My Plan to Make 2012 Better Than 2011

We are almost a month into 2012 and I have been pondering what I want the year to look like and which goals I will set for myself.

I have read many posts and articles from other photographers with some emphasizing that 2011 goes down as their worst year ever and I can relate to some degree. It sure was not my best!

While the economy is certainly the main reason for many, it is the changing world of professional photography that has played a large role in the downturn for many photographers.

There are others who write that this new era requires a new business model and they are right, but just what is that business model?

I am not sure myself so I have brainstormed this issue for sometime and compiled my own list of challenges and how I plan to address them. … Continue Reading

The Art of Photographing Mud

There is so much in nature to photograph! National Parks, wild areas, and even our own backyards! We have an infinite amount of subjects to capture and in amazing ways.

But it is not necessarily where we photograph as it is what we photograph that makes for a pleasing image which results in images that please us. These might be subjects we discover or others we pursue that are subjects close to out hearts. And one of my favorites can be found just about anywhere.

I am here to admit: I love mud! And I love photographing it. Cracked mud in particular!

Everywhere I go, if I see mud, and especially cracked mud, I immediately stop and look for a place with NO mud to set down my camera pack and get to work.

Let’s face it; mud is all around us!  From alpine settings to a rain forest, a drought stricken desert or a city park, there is a good chance there is mud of some sort. All mud is not the same either since it depends on the makeup of the content. I have seen red mud, green mud, brown mud, and probably more colors as I have wandered around the Southwest.
… Continue Reading

Cole Thompson Shares His Definition on The Rule of Thirds

Note: I discovered this post by Black and White photographer Cole Thompson on his blog and with his permission, we share it with you:

“Many of you know of my disdain for photographic “rules” and so you might wonder why I’m writing about the “rule of thirds.” It’s because I’m writing about my rule of thirds:

A great image is comprised of 1/3 vision, 1/3 the shot and 1/3 processing

A great image begins and ends with your vision. Vision is a tough concept to describe, but I think each of us instinctively know how we want our image to look, and our job as an artist is to bring that image into compliance with our vision.

When we pursue an image with vision, then equipment and process becomes the servant and the creative process the master. It’s only then that great images can occur.

Vision is everything.”

I love his definition and if you do as well, please leave a comment.

You can view Cole’s work here. … Continue Reading

The Seeds of Inspiration

Have you ever tried something, and it didn’t work?  Try a different idea, and not much success.

Not giving up, implement a third idea, the growth of which doesn’t occur?   What then, would inspire anyone to try again, to implement more ideas?

This past September along the hillside of our local state forest, the milkweed pods literally exploded in the late afternoon. Driven by the light westerly breeze, seeds were dispatched to commence their eventual germination.

In their own way, the successful seeds will ultimately provide the mechanism for change, allowing the monarch caterpillar to form its chrysalis, and then transform into the graceful monarch butterfly. … Continue Reading

Image Manipulation: Have I Gone Too Far on This One?

In my post here I discussed how I think the debate over image manipulation was mostly a waste of time. Nature photographers are artists who use nature to create art using a camera.

I have said it before: I am not a photo journalist documenting the ‘news that is occurring in nature,’ but am instead using nature as my palette to create nature art. Instead of using a brush and paints, I use a camera and Photoshop.

I am not shooting for the natural history publications. I want to create commercially viable images of nature that succeed in the market.

What’s got me a little fired up is what some are calling the Photoshop Law. I don’t know a lot about it but I am hearing it would require full disclosure of images that have been ‘Photoshopped.’

I think they are mainly going after fashion and cosmetics advertising and if they succeed, at some point that might expose all photography using any image editing tools. Every single digital photo, shot in RAW needs to be ‘Photoshopped’ to make it useful.

That prompted me to revisit this subject. I recently hiked to my favorite waterfall in the world and photographed it again. I discovered a new perspective (for me) and shot it and it had a lot of dead debris I removed. More on that coming up! … Continue Reading

15 Tips on Fine Art Composition by Alain Briot

by Alain Briot

Effective composition is critical to the success of a landscape photograph! As we move our cameras around and zoom in or out, we work the elements of shape, form, lines, texture, and color, to blend together a design when composed in the camera, presents an arrangement pleasing to the eye. Composition, like lighting, can make or break an image.

We asked noted nature photographer and author, Alain Briot, for his top tips on composition and here they are:

1 – Composition is the strongest way of seeing

• This is Edward Weston’s definition of composition. It is still my favorite definition of composition. … Continue Reading

Russ Finley Photographs The Perfect Storm Over the Grand Canyon

I was on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon looking for a place to get my evening shots when many things came together to make this shot possible.

The clouds had building all afternoon and by the time the sun had set the sky was quite ominous and even threatening looking.

It happened at just the right place. The storm moved across the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and I was at Yaki Point on the South Rim.

I was there with the typical sunset crowd and at a safe distance from the storm moving across the North Rim which is 10 miles away. … Continue Reading

The Magic of Discovery: Joye Arden Durham’s Bear Cub Encounter

by Joye Arden Durham

Living in Western North Carolina brings many photographic opportunities. Our homes are built in the forests and on the mountains where wildlife lives. We are in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains surrounded by protected national lands. In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. And every day I am grateful to call Western North Carolina home.

One night in June my friend Lib and I went to a friend’s house for a visit in great hopes of seeing the bears that march through her yard frequently. I had my camera on the tripod ready for any opportunity and then the wait began. We waited and waited. Nothing. We waited more. Nothing. Since nothing was happening outside we decided to eat dinner and try again in a few minutes. After dinner we waited. Still nothing. For about an hour and a half we waited and it was getting darker so we decided it was time to leave and try again another day.

I have a safe set up for shooting wildlife. In my Honda Element the sunroof is in the back of the car and is a perfect place to set up the tripod and wait for the animals. I can stand comfortably in the same position and shoot with the Nikon 100-400 lens and have the car as a safety net. After waiting until almost dusk, and knowing I had to get home, we decided the bears weren’t coming out so I took down the tripod, put the lenses away, closed the sunroof and got ready to leave.  … Continue Reading

Remaining Open to Possibilities

by Drake Fleege

Sometimes, something that I find to photograph provides an even better opportunity than what I had initially intended, for a completely different reason. This happened to me a few times while out in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado recently this summer.

This lone dead pine is just one such example, others included waterfalls and boulders, wildflowers and landscapes. On this particular morning, around 11am, the bright sun was now high in the sky. I just finished shooting distant mountain scenes of the mountain pine beetle infestation in the Upper Beaver Meadows area of the park.

Driving out of the area, I noticed this lone dead Ponderosa pine along the hillside. Being that it succumbed to the mountain pine beetle, I thought it somewhat represented the case for all pines within the park. While shooting the scene, a small wren kept singing from its branches. … Continue Reading

The Magic of Discovery: Karl Lindsay in The Canadian Rockies

Editors Note: we all photograph for our own reasons and one of the most common reasons for photographers is that drive to explore and discover and capture with the camera. That process of wandering with the camera  in search of meaningful compositions is a powerful driving force. Some day’s it all comes together and other days it does not, but one thing is certain for each and every one of us: it’s the Magic of Discovery that is our primary driving force. It’s that scene before the camera where you know immediately that you have captured something special, something magical, something that is possibly a first. It may not be the worlds top selling stock photo, it is the creation of the image that is magical for you, the creator. Beyond that, nothing matters because we, as photographers, must find personal reward in the work we do so we can continue to look and discover the magic out there.We will be running a series from time to time featuring the Magic of Discovery from a variety of photographers.

Karl Lindsay:

For a few weeks during 2010 my family escaped the Australian winter and headed to the US and Canada for a six week road trip. We wanted to discover as much magic as we could throughout some of the national parks of North America. While driving north on the beautiful Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper we stopped at many of the pullouts hoping to discover as much as we could of the beauty the area is known for. It has to be one of the most magnificent roads to travel in the world and holds a very different beauty from what we are used to in Australia. … Continue Reading