Andy Nixon Blog

A Digital Day Book

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Beach Pilings

I love returning to familiar places at different times of the year and during different weathers. This place on Long Island is a particular favorite.

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Meditative Moment

Fallen Birch Not sure why I like this recent image so much but I do! From a recent wandering in one of the local forests.

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Looking at Pictures - Sea of Japan, Oki (307), 1987 Hiroshi Sugamoto

Looking at Pictures – Sea of Japan, Oki (307), 1987 Hiroshi Sugamoto

Sea of Japan, Oki (307), 1987 Hiroshi Sugamoto I am fascinated by the ocean, it’s ever changing moods and the possibilities that it offers. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy Hiroshi Sugamoto’s Seascape images so much. I’ve been thinking about composition and how to use the psychology of how we see to make stronger images. This is something that I first came across in Vincent Versace’s Books (also see…

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A Belated Happy July 4th!

A Belated Happy July 4th!

Any day that you get to shoot off some fireworks has to be a good one!

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Friday Inspiration: Lori Vrba

Being ‘geographically restricted’ for the last 18 months or so has forced many of us to either stope making photographs or shift our thinking. For me that has been a deeper dive into subject matter that is close to home. What I have come to realize of course is that I would make the same photographs regardless of whether I had travelled 5 miles or 5,000. It’s just how I’m wired. I’ve also been…

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Going Deeper

I’ve been off on a tangent this afternoon instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing. I was thinking about how much fun it is to know more about things – whether it be how to read a picture or how to make and taste coffee. The more we know the richer our experience is. It reminded me of the Richard Feynman anecdote about the beauty of a flower. Check it out in the video below and in the…

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School’s Out For Summer!

School’s Out For Summer!

I’m shocked to find myself in the summer holidays. Where did the year go? My kids are now rattling around the house looking for things to do. If I were them I would want to spend my time in The Music Shed with David Morgan. Instead I’m finding myself swamped with multifarious commitments and obligations making doing the things that I want to do a challenge. Photography seems harder in the…

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Friday Inspiration: Peter Bohlin

When I get the feeling that I want to run away and join the circus, something that happens once or twice a year, I start looking at artist residency opportunities. My usual preference is for something in Japan. When I was looking at available residencies earlier this week I came across the program at Tusen Takk. Which in turn led me to the architect Peter Bohlin, who designed and built the house…

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Looking at Pictures: Orsa, Dalarna, April 12, 2013 - Jan Töve

Looking at Pictures: Orsa, Dalarna, April 12, 2013 – Jan Töve

I’m looking at Jan Töve’s ‘Faraway/Nearby’ book the image above stood out to me. I was surprised that this image wasn’t on his website as part of the portfolio for this work. Hence the wonky image above snapped from the appropriate page in the book. What goes on in this building? At first glance I thought that it looked like a grain silo but then there seems to be more going on. I’m still…

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Is Something Better Than Nothing?

Is Something Better Than Nothing?

We’re rapidly heading towards the end of the school year here. With it will come celebrations and changes in routines. One of the things the kids do in the local elementary school here is to have an end of year play. It was a remarkable effort – the kids were split into small groups, did their lines separately in front of a green screen and then the whole thing was cut together afterwards. I was…

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Friday Inspiration: Jan Töve

Friday Inspiration: Jan Töve

When I was recently on my Nordic exploration one of the photographers I came across was Jan Tove. It never fails to amaze me how many amazing photographers there are in the world – you just have to go digging a little. I feel like Jan is relatively unknown in the US which is a shame because his work deserves a much wider audience. A professional photographer since 1994, his work explores the…

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Looking at Pictures

I was listening to an interview this morning with Paul Sanders of the website ‘Discover Still‘. Paul was formerly the picture editor for The Times newspaper in the UK. In his job he estimates that he was looking at at least 10-20,000 pictures a day and on the day of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding over 100,000 pictures. That is a lot of pictures! As photographers looking at pictures,…

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Doing it on Purpose

Doing it on Purpose

My days are packed, I’m sure yours are too, which means that I often find myself wondering is this the most important thing that I can be doing right now. Prioritization is both a chore and something that I find painfully difficult because I don’t like saying no. I was recently reintroduced to Ikigai a Japanese term meaning ‘having a direction or purpose in life, providing a sense of fulfillment…

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Friday Inspiration: Paul Strand

Friday Inspiration: Paul Strand

One of the great things about being ‘self-taught’ when it comes to art and photography is that it is a choose your own adventure type of experience. I have, and continue, to explore the things that capture my attention. I will go on deep dives into particular areas until I hit the limit of my attention span and then move on to a different topic. That’s the great part. The not so great part is…

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Mid-Year Goal Review

It’s hard to believe that we’re in June already. Where did the first part of the year go? I’m taking a breath this week and with that comes a reflection on what I’ve managed to achieve in the first part of the year and set myself up for the second half of the year. While the first part of the year has zipped on by I’ve had some successes and some misses. In the successes category I’ve got a new…

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Learning to See Life

Learning to See Life

It’s the semi-official start or summer here in the US today. Connecticut has a vaccination rate of 50% and the requirement for mask wearing indoors has been dropped in many businesses for those that are vaccinated. So the summer may look relatively normal. I hope it will be where you are too! Beginning in January I posted on Instagram every other day as a challenge to make more images. It’s been…

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Friday Inspiration: Mary Daniel Hobson

Friday Inspiration: Mary Daniel Hobson

I continue to be fascinated with how we can push photography to express our emotions and to explore our inner narrative. Mary Daniel Hobson’s work, that I recently found on the Datz Press website, resonated with this interest. Hobson’s interest in photography started when she was 14. Like many of us, having the camera taught Hobson to see. Her undergraduate degree in art history was followed by…

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