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May 14, 2008

Sketching

20080503_Babson_072.jpgTwo weekends ago I was teaching a workshop in Boston, at Babson College. We were staying on campus at their Executive Conference Center, whose restaurant looked out over some small ponds at the edge of a woods. It was such a pretty spot that during breakfast we decided to come back there that evening after the school and shoot some pictures.

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May 05, 2008

Fun on the Farm

20080409_Rose_062.jpgWhen I worked for newspapers I spent most of my days out on the street. In good weather that was great, and in bad not so great. But the best part of it was staying away from a desk. Now I spend most of my time at a computer, so any chance to get out and shoot pictures is a good one.

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April 25, 2008

When in doubt, JUMP!

DSC_7609.jpgWhenever I'm out teaching a class, or just on vacation with my kids, I always have them jump. Just like the old Toyota commercials (Its the "Oh what a feeling" tagline Toyota used for years in their commercials).

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April 21, 2008

Meeting People

20080405_FLD300_094.jpgI find that the hardest thing for most people to photograph is people. And that's a shame, because it's a great way to make some nice photos and you usually end up with a good story as well.

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April 08, 2008

IR in FL

20080404_FLIR_070.jpgThis past weekend I taught a workshop in Fort Lauderdale, FL, and thought I'd have some free time to go out and shoot. With that in mind, I brought my infrared camera along to play.

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March 31, 2008

Decisions, Decisions...

D200_300.JPGOver the last few months I've gotten numerous phone calls and emails from friends asking if they should upgrade from their Nikon D200 to the new D300. Just got two more, which made me think it would be a good blog entry.

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March 22, 2008

In Praise of Models

20080229_LVD1A7_290e.JPGBack in the old days (you know, when we were all shooting film) there was a time when I started doing fashion shoots for the newspaper I worked at. We were too cheap to hire models, so it always came down to the writer finding a friend to "model" for us. I remember how hard it was to get good photos..

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March 11, 2008

Thank You, Photo Gods

20080227_MontD300_132.JPGI learned years ago that when the photo gods smile on you, you should thank them. And the proper way to do that is to drop to your knees, raise your hands over your head and bow down several times while saying, "Thank you photo gods, thank you photo gods."

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February 26, 2008

A Whole New Wonderful World

D300 2500a.jpgBy now everyone's heard about Nikon's two new cameras, the D3 and D300. And you've probably heard they handle high-ISO noise better than in the past. That's an understatement.

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February 19, 2008

African Photo Safari

20080201_AfricaD6_072.jpgFor any photographer who loves to travel, going on an African photo safari must be near the top of their wish list. I've been lucky enough to do that twice now, leading trips to Tanzania in 2006 and the other one a few weeks ago. Each was great in its own way.

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February 13, 2008

Grammy Puzzle

2943XIOZ.jpgSometimes an assignment is like a puzzle where you know what the final outcome looks like but you have to find the pieces that put it all together. Blue Pixel had an assignment like that recently.

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January 24, 2008

Home Treasures

20080118_D300_024.jpgIf you're itching for something interesting to photograph, you might try looking around your home.

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January 16, 2008

I'll Take the Window Seat, Thank You

20080114_Aerial_088.jpgWhen I started traveling regularly a few years ago, I did what all smart business travelers do - I asked for aisle seating. What a mistake that was!

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December 28, 2007

It's all about the Workflow

20071216_YS_202.jpgI spend a lot of time talking and teaching about digital workflow. And when I'm out shooting, I try to live what I teach. If you follow my blog entries, you'll know that this is the time of year I do one of my larger jobs, and workflow is the key to it.

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November 28, 2007

World Traveler

Disney01.jpgIt's been a busy week. The day before Thanksgiving I left home on a whirlwind trip, and over the next six days visited China, Africa, Mexico and the mountains of India, with brief visits to France, England and Canada along the way.

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November 20, 2007

Model Shoot

Model01.jpg My niece is a beatiful young woman, and people often ask her if she does modeling. After several years of hearing that, she decided to give it a try. First thing she needed was some shots for the application, so she called me.

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November 12, 2007

Group Shots

Hallo01.jpgThere are a few simple tricks that can help make group photos more interesting. Dropping my daughter off for Halloween with friends recently, I had a chance to put some of those to work.

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October 24, 2007

Fish and Jet Lag

Fish01a.jpgAs you've probably noticed, I've been doing a lot of traveling the last six weeks. After three weeks in Europe and Asia, I flew home, only to go to Tokyo the following week. That's given me plenty of opportunity to practice dealing with jet lag. Returning from Japan, I used a fish market to help fight the time change.

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October 19, 2007

When the Light's Boring...

Tokyo01jpg.jpgI've been in Tokyo this week to lead some training for the Associated Press, and arrived a day early to make sure I got here in time. I also wanted to have some time to adjust to the jet lag (14-hrs worth!), and was hoping to see some of Tokyo and shoot photos. Unfortunately, the day was overcast and dreary.

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October 11, 2007

Size Matters

SizeMatters01.jpgHaving returned recently from a photo trip to Greece, I've been getting all of my images sorted and archived. At one point I decided to total the amount of hard drive space those photos were taking up, and it was something of a shock. Seven days of shooting resulted in 30 Gigabytes of images!

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October 07, 2007

Missing the Big Picture

Canal.jpgRecently I was in Bangkok to do some teaching, and had an afternoon free. Wanting to see more of the city, I signed up for a river and canal tour. Thailand has lots of water, and Bangkok is laced with canals. It was a good tour and I made some nice photos. But one photo I really liked when I shot it doesn't work, because I forgot to think about what I was doing.

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September 28, 2007

Getting Lucky

Delhi01a.jpgI'm on the road still, having gone to India from Greece. Flew into Delhi early (very, very early) Wednesday morning, where I'm here to lead two days of digital workflow training for some members of the Associated Press photo staff in Asia. The rest of Wednesday was a free day, though, so I wanted to get out for some fresh air and see some of Delhi.

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September 26, 2007

Parthenon at Night

Parthenon01.jpg Sometimes you get amazingly lucky, and then sometimes you don't. Kevin Gilbert and I just finished leading a photo trek of Greece for American Photo. We had a lot of fun with a great group of people, and everyone headed home with some new photos and new ideas for their photography. We started the trip in Athens, with an afternoon tour of the town and the Acropolis, who's most famous feature is the Parthenon, visible from much of Athens.

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September 21, 2007

Hard(ly) at Work

20070920_Greece4_346BP.jpgI'm in Greece leading a photo trek for American Photo. We've had a great time so far, starting in Athens and then going on to the island of Mykonos. After three days here, today we take the ferry to Santorini. We've made a lot of good photos, but perhaps as important, we've had fun and time to relax as well.

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September 08, 2007

The more things change...

20040410_NC2000_007a.jpgA big part of what I do these days is teach digital photography, and lately I've been getting ready to start my sixth year teaching the Nikon School of Photography classes. So each of the past six summers much of my time's been devoted to creating two new, all-day programs for the schools. And each summer I'm struck by how much our profession continues to be changed by digital.

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August 24, 2007

Are you a wedding photographer?

W1.jpgIn high school I was lucky enough to find a local photographer willing to take me on as an assistant. I always tell people that he paid me for ruining his film and paper. Thanks, Kent. Through those years, almost every Saturday I was at a wedding, loading Hasselblad film backs, carrying gear and holding lights. After that, I swore I'd never shoot a wedding again.

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August 18, 2007

Up to Speed FAST

20070811_Workshop_092.jpg I spend a lot of time teaching workshops, and that lets me see how people handle all the new digital photography tools and technology. This past weekend I helped a few friends with a couple days of shooting and editing, and was reminded again how far we've come in this business.

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August 02, 2007

Is your Viewfinder in Focus?

20070110_NDE_0557.JPGLast week I was teaching a workshop in Colorado Springs, Colorado. One morning a few of us went to Garden of the Gods, a spectacular place to shoot photos. While walking around the rock formations, a woman came up and asked for some help. I thought her question would make a great blog entry.

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July 27, 2007

The Joy of Reflectors

20070718_Irvine_142.jpgLast week Nick Didlick and I were teaching a workshop in southern California. We took the group out for a couple of shoots, going to San Juan Capistrano (the famous old Mission) and Huntington Beach. At the first location the focus was on architecture and plants, at the beach it was people. And once again I marveled at how easy it is to use reflectors to light people.

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June 25, 2007

Spare Parts

20070620_NDE_007A.JPG A few years ago I spent some time in Singapore teaching digital photography to a group of newspaper photographers. On my final night there, they took me out to a dinner of "spare parts." Trust me, you don't want to know what it was. If you've been doing photography for very long, you've probably collected various spare parts over the years, and sometime they come in handy for building new tools.

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June 11, 2007

Photography for Fun

20070609_OldForge_084a.jpgI spend a lot of time these days teaching photography. And at almost every workshop I teach, at least one person comes up to me and asks, "How can I turn photography into a career?" I always give them some suggestions, but I also ask them to think long and hard about whether they truly want to do that. They may find that photography's more rewarding as a hobby.

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May 10, 2007

Autofocus Options

AF01.jpgI recently received an email with some quesitons concerning autofocus. I thought the question and answer might make a good blog entry.

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April 04, 2007

Vista Success

Vista02.jpgOne of the challenges of being in the business of answering questions is staying out front with technology. We jokingly refer to it as living on "the bleeding edge." Because of that, I started using the beta releases of Microsoft Vista last fall, and last week decided it was time to install the final version.

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March 14, 2007

New Toy -Teleconverter

Tele01a.jpgEvery now and then I try out a new gizmo that so surprises or impresses me that I've just GOT to write about it. This time it's the Nikon TC-20 E II teleconverter, which I'd played with a few years ago and promptly forgot about..

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February 28, 2007

Digital Infrared

Infrared01.jpg Ever since I first read about infrared photography, many decades ago in high school, I've been intrigued by the idea. The images produced by it are otherworldly and I wanted to try my hand at it. Unfortunately, my attempts back then always ended in failure, not in small part due to the difficulty of using and processing infrared film. Thankfully, times have changed, and digital's taken film out of the equation.

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February 12, 2007

Arctic Suggestions

Arctic01.jpgRecently I received an email from someone who was part of a workshop I taught, and thought it might make a good blog entry: "I attended your two workshops in Berkeley last week, and didn't get a chance to ask my specific question. I'm leaving for an Antarctic peninsula cruise this coming week, and any suggestions for specific settings (e.g. White Balance) to try under those unusual lighting conditions?"

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February 05, 2007

Traveling Light

Morocco01.jpgAfter traveling to 53 countries as a professional photographer, I decided to really live like the everyday traveler and head off on a trip to Morocco with just a Nikon D40, an 18-200 mm lens, and a 2 gig Lexar SD card..

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February 02, 2007

A Closer View

Closer01.JPGLast weekend I went to Berkeley to teach a two-day photo class. I was working with Nick Didlick, a good friend and excellent photographer from Vancouver, Canada, and we both flew in two days early to meet some friends and drive to Yosemite National Park. I've been lucky enough to visit Yosemite several times over the last few years, so I decided to take a different approach to photographing it this time.

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January 22, 2007

Reflectors

Reflectors01.jpgI was working in my studio last week (translation - the basement) photographing some products I was going to use in a presentation. Two keys to any good photo are light and background. I often use a black backdrop as it highlights the product. And I learned long ago that with lighting, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) was a good rule for me to follow. Good light doesn't necessarily mean lots of lights. This time, though, I needed just a bit more.


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December 13, 2006

Light Painting

LightPaint01.jpgI'm just back from leading a photo trek to Maui for American Photo (www.mentorseries.com). I do about four trips a year like this, and we had just over thirty people joining us. The second day we spent driving and shooting along the road to Hana, and after dinner that night most of us headed to the beach for a little light painting.

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December 04, 2006

Pebble Release

Pebble01.jpgLast year while shooting winter photos in Yosemite National Park, Nick Didlick (a friend and Blue Pixel Associate) came up with a unique (and low-cost) way of shooting time exposures. I was reminded of that recently when I needed to do the same thing, and didn't have a cable release.

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December 01, 2006

Tool Time - Tripods

Tripod01.jpgWhen it comes to photography, people always want to talk cameras and lenses. Yes, they're important (and I like to talk about them too), but one tool that doesn't get enough chat time is tripods.