Winter Photography: Be Prepared, Be Successful

Winter is arguably one of the prettiest times to be an outdoor photographer; winter white can transform an otherwise lifeless brown landscape into a magical wonderland. However, winter is also one of the most challenging times to be outdoors shooting. Frankly the biggest limiting factor in winter photography is personal comfort (for me anyway, I’m a wus). If you’re not comfortable you won’t be free to think and see creatively [...]

“…If You Can’t Be With The One You Love,…”

By Kurt Budliger | Jan 12, 2012
Posted in: Creativity, Inspiration, Landscape Photography, Vermont |

12 Comments

“…If You Can’t Be With The One You Love,…”

“…Honey, Love The One You’re With” (Stephen Stills). I’ll leave it up to you guys to do your own dit, dit, dits. And I do apologize in advance if the song gets stuck in your head, it’s pretty catchy. It seems as though I’m into the mantra thing lately (see my previous post Just Do It!), especially if it relates to improving one’s photography. As many of you already know, I [...]

By Kurt Budliger | Jan 5, 2012
Posted in: General, Inspiration, Landscape Photography, Vermont |

7 Comments

Just Do It!

I don’t have any New Year’s Resolutions or great epiphany to share at the close of 2011 and I’m about to celebrate (if you can call it that) my 42nd birthday on Monday. Don’t worry, I’ll include my shipping address below so you can send gifts. That means I grew up in the ‘80s and am a Gen X’er (whatever the hell that means). I watched Dukes of Hazard on [...]

By Kurt Budliger | Dec 22, 2011
Posted in: General, Inspiration, New Hampshire, Tech Tips |

10 Comments

How Photography is like Tequila

For some they both can be an acquired taste, a little bitter at first but after a while starts to get easier to swallow. Just think about the first time you tried to shoot an epic sunset and came home with nothing but washed out skies or blocked up foreground details. I don’t think I need to remind you about the first time you drank tequila, or maybe someone does? [...]

Want Your Images to Look Different? (part 2)

By Kurt Budliger | Dec 12, 2011
Posted in: Acadia National Park, Creativity, General, Tech Tips |

4 Comments

Want Your Images to Look Different? (part 2)

In part one of this series I offered 5 strategies for jumpstarting your creative juices and beginning the journey toward creating unique or different images. Part one can be found here and is probably worth reading in conjunction with this post. 6) Incorporate motion. Many of the techniques we’ve learned as nature photographers have been geared toward maximizing sharpness in our images. We use tripods, small apertures for depth of field, [...]

By Ian Plant | Apr 26, 2010
Posted in: Grand Staircase-Escalante |

4 Comments

Off the Beaten Path: Devil’s Garden, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Welcome to Off the Beaten Path, a new column on my photoblog dedicated to far away places, once-in-a-lifetime moments, and those rare flashes of inspired thinking. You know, those places and moments that for some reason stay fresh in your memory long after you, or they, are gone. Those places and moments that are why we get up before the crack of dawn, and stay up late long after the light has [...]

By Ian Plant | Apr 14, 2010
Posted in: Grand Staircase-Escalante |

19 Comments

Serendipity at Wahweap

Some photo shoots are a struggle against bad weather, bad light, bad inspiration, and overall bad conditions. But every now and then, one gets a bit of luck. On a recent back country trip to the Wahweap Hoodoos in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument wilderness in Utah, luck was definitely on my side—for a change! Along with my good friend and colleague Joe Rossbach, we spent the afternoon backpacking from the trail head at Big [...]

By Ian Plant | Apr 3, 2010
Posted in: Arches National Park |

9 Comments

The Power of Persistence

While scouting for an upcoming Creative Visions Nature Photography Workshop in Moab, Utah, fellow photographer Joe Rossbach and I decided to spend a day exploring a rarely visited red rock canyon in the Castle Valley area just outside of Arches National Park. I enjoy getting off the beaten path, and photographing areas that are overlooked by the hordes of photographers that too often descend on more popular places. The little canyon we choose [...]

By Ian Plant | Feb 23, 2010
Posted in: Tech Tips |

28 Comments

Using Live View for Nature Photography

I’ve just posted a new article on my website about Using Live View for Nature Photography. Live View has become a vital part of my image capture process, and I use it for almost every photograph I make to optimize focus, composition, depth-of-field, and even exposure. Live View is a serious professional tool that can help you significantly improve your photography images. My simple tutorial shows you how you can [...]