Where to find inspiration
Today I want to talk about Ted Forbes, the photographer and filmmaker with his own You Tube channel, The Art of Photography. I discovered this channel about a year ago when I had the flu. I suppose we are all the same: when we are well we can't wait for a whole day to spend in bed reading and sipping tea; and then we get ill and we can't read further than one page before our brain gets overwhelmed by some sort of flu fog. For me, this is when I start exploring YouTube and there are plenty of videos aimed at photographers. But few channels are as varied, educational and entertaining as The Art of Photography. Ted does some gear review (we all suffer from GES - gear envy syndrome) but actually most of his videos are educational: they give an insight into a particular photographer's work; or he showcases some photography books and zines; or sets some specific assignments which we have a week to complete...all of that in a casual, friendly way. I do not know how he earns a living but he certainly spends a lot of time producing quality videos. At my first visit, I went through all the videos he produced in The Artist Series (there are two seasons of documentaries out now). They are short, extremely well put together documentaries where he visits and interviews photographers at the top of their game such as David Brookover, Laura Wilson, Graciela Iturbide, William Wegman and many more. I cannot recommend them enough. Here is a trailer for Season 2: