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Mike Horn is acknowledged globally as one of the greatest modern day explorers of all time. In short his feats include traveling solo around the equator, ascending two 8,000 meter summits in the Himalayas without additional oxygen, circumnavigating the Arctic Circle, and being the first man to travel (without dogs) to the North Pole in permanent darkness. All of which were done without motor transport.

Canadian Arctic Ocean Expedition to the Magnetic North Pole

After 20 years of solo exploration, covering nearly every inch of the planet, Mike was ready to turn his dream into a reality: The PANGAEA Project (Pan Global Adventure for Environmental Action). The PANGAEA Project is a 4-year circumnavigation of the world through a series of 12-scheduled expeditions, each to different terrain including mountain, desert, ocean and the arctic. For each expedition Mike and his team select students between the ages of 15 and 20 to accompany him.

The African Expedition Team

The goal was to show the younger generation the most beautiful places on the planet, the fragility of the ecosystems and the impact that human activity has on the environment… and do something to improve it!

Working for the Pangaea Project I have had the opportunity to see, first hand, the most beautiful places on the planet and witness lives that have been positively impacted and changed forever.

A Pink dolphin as seen on our Amazon Expedition

When asked about the project, it’s virtually impossible to put in words all of the incredible experiences I’ve had. The great thing about the younger generation is that they have their own eyes, ears, feelings, personalities, and unique way of learning. What I take out of an experience may be completely different than the next person. Sometimes the only way to really express these things is through the photos we take.

Icebergs from the Clyde River on the Nunavut Expedition

A few months back we chatted with Chase Jarvis and team about how awesome it would be to put a book together with photos taken by our young explorers and team throughout the entire expedition. Then we would be able to see the 4-year expedition though the eyes of those who were involved.

I was thinking what a great idea, but impossible to get photos from hundreds of people and choose the best ones to properly tell the story. It would take months if not longer. Chase’s team told us about liveBooks and their affiliation with Pinhole Pro. Pinhole Pro allows the average photographer (like myself) to make beautiful photo books and have them delivered in as little as two weeks.

Initially, I was a bit skeptical, especially when Mike said it needed to be finished before the expedition finale in Monaco (which was 3 weeks away). With nothing to lose I decided to simply attack the project. I sent out 100’s of emails, shuffled though thousands of photos, (that could seriously make the front cover of any Nat Geo Magazine) and dove into Pinhole Pro.

Mike Horn and Luke Johnson looking at their Pinhole Pro photo book reliving some of the best memories from the last 4 years

After the photos were selected I started the creation process. First I downloaded Pinhole Pro’s Studio’s software then I uploaded the images. Next I chose the book size, number of pages, type of paper (recycled paper is an option) and the front cover. It wasn’t long before the book was finished!

I would highly recommend using Pinhole Pro to anybody wishing to document a special memory or occasion to treasure it forever.

How does one become a better photographer? To find the answer I decided to ask industry veteran Gerald Ratto. For over half a century Gerald has used film photography to capture the world. Gerald is a former student of Ansel Adams, Minor White, Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston; the list of industry legends he has worked with is extensive. His work has been displayed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and his client list includes some of the largest architectural firms in the world.

Gerald has worked with film since he was 12 and began photographing with a 15-cent box camera. Many of his most celebrated images (See his Children of the Fillmore and Vintage Collections) were shot traditionally. I began by inquiring about what differences exists between photographing with film and digital.

“Photography is really about seeing. We are in an age where people confuse photography with image capturing. When you hold up your phone or high megapixel camera are you really being a photographer? I don’t know. That depends on how intentional you are in the process. It’s easy to capture a huge amount of space today and then use Photoshop to retroactively tell a story, but something is lost in that process. You can make adjustments in Photoshop but you lose some of the expression because you didn’t really consider the content and the story that is being told.”

Is there any correlation between the physical developing process and the creation of an authentic photograph?

“Developing isn’t really a huge part of the process because of previsualization; seeing the story in your mind before you capture it with a camera. If you are doing it right you already know what the story is once you capture it. Then, it’s about going through a process to bring it from a small format to something people can see and display. Each camera is really the same. Each is simply a different instrument. If your process is the same then you can use different instruments to more accurately tell the story.”

Herein I realized the error of my initial question. The question is really not of whether we gain or lose something using film or digital methods, the question is how we remain intentional in an age where technology removes our limits. What are we doing as photographers to keep our content intentional and relevant?

I ask what advice Gerald can provide for how to stay relevant as a photographer.

“Photography is like discovery; every time you look in the viewfinder you’re closing in on an image that is part of something bigger—a little vignette of the greater world. You don’t want to go into any project with preconceived notions of what you are going to capture because by doing that you impose yourself upon the subject. Authenticity is the key to staying relevant. Allow the subject to tell the story and use your mastery of the instrument to capture it.”

Gerald’s work over the last 50 years showcases many different thematic elements; a testament to the depth of his abilities as photographer. I encourage you to take a look at Gerald’s portfolios and pay special attention to his mastery of light. From architecture models to portraiture, Gerald’s work showcases the breadth of his abilities as a photographer. As we finish up I ask Gerald what his favorite photo is. He smiles and replies, “The one I’m taking tomorrow.”

Gerald Ratto and his wife Marla manage a studio and reside in San Francisco, CA. You can view more of his work on his liveBooks site; www.geraldrattophotography.com.

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Have you ever noticed how animals have an emotional body language that we as humans can relate to?  Working from her Berkeley studio, Tara Tucker creates art that reflects the subtle similarities between animals and humans.  Her exploration into emotional / psychological states and relationship irony is a central theme in many of her works.  Tucker goes to great lengths to research what animals look like and how they have been depicted in history.   She strives for accuracy and at the same time, is a strong believer in not having rules in art.  Her works are exquisite in detail and rich in story.

Check out the fine details of her work here.

Why do we often assume that art is not functional?  On the other hand, why do we rarely view the purely functional as a work of art?  Bayview artist Ian McDonald delves directly into the world of form and function in his bright and austere studio.  With ceramics as a current focus, McDonald also works with wood, textiles and various other materials that allow for direct manipulation.  When asked about his source of inspiration, McDonald revealed that it is the begun process of work itself that serves as his guide on where to go next.

Read an interesting interview and see more images of his beautiful artwork here.

Alvaro Sotomayor is an Amsterdam based Painter/Ad man who has spent the last decade feverishly painting portraits of bulls. Originally from Spain, he is passionately opposed to the cruelty of bullfighting and brings a vivid street-at look to his portraits of the 69 bulls that have succeeded in killing a Matador in recorded bullfighting history. Alvaro calls these bulls “heroes” and his studio is filled with their faces.

To read the full post, see images and video from his studio click here.

Samira Yamin’s work deals primarily with the narrativization and representation of war through an interrogation of documentary war photography. Recently she was a resident artist at Headlands Center for the Arts, and while there she was working on two bodies of work: Geometries, a series in which she meticulously hand-cuts Islamic sacred geometries onto TIME Magazine articles about current wars in the Middle East; and a series of short stories called Charlie the repeatedly and obsessively narrate a single photograph of two soldiers dragging a dead Iraqi face-down in the dirt. She’s driven by a pressing necessity to confront the imagery of wartime photojournalism and its relationship to our systems of acquiring and distributing knowledge. Her engagement with this material is two-fold: analytical yet teeming with emotion.

To read the full post and see images from her studio click here.

Photo courtesy of Klea McKenna

Val Britton makes large collaged works on paper that draw on the language of maps. She began making this body of work as a way to connect with her father, a truck driver who drove eighteen-wheelers across the country; he died when she was a teenager. Based on road maps of the United States, routes her father often traveled, and an invented conglomeration, mutation, and fragmentation of those passageways, her works on paper are abstractions of loss and longing.

To read the full post and see images from her studio click here.

Photo courtesy of Klea McKenna

San Francisco based artist Mark Baugh-Sasaki makes sculptural work that combines organic and manufactured materials that draw attention to the ever-evolving dynamic between natural and industrial systems. These composite pieces are a mediation on the complexity and nuances of hybridized landscapes, where the natural and man-made collide, merge, and metamorphosize one another. With his work he aims to make the viewer more aware of their environment and their connection to it.

To read the full post and see images from his studio click here.

Photo courtesy of Klea McKenna

Martin Machado is a San Francisco based artist whose medium of choice is painting. His work often explores themes related to labor, escapism, leisure, and personal narratives. Having labored over a decade in the maritime industry, his work is greatly influenced by seafaring culture and history.

To read the full post and see images from his studio click here.

Photo courtesy of Klea McKenna

Fran Siegel is an LA based artist who works with lightweight materials such as paper and wire to create drawings and installations that explore ever-changing elements of space, light and atmosphere, and the impressions and insight they enable. Ephemeral shifts in light and perspective play an important role in extending the presence of the work beyond its material borders. She has also been teaching a contemporary approach to drawing at California State University at Long Beach since 2002.

To read the full post and see images from her studio click here.

Photo courtesy of Klea McKenna