FYI: After writing my initial review of the Tilopa pack by F-stop Gear, I received a few comments with questions that I was unable to answer. F-stop recently sent me a note answering some of these questions, which I have added as a post script at the bottom of the review. I’ll be heading to some gnarly places with my Tilopa over the next few weeks, including the rugged Adirondack Mountains and [...]
Read more
Telephoto zoom lenses are perfect for many autumn scenes. They allow you to zoom in on important details, and to take advantage of telephoto “compression,” which is an optical illusion that appears to flatten perspective in a distant scene. I use telephoto zooms when trying to isolate a particularly colorful section of autumn forest, or when photographing a distant hillside alive with color. The image above was taken in the Adirondack Mountains [...]
Read more
My latest post to the Outdoor Photographer Magazine blog is called Keep it Simple, and it talks about how simplifying your compositions can have a dramatic and positive effect on your photography. Too often, photographers try to include too much into their photos, and the end result is a muddled message that confuses viewers. Sometimes it is better to exclude rather than include, and to boil a scene down to [...]
Read more
Last week I posted an entry on the Outdoor Photographer blog listing Top 5 Tips for Autumn Photography. I thought I’d spend some time here on my personal photoblog exploring more fully some of these tips. Let’s start with my favorite: autumn reflections. Sunny weather is the key to successful reflection photos. Angle of sunlight is critical as well: the foliage that is reflected must be lit by the sun, whereas the water [...]
Read more
I have an article in October’s PopPhoto magazine (as well as online) on Animal Scenics. Also, my image of spawning horseshoe crabs below is featured on their subscription cover—or so I’ve been told, I haven’t seen it so I could be wrong! (Aparently PopPhoto does two covers for each issue, one for subscription copies and one for newsstand copies, so my image won’t appear on the newsstand version). This is my fourth article [...]
Read more
This one is short and sweet. Don’t worry too much about creating photographs that are beautiful and inspiring. Don’t worry too much about getting oohs and aahs. Don’t worry too much about ensuring that your work is original or creative. Don’t worry too much about whether your photos are “art” or not. Don’t worry too much about whether your photos will sell or if people will like them or if A-list celebrities will hang them on the walls of their [...]
Read more
In July I was approached by F-Stop Gear, a manufacturer of photo packs, for a possible sponsorship deal. I said sure, provided that I got a chance to test and review their equipment first. I didn’t want to enter into a sponsorship relationship with a company that makes products I don’t like. I warned them ahead of time that I had never used a photo pack that I thought was worth a damn. [...]
Read more
Getting back to my series of Mt. Rainier photos, here’s one of Carter Falls, one of the park’s “smaller” waterfalls. It’s actually a fairly decent-sized falls, but it pales in comparison to the thundering cascades of Comet and Spray Falls. What it lacks in stature, however, it makes up for in adventure—that is, if you want to get to the base of the falls and photograph it from below. Finding the falls is the easy part. [...]
Read more
Autumn is just around the corner! Getting into the spirit of the season, my latest post to the Outdoor Photographer Magazine blog gives my favorite Top 5 Photo Tips for Autumn Photography. Autumn is the favorite season for most photographers, and with good reason. My Top 5 list contains what I consider to be essential tips for getting the best out of your fall photography. Actually, I might have snuck in a bonus [...]
Read more
I’ve written a short and to-the-point eBook called 10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Landscape Compositions. It’s the first in a new series of books that are more consice than my first two books Chasing the Light and Five Landscape Challenges. The books in this new series are pithy, under 40 pages, and at a lower price point of only $5. Wait, you say, aren’t Chasing the Light and Five Landscape Challenges [...]
Read more
2 Comments Last November I had the opportunity to visit an off-the-beaten-path place deep in the Nevada desert called Hobgoblins’ Playground (it is more commonly known as Little Finland, but I think Hobgoblins’ is a much cooler name). Hobgoblins’ is reached after driving many miles on a 4WD dirt road, literally miles away from nowhere. My trip there—or should I say trips—were in many respects a nightmare. On my first trip to [...]
Read more
As the old saying goes: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. As outdoor photographers, we are often at the mercy of the elements. Actually, we are always at the mercy of the elements. Despite our best efforts to arm ourselves with weather forecasts or to pray to obscure photo gods for benevolence, in the end the weather will do what it wants. All we can do when nasty weather [...]
Read more
It’s the name of one of my photo portfolios. It’s my site’s motto. I guess it is my mission statement. Heck, it’s my brand identity. But what does ”Dreamscapes” really mean? I’ve struggled to define Dreamscapes for some time now. You see, it came about by accident, so I didn’t really get a chance to think about it ahead of time. A while back I named one of my photo portfolios Dreamscapes because [...]
Read more
Turning back to my Mt. Rainier photo series, the following image was taken on a clear, windy morning. The light over Mt. Rainier was unexceptional, and this, along with persistent winds, made wildflower photography unappealing. While hiking along one of the trails in the Paradise area, I turned to see the full moon setting through the shadow of the Earth. Although I have seen earth shadow many times before, it takes on a [...]
Read more
