Posts tagged as:

creativity

LensFlareLive 015: Finding Your Creative with Eddie Tapp, Judy Host and Rob Sheppard - part of the DPExperience Gang

by Dave Warner on May 17, 2026

LensFlareLive is a show created and brought to you by Dave Warner. In this week’s episode, panelists Judy Host, Rob Sheppard and Eddie Tapp discuss Finding Your Creative and other photography topics. In addition, they answer questions that came in via email, Twitter and from the live listening audience.

Judy Host is recognized internationally as an accomplished portrait photographer with studios located in both Northern California and Atlanta Georgia. A gifted professional with a unique talent for capturing the innocence and trust that lies within the heart of every individual has earned her the respect and recognition of her colleagues for more than a decade. Judy has that rare ability to create a special rapport with her clients that ultimately tells a story or reflects a feeling in that one-of-a-kind portrait. Her skill to paint with natural light and to attend to the smallest detail of the composition is a trait that explains why many times her portraits are mistaken for paintings. For more information on her, please visit her website.

Rob Sheppard is a naturalist and nature photographer and videographer who says his favorite location is the one he is in at any time. Presently, he is spending a lot of time in the chaparral of Southern California and says that the chaparral is one of the wildest and least photographed ecosystems in the country. He is the author/photographer of over 30 books, as well as a well-known speaker and workshop leader. He was the long-time editor of the prestigious Outdoor Photographer magazine and helped start PCPhoto (Digital Photo). Presently he is editor-at-large for Outdoor Photographer. He does workshops around the country with Great American Photography Workshops, plus he does workshops at Light Photographic Workshops. For more information on Rob, please visit his website.

Eddie Tapp is a gifted photographer and artist, and has become a tireless educator for professional photographers and a prominent figure in the world of digital imaging. His digital imaging seminars have been hosted around the world, and he’s a regular consultant to businesses large and small. Today, he’s recognized as one of the top experts on digital photography and Photoshop in the world. With a reputation as an authority on workflow, color management, and Photoshop, he is associated with Adobe Systems along with some of the world’s most prominent photographic manufacturers and distributors. For more information on Eddie, please visit his website.

Podcast on iTunesTo listen to the full podcast interview, click on the player’s forward arrow below. You can also play the Podcast in a pop up window, download it OR subscribe to it via iTunes. To find out when the next live show is going to air, visit our Live Shows page.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:27:16 — 59.9MB)

{ 0 comments }

What Does Your Portfolio Say About You?

by Deborah Kaufman on May 14, 2026

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”

Scott Adams

Deborah Kaufman

I was listening as Dave was editing one of his live shows the other evening and heard a question come up about how to define creativity. Creativity has always been something hard to nail down in my opinion. It’s subjective and too often a personal perspective, yet it is the key measurement by which all work is judged.

I’ve struggled with the concept of creativity and how to describe it for some time. As a fine art gallery owner for a number of years, finding pieces that had the ‘wow factor’ was always a challenge. I needed exceptional pieces in the gallery to keep the high-end collectors interested and the doors open. Selecting work for the gallery was more art than science. I always hated to turn down an artist or photographer because their work wasn’t creative enough. I toiled with how to let them down without hurting their feelings, only to realize that I was doing them a disservice to send them out without trying to explain why their work wasn’t measuring up.

I began watching collectors and studying their behavior in an effort to better define creativity. What I found was that no matter the genre, great work was like a magnetic drawing people in. It didn’t matter whether they collected photography, abstract paintings or bronze sculptures; a collector would glance around the room, spot a piece that ‘spoke to them’ and immediately move to get a closer view.

I remember a conversation I had with an abstract artist friend of ours in the early days of the gallery that influenced my thoughts about creativity more than anything else. I was finding it difficult to select abstract pieces to carry in the gallery. I hate to admit it, but so many of them looked alike to me. I couldn’t pick out a sellable piece to save my life. So I was like a sponge when it came to learning what was collectable and what was not. My friend shared with me that most work is ‘flat and soulless,’ from his perspective. It’s simply ordinary. ‘What you need to look for is something that speaks to you,’ he said.

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }