sydney)...im a Big big FAN. love ur blog lov ur work...im glued to ur blog 24-7.Its my first time posting a comment...(palms are sweating).You are an inspirational to us all...now i can tell all my friends that im in the school of
"David Alan Harvey"...we write with light...an sketch with light.

[Wendy Marijnissen]

I'm in as well.
Still in Israel and Palestine working on my music project, but this might make me dig into other stories as well besides the ones I'm working on right now.
Thanks for doing this and inspiring so many of us.
W

[Aga_Luczakowska]

Wendy... music project in Palestine and Israel? Sounds like something similar to Boulet's project?

[Joni Karanka]

What is the length of the submissions? I guess we include captions and text and stuff? Can submissions be sent by post? I rather fancy working a bit in the darkroom...

[Wendy Marijnissen]

Hi Aga,
Not Alexandra's project. She did a story on rap here. For me rap is only a small part in my story. I want to show how people live here on both sides and music is my common thread in this project. Sort of the vehicle to tell and show a different side on the ongoing conflict.
Not that easy, but very interesting to do. You can see a bit on my digital railroad site under 'the holy land'.
http://www.digitalrailroad.net/WendyMarijnissen/Default.aspx
Hope you like it. Still very much a work in progress, but I'm getting there.
W

[Aga_Luczakowska]

Wendy.. thank you for a link... now i see it looks a BIG project :-) i keep my fingers crossed :-)

[Wendy Marijnissen]

Thanks Aga, same here, fingers crossed as well ;-)
W

[Michael Kircher]

Wendy,

Beautiful work. Very moving.

[John Langmore]

Nothing like a summer storm to spark an idea. Your enthusiasm is clearly contagious.

Hope all is well.

[david alan harvey]

please please do not, at this point, think about the submissions....

the whole point is to make you look good...so, i will figure out the best way to do that...

you do good work....i will display it....

so now, i am totally dependent on YOU...you must do the work....but yet , do not WORK....please please "feel it"....and do not try to "impress" me or anyone with all of your skills....

the concept of "relaxing" while doing something intense is where i want you to be...deep breathing, long hours, patience, spontaneity...all working together.....harmony.....

remember too ...please please please...this is not a contest.....you are not competing.....you are only referencing your work with your previous work...

enjoy this experience...i will too....that alone will give us something "special"...

[Edgard Marques]

Hello, David.
Man, this is quite inspiring. I think that everyone here -- i mean, everyone able to take it seriously, not as a "contest", as you said, but as a wonderful opportunity to grow as a photographer -- are going to remember these days in the future as a "turnaround" point. You're giving us very special means to reach a brand-new state of mind: doing things cause you believe in, not because you've got to. Congratulations.

[Arie]

Hi David,

I have put a lot of thoughts in a project I could do over a two-weeks period in Bermuda. I am very excited about this experience. My wife and I are expecting our first daughter for September, so no time for relaxation, we are VERY excited!

[steve]

arrgghhh!!! Talk about timing. I'm half way through a project (not photographic) that would give me time off over summer to do exactly this type of thing. Doesn't matter, I'll still try to submit something in hope that this project is a success and can progress in the future. I can hear a collective "gulp" of sudden pressure to create the best....but "enjoy the experience" is the sound advice. Lot's of very talented people here, and it's bound to promote good work.

[SF Jason]

David,
My natural human tendency is to impress a well known photographer and industry experts when challenged. Excitement and Concern all wrapped into one.
Quite Possibly a change in one's Demeanor which could either take the artist to a new level of excellence or force an unnatural outcome.
Your follow up comments made today helped me visualize the feelings I get when I am doing my happiest work... in a kind of meditative, peaceful rhythm. Photographing with an empathic eye the world around.

Thank you kindly.

cheers,
SF Jason
[Long time Lurker]

[PEDRO CARDENAS]

AUN RECUERDO, SU ENCUENTRO EN CUBA, HACE TANTO, EN LA VISITA DEL PAPA JUAN PABLO II, EMOCIONANTE SABER, QUE ESAS FOTOS FUERON LA INSPIRACION A SU LIBRO..AHORA VIVO EN PERU Y QUISERA COMUNICARME CON USTED...ME GUSTARIA SER SU ALUMNO...ESPERO RECIBIR NOTICIAS SUYAS,,UN GRAN ABRAZOOOOOOOOO

PEDRO

[Sanchez]

hey david.... good goog inspiration for all the people tha is here..

Im mexican ,but now Iam living in Germany tring to do news proyects,,and looking for new oportunitis...maybe in september I can share whit you some of it...

well but tell me,, do you Know some about to photo review in perpinan ?maybe you can tell me when goint to be it..

and well ...goog luck.

Sanchez

[fran]

hi

i am photographer student,,,and i was eard about portafol review in some places,, well i would like to participate in one of it,,,i know the was one in magnum agency and some in national geographic and here in your page the people and you are writing about it.... i would like to know how is it.... the peolple who participate recive a paper o can work o how is that....if the potogrepres in this review likes my portafolio they goint to give me a paper,certificate o some like this???

i would like to know all the thigs about it,,,and what is the portafolio review in perpiñan? here can I participate and what the people recive?

some people can explaime that????'

thanks. fran

[José Florentino]

I will try to do my best... i have this project in mind... so lets see if i manage the time to do it this next month... ;)

[Jason W.]

David-

Another Jason newly posting, except I did post twice in a previous discussion on here, with a blank name field.

Should one have a certain minimum degree of experience to participate? I've only been doing photography since last December, and I don't want to get in over my head or waste your time.

[Sandip Debnath]

wow.. so much happening here just withing two weeks, while i was busy , i could not look into the DAH blog... you are truly inspiring David.. I am in.. no no, I am out, with my camera and will come back soon...

[Ana Yturralde]

Definitely I'm IN too. And already started! Will follow your words. Want to get inside myself, get inside someone else... want to be a mirrow, want to be a window....

Thank you, David!!!!

[david alan harvey]

dear all....

i randomly check all of you who have websites...i can see a wide variety of experience and skill level....

in my experience with workshops, there are always so many surprises...sometimes those with years of experience will "lock up" at a workshop and produce little,and oftentimes those with almost no experience excel....

"experience" can be a positive or a negative...so, do not think about your experience one way or the other..just think about your passion and what you want to "say"....if you have lot's of experience, do not be overconfident and if you have little experience, move forward with a sense of adventure....

cheers, david

[neven grujic]

hi david
i'm travelling photographer who is loved in india
if you have time you can check this web
www.nevengrujic.com
un saludo desde spain

[sean ross]

Hi david,

You reviewed my work at the magnum viewing, and it was very very helpful. I can't wait to submit some work to this one from some of the new images that I recently have been working on.

seab

[Martin]

"photography is an act of aggression"

hmmm... we live in schizophrenic world...

or meybe not...

Martin

[David Michaels]

Hello David,

a friend told me about your blog. He mentioned that you show phots from users like me. How does it work ?

David

[Michael Kircher]

For David Michaels,

I think you need to read the post by DAH preceding all these commments. He explains everything you need to know for now.

Here's a relevant quote for the time being, though: "...details for submissions will follow of course.....but, please forget these kinds of "details" for right now...."

And for David Alan Harvey,

Don't know if it's important for logistics or simply getting a feel for how many folks will be flooding you with images, but... I am totally in on this! Already started a brand new project just for this. Thanks for the opportunity.

-M

[david alan harvey]

hello all....

just to be very clear again......this is not a contest.....this is closer to submitting pictures for a magazine.....i will choose the best of the best for viewing on this site in as creative a way as possible....

i will let all of you know soonest exactly where and how to upload your work....i am estimating that i will have you submit no more than 15-20 photographs of which i will choose whatever seems appropriate for the work you have done...

i will publish perhaps a group of the best single pictures....and another group of the best essays....the whole point is a selected group of great images from this audience...i view all of you as collaborators in a new way of thinking about online publishing and possibly turning it all into a printed magazine/book/exhibition....

the readers of this blog include a combo of emerging photographers, as most of you are, and a sophisticated group of current magazine editors and established photographers...if you are seen here , you will be seen by a very respected audience...

this will all depend on the quality of the work that will come to me...right now all of us are working with a sense of mutual trust and faith and sense of experimentation and adventure....if we turn it into more, than so be it....

i live my life in an "organic" way and would never change my basic philosophy in any way....i will keep all of you informed all along the way as to what is happening with all of it....

for those of you who are new readers of this blog, please go back into the archives just a bit and 'catch up" on where all of this is coming from...there has been a natural and surprising evolution with this blog unforeseen by any of us...

[Paul Treacy]

I had been getting a little jaded on my summer project but this idea of yours has fanned the dwindling flames somewhat. It's ablaze again. Thanks a million Mr. Harvey.