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Workshops Coming.
Check back often for more information
- Memories are priceless. I love
to immortalize every moment, particularly family
moments. I place great importance on preserving for
the future and sharing it for generations. After
all, I will probably never meet my great-great-great
grandchildren this side of glory. I will, however,
leave them an historical family documentation in
photos and video. This is my passion.
- Spending my summers in Alaska and
my winters in Southern Oregon, allow me the greatest
opportunities a man can ask for. I feel wonderfully
fortunate and thank God every day for all the great
blessing He has bestowed on me. Not just my career,
but also giving me a wonderful family and a plethora
of great friends.
- Many people have asked me, What
do you look for when you are going to shoot? I can
sum the answer up in two words. "Light" and "Color".
I'm not suggesting that both of them together are a
requirement. Black and white photography certainly
doesn't have color, here's where light comes in to
play.
Light is the first thing I look for in a photograph,
It tells me so much about the photographer. Without
proper light, photos are just a visual momentary
capture and nothing more. I'm also not suggesting
that every photograph must be well lit, but I am
suggesting making use of the light available. Silhouettes are
a great example of not blowing a picture full of
light, but utilizing what exists.
- Color, I love color.
I live for color. It's the second most important
element I look for. With the exception of sports and
portraits, I won't even raise my camera if there is
no color. If I'm out shooting landscapes or
cityscapes, I look for color. Light and color. I
see something and want to capture it. It's already
made, I'm just capturing it. That's not to say that
I don't enjoy playing around with HDR and Photoshop,
but it's not my life's goal. I'm a photographer, not
a graphic artist. :-). Many will notice that I do
spend a lot of time in post processing. That's
because before I take a photograph, I envision what
I want it to look like. So before the shutter even
goes off, I've already decided what I'm going to
make of it. Otherwise I'm just snapping shots only
with the intention of filling up my hard drive with
useless pictures. I refuse to do that.
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Answering emails
- I hope you all
understand if I don't respond to EVERY email I get,
but it would be impossible because there just isn't
enough time in a day. I do however try to read the
most important looking ones, or ones from family and
friends. If you have a specific question that just
has to be answered, please put something to that
respect in the subject line and I'll bump it up. But
also understand, I only want to spend a small
portion of my time in front of my computer and then
off it goes. One lady has emailed me about 6 times
and I felt it was time I answered her.
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- Q: I've heard
so much about composition and millions of words
written about it, but since I'm a visual person, can
you please provide some examples of what this is all
about? Thanks, Shelly
- A: Shelly, here are
a few more words about composition, and then a few
examples. :-)
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- What is
composition?
- Composition, is
making all things in a photograph blend and
harmonize. The photo must tell a story instead of
capturing a scene. And the more things in a
photograph that blend and tell that story the better
the composition is, making for a better photograph.
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Skagway, Alaska Street Scene
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- At first glance,
the photo below seems to have great
composition. The sun shining, a
cruise ship at the end of town and
snow on the mountains.
- But ask yourself,
"is this picture saying something,
or is it just showing something?".
To me, it's just a picture of a
street, buildings, cruise ship and
mountains with snow. Big deal.
- The photo
leaves you asking too many
questions, the biggest one.
"What is that ship, and why is
it there?"
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- Another shot
- Here we have another
shot, but a
few things have changed. We still have
the three other elements, ship, road and
mountains. But now there are a few more
pieces added. For one thing, people. The
people seem to give it a sense of
commerce. The purpose of the cruise
ship. The lady pushing the hand truck
also suggests busyness.
- Also, the addition of
cars and midday sunshine. The clouds
also add to the photo's overall color.
- I'm not suggesting
that the first photo does not have
composition, but to me it's the wrong
kind. If I want to display a ghost town
with a broken down cruise ship and a
cold empty look, then the photograph
works. But that's not what I was trying
to say. The second photo tells me that
Skagway is a busy bustling town with
tourists and workers.
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The one big difference.
- Can you guess the biggest
difference in the two photos? I'll give you
a hint. I was NOT standing in roughly the
same location in both photographs, even
though it looks the same.
- There is one major aspect
to the composition that makes the second photo
stand out more and adds the most to the overall
scene and really makes the photo "pop". Can you guess it?
- Contact me with your
answer. The winner gets a website plug on my
page.
- Hint: I left the
vignetting in the first photo as a clue on purpose.
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- People have visited me since 04/18/2008
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