Notes To My Mother

This past year has been full of adventure for me, seeing new and exciting places like Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, the island of Kauai, Europe from Amsterdam to Budapest on the Rhine and Danube rivers, the Oregon Coast and finally Utah’s Arches and Canyonlands national parks along with a first time visit to Monument Valley. I felt like my plate had been filled to overflowing. These were all wonderful topnotch places to visit and photograph. But the one that stands out in my mind and that I would like to get back to as soon as I can is Bandon, Oregon. The beach here is a very special place. Photographer's Paradise It wasn’t just the location of lodging across the street from the beach, although that was definitely an attractive convenience. What I liked about Bandon, or Face Rock Beach, was the gentle slope of the beach. A wave would come in and simply glide forever over the sand, at times providing a glass like surface to reflect the rocks and the c...

I am going to give you some advice and if you are like me you will hear the advice, know that it is good advice and then you will find ample opportunity to ignore it. I knew at the time that what I am about to tell you was a good practice to follow and I ignored it and learned from real life that yes, indeed, it really is good advice. The Green River I was on my way to Moab, Utah, driving in from Grand Junction along the Green River. It was early October and the cottonwoods were in color and since I was looking for color you might say I was in photographer’s heaven. A bit west of Fisher Towers to the south of the highway I saw a line of trees against a silhouetted background. To shoot it I had to pull off the road and hike up a hill, maybe a half mile, not far. It was late afternoon and the sun was getting low casting backlighting on the trees. The scene held promise. Green River Valley I reached the top of the hill and began shooting and looking for good per...

There are a lot of things that go into making a great photograph. Among these are the light, weather conditions, perspective, proper focus, and of course great foreground, background and subject to name a few. And yet given all of those things the image will fall short if the overall composition isn’t a good one. I think composition is the most challenging and the most rewarding of all of the aspects of photography. More than anything else, composition is where the personality or personal expression of the photographer comes into play. It is through their choice of composition that you begin to discover how they see their world. A good composition can turn an ordinary scene into a photogenic one. I am reminded of the lighthouse in Bandon, Oregon. To me it was a less than ordinary lighthouse, nothing particularly photogenic about it. I had seen it from a restaurant window and had decided it was not worth the trouble to drive over to photograph it  A week later on m...

Balance Rock & Orion Shooting at night opens up a completely different world to photograph. And it is loads of fun. But it requires some advance planning to make the experience fun and enjoyable. Here are some of the things I needed to take into consideration in order to get this image of Balance Rock and the constellation Orion in Arches National Park in November. Equipment You Will Need You will need a wide angle lens, the widest you have. For this shot I used a Rokinon 14mm fixed lens. This is a fairly inexpensive lens but it is very sharp and a good value for the price. I shot with a full frame camera on a tripod. You will need a tripod for sure. A cable release is nice to have but it is optional. Take your widest angle lens and your tripod. And warm clothes as you may be standing around for considerable amounts of time. Before You Go Out To Shoot How long to expose? There are some things you should know before you go. First, if you want sharp images of ...