Time-Out

March 6, 2011



Lets be honest when you run your own photo business you never have a day when your not thinking of an image to make or billing for an image or bidding on a job or working on an image in Lightroom, Photoshop or Aperture.  At times you feel your consumed with doing more, so your income can increase and then you will be able to take a break from the grind and relax on some island beach and always be satisfied that you have done your best and are fulfilled in your chosen profession, good luck with that.  There is always going to be a challenge in front of you and you have to decide if this challenge is worth taking on.  The key thing to remember is that you can stay where you are or work toward a goal that will evolve and change over time. But at least your striving to be better and make your business better and get you closer to that feeling of fulfillment that is so elusive in the photo business now.  When things overwhelm me I stop and think what has changed right now this very minute.  These pressures that I have I have chosen and this very second I can't do anything about them but move forward the best I can and accomplish the work that is in front of me.   I am testing out a HDR program called Hydra that will help me keep up with these young whippersnappers that shoot skylines and other contrasty subjects but make them look great through this merge technology that I am just learning.  It is hard to teach an old photographer new tricks but change is the name of the game.

Snow Geese

February 27, 2011


In the post earlier I mentioned I was in Skagit County photographing the Snow Geese that stop over and feed in the fields before they make their final track to Canada.  It was snowing, sleeting, raining and windy as photographers lined the road and tried to shoot these magnificent birds.  I was using a 105mm lens to begin with but wanted to get alittle tighter image so I brought out my tripod and was going to shoot with my 180 mm lens.  But as I was getting ready to change lenses the birds stirred from a barking dog and began to fly.  I turned and shot with my 105 as they flew off deeper back into the fields.  Having felt good that I got something I jumped in the car and took off trying to locate where they went.  As I was traveling through some of the back roads very slowly I had an inkling something was just not right.  It then hit me like a shot in the dark, I had left my tripod set up on the side of the road back at the first field.  Maybe that was the horn that was sounding as I pulled away?  When I got back there all the cars were gone it was deserted except for a black triangular thing still standing on the shoulder of the road where I had left it. It made me feel good that people just left it there hoping this idiot photographer would eventually realize his mistake.  Thanks!!!

Hard Work

February 27, 2011


I was looking at some of my farm and barn images of the Northwest and was enjoying the beauty of our rural landscape.  Even though in these images you see the beauty of a farming life, you don't see the work farmers do in working and preparing the land just to supply us with quality food we all enjoy.  You don't see the harsh weather conditions, the 24/7 work and pressure there is in making sure the fields are ready before the planting season is upon them.  The reason I bring this up is that I was up in Skagit County yesterday and was shooting the Snow Geese that migrate up to Canada and was chilled to the bone.  And yet in this cold, wind chilled environment farmers were still at work fixing trackers and making sure their farm animals were fed and safe.  Much appreciation for all people that work this beautiful land we call America.

Capturing an Emotion

February 11, 2011


If you can objectively sense an images importance to you and compose it and light it with purpose (serendipity plays an important part) that expresses and emotion we all share (you might not be aware of the emotion that attracted to the subject in the first place) then you have created a good image.

Valentines Day

February 6, 2011



I had my wife bake up some cupcakes and I decided to do a Valentine theme image.  If I was more on the ball I would have done this in the summer so the image would already be at some of my agencies as Valentines Day approaches.  But sometimes you don't think ahead.  Or for me most of the time.

Obsolescence

Humor is always good in a image.  When we were staying at at one of many RV parks we found this old Phone Booth discarded along a path.  Change happens if you like it or not.

City Images

January 30, 2011

I enjoy shooting skylines.  Years ago I took my family on a ten year off and on road trip along the West Coast.  We purchased an RV and sold our home and went RVing full time.  What was great about the RV life was that we could stay in one location for longer periods of time, exploring the out of the way places and had the ability to wait out bad light.  Here are just a few of my favorite City images.

Sense of Wonder

When you are used to making good money from shooting stock and then you see that income steadily decline quickly over the last few years what becomes the motivation to keep on shooting through the time, expense and effort of creating good images.  And sometimes the great image.  

Minor White once said, " innocence of eye has a quality of its own.  It means to see as a child sees, with freshness and acknowledgment of the wonder, it also means to see as an adult sees who has gone full circle and once again sees as a child-- with freshness and an even deeper sense of wonder".  

I guess the question becomes are you a photographer who has to express your inner self through images or were you shooting because the money was good and it was a job.  I have to shoot, so no matter what I am doing working full time, part time I will still create images.  Also, I am looking at the Masters of Photography again and through their inspiration, I am trying to shoot more personal images that will bring back that sense of wonder.  I miss that.  

Anticipation

January 15, 2011


Shooting digital takes some of the old anticipation away from the end results of your photographic efforts.  It becomes to me a work flow instead of a revelation of purpose.  There was always that anxiety (in a good way) of going to the lab and picking up your film and then laying it on the lightbox to see if you captured your inner landscape on the film.  Now you pretty much know what you got.  You can make composition adjustments, exposure corrections etc.. right there on the spot by looking at your monitor.  The problem with this is that there is a break in the relationship your building with your subject.  Looking at the monitor becomes the extension of your workflow instead of concentrating on your scene that is before you.  If you look to often then you have missed the purpose I feel of making your unique images.  Your images need to reflect your own style and you can't be observing your subject finding that angle, light and composition that expresses your subject if you constantly look at the monitor.   I look at the monitor to see if I am in the ballpark and then concentrate on the subject reading the light and bracketing accordingly.  Yes there are times when that draw to look at the monitor is very strong and I succumb to its power.

Shooting Digital vs Analog Film

I have found that when shooting sunsets I can shoot longer into the twilight with Digital than I was able to with Film and the same holds true with sunrises.  I tend to get there earlier and begin shooting because the exposures seem better balanced with highlight/shadow detail.

This sunrise image of Seattle is an example of beginning to shoot earlier than I would have with Analog film.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!

Holiday Images

Time flies by and it is already the Holiday season.  Here are a few images to get you in the mood.  Lets start out with Turkey day.

This was a commercial turkey farm in Oregon and I photographed it while working for GTE's Community Books project.  Next lets get into Christmas.

The night before a big snow fall was to hit Washington State, I set up a small tree with lights and ran an extension cord out and away from the tree toward an outlet at the side of the house.  The snow covered everything real well.   This year I plan a variation on this shot.  We will see.

Bellevue Botanical Gardens

These images were taken at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens in Washington State.  No mater how hectic this world gets it is nice to know that there are places like this that can quiet down life's pressures and allow you to take images that reflect a more serene center in us all where we all can pause and remember why we took up photography in the first place.

Fern Close-up Bellevue Botanical Garden

Female Humming Bird

Decisions Decisions

Fishermen at Lake Cassidy, Washington State

I thought about many ways to get my images seen buy the buying public because this seems to be where the industry is right now.

Large Environment Small Person

I have always enjoyed shooting images of man and man made objects in a big environment.