Shooting Tips

Cree and I just walked in the door from a fabulous workshop in the Redwoods and along the Oregon Coast.  We had great weather, lots of fog and sunbeams in the forest, and a spectacular sunset on the beach in Oregon.  As usual Cree and I were shooting both the Z7/6 and D850s…we like both Read More

Have you ever been so excited about photographing wildlife you just can’t stop hitting the shutter button?  Every time I step off the plane in Africa I am the worst offender…one distant zebra requires at least 200 images until I can settle down.  And then I start to really look hard at the scene, and Read More

I just returned from another fantastic trip to Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark National Park.  Well known for its grizzly bears, my favorite image wasn’t a bear this year.  Instead, it was an image that caught a dramatic moment between a red fox and vole.  The fox was hunting the vole, and finally Read More

I just spent my morning photographing some nesting burrowing owls that live a few miles from my house.  Love watching these owls, and couldn’t stop laughing when an owl landed on top of a prairie dog and ‘pinched’ it as the prairie dog got too close to the owl burrow.  Hilarious!  As usual for wildlife Read More

I woke this morning to weather forecasts calling for rain, so I packed up my truck and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Bad weather generally means interesting photography opportunities, and the park is only an hour from my house.  When I arrived it was overcast, and obvious it would rain soon.  But the Read More

In the past I have talked about different shooting strategies for different situations. My work varies a lot, from commercial shoots on the beach for Nikon one day to photographing wildlife for a tourism campaign another day.  I really enjoy this variety not only because of the diverse subject matter, but because I have to Read More

Another situation similar to model releases are property releases.  And many of the same rules apply.  Take a look at this image of a float plane in front of Denali.  It is a classic Alaska scene, and has a lot of publishing potential for many clients.  Beautiful day, iconic mountain and lots of negative space Read More

Recently a workshop participant contacted me about model releases.  She had a taken a fantastic portrait in Romania, and wanted to submit the image to a contest.  But the rules of the contest stated that you needed a model release for any portraits submitted to the contest.  My friend had a lot of questions…why do Read More

If you have ever photographed at sunset or sunrise with a bunch of photographers, chances are you have heard someone talk about civil twilight.  Civil twilight is defined as that period when the sun has set, but there is still enough light to see terrestrial objects.  In other words, about 30 minutes before sunrise, and Read More

Photography has many axioms that we are taught to follow.  These ‘rules’ have been established over time, some dating back hundreds of years…who hasn’t used the rule of thirds in a photograph?  These guidelines help photographers compose their photograph, and serve as a starting point to explore compositions that break the rules.  I always tell Read More