Barry Frew invites people from all walks of life to lecture to his "30-Something" class. One such guest is Steve Uzzell, 52, a veteran photographer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, Newsweek, and Time. Uzzell offered this advice on finding a new angle on problems.
Preparation lays the groundwork for magic.
"The sun's location makes an enormous difference. I wanted to shoot a truck in the distance, silhouetted by a setting sun. It took me years to find a location that had a long enough line of sight. Then I had less than two minutes from the time the sun entered the frame of my lens to when it left. The result was spectacular, but it was no accident."
Visualize a solution, then invent it.
"One thing that I learned during my shoots for National Geographic was that no matter how difficult a shot was to take, we could find a way to do it. Whether that meant getting into a helicopter, or operating the camera remotely, there were always technical people to help out."
Be open to solutions from unexpected places.
"Once, I needed to photograph a flag blowing almost straight out in the breeze. I was knocking on NASA's door, trying to figure out how to set up a wind tunnel. Then I explained the problem to my wife, and she came up with a brilliant solution: Rig a flagpole to a friend's boat. That gave me the right angle with a background of a bright blue sky and clouds. I could use that 'wind' for as long as I needed it."
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