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David Bickley
Washington, DC

Articles written by David Bickley

Identifying and Overcoming Your Photographic Fears

You would think with the incredible amount of knowledge out there (not just on Fstoppers but on the whole of the internet) that there would be no shortage of incredibly successful, monumentally wealthy photographers in the world. Yet for some mysterious reason, only a small percentage of us ever make it to a real sense of success. Why is that? We can't attribute it to skill levels, there are plenty of insanely successful photographers whose images are by many definitions, well...flat out bad.

Kansas City Under Fire After Requiring Photo Permits in Public Parks

The internet is up in arms about a recent law enacted in Overland Park, KS. Professional photographers are now required to obtain a permit to photograph clients in any of the 83 parks under the jurisdiction of Overland Park Parks and Recreation. For some reason photographers worldwide are upset about this. Given that this author is actually a resident of the area, I'm going to ride the line between news and opinion a bit.

Keeping Life Simple as an Entrepreneur

I don't think many small business owners would ever describe their lives as stress free, or simple. The process of growing, running and maintaining a business is a difficult and time consuming endeavor to say the least. Does that mean that we as creative entrepreneurs are doomed to have endlessly complicated lives? Not in the least. Yes, working hard comes with the territory but, having happier, simpler lives is as easy as changing a few habits.

Polaroid's Socialmatic Will Be Here This Fall

If you haven't heard about the Socialmatic already, let's get you up to speed. A while back there was this crazy idea to make an actual Instagram camera. Something that would not only share your images on the popular service but, allow you to print that same image with the device (like a Polaroid camera). Originally it was just a what-if concept from ADR Studios. Then it got such an incredible following that Polaroid decided to run with it and started talking with Instagram about making this

Two Hours of Gregory Heisler and the Story of his Photographic Life

I had the opportunity to hear Greg Heisler speak a few months ago about his book 50 Portraits. I hadn't even thought of it at the time but once it finished I immediately regretted not filming it for our readers here. As luck would have it he repeated a similar lecture in NYC Ilford, and they recorded it! Yes, two hours is a decent chunk of time to devote to watching this, but you need to.

The Photographic Resolution You Shouldn't Make This Year

We each do it every year saying the same thing. "This year it will be different, I'm going to actually complete my resolutions!" We may make it and complete a couple but, very rarely do we have the stamina and discipline to keep going until the list is done. Going into 2014 you're going to see a lot of resolution idea lists for photographers and that's fine for most, but you're going to be different.

Five Steps to Improve Your Creativity

Creativity is not some mysterious, elusive attribute that only the lucky people get. It is a skill that can be learned and developed. A muscle that can and will get stronger with work. One of the most painful statements I hear from discouraged aspiring photographers is "I love photography, but I'm just not creative enough." It is akin to saying that you have a dream but no faith in your ability to reach it. The statement of "I'm just not creative" denies

Matt Barnes Creates a Mountain Range In Studio for RedBull

Since the very beginning of my photographic career I have been completely opposed to the use of scenic backdrops. I had always felt that they were cheesy and needed to stay within the confines of cookie-cutter yearbook studios. Please feel free to criticize that opinion, because I was completely wrong. Matt Barnes put together an amazing winter set utilizing

TSA Confiscates Blower Because "It Could Fly Like a Missile"

Of the things photographers should consider not putting into their carry-on luggage, the Giottos Rocket is pretty high up there. Generally the reason is that it somehow resembles a bomb. Even if the resemblance only exists in Looney Tunes. However, that isn't why CanonRumors user Surapon lost his. Nope, this reason is legit even dumber.

 The British Library Adds One Million Public Domain Images to Flickr

2013 is coming to a close and in this author's opinon, one of the greatest things to happen this year has been the release of hordes of public domain images by major institutions. From the Getty Open Content program to crazy macro photos of bees. We've seen a massive surge in public domain contributions. Today we get to add another donor to the list, and quite possibly the biggest I've seen so far.

MegaLapse: The GoPro Hack for Shooting Long Timelapses

The ability to film a timelapse video with a GoPro is something I would think most of us are familiar with on some level. What you might not be aware of however, is the interval limitations they are programmed with. At it's longest interval the GoPro can only be set to take one photo every 60 seconds. While this may not be an obstacle for most, it could be if you wanted to do something like a week-long

The making of the Golf Digest Magazine January 2014 Cover Shoot

This video from Golf Digest's latest cover shoot is pretty much all about stroboscopic photography. If you're unfamiliar, this is a technique for depicting the changing features of subjects in motion. It started with the Phenakistoscope (say that a few times) in the 1830's, but didn't really evolve into a photographic use until 100 years later when Harold Edgerton started

Photojournalist Robbed Twice in One Day in Detroit

It should be surprising to hear about the same person getting robbed in one day. It should be even more surprising when you hear that the victim, Christopher Morris, has photographed wars in over 18 countries including Afghanistan, Somalia, Yugoslavia, and Chechnya. He is obviously no stranger to dangerous situations. Yet despite all of his experience in chaos and war, Detroit got him. Not once but twice.

Nikon Hacker Unlocks Manual Control in LiveView for D5100

The latest release from NikonHacker brings with it some awesome news for D5100 shooters, and apparently the feature was there all along. Now you shoot manual in LiveView! When it comes to why the feature wasn't enabled in the first place NH member Coderat has this to say:

"...D5100 and D7000 firmwares are built

IKEA Releases 100 Cats Into a Store and the Result is Beautiful

When I ran across this earlier today I assumed that it was going to be some sort of hilarious disaster. A herd of cats running around a furniture store completely unchecked? Bring on the mayhem! Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be as beautiful and heartwarming as the final commercial is. There is a behind the scenes video after the jump where they talk a bit about "the plan"

Retouching Blunders Cause China to Invest in Photoshop Research

You would think that after suffering world wide bad press for horrible political Photoshopping that things might change in China's propaganda strategies. Maybe something as simple as mandatory government Photoshop classes, maybe just a bound notebook of internet tutorials. Something to change the apparent lack of general image editing knowledge. Instead of education

Why You Should Accept Bitcoin For at Least One Job

If you haven't heard about Bitcoin yet then you really should pay attention to this because in the long run it could make you a lot of money. Before we get into the whys and hows and what it means for photographers though, you need to know what it is in the first place. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency designed around the idea of using cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money

Hunting Show Host Under Fire for Posting Lion Trophy Photo on Facebook

Melissa Bachmann, host of the Minnesota-based hunting show Winchester Deadly Passion managed to get a lot of people upset recently. After a South African expedition she posted several images from the hunt onto Facebook, including images of herself posing with a "beautiful male lion" she killed. Other members of the hunting community were of course

Panono: The Newest Throwable Camera Ball

Since around July we have started to see this "camera ball" concept come up in a few places. Thankfully they appear to be replacing the self-timer "throw your SLR in the air" approach. The most recent potential contender is the Panono, and it looks like it may blow everything else out of the sky. Thirty-six individual cameras work together with onboard processing and storage to create and save 72 megapixel, 360 degree panoramics. On top of being able to store up

Instagram Account Getting Philadelphia Witnesses Murdered

We talk a lot here at Fstoppers about the beautiful things that photography has done in the world. Maybe I am naive but I never imagined that art could be used support crime. Yet here it is, and while not actually "art" by any stretch of the imagination an anonymous Instagram user is getting people killed with images. Rats215, the account in question, has posted pictures, police statements