The newest article, featuring photographer Beth Young, is live on Light & Landscape. We chatted about setting goals for your photography, and how life impacts your ability to keep those goals. I found her outlook refreshing, and oh so inspiring! Give it a read and let me know what you think.
Tremors :: CA
“I believe the world is incomprehensibly beautiful – an endless prospect of magic and wonder.” -Ansel Adams
I recently went digging through the archives looking for a particular photo…. but the archives are kind of like the Internet. You go into it with a single goal, and pretty soon you’re lost, following this and investigating that. The bad news: I never found that file I was looking for. The good news: I found this instead!
From Death Valley, a month after historic floods rocked the desert a few years back.
Sometimes I think that one of the hardest parts of releasing a photo is thinking of a name. Anyone have any good suggestions? I’m all ears! (I mean, not literally. I couldn’t type with just ears.)
Oh…and yes, this is a photo.
This image was a long exposure, of a stand of trees bathed in some tasty golden light, while moving the camera vertically. As you can tell by the silly-string looking wisps, I do not have the steadiest hand for slow-panning. In this case, it turned out alright though. haha
Interested in learning a bit more about the various techniques I use in the field and while editing? I teach! Email me for information. 🙂 seespotsphoto at yahoo dot com
The settings, for those who like that technical stuff: f/11, sec, 135mm, iso 100
Cracked :: CA
“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.” – C. Joybell C.
As many of you know, besides just taking photos and authoring books (shameless promotion) I write for Light and Landscape Magazine (#1 landscape photography magazine through itunes), and teach local to my area. A few months ago, the magazine approached David and I about a brand new venture involving a large-scale teaching format for their readership. Basically, they asked if we would be interested in teaching photography to people all over the word via the interwebs.
“Pfffttt. No way“, I said. “Why would I want to do that??”
Oh. Wait. That’s not what I said. I believe my exact quote was, “Hells. F’n. Yes.” I adore teaching, and encouraging others to grow their passion and I am very excited to be able to help more people reach their photo goals! So, for those of you interested in growing your photography skills, in a nutshell, the magazine is offering a monthly subscription to grant you access to the Member’s Area. That access gets you lesson plans, feedback, how-to videos, live hangouts to answer questions, etc etc. Basically, a whole bunch of awesome.
If you’re interested in learning more, Matt (the brains behind the magazine) is doing a 40% off sale until Thursday ONLY. You can (should!) watch a video all about the new awesome learning program that all of the cool kids (you are a cool kid, right??) are doing here: http://www.lightandlandscape.co/learn-with-light-and-landscape
As for the image above, for those of you interested, it was taken in Death Valley in December after some historic flooding (yes, I said flooding) in October. These mudtile areas were just drying out, and the patterns were so fresh and full of texture. Unfortunately, in some places, they were also full of people writing “I love DV” and “Sally wuz here” because, I suppose, some people just can’t help themselves. *sigh*
I know I just posted something about it recently, so I won’t preach, but please….as a good human being, make an effort to preserve the spaces we have and enjoy collectively. Just recently, a historic icon in California suffered some severe fire damage because people were thoughtless with their actions. They didn’t think about the consequences of spinning steel wool near the old, dried wood of a beached boat in Point Reyes and because of that, a local and tourist favorite spot is now partially destroyed. Leave no trace, friends, or future generations won’t have anything left to photograph.
Cracked: f/9, 1/40 sec, 22mm, ISO 100
Maine, Abstracted
Long exposure is another way of saying “keeping the shutter open for a long time”. This can be done for a few reasons – to compensate for low available light, as one of a many exposures for bracketing, or to capture the idea of motion on film…errr….sensor.
(Click on any of the links above to see examples of the types of shots that you can create with long exposures. Or just to see purty stuff.)
The photo above, however, is a twist on the idea of long exposure motion captures. Generally, I would slap my camera on a tripod, use my timer or remote to reduce camera vibration, and I would open the shutter while the subject moves in front of the lens. Light trails, star trails, soft water, people watching…that sort of thing. For “Maine, Abstracted” I set a long exposure, then panned left (handheld was easier since I didn’t need a precise, level horizon). The end result is what you see above.
You know…just a girl and her Canon having some fun. 😉
Looking for other bloggers, book reviewers (if you can read, you're in!) and photographers who want to join forces to save the world! (Or something like that.)
SeeingSpotsPhoto.com 