Shooting Tips

How is that for a title?  Every year Cree and I photograph for tourism bureaus and travels stories, and one thing remains consistent on these shoots; diversity of subject matter.  Take last week in Alaska for example.  The morning started with photographing moose at first light..wildlife check.  Next was a stunning landscape image of glaciers Read More

One aspect I really enjoy about photography is problem solving.  Many times on assignments things don’t go as planned, and you need to come up with plan B, C and D.  On a recent shoot to photograph hummingbirds in Arizona, I encountered a different kind of problem. We were photographing hummingbirds on white backgrounds using Read More

Finally catching up after a fantastic month on the road, all in Alaska.  We taught two bear photo workshops in Lake Clark and Katmai NP, and then did a week long assignment for Alaska tourism.  Every trip to Alaska involves flying in small planes and often in helicopters, and this trip was no exception.  In Read More

One of the great things about teaching photo workshops is the collective vision of the group.  What is this you say?  I am constantly amazed when you have 10 people standing side by side photographing the same scene, and yet you get 10 different photographs.  Everyone’s vision is different.  And a huge value in the Read More

I’ve been photographing a lot of landscapes lately, and I keep coming back to one helpful technique: compositional subtraction.  What is this?  Put another way, this concept means ‘Should that be in my picture?’ Often with landscape photography you have more time to figure out your composition.  Now if the light is changing fast, you Read More

If you have traveled with us, you know Cree and I can’t get enough of birds and bird photography.  It’s like telling a dog ‘squirrel!’.  We just can’t help stop and stare…and take photos!  We recently returned from one of our favorite hummingbird locations, Madera Canyon, near Tucson.  It is probably the best place in Read More

I’m just back after spending a few weeks in Yellowstone NP, probably the best place in the lower 48 to photograph wildlife.  Bears, wolves, bison, elk, antelope, coyotes, moose…everywhere we went we encountered abundant wildlife.  We ran two workshops and they were a huge success…fantastic photography and good laughs.  Since we were photographing a lot Read More

You have to love all the new advances in camera technology.  New camera modes and capabilities are changing how we shoot.  I’m getting ready to present at the KelbyOne Outdoor Photography Conference, and I will be talking about POV adventure sports photography.  Point of View, or POV, is a great perspective for photographing adventure sports. Read More

I am always striving to be a better photography instructor. I constantly revisit popular techniques and guidelines to see if there is another way to present information in an easier format.  Some guidelines stand the test of time, while others change as technology advances in the photo industry.  I remember memorizing multiple exposure formulas with Read More

I just returned from a fabulous workshop to Utah.  We photographed both Capital Reef NP and Bryce Canyon NP.  Being late April meant spring was in the air.  I had a checklist of images in my head I thought I would get.  But as I started photographing in the area, I decided to organize my Read More