The Global Canvas

Posted on June 13, 2026 by Andy Cline

I have started a new Instagram account called The Global Canvas about street art and photographing street art.

I’ve been “collecting” street art and graffiti for more than two decades. I have a big archive of images from around the world. What fascinates me, as I continue to photograph street art, is how much of what I’ve collected is probably gone.

This fish for example.

Photo of street art.

Street art doesn’t last.

I made this image in Estarreja, Portugal. This is some kind of old industrial or commercial building that was missing everything but a couple of exterior walls — a perfect canvas, approved or not. The building was near the railroad tracks. It was torn down a couple of years ago.

Friends of ours live near this place and could see the fish from their balcony. This photo now hangs in their home.

I’ve decided to share my archive through Instagram. And Frame by Frame will be the supporting weblog. Nothing else will change. I’ll still be writing about visual nonfiction storytelling for the three of you who read this 🙂

If you’re into such things and find interesting street art in the world, please feel free to share it. Contact me with a DM on Instagram: @the.global.canvas.

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What I See Through a Viewfinder

Posted on June 2, 2026 by Andy Cline

I began my career as a newspaper photojournalist working first as an intern during the summers while in college in the mid to late 1970s. My newspaper career was short-lived following graduation — just about seven years.

I then became a magazine freelancer — writing and photography. I rode that horse for about 10 years before starting graduate school in 1995. At the dawn of the new millennium, I left film cameras behind and got into the whole digital thing. I loved it from the start. No more fixer stains on my clothes 🙂

I also started shooting digital video mostly for fun. But as I began teaching journalism at Missouri State University (2004 to 2022), I also began shooting digital video seriously for the first time. I was, as it turned out, the one guy in the department with enough adjacent skills to teach the print students how to produce news for the internet, including all the things — photo, video, audio, graphics, etc.

Then I got the fat idea to start a documentary program at MSU because, well, I was interested in pushing past the newsy stuff into the long form stuff. I was also watching a lot of Vice content back then.

One thing struck me immediately: I found myself composing as if shooting stills. Further, I found myself moving the camera in such a way that I could hold composition. I did these things because it seemed natural and normal to me. Still does, although I now know all about standard camera movements and their use.

In earlier posts in this series (see below), and in my artistic approach, I mention two visual influences on my visual style: the documentary photography of the mid 20th century and the cinematography of fiction film director Terrence Malick.

The pictures I’ve posted here are the promotional stills for my latest film Os Marnotos (The Saltworkers). One of the things you’ll notice in the trailer (and the film once it hits YouTube or a film festival near you), is that in each of these shots I have used camera movement to hold the composition — allowing the action to take place within the frame. I do follow action sometimes. I do use camera movements to scan scenes in various ways. But, mostly, I fix a composition as I would in still photography and then stick with it as long as the scene — and the action within the scene — allows.

Is this a good way to do things? I don’t know. This is part of my visual style. It is what it is. It is what I do. I like it. It suits me. Maybe give it a try if you’re searching for something in the development of your own visual style.

Posts in this series:

Rejecting Digital Perfection | Frame by Frame (rhetorica.net)

How Does Malick Look | Frame by Frame (rhetorica.net)

From Coverage to a Visual Style | Frame by Frame (rhetorica.net)

Where I Differ With the Dogma | Frame by Frame (rhetorica.net)

Visual Style Conveyed in Words — Maybe | Frame by Frame (rhetorica.net)

What is Lyrical Style? | Frame by Frame (rhetorica.net)

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I’m in a Festival Mood

Posted on May 21, 2026 by Andy Cline

Now that my documentary short film Os Marnotos is finished the question becomes: What do I do with it?

All the documentary films I’ve worked on over the past 12 years are available (somewhere) on YouTube (most on my channel, but not all). Some of these films were screened at film festivals. And one, Witness At Tornillo, actually had a minor run in theaters through a DIY distribution company that went belly up before paying what it owed. Witness also won best documentary at the 2020 Kansas City Film Fest International.

WAT titlecard

Step one for Os Marnotos: Enter some film festivals. The easiest way to do this is through an online entry portal called FilmFreeway (my profile is here). Since I announced completing the film, I have entered 10 festivals using the platform. I have used FilmFreeway in the past with modest success. That means I’ve entered a lot of festivals over the years, got screened in a few, and won something in fewer.

Many legitimate festivals use FilmFreeway to market their festivals to filmmakers. But there are many scams. There are tricks, or strategies, necessary to achieve festival screenings through FilmFreeway, and I do not know them all. I’ve become a tiny bit better at it over the years.

A scam festival is all about churning entry fees and offering very little of value to filmmakers. Some are laurel factories — existing just to hand out laurels that filmmakers can put on film posters and other marketing materials. Some are award factories that give out all kinds of goofy awards beyond what’s standard. Some are designed to be attended only by the filmmakers whose films get screened — with no real public audience. The list is long. And there is money to be made in these scams. I had occasion to help with a film festival a few years ago. The number of eager entries paying a modest entry fee added up to an eye-watering sum of money.

Here are the red flags for me:

  • The festival date is just one day.
  • No listed venue.
  • Too many esoteric awards categories.
  • Any festival with “awards” in the title.
  • Any festival with no independent website showing a track record and who is involved.
  • Any chain festival (one name, many host cities).
  • Any unsolicited offer of discount codes (includes ridiculous flattery).

Legitimate festivals get tons of entries through FilmFreeway. There have been accusations in the past (mostly true) of legitimate festivals taking the entry fee and not actually pre-screening the entry.

Of the ten I have entered with Os Marnotos, most are in Portugal and include: Marmostra International Film Festival, Ocean Coast Film Festival, Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival, Festival Impacto, and Porto/Post/Doc.

The whole thing is really kind of a Hail Mary. But you can’t score if you don’t throw that ball down field 🙂

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Here is the Os Marnotos Official Trailer

Posted on May 16, 2026 by Andy Cline

I have finished Os Marnotos 🙂

This is the official trailer for Os Marnotos.

The film examines the working lives of a family — three generations — that works one of “marinhas” on the estuary in Averio, Portugal. Historical records show that residents have been producing salt here for a thousand years. And it is also likely that the Romans produced salt here two thousand years ago. The Banca family works the Ecomuseu Marinha da Troncalhada salt pan (marinha). It is owned by the municipality of Aveiro and is administered by the Aveiro City Museum. The Banca family attempts to keep alive the traditional methods of making sea salt.

Runtime: 19:30
Format: digital, 1080HD, Canon LOG, 16:9, monochrome

Music from Artlist.io:
Premiere by Adrián Berenguer

For more on my documentary work, please visit: eyewitness

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Long Train Runnin’

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Andy Cline

I no longer have my first SLR. It was a Nikon F, with the photomic head and a 50mm lens, that I bought used in 1974 while I was in high school. I carried it every day. I was one of those yearbook nerds 🙂

In the fall of 1975 I started college at Rochester Institute of Technology as a photographic arts and sciences major. That Christmas, I found the Leica M3 you see here under the tree. I used it almost exclusively for the next year and half at RIT. And I used it as a news photographer on many occasions. In my final year in news photography (six years total before becoming a magazine freelance writer/photographer), I used the Leica exclusively.

PXL 20260214 122524080~2

Using that camera was what led to my love of rangefinders. Its why I look for digital rangefinders when I buy cameras today. There is just something about the feel of a rangefinder. Maybe someday I’ll try to put that into words.

My latest purchase, that I have mentioned before, is the SONY a6400.

It’s been decades since I last ran a roll of film through the Leica. And if I were at all interested in being retro, I’d use it exclusively. But I’m not interested. It sits on a shelf near my desk where I can keep an eye on it. Every couple of months, I “exercise” it to keep the shutter limber. Is that a thing? I don’t know. It’s just something I do.

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