I just returned from 10 days of photographing in the south Texas bird blinds, and the shooting was so good I took over 30,000 images. Crazy, right? Migrants and colorful nesting birds kept the action going all day long. While I was there I got a note my new Z 800mm F6.3 lens was ready Read More
Blog
How to improve creativity. Try primes.
Probably the question I get the most teaching workshops is how to improve creativity. Sure, there are a lot of questions on new camera features and techniques. But these things are tangible to most photographers, and are easier to quantify and learn. But creativity…is there a step by step pathway to better creativity? One thing Read More
Photographing Lightning
Spring is here, and with that comes thunderstorms…and lightning. Every year I race out onto the eastern plains of Colorado hoping to catch a dramatic storm and lightning. Generally my best chances for lightning photography come on our Badlands trip in early June (image above from the Badlands). How do you photograph lightning? There are Read More
Multiple Exposure Flowers
Spring is here, and the flowers are blooming. I really enjoy macro photography this time of year, especially flowers. I photograph a lot of flowers using available light with reflectors, but sometimes I will use flash as well. It really comes down to the look I want. Last week in Costa Rica our hotel had Read More
Six Autofocus Tips
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
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