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View from my balcony and the power of understanding how to use your camera

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For many years I've been in the habit of taking at least one photo every day. I do this not only to practice image composition but to better control the technical aspects of my camera. While the power of image editing software can't be denied what a photographer can create in camera is also very powerful and often overlooked. My preference is to shoot in "raw" format or save all of the unedited data from the image sensor and adjust the JPEG export settings as needed. This allows me the greatest flexibility to make adjustments like changing the exposure value or "push and pull" the image, film simulation, highlights, shadows, white balance, dynamic range, etc. while simplifying the post editing process to cropping and maybe a bit of sharpening. A word about my image creation and writing process. As a photojournalist for many years I had to balance quality and speed. A long time ago the photo editor at National Geographic had a sign on his desk ...
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A travel photojournalist's kit on the cheap and light in 2019

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Most of my gear on a plastic table. Đà Nẵng, Việt Nam. Don't buy this. image: ©Brian Beeler I started working as a photojournalist at 16, loved it and was good at it. It's not that I'm an excellent writer because I'm not. It's not because I'm an excellent photographer because I'm not. I'm not the guy you send out because you're an editor looking for someone to bring home the next, great moving story that will rock the world. I'm the guy you send out with an idea for a story and need about 1,200 words and three photos; establishing, context and close-up, in 72 hours without fail . Many years ago there was a photo editor at National Geographic that had a sign on his desk that read "At National Geographic we print photos, not excuses." While there are many better than me I was a photojournalist that would never fail no matter what; I always brought back a story and to me that's what makes for a good photojournalist. Part of b...
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Buddhist nuns chanting sutra in monochrome

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Again for the third time in 2016 I found myself crashing at a Buddhist monastery/nunnery in Thailand, this time soon after the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. During this period of mourning the media was asked by the government that all images be presented in black-and-white. Having started my lifelong passion in photography shooting Kodak Tri-X and Plus-X I was all too happy to comply. King Bhumibol Adulyadej was a man of many talents including a long interest for photography where he'd taken many beautiful images of a country he clearly loved. It was five in the morning when I heard the call of the morning bell. I dressed in my simple, brown layman's robes and walked silently to the main meditation hall with my Fujifilm X100T stowed away in a traditional brown monk's shoulder bag. While most modern cameras garner attention and occasional scorn the X100T with its classic Leica style that closely resembles the Konica Hexar rangefinder rarely gets noticed and I found i...
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An ode to my best friend

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Marmalade (2000-2019) in Fujifilm Astia Cats are amazing creatures. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs too but cats in their own right are also special. Where the human trains a dog what to do a cat trains a human how to listen to them. Only when you learn how to listen to your cat can you have a meaningful relationship with them. Certainly some cats are better with humans than others and mine was one of them. To me he was the best. Back in July 2000 I was thinking about getting a second cat. My first one, a Persian named Puff, whom I had adopted when she was about four years old and had been living with me for about two years, was at an age where she'd still be accepting of another cat living with us. I loved Puff but I wanted my first kitten so I went to the local animal shelter just to look and see what they had with no intentions of bringing one home. Well, that changed when I saw Marmalade for the first time. He was loud. Really loud and when I first laid eyes...
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Remembering the friend I never met: Anthony Bourdain

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It's said you should never meet your heroes in real life because they'll always disappoint you yet many still foolishly seek them out. I never met Anthony Bourdain in real life, never wanted to and never had to because I knew who he was through the honest brutality of his words which he never minced. He'd be the first person to tell you he was the luckiest fuck-up on the planet. If it hadn't been for his mother who was an editor for the New York Times that helped him land his big break with the publication of "Don't Eat Before Reading This" in the New Yorker back in 1999, an article previously panned by a free weekly newspaper, it's most likely he'd still be dunking spuds somewhere or worse a long forgotten heroin addict that overdosed even longer ago. As someone that also doesn't subscribe to the "just world fallacy" where all one needs is hard work to succeed and if you fail it's all your own fault I also believe getting that ...
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