Had a fantastic shoot come together the other day. I have a neighbor who has a classic Lincoln Continental and he offered it as a prop for a photograph. Of course this brought to mind lots of different ideas, something like a vintage 50s drive-in. Then I met Rachael, a model in town, whose green Read More
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Baja
Just back from spending a week in one of my favorite places anywhere, Baja California MX. I guided sea kayaking trips here for years, and when Photo Quest Adventures asked about running a workshop there, I couldn’t wait. The Sea of Cortez is loaded with marine life, and our trip confirmed it. We saw numerous Read More
Red Waterfall
I was recently in Arches National Park, and they have had a lot of snow and rain this spring. Rain can produce some interesting things to photograph in the desert including rainbows and reflection pools on the slickrock. But what I hadn’t seen before was a bright red waterfall. This little stream in the park Read More
San Diego
Just returned from a workshop in San Diego for the Mentor Series. Myself and Essdras Suarez, a shooter for the Boston Globe, were the instructors for the group. We had a great group and packed in the shooting and teaching. The students enjoyed seeing our two different styles of shooting everything from landscapes to portraits. Read More
wild west
Just returned from speaking and teaching at a unique symposium, Shoot the West, in Winnemucca, NV. I didn’t know much about this area when I arrived, but what I found was a location rich with interesting history, ghost towns, cowboys, basque herders, historic buildings and some of the friendliest people you will meet. I taught Read More
wonderful surprises
The other day I was driving way out in the country looking for locations for upcoming shoots. I came over a hill and there, standing in the middle of a field, was a prison cell…I’m not kidding. I couldn’t believe it. What was a jail cell doing by itself in a field in the middle Read More
Look for the clouds
It is interesting to see what motivates people to shoot. Inspiration to create comes in many forms, and nothing gets me more excited than seeing an interesting sky develop. I have never been interested in stripping in a sky that wasn’t there in my shot. I like some of these images, but I would rather Read More
simple light
As much as I love an excuse to get out every Ranger and Quadra I own, sometimes one simple light is all it takes. I love the quality of the Elinchrom Octabanks, from the ‘big daddy’ over 6 feet in diameter to the smaller sizes as well. I was working on images for an upcoming Read More
High speed sync/Triflash Bracket
Since I have been shooting a lot of portraits lately at F2.8 during bright daylight hours, I have had to shoot using high speed sync to get the right exposure. The other day I photographed Tory, a model in town, and we were going for that selective focus look. Exposures of 1/1000 and faster at Read More
Control the light
Recently we did a shoot in a gym, photographed a table tennis player. I really like playing, but when I learned the model, Chris, had a $300 paddle…well, I’d be happy shooting pics instead of playing against him. I wanted to create a number of images, smash shots, static portraits, moody dramatic scenes. We carted Read More
Snowbound
Just did a drive across the mountains in Colorado, and a lot of it was in a whiteout…hazard lights blinking crawling along the highway looking for the road. But as soon as the snow started to slow down, I realized we were missing a great photo op with all the fresh snow in the trees. Read More
tilt shift portrait
Working more with the tilt shift lens, really like the mood the soft focus creates in images. Here is a surfer on Hollywood Beach in Miami photographed using this lens. Since using high speed sync with this lens works fine, I was able to shoot at f2.8 to maintain the shallow depth of field I Read More