Landscape, Nature and Travel Photography

The 16th and 17th episode of EXIF and Beyond has been released.

These episodes feature an interview with Jeff Sedlik, President and CEO of the PLUS Coalition (usePLUS.org), current Professor of Photography at the Art Center College of Design and also a past president of the Advertising Photographers of America (APA).

Discussed is the Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS). Although relatively young by comparison to other photographic standards bodies, PLUS is tackling tough contemporary issues facing photographers. Both episodes are packed with valuable information every photographers should be aware of.

Part I of the interview covers PLUS Standards including the PLUS Glossary, License Generator, PLUS – IDs and the differentiators between PLUS, IPTC, and Creative Commons.

Part II of the interview covers machine readability, pending Orphan Works Copyright legislation, metadata, the PLUS Artist & Licensor Registry and the future of PLUS .

Download the latest episodes:
EXIF and Beyond: Jeff Sedlik Interview Part I and II

For the non-iTune listeners a streaming version of this podcast can be accessed here.

Technorati Tags: EXIF and Beyond, podcast, interview, Jeff Sedlik, PLUS, Picture Licensing Universal System, PLUS Coalition, IPTC, Creative Commons, usePLUS, standards, Orphans Work

In the May/June edition of Digital Photo Pro I have an article featured on Creative Commons that was spawned from my EXIF and Beyond podcast interview with Professor Lawrence Lessig. Look for it at your local book store. In the mean time the online version of this article has just been released and I invite you to take a look.

Creative Commons - Digital Photo Pro

Technorati Tags: Creative Commons, Lessig, Digital Photo Pro, article, Jim Goldstein, Jim M. Goldstein, EXIF and Beyond, podcast

I spent a few minutes during my lunch today to view and listen to a feature on the New York Times web site titled “Ansel Adams’s Yosemite“. With in this article are 9 photographs of Yosemite National park from Ansel Adams along with a short narrated audio piece by Ansel Adam’s assistant Andrea G. Stillman. This is a must view and listen for landscape and nature photography fans. It took only a few minutes to enjoy the photographs and audio commentary but it will have me thinking about heading out to the Sierra’s and other locations to get some photography in for a long time to come. I found it very inspiring and I know it will likely inspire many of the viewers who visit this blog. Enjoy!

Ansel Adams’s Yosemite - New York Times

Technorati Tags: Ansel Adams, Yosemite, landscape, nature, photography, New York Times

A new photography podcast PhotoNetCast has been launched featuring (4) four photographers and bloggers. The podcast focuses on photography related current events, off and online. The photographers and bloggers involved in this podcast include Brian Auer of EpicEdits, Jim M. Goldstein of JMG-Galleries, Martin Gommel of Kwerfeldein, and Antonio Marques of Words: irrational.

Episode 1 and 2 have just been released.

Episode 1 is an intro to the podcast along with those participating in the panel.

Episode 2 covers the topics:
Terrorism and Photography, Video on Flickr and Protecting Your Images From Theft Online

Access the podcast and its RSS feeds via PhotoNetCast.

Technorati Tags: podcast, photography, terrorism, Flickr, video, image, theft, Brian Auer, Jim M. Goldstein, Martin Gommel, Antonio Marques, PhotoNetCast

Dark descending on Los Angeles is always a sight to behold. As noted in earlier posts the view from Griffith Observatory is always a favorite. My next trip to LA will be more beach focused, but I still can’t help but think of this view every time I visit.

Griffith Observatory Sunset, Los Angeles II

View more photos of Griffith Observatory

Technorati Tags: Los Angeles, California, Griffith Observatory, sunset, photo, photography, stock

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the best aquariums in the country let alone California. Even though I’ve visited several times it’s difficult not to be amazed by the beautiful display of sea life. This candid photo of an aquarium visitor displaying that moment of awe at the Sea Nettle Jellyfish display is a perfect example of that feeling you get when visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I have to admit I get an extra sense of nostalgia with this photo as it was one of the first taken with my digital SLR back in the day. I was blown away by the image quality in low light. You might say I got a double dose of awe while visiting the aquarium.

View more photos from Monterey, California

Technorati Tags: Monterey, California, aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium, sea life, jellyfish, sea nettle, Chrysaora fuscescens, sea, ocean, aquatic, stock, photo, photography

Running around a location as beautiful as Yosemite National Park it’s easy to lose track of the more subtle beauty that exists there. For most this will certainly lack the impact of Yosemite Falls, Half Dome or Mirror Lake, but to my eye it is on equal footing. The shadow of the larger tree branches falling on the small plant emerging from the snow caught my eye, but looking at this I’m reminded that timing is everything. Would I have stopped to photograph this if the shadow was not cast on the smaller plant?

Shadowscape, Yosemite National Park
View more Yosemite photos…

Technorati Tags: Yosemite, nature, photo, California, stock, photography, landscape, shadow, shadowscape, winter, snow

Below is the third photo in a series of wild Bobcat photographs taken in Yosemite National Park in early March. This is one of many very close photos I was able to capture of this beautiful wild creature. Ironically my entire trip to Yosemite was devoid of wildlife encounters until I began my drive to leave for home at mid-day.

Wild Bobcat (Lynx rufus, Yosemite National Park

The story behind this photo and wildlife encounter is that I was leaving the park and got stuck behind a small traffic jam of 4 cars. As the backup cleared I drove slowly by a shaded snowy embankment. Just as I turned my head to the left to see what people might be slowing for the head of this cat popped up. In fact the bobcat stared me square in the eye as I passed. To date I’ve had horrible luck photographing bobcats so I was very frustrated I couldn’t pull over immediately. After driving a 1/4 mile or so I finally found a spot to safely pull over and park my car. I quickly got my camera out and attached my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and 2x TC. I was actually quite pessimistic I’d be able to catch up to the bobcat to photograph it, but I decided to give it my best shot. I ran towards the meadow across from my last sighting of the cat.

At the time the park was covered with a thick snow covering from a large storm the previous week. This made running around tricky. The meadows were covered in snow 2-3 feet deep with a few clearings of dead grass scattered across the landscape. Trying my best to stay out of the snow I ran parallel to a guessed path of the cat as quietly as possible. After 3-5 minutes of tracking the bobcat I found it standing in the shade of some trees. I took a few quick “look I saw a bobcat” photos mostly of its profile with very busy backgrounds and decided to try my luck moving ahead of its path to photograph him/her coming straight at me. It was very important to not disturb the bobcat so I aggressively ran far ahead and would take up position out of the cat’s view. I consistently guessed correctly where it was heading next enabling me to get quite a few good photographs. In one instance the cat walked with in 30-40 feet of me oblivious to my presence. The result was the photo you see above.

Technorati Tags: Yosemite, National Park, wildlife, photo, photography, Lynx rufus, wild, stock