No one panic – you know, unless your pants are on fire, or you just saw your neighbor Danny eaten by the leader of the Giant Bunny Army – the army made up of 30 foot tall bunnies. The leader is a regular sized bunny, but has a really bad attitude and that’s why they made him the leader. And what an appetite! Obviously, if either of those things is happening, please, feel free to panic. But don’t panic just because Nice doesn’t look the same way it did yesterday.

You see, today is Nice Photo Mag’s 1^st birthday!

When I started Nice a year ago, I had an idea about what I wanted to say, but that idea crystallized over the past 12 months to the point where it is now. Just where is that? Thanks for asking. It’s the Why To photography magazine. There are lots of great places out in the world and on the web where you can find How To photography. Though I’m pretty pleased with my technical chops I think pretty much all of the top photo bloggers have a better handle on that angle. My strength is in the creativity department, the why I do the technical things and the creative decisions. My entire adult life the only way I’ve earned a living has been through my creative endeavors: Writing and directing TV and Features, taking portrait, documentary, and fine art photography. I’m very fortunate to get to do what I love and get paid for it, too. That was my goal growing up.

Now I have a goal with Nice, and that is to encourage other photographers and film makers to think about the medium from the creative point of view. The idea. The story. The message. I’m not trying to downplay the technical. I’m a gear head. I love tech knowledge. But technology doesn’t communicate, it’s the ideas, the stories, the art created with the technology that can topple governments, convince the world to take up a cause, or make me mum cry.

Do your favorite photographs make you feel or think? Or do you like them because they are neat looking? If you said, “Neat looking,” that’s fine. I love neat looking photographs, too. But if you want your images, the images you take, to illicit a reaction other than, “neat,” go to the library and spend a day or a week or a month looking though the photography section. Find images that aren’t just technical wonder-works, but instead cause you to feel something deep in your gut, to move you. Then start thinking about how you can make an image that would have that effect on a stranger who might look at it someday, somewhere.

It’s hard. I think it’s worth it.

Some may disagree, and after all, it is just my 2 cents, but I’d rather look at a scratched up Polaroid that tells a story than the most technically perfect photograph ever taken.

Anyhow, today Nice turns one year old. I’ve changed the drapes. I’ve gone with a hint of the past. A touch of old circus. Why? Well, it seems to me a lot about the good old days was good, or nice. Heck, they must have called it good for some reason. I mean, they had the worst depression ever and even that was the Great Depression. Now that’s the kind of attitude I’d like to share. I hope, in some way, I can make a few people’s day just a little bit more Nice.

Stay tuned. I’ve got some very interesting things planned for year 2.

Nice!

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