I just returned from two weeks of photographing in Costa Rica. We had a great trip, took thousands of images, and I can’t wait to return. I had a chance to shoot nearly 20,000 images with the Z9 in some of the toughest autofocus conditions you can imagine. We also had Canon R5s, Sony A1s, Read More
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Best Lightweight Luggage
During our travels each year we often fly in small planes, which means luggage and weight restrictions. Africa, Costa Rica, Alaska…we often are working with 40lb weight limits for both camera gear and clothes. My photo gear generally comes in around 20 pounds or so, which leaves another 20 for clothes. Many people travel with Read More
Symmetrical or Asymmetrical Compositions?
We were photographing windmills in Sicily recently, and got lucky to have an incredible sunset as a background. There were two main windmills, and compositions revolved around where you placed the windmill in your shot. A question came up during this shoot….did one or two windmills look better? Many in our group thought one windmill Read More
Travel during Covid
Cree and I just returned from two weeks in Sicily, and I can’t tell you how great it felt to be traveling to Europe again. We have been teaching workshops, both domestic and international, for months now. And we hear from a lot of our travelers wanting to know how it is traveling during covid. Read More
Travel Photography Approaches-Street Portraits
An important part of travel photography are portraits. I know that people photography is not everyone’s favorite thing, but photographing daily life, emotional moments and ceremonies let others experience the destination through your photography. Everyone relates to people. You have two approaches to travel portrait photography; journalistic street photography where you don’t want to alter Read More
Travel Photography Approaches-Photograph the light, not the subject
Ever wander into a busy market and be overwhelmed with what to shoot? So much chaos going on, it can be intimidating to figure out how to create a nice image. Shop owners hustle by, pedestrians speed down the street, dogs bark in the alley…what to do? Try this approach…photograph the light, not the subject. Read More
Travel Photography Approaches-Fluid or Static?
I’ll be heading to Europe soon, first Sicily, then to Spain in May (still spaces available). I can’t wait to get back to travel photography…so many subjects, styles and techniques that all blend together in creating images. As a rule of thumb, there are two main approaches to creating travel images. Fluid or static…hunting or Read More
Arctic Portraits
On many of our workshops we try to create at least one portrait. We’ve found through the years that even though many participants don’t think they are interested in taking people pictures, they just might be surprised. This is so important in growing creatively as a photographer…trying something new, experiment with new subjects and techniques. Read More
-20F below Z9 winter test
I just returned from two weeks photographing Aurora near Fairbanks Alaska. I knew it was going to be cold; riding in the hotel elevator the printed weather page on the door said the temp was -25F. But I love super cold weather, and couldn’t wait to try out the Z9 in these conditions. Our first Read More
Northern Lights White Balance
One of my favorite photographic subjects are the northern lights. It is hard to beat watching a dancing aurora display in frosty subzero temps in beautiful winter landscapes. Green, purples and even reds will show in the night sky. But in winter this does present a challenge. The snowy foreground often looks green or off Read More
Alaska Covers
Alaska is our second home…Cree and I lived there for over a decade, and we continue to make numerous trips each year for assignments and workshops. Last summer we had a fantastic shoot for the Mat-Su visitor bureau. One day on the shoot we loaded up a helicopter with models and flew into very remote Read More
Mounting camera for landscapes on a gimbal head
I often travel with two tripods. One is my larger RRS TFC 3 with a large gimbal head; the other is my Ascend -14L with head built into the tripod column. But sometimes while using my telephoto lens on my gimbal head I want mount my landscape camera onto the tripod. If I attached the Read More