Landscape, Nature And Travel Photography

There are so many wonderful things to say about Glacier National Park it’s hard to know where to start. One of my favorite locations to explore is the Many Glaciers area. Swiftcurrent Lake provides an incredibly majestic view of Mount Grinnell at sunrise and will hold you in awe all day long. On this particular morning Mother Nature put on an amazing show. A nearly full moon was setting at sunrise and as the mountains warmed from the early mornings sun a purple fog began to creep across the landscape. Just before the fog swept across the lake concealing this amazing view deer could be seen foraging on the far bank of the river.

Mount Grinnell Reflected in Swiftcurrent Lake at Sunrise

Mount Grinell Reflected in Swiftcurrent Lake at Sunrise, Glacier National Park

How this photo was taken:

This is a 32 megapixel digital panoramic taken with a Canon TS-24mm f/3.5 L  lens. Three vertical photos were taken by shifting the lens and later merged in Photoshop. I’ll end up sharing more about this technique in the future.

Technorati Tags: Photography, Landscape, Glacier National Park, Mount Grinnell, Swiftcurrent Lake, Nature, Montana, Many Glaciers

Macro photography is often associated with beautiful flower photos, but during a past trip to Yosemite National Park I decided to use my macro lens to document the impact of a controlled fire that was set on the valley floor. Rather than take a standard wide view of a fire scared landscape I decided to use a macro lens to capture a more intimate landscape of shape and texture. The jigsaw puzzle like bark of the Ponderosa Pine has always fascinated me and taking a closer look before and after made for an interesting subject.

Ponderosa Pine Tree Bark Detail, Yosemite National Park

The bark of the Ponderosa Pine from afar looks as though its covered in large scales, but as you get closer the large scales actually reveal their true structure. Layers upon layers of puzzle like pieces create the thick protective layer and structure to the trunk of the tree.

Burnt Bark of a Ponderosa Pine Tree, Yosemite National Park

Taking a closer look at the burnt bark of trees in the vicinity, loose layers of bark are gone leaving only a tightly packed layers of bark. The puzzle like pieces of the bark retain their loose shape, but glisten like shiny charcoal.

I’d venture to say that most people wouldn’t think of burnt bark as having any quality of beauty, but as a macro subject I thought it did. Granted I much prefer seeing a forest in a lush state rather than burnt, identifying burnt bark as a photographic subject is a lesson in itself.

When photographing nature subjects, or any other really, its important to check preconceived notions of beauty at the door. Observing the world as though you’ve never seen it before has a lot of merit. Mind you I will admit it bugs my wife when we go on walks… I’m always observing and pointing out minutia of the environment that most normal people would never have taken a second look at.

A while back Chase Jarvis posed the question, “When was the last time you shot something for the first time?” and I’d counter, “When is the last time you photographed something as though it were your first time?” Getting into the mode of rediscovery has proven to be as invaluable to me as immersing myself into a new environment to photograph. Try it. It might just light a creative fire for you.

Technorati Tags: Photography, Macro, Fire, Yosemite, Yosemite National Park

After attending the getMETAsmart event in San Francisco last week I became curious how photographers who read my blog and/or follow me on Twitter use it. To be honest I’d be even more curious how photo buyers or stock agents actually use metadata on a daily basis, but that will have to wait for another post. Metadata as many of you know is often discussed but rarely so in the context of how real people use it. While hearing about best practices is helpful everyone has a slightly different take on the subject and many address metadata differently in their workflow. Let’s first address the “why”. Why should metadata play a role in your workflow? To answer that I’ve combined my understanding of metadata with feedback received from my Twitter followers. Read on to learn more.
Read more…

Reputation management is the monitoring of how an individual, company or other entities are perceived online.  Online reputation is centered on trust. The greater the trust with in an online community around an individual, company, etc. the more often their content is to be referenced online, the more business that they’re likely to acquire and the more likely they’ll develop a following.

If you’re reading this consider yourself ahead of the curve. Reputation & Brand management online is just now starting to hit the mainstream. For old pros this is nothing new, but if you’re just now diving into Social Media Marketing or just aiming to take part online more, then the following information is essential to your success online. Read more…

Spontaneous moments are often the most exciting and most difficult to photograph. Over the years I’ve developed habits that have enabled me to more consistently photograph the unexpected. While out in the field recently I made an effort to note what I now do unconsciously as habit, so that I might share a few tips to help you better photograph the unexpected whether your subject of choice is wildlife, weddings (some might say they’re the same thing as wildlife), children, landscapes or any other subject.

Wild Arctic Gray Wolf (Canis lupus), Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

1. Never Fill A CF Card to Capacity
It’s of course a best practice to have extra CF cards with you, but to photograph the unexpected you have to have space on a card in camera ready to go. It is very easy to go crazy with digital photography taking photographs to the point of filling ones compact flash cards to capacity.  If you have your camera in hand you should always have the storage capacity to take more photos.  At a minimum you should always be aware of how many more photos you can capture before filling your card. Plan or take an educated guess as to when there might be a lull to quickly replace a full card with an empty one so as to not miss any action. If you’re like me when in the field and get to a point where you’ve exhausted all free space on your compact flash cards and have yet to back them up…  at a minimum always leave space for 3 to 12 more images for surprise encounters. This tactic has worked exceptionally well for me enabling me to head off Murphy’s Law to capture subjects I’d otherwise have missed. Read more…

Wind Blown Flowers, Grand Teton National Park

This particular photo was taken minutes before a heavy down pour of rain in Grand Teton National Park.  While I had no illusion that the weather would get better I embraced the diminishing weather conditions to experiment with longer exposures. Shielding my camera and lens from intermittent rain drops I was able to compose & expose for some non-standard perspectives of this iconic landscape.

Technorati Tags: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, Landscape, Photography, Photo, Stock Photo, Fine Art, Nature

I’ve finalized dates for photo tours and workshops in Monterey, Death Valley and Yosemite National Park for the later half of 2009. I’ll be adding more details about these shortly on my Photo Tours page. Mark your calendar, revisit my site often for updates and don’t hesitate to contact me directly if you’d like to sign up.

Sea Otter Photo Tour – Monterey, California
Saturday November 7th, 2009 (8am to 12:30pm)
Limited to 8 Participants
Price:  $349

Death Valley – Death Valley National Park, California
Friday October 16th – Sunday October 18th, 2009
Limited to 4 Participants
Price:  $799

Yosemite Valley – Yosemite National Park, California
Friday December 4th – December 6th, 2009
Limited to 6 Participants
Price:  $599

Sea Otter Photo Tour – Monterey, California
Saturday January 23rd, 2010 (8am to 12:30pm)
Limited to 8 Participants
Price:  $349

For additional information, contact Jim at – workshops@jmg-galleries.com

Technorati Tags: Photography, Photo Tour, Workshop, Yosemite, Death Valley, Sea Otter, Monterey, California

Last night the getMETAsmart seminar was held here in San Francisco and I was really impressed with it. I know what you’re thinking a seminar on metadata sounds like a real snoozefest, but the information shared by the likes of David Riecks, David Sanger and Grover Sanschagrin was incredibly informative. If you’re unfamiliar with metadata or unsure how to use it efficiently then this event is one you should definitely attend. While I consider myself to be knowledgeable of metadata application & best practices I learned quite a bit making the event extremely worthwhile.

Check www.photometadata.org for locations and dates of this event in your area. If these seminars are not happening in your area then bookmark this site and reference it often. There is a lot of great information on it and much more will be added through out the year such as tutorials. Best of all they are FREE.

What was covered in the event?

I’m glad you asked. The event started out with an intro to metadata by David Riecks.  Grover Sanschagrin gave a great presentation on metadata & search engine optimization (SEO). David Riecks then powered through two other sections on the inner workings of metadata and more advanced discussions around workflow and software. Rounding out the event was a panel discussion with photographers talking about real world use of metadata and the value it provides to their business. The panel fielded numerous questions from the audience making for a very interactive exchange of information.

Wondering what value metadata provides? Check out this great example of why metadata is crticially important to photographers on Gary Crabbe’s blog.

Start here:
OMG – I’m one of the mediocre Travel & Leisure photogs

How it concluded:
Wrapping up the Mediocre fiasco & how to do it right

Technorati Tags: metadata, SAA, Stock Artists Alliance, getMETAsmart, David Riecks, David Sanger, Grover Sanschagrin, photography