Review: Within The Frame, David Duchemin

I just got my copy of David Duchemin’s, Within the Frame. I have had the privilege to be involved with this project on the sidelines over the last year or so. David sent Gavin, me and a few others the draft chapters as he wrote them to give him feedback, thoughts and our opinions on some of the images selected for the book. So I was very excited to hear it finally was released. Of course, my copy arrived at my house the day after I left for Phoenix. So, David sent another copy to me in Phoenix but I only received that one the night before I left to return to Malaysia. As a result, much of the trip back to Penang was spent reading this wonderful book again.

When I finally got my copy and I opened it, I was shocked. I had already read most of the text before, but to see the text illustrated with some of the most beautiful images I have ever seen, was too much for me. For some strange reason I became emotional, to the point that my eyes actually teared up. This is the book I have been waiting for since before I ever met David. I have been looking for a book that addressed, not just how to shoot the image, buy why do I shoot it a certain way. The how was a question I had for years, but it was always in context of larger questions. “How do I make my viewer feel the vastness or the intimacy of a scene?” “How do I convey the vulnerability of a child?” The how needed to be more than, “How do I get the shallow Depth of field?” The question I was looking for was, “How do I get it and why do I need it?” The how for me has always been embedded into the why. This is the book, had it been written many years back, could have made life as a photographer a lot easier. Hear me when I say; this is the most helpful book for the traveling photographer to date. Bar none!

David speaks my language. Maybe that was what brought us together a few years back. This is the same language that most of you speak as well. He talks about infusing your photography with emotion, releasing your passion and finding your vision. When you read this book you get the sense that he cares not just about the subject he is shooting, if you have ever spent anytime on his blog you will know this is true, but about you as a photographer. His words are not hollow and canned, they are honest and full of integrity. I was with him when he took a big hunk of the images in this book and I co-lead Lumen Dei with this guy, and I can tell you, the words between the covers of this book are from his heart and he lives them and he wants you to know and understand what it takes to get the kind of images on these pages. This book is a rare glimpse at the heart, vision and yes, technique of one of the best.

While in Phoenix, I was able to visit with a friend that I had not seen in a few years. He told me he had been taking a beginning photography course this past year. We started talking about what he was learning on his photographic journey. He asked me about depth of field and how to control it and other things. Then he asked a question on the “circle of confusion” and it was at that point that I knew this young man needed this book. He had more “how to” than he could possibly ever use. What he really needed now was a healthy dose of the “why?”.

Much of what David writes about in this book is the “why” to take the picture. But it is more than that. That is too simple just to say it is about the why. Within The Frame brings the how and the why together. David does a masterful job of explaining why one lens will give you a certain feeling or emotion or why composition is important in telling the story. Who the heck cares that your eye is drawn to a light space in an image over a dark space unless it is anchored in how it effects the story you are telling? Don’t misunderstand, there are plenty of “how to” in this book, but all within the context of why it helps you achieve your vision and that is what make this book different.

The book is gorgeous and is worth the cost just for the images alone. But the text makes the images that much more special. By the way, every image in the book has the EXIF data under it. This is a wonderful tool to help you see what it took technically to shoot each image. One of my favorite parts of the book is the side bar called “Without the Frame” where David goes into the story behind an image. If you are a reader of his blog you will recognize this from there as well.

I am not being too hyperbolic when I say every photographer that has ever struggled in finding his vision and how to accomplish that vision needs to read this book. Quite frankly I never met a photographer that didn’t struggle with this. I am not going to lie, this book is not a magic pill and once you read it you will never struggle with this issue again. You will. But I promise you this, if you read this book and put it into practice you will struggle a whole lot less and when you do struggle you will know the steps you need to help you resolve that conflict.

This book would be a perfect textbook for any photo class, high school, university or private course. It is the perfect remedy to the hours of discussion of f-stops, Megapixels, Hyperfocal Distance and of course the ever popular circle of confusion. Within The Frame makes it all real and practical. In fact, I will let you in on a little secret, I have been using it as my core curriculum in my mentoring ever since I first got the drafts. 🙂

Ok, I guess I have gone on about this book long enough, now do your self a favor and go out and buy it. Here is a way to get it freeeee! Our friends at Think Tank Photo are giving away 10 copies of Within The Frame. So to this LINK and enter. You have till June 1st to enter.