Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision, Second Edition

Final Thoughts

Greek philosopher plutarch said the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting. I think it’s both, just as great photography requires both craft and vision to be compelling. I certainly hope it’s both, at any rate, because it’s the idea that has pushed me to write this book the way I have, and every day serves as self-confirmation that without that fire of vision, our photographs lack life, spark, humanity, and connection.

Two years after Within the Frame was released in 2009, I was teaching in Pisa, Italy, and fell 30 feet from a wall along the Arno River. I landed on my feet, shattering both ankles and cracking my pelvis. Of the four people who had previously fallen from the wall that year, I was the ...