Dear Photographic Friends,

After years of writing, preparing and anticipating, my brand new e-book “Seeing Simplified – How to see and craft great imagery” is finally here!

Although the craft of photography is my passion, I have always taken delight in writing. A few years ago, I started to jot down my photographic observations. Soon after, the idea was born to combine them in a book. Initially I wanted to write a grand “how to” book, where I could group the ideas into well-mannered chapters and guide my reader to photographic bliss. As I started working on the book, however, a very different concept broke through.

I started wondering what sort of photographic books I have always enjoyed reading. I concluded that it was not the huge, 500-page bibles of “how to” but rather books which shared snippets of wisdom, the short and concise deliberations of masters of seeing. In many of them I found just a sentence or two of photographic thought and wisdom, but their influence was profound.

I sat down and started to analyze my understanding of photography. I didn’t want my book to be another fancy, technical and complicated production. I wanted to write in simple terms about issues that have helped me develop. I wanted to share with you my seeing. None of the photographic deliberations have a sequence, so they don’t require order. You may open the book at any page and see an image with the accompanying text describing the craft I love.

The deliberations are not definitive answers but an invitation to ponder. You may disagree with some of my points. In fact, I would be delighted if your disagreement triggered a new way of seeing and broke visual barriers. And if any of the images and thoughts help you uncover a new way of seeing the world, that would mean everything to me.

Great light and seeing.

Olaf Sztaba

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