Published

17Hats – Small Business Advice

17hats is a leading management solution for freelancers & entrepreneurs to simplify and grow your business anytime, anyplace. Check our their helpful and inspirational small business tips on their blog.

Leading Edge Series

When we sat down with 17 Hats to discuss our fine art photography and the Art1095 project. The leading edge is a series of inspirational stories showing what artists and entrepreneurs are doing. The article starts with David sharing part of his motivation for creating his photos.

“Each has a story I want to tell my children or grandchildren,” he says. “With every photo, I want to pass on my love and influence so they can understand the things that are important to me, the things I want them to know.”

Read the Leading Edge: David & Luke Edmonson, The Storytellers, feature written by Barry Tanenbaum on the 17hat’s blog.

Leading Edge: David and Luke Edmonson, The Storytellers

It ends with something larger that the essence of the work is to have influence.

“The camera is what gets us in the door and allows us to engage with people’s lives.”

We appreciate that 17hats see the value in our project and the artwork that fuels our passion. Our hope is that it inspires other aspiring and professional photographers to pursue their own projects and go out and create Art. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Having the freedom to create from the heart and utilizing resources to make running your small business easier and more efficient? Love it!

About 17hats Small Business Management Solution

17hats is a group of like-minded people dedicated to making running your business easier for self-employed, freelancers and entrepreneurs. With a goal of meeting the needs of small businesses while maintaining simplicity, 17hats is a leading solution based in Pasadena, CA. Connect with 17hats on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

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Published

Art For Work’s Sake – Rangefinder Fine Art Issue

The genesis of Art1095 grew out of our personal photography work first recognized in the October 2009 Fine Art issue of Rangefinder magazine. Rangefinder is an award-winning monthly photography magazine that presents the most creative, inspiring and innovative work for an international readership.

Rangefinder Fine Art Issue Excerpt

Father-and-son photography team David and Luke Edmonson have a different commission in 2009—one the pair gave themselves.

“We have 40 self-assignments in fine art this year,” says David Edmonson. “We’re bringing in our models, and makeup artists, bringing in our sets and building things just for us. We’re our clients. We’re heavily investing in the whole fine art aspect of the business.”

Their fine art influence is especially evident in their exquisite wedding photography resulting in numerous WPPI awards and accolades. In 2016, David is a Triple Master of WPPI and Luke is a Double Master of WPPI.

Keeping the Creative Juices Flowing

As a highly successful wedding photographer team, David and Luke sought other outlets to sustain their creativity. Their goal of 40 fine art self-assignments is a project to ensure that they would always be on the hunt for the next great image.

“The self-assignments are what keep us sharp, growing and satisfied as artists,” David says. “It’s very easy to get stuck, especially in the wedding business, because you have so many clients, that you can get away with doing cookie cutter stuff if you wanted to.”

A Family Affair

David originally started Edmonson & Father Photography back in 1983 in Dallas, TX, with his father, Red. Luke represents the third generation of the Edmonson family to become a photographer, although they didn’t plan it that way.

A life-drawing class contained valuable lessons Luke still uses today.

“Rembrandt taught us that sometimes it’s just as important what you don’t show as it is what you do show, and trying to find the area of emphasis where you’re drawing the viewer’s eye. A photographer is painting with light.”

“Photography, like other kinds of visual art, is visual problem solving,” Luke says. “Creative thinkers all do the same thing just we do it in different mediums.”

David says,

“I have ideas pop into my brain regularly. I probably have a list of 150 things or ideas that I want to work on.”

These self-assignments are the genesis of the Art1095 Fine Art Photography project.

The original writer of this article is Heath Hooper.

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Featured Published

David Edmonson Meets Caravaggio – AIPP Journal 2016

As the official magazine of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography, top landscape & travel photographer, Peter Eastway brings us this excellent article in the AIPP Journal. Also, check out Peter’s other publication, “Better Photography.”

Excerpt From The Article

When you view the work of David Edmonson, a myriad of thoughts rush through your mind. Is it digital? Is it a composite? How are the expressions achieved? What does the photograph remind me of? How does he do it? All is revealed at The Nikon AIPP Event.

At the tender age of 64, David has no intention of retiring and is still winning major awards, both in the USA and Australia. You may recognise David as the AIPP’s International Photographer of the Year from 2015, and he is also visiting us later this year as one of the keynote speakers for our 2016 Nikon AIPP The Event.

“I was told that once you reached 55, no one would hire you as a photographer. Maybe that was right years ago, but everything has changed. Age might be a problem as a wedding photographer, but I’m still shooting lots of commercial work, everything from book covers, CD covers, annual reports and catalogues. Luke, my son, works with me on the commercial accounts and grows the studio’s wedding clients.”

Four or five years ago, David and Luke looked at their business and discussed spending the $20,000 a year typically allocated for wedding magazine advertising differently.

“Luke said why didn’t I take the money and do what I wanted to do as a gift to me. I had never studied the old masters, so I started using the funds to broaden my knowledge and to develop tributes to their work.”

And suddenly you realise why David’s photographs look so familiar: they are homages to famous painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Caravaggio.

David is well aware of the difference between copying and paying tribute. The paintings upon which he bases his studies are so well known, there is no chance of mistaking them and the effort he goes to recreate them photographically is a discipline all of its own.

THE LIVES OF THE MASTERS

“Many photographers I know who have grown as artists have also studied the masters. They would copy the work of the master and, in so doing, come to understand why each stroke is in its place. Copying work gives you a much greater depth of your understanding, and that’s why I started making my personal tributes.”

“Once you’ve achieved the ability to duplicate something, the next step is to create within its style. “

Continue reading the rest of the article on ISSUU.

About Peter Eastway & The AIPP Journal

Noted Australian professional photographer, Peter Eastway recently sat down with David during the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) conference in Las Vegas. Peter is internationally recognized for his Landscape and Travel photography and holds the Grand Master accolade from the AIPP amongst many other incredible distinctions.

For over 30 years he’s been part of the photography publishing, admired for his Australia’s Better Photography magazine and his work with the AIPP Journal. Make sure you check out his regularly updated photography blog.

He has online photography training books and DVD’s available for those interested in improving their travel & landscape photography through BetterPhotography.com. There is an online learning class on running a photography business or sign up for the Better Photography digital edition as well as free content available.

Connect with Peter on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and 500px. Connect with Better Photography on Facebook.

The AIPP Journal is the official magazine of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography published 10 times a year. Read selected content regularly on their blog.

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