Phil Koch's 'Horizons' Wins by Breaking the Rules

Click above image to see 17 other 'Horizon' photos by Phil Koch.
Can a photographer create his own style and following by breaking one of the basic rules of composition? Phil Koch did.

On Flickr, you can curate galleries of images that feature the work of other photographers you like. There are three unique things about my new Flickr gallery of Phil Koch images: 1) every image was photographed by Phil in Wisconsin, 2) every image is a vertical, and 3) every image has the horizon line almost dead center -- breaking a major rule of composition. Because of Phil's unique composition, he has created a style that is starting to get attention.

"A little over a year ago I bought the Canon 7D with a standard lens," said Phil in a recent interview. "I bought the camera for film [video] making but started shooting rather boring landscapes. I always wanted to try to shoot a good vertical landscape because I have noticed very few do that. So my goal, a little over a year ago now, was to take one good vertical a day, forcing myself to really look at both the sky and what was on the ground in front of me. I call them vertical "Horizons" because I split the photo in half. So many people think I am breaking the basic rule of photography doing this, but if you stand in a field and look at the world in front of you the horizon is always dead center of vision no matter how tall you are. Now blow this image up to say a 20x26 and its as if you are there and can walk into the photo."

Although Koch has only sold a handful of prints so far from the 'Horizons' project, its exposure has resulted in a new assignment to start traveling the country to shoot both photography and video. You can see more of Phil's 'Horizons' work at MyHorizonArt.com
(Originally published on August 29, 2011.)

Featured Vision: getting publishing via Fotoblur

Fotoblur is an online photography community and a published magazine. Its focus is on artistic, progressive photography.

Anyone can submit digital photographs to Flotoblur. Published photos are selected by the Fotoblur community and Fotoblur Magazine editors. Selections made by the community determine which images are of the highest artistic quality. The Fotoblur is currently working on Issue 2 of the magazine.

The magazine typically has a 45-day submission period for each issue, followed by a 15-day selection period. During this 60-day period, members of the community can comment and vote for the images they like best. Members can also "promote" or list favorites on their own gallery. Statistics (views, votes, comments, and current ratings) are viewable to both members and the public.

Printed Magazine. After the selection period, the editors use the stats to make their final decision for the printed version of Fotoblur: Fotoblur Magazine. In order to present a variety of images (ie landscapes, waterscapes, street, portraits) Fotoblur Magazine editors make the final selections for publication.

The Fotoblur Magazine is a printed on-demand magazine by MagCloud. You and other visitors to the Fotoblur Web site can buy copies of the magazine. It is NOT available on newstands or by subscription. So far, only one issue, The Beginning - Spring 2009, is available (including an online preview). The cost for the 56-page magazine is just a little over $16. Comments from those that have ordered the magazine say that the printing quality is very good. Lance Ramoth, who has had images published both in Smithsonian and B&W magazines said, "The print quality ...actually exceeded my expectations. Each image is crisp and the color is amazing."

Unlike a "vanity" magazine which you could produce and publish yourself (using MagCloud), Fotoblur adds credibility, because your peers do the choosing. Fotoblur also provides exposure, promotion, and distribution that you don't have to pay for -- unless you want to buy some extra copies to give to your mom ;-)

Daily doses of Featured Vision can be found on my Twitter tweet: YourPhotoVision. They are also archived on Twitter, under the hashtag: fotoINSPIRED (#fotoinspired).