While walking along the beach with my rescued pups, Harley, a Shih Tzu, and a Chihuahua, Skipper, that my daughter in Lexington, Kentucky found in a shelter for me, I was thinking in regards to life and as people how our sensing on “just being” varies.

Harley merrily bounces along in life without a care, along the beach, in the park, everywhere. People just love him because in spite of his bow-legs, pigeon- toes and under-bite, Harley is a clown, loving me, I think, but truehearted to no one but himself.”I oftentimes fear that will have to I forget to be a good mom, he would effortlessly take up with another who’s pastures seem greener,” I mused. Harley’s cheerful independence is catching and it makes me happy to be with him.

Skipper, on the other hand, is like Crazy Glue, I can’t walk, talk, sit or work without his attempting to get on my lap, under my feet or stuck to my side. I can’t pick him up without his attempting to taint me with each germ he has breeding in his long and slimy tongue.

I undertake to give Skipper the extra love he needs, but his neediness and blatant insecurity on occasion makes me weary. In other words, I do love him in spite of himself, but Skipper weighs me down at times.”

Harley’s Lesson · We each are distinguishable packages, not one like another. It is our inner package that shines through with independence and a zest for life that helps make us beautiful to others. Having selfassurance in that divergence and realizing that it does genuinely make us special allows us the freedom to be happy with ourselves and honors the fact that we are comfortable with who we are.

Skipper’s Lesson · Clinging vines belong on wallpaper. Few things are more self detrimental than thinking that your pleasure depends upon another person, career goal or material object. This conduct constantly formulates a “Is that all there is?” emptiness at the end of the rainbow. Realizing that your acceptance of and faith in yourself is indispensable to how you are sensed by others. You are special and celebrate that!

25 Lessons Ive Learned About

In his best-selling book, Lorenzo describes how the deceptively simple rules of photography may likewise be applied to the art of living. Inspirational and poetic, this book will not only spark readers’ originative energies, but likewise reawaken your passion for life.

In 2005, as a husband, father, and corporate employee — Lorenzo’s life revolved around home, work, and his every day commute from the suburbs to the city.

Then, one day, he found himself staying at the Little Church in midtown Manhattan in the wake of a marital separation. Living in virtual isolation for three months, he had a rare prospect to re-examine his life.

Quite unexpectedly, he found himself wandering around the city to take photographs, a passion he had let slide in the years of carrying out or participate in a career and starting a family. During his nightly sojourns through the streets of New York City, he was reminded of some primary life lessons—lessons too without apparent effort forgotten in the blur of every day existence.

For more information: 25Lessons.com

25 Lessons has been the #1 best retail photo essay on amazon.com for 2010 and 2011. Printed paperback and hard cover versions with photos are also available here on amazon and at blurb.com.

PRAISE FOR LORENZO AND 25 LESSONS
“In a great deal of of my conversations on outstanding photographers, I often times mention Lorenzo’s work. His sequential photographs…are not one thing less that a visual urban poem. It has been my pleasure to watch Lorenzo’s rapid growth as a leading photographer of our time.”
Jim Van Meter, Rochester, NY, USA

“Lorenzo is a master. His body of work is a heap of of the very best online and may very well be some of the best being done in the medium today. His street work follows in the tradition of Paul Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand and Larry Friedlander. Lorenzo’s 25 Lessons are…as seminal as Ansel’s dissertation on the zone system. I found them to be reenergizing, perceptive and exceedingly useful. I have been touched by his story, his writings and by his work. I can’t imagine anybody not being so.”
Barry Shapiro, Los Angeles, CA, USA

“Lorenzo…has a passion for life, photography and writing. He is a linguistic genius, a storyteller through words and pictures. He captures with his camera the world as he sees it, it is feelings, love, beauty and all it has to offer…” Brenda George, Adelaide, Australia

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER, AUTHOR & JOURNALIST

Lorenzo is a best-selling author, a writer and an award-winning street photographer.

He has written a lot of books, consultations and articles in regards to fine art and photography for En Foco, Nueva Luz, Rain Tiger and the Examiner.

Throughout most of 2010, his book, 25 Lessons I’ve Learned with regards to photography Life! has been the #1 Best Selling Photo Essay and Artist & Photography Biography on Amazon.com. Paul Giguere, guru for the popular podcast thoughts on photography, considers 25 Lessons one of the “classic” essays on photography.

In October of 2010, he served as the NYC photography adviser for the not so long ago launched Microsoft foursquare photography app. In 2008, he was chosen to be the HP Be Brilliant Featured Artist.

Since taking up digital photography in 2005, his photography has been featured in fotoMAGAZIN, Germany’s premier photo magazine, and his photos have been cited, posted and published by over 350 other blogs, websites, and print publications.

Today, Lorenzo has over 32,000 photographs published on flickr.com—one of the world’s most frequent photography websites—where his photos have been seen over 6 million times and where he ranks as one of the site’s most standard photographers (aka “lorenzodom”).

He has been called an “Internet photography sensation” by Time Out New York and is considered a “Flickr star” by Rob Walker, Consumed columnist, for New York Times Magazine.

His work is represented international by Getty Images.

When a alter in life events had him soul searching, Lorenzo took to the streets of New York with his camera, photographing each night using his digital “point-and-shoot” cameras. He was mesmerized by the color and motion of the city and feels that “pictures see what we do not see.” His mantra is that the craft is liberating and everything possesses it is own beauty. He stresses the allure of black and white images because they emphasize form. Inspired by paintings of the masters, they train his eye for the use of color in photos.

“25 Lessons I’ve Learned (about photography) rekindles passion in photographers and photojournalists. Reading Lorenzo’s counsel may spark and stir the Muse to grand proportions. He offers strong counsel to always have your camera ready to shoot. He also advises shutterbugs to utilise their imagination and see the world with child-like eyes. One main ingredient he distinctively looks for in his subjects is attitude. This is evident in a lot of of his photos. The choice of backgrounds is as important as the persons in them. Read his book and you will fall in love not only with photography but likewise in the area in which you live, irrespective of it is socioeconomic standing.

Serving as a mentor, Lorenzo covers the importance of persevering, staying calm and seizing the moment. Any successful person may assert this. His eye for the unusual, results in extraordinary shots worthy of emulation. From contrast to optical illusion, he inspires others to lighten up and think outside of the box.

Photographing the Big Apple, a city with “aesthetic milk and honey,” he found that it offered him endless wells of inspiration. An honorable and ofttimes candid view of life is what he peddles on Flickr, a photo sharing site, and elsewhere. His desire is to aid others do the same. He challenges fellow photographers to “make something out of nothing.” It’s a thought that sounds Seinfeld-like in sentiment. Perhaps there’s a kinship with the show with regards to nothing; he also emphasizes the importance of employing humor in the craft.

25 Lessons Learned (in Photography) will fire you up to dust off your camera and hit the street running. You will gain a fresh perspective on seeing things you’ve never noticed before or antecedently took for granted. Not only is his book valuable for writers and photographers, but any person who needs a fresh outlook on life.

–Phyllis Johnson, photojournalist and author of Being Frank with Anne & Hot and Bothered By It, November 20, 2010

“I am on lesson 7 of the 25.

The one which has stuck with me the most to this point is “Use Your Imagination”. I won’t go into the details (mainly because I don’t inevitably do not forget them as much as how they affected me). This was the introductory chapter to make me want to print little posters of quotes and paste them around the office.

Use your imagination is a reminder to use the ability to create each of us has (and yes, believe it or not, we all have our own imagination. It helps make possible what we and others feel might not be possible. And it makes living just a bit more fun. Read the book. You’ll see what I am saying. –David Stoddard, The Unmotivated Motivational Speaker, January 26, 2011

“Because his photography was portion of his healing process, Lorenzo learnt to see photography as a metaphor. If what you see causes you pain, you may move, adopt another viewpoint, another perspective. Happiness is mobility, flexibility. There is a perspective for every one where what they see brings contentment and fulfillment. They just have to keep moving until they find it. There is a point of view we may all seek out. From it we may view the beauty inherent in all things.” –Phillip Kay, author of The Far-Famed Blue Mountains of Harry Phillips, BestQuest, November 16, 2010

“Lorenzo is a master. His body of work is a lot of of the very best online and may very well be a lot of of the best being done in the medium today. His street work follows in the tradition of Paul Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand and Larry Friedlander. Lorenzo’s 25 Lessons are…as seminal as Ansel’s dissertation on the zone system. I found them to be reenergizing, perceptive and exceedingly useful. I have been touched by his story, his writings and by his work. I can’t imagine anybody not being so.” –Photographer Barry Shapiro, Los Angeles, CA, USA

“In a heap of of my conversations on outstanding photographers, I ofttimes mention Lorenzo’s work. His sequential photographs…are not one thing less that a visual urban poem. It has been my pleasure to watch Lorenzo’s rapid growth as a leading photographer of our time.” –Photographer Jim Van Meter, Rochester, NY, USA

From the PublisherLODE PER 25 LEZIONI

“In molte delle mie conversazioni su grandi fotografi, mi capita spesso di citare il lavoro di Lorenzo. Le sue fotografie in sequenza … non sono niente di meno che un poema visivo urbano. E ‘stato il mio piacere di vedere una rapida crescita di Lorenzo come un fotografo di punta del nostro tempo. ” Jim Van Meter, Rochester, NY, USA

“Lorenzo è un maestro. La sua opera è certo dei migliori online e può benissimo essere uno dei migliori stato fatto oggi in mezzo. Il suo lavoro di strada segue la tradizione di Paul Strand, Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand e Larry Friedlander. Lorenzo 25 Lezioni sono … come seminale come Ansel tesi sul sistema di zona. Ho trovato loro di essere reenergizing, percettivo ed estremamente utile. Sono stato toccato dalla sua storia, i suoi scritti e dalla sua opera. Non riesco a immaginare qualcuno non essere così. ” Barry Shapiro, Los Angeles, CA, USA

“Lorenzo … ha una passione per la vita, la fotografia e la scrittura. Lui è un genio linguistico, un narratore attraverso parole e immagini. Si cattura con la sua macchina fotografica il mondo come lo vede, i suoi sentimenti, amore, bellezza e tutto ciò che ha da offrire … “Brenda George, Adelaide, Australia

From the AuthorI’m getting married on Sunday, February 27 in Savannah, GA, and in celebration of this special occasion all Kindle versions of 25 Lessons, will be .99 cents for the entire month of March. This will include both text-only and text-with-photos versions for all language versions in English, French and Portuguese (Italian and Spanish coming soon).

John Templeton once wrote: “Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth… Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to fetch pleasure to others, we can not stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we ought to give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it.”

I wholeheartedly agree. The pleasure which my matrimony promises and the experiences of life from which I have learned and that I part in this book have endowed me with so much joy and spiritual wealth that I am compelled to give to others, specially those in need of a little encouragement, a little inspiration, a little reassurance, or perchance simply, a little love.

Most helpful customer reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
not how to photograph but how to be a photographer
By DrDanno
Of the over 100 books on my kindle, this is the one I cherish and identify with the most. Also the one I will search for a hard cover copy to keep near me on my desk. I took up photography around a year ago as a way to cope with my MS which became progressive. Did the usual surfing between many great and not so great web sites, did a course in an exclusive school and read a number of books on the subject. I did learn how to photograph. What Lorenzo gave me though was the soul my craft was lacking. Lorenzo doesn’t teach technique but he gives whole heartedly the essence of photography , of being a photographer.
In the process he shares his philosophy of life with us. He is very well read and knowledgeable and it is a treat to read the passages and quotes with which he enriches his book. Indeed he seems the perfect partner for an intellectual conversation over coffee.
It was easy for me identify with Lorenzo and how he coped with the turmoil in his life as own had immersed in turmoil. A father of three girls, an Orthopaedic surgeon with many years of intensive training in endurance athletics my life turned upside down when my marriage began to unravel and I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis ( which turned into a constantly progressive type). The way I coped , my outlook on life parallel those of the author’s. Many times i though I was reading my biography.
This book is a must for photographers of all levels, amateurs, enthusiasts and beyond. It shines a light on what is forgotten while we delve into technique .
This book is a must for anybody dealing with personal crisis of any sort.
Lorenzo is inspiring , and one hell of a good photographer.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
25 Lessons I’ve Learned about Photography. . . Life
By Innovation Man
I absolutely loved this book! The author presents his real life stories about photography and life in 25 fun and engaging ways. His lessons learned on the streets of NYC are inspirational and motivating. As a perennial student of innovation, I found many of his 25 lessons to be metaphors for creative thinking. The author’s candor is refreshing and the book a must for anyone who wants to see photography and life in a fresh new light.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A Matter of Perspective
By Phillip Kay
Where you are makes a difference to what you see. New York photographer Lorenzo Dominguez found himself in a difficult position when his marriage failed. He, like many, had painted himself into a corner by accepting the values of others: the usual, wife, children, house in suburbia, mortgage, corporate job, respectability, doing the right thing. Everything was right. Everything was false.

Lorenzo’s family had broken up, leaving him desperate and grieving. Somehow he broke free of self obsession. He sensed that many others shared his plight, if not his position. Armed only with a camera, Lorenzo took to the streets. The photographs he took were focused with the love he could not express to his wife any longer.

A twirl of the f-stop, a step to one side that moves the frame: the picture in the lens changes. Lorenzo went on a search for the beauty he had seen in his wife and children. He found there was not just a focus and a f-stop. There was an angle of beauty.

Because his photography was part of his healing process, Lorenzo learnt to see photography as a metaphor. If what you see causes you pain, you can move, adopt another viewpoint, another perspective. Happiness is mobility, flexibility. There is a perspective for everyone where what they see brings contentment and fulfillment. They just have to keep moving until they find it. There is a point of view we can all seek out. From it we can view the beauty inherent in all things. No need to resent the ugliness and sterility we see around us. Move!

Lorenzo formulated 25 lessons. Based on his adventures roaming the city taking photographs, they are techniques and tips about taking better photographs. They are also techniques and tips for leading a better life. The book is a compendium of what Lorenzo has learned. The book succeeds though because it is uniformly genuine. Based firmly on his life experience, Lorenzo is personal and unaffected throughout. He avoids playing the sage, though his book is generous with quotations and references from writers and sages he admires.

A photographer deals in light. Like a river, light is always changing. Like a river, a person is always changing. Just like a river, when we cease to change, we start to stagnate. Lorenzo’s book is an autobiography. It begins with the drama of his marriage breakup, continues with his ‘therapy’ of photography and the wisdom he derived from this practice, and ends with the story of his early life. Unavoidably, the first section is more engaging, because tragedy is more involving. What Lorenzo calls lessons are wisdom he has distilled from his own life, and the reception this part is given by readers depends very much on their willingness to learn, and their willingness to match experience with Lorenzo.

The book I read ended with a selection of 37 photographs (though the text referred to photos in context eg “to the right” etc.) These are predominantly of people waiting in the streets of New York. Each picture tells a story, and the viewer can have a lot of fun decoding and telling each story. There are stories about illusions, fantasies, loneliness, poverty, celebration. The comparison with Cartier-Bresson is apt, however extraordinary that claim may seem.

The book goes a long way towards explaining why two people can photograph the same scene and end up with two very different photographs.

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