Photo synthesis: You are what you shoot—and vice versa

‘Communicating with Pictures’ blogger Phil Douglis explains the how and why of making pictures in the digital age

“Expressive Photography is purposeful, intentional; it’s a result of how the photographer feels, thinks and sees.” So says Phil Douglis, whose 100th post in “Communicating with Pictures” on MyRagan.com presented an opportunity to discuss the state of digital photography with the long-time expert on visual communications.

Many of the familiar touchstones of his approach to photography are illustrated in his images:

The meaning of work is a recurrent topic in the images that Douglis makes in the three or four major international shoots he goes on each year and in his one-on-one tutorials in Arizona. “I find myself gravitating toward people working and toward story-telling,” he says. “It’s not travel photography; it’s about people, the human condition.”