The Visual Imagination: Ideas and Techniques for Creative Photographic Expression, 2nd Edition

Take your camera—and your creativity—outside the box! Our cameras do amazing things, but since the beginnings of this craft, we've leaned heavily towards illustrative and literal interpretations of the world around us. Freed from the need to be so literal, you can create photographs that are beautifully expressive.

The Visual Imagination: Ideas & Techniques for Creative Photographic Expression explores the ideas and techniques of abstraction, expressionism, and more. Whether you want to make abstract or impressionist photographs or just need a bit of a break from what you typically do, I wrote this eBook to help you explore the possibilities of the camera when you allow yourself to slip out from under the thumb of the rules and the constraining ideals of so-called technical perfection. It wasn't that long ago that painters freed themselves from a similar constraint and gave us the gift of Impressionism and the subsequent movements.

This downloadable PDF eBook is 65 spreads of techniques and ideas that explore intentional camera movement, subject movement, and abstraction through various means. Accompanied by case studies of photographers that will inspire you to move past the so-called rules, you’ll gain new freedom to express yourself—even if that's through work that's usually more literal—by understanding the tools of your craft as tools of creative possibility, not just technical instruments.


This second edition was published in 2019 to update the look and feel of the book and make sure references to apps and software were current. If you own and love the first edition I want you to know that the teaching content hasn't changed enough to buy another copy.