Landscape, Nature And Travel Photography

It’s always interesting to see which blog entries for the year caught the eye of my blog readers most. If you’re looking for some great reading and photography as you wait for New Years to approach then this is it. As always thanks for reading my blog and have a great New Years!

10. Half Dome Permit Related Death?

9. Adobe Lightroom Lesson to Learn – Backup Your Library

8. Privacy Watch: Cell Phones, Metadata and Geotagging

7. Everything You Need to Know About QR Codes

6. 5 Highly Recommended Google+ Chrome Extensions

5. Using GoDaddy Supports a CEO Who Kills Elephants on Vacation

4. Pro Tips: Photo Editing with Gary Crabbe

3. 9 Amazing Apps for Night Photography

2. Best Photos of 2010 by JMG-Galleries Blog Readers

1. How I Evaluate Terms of Service for Social Media Web Sites – Google+

Technorati Tags: photography, top 10 list, popular

2011 has been an incredible year. It’s amazing to think that it has passed so quickly. Online this year my blog has seen some amazing growth in subscribers. If you’re one of the many new followers of my blog thank you for subscribing. I’m looking forward to sharing more great photography and articles with you. Offline I am incredibly excited to share the holidays with my son who is only 18 months old and just now appreciating all the gifts and celebrations. This Christmas should be a fun one.

Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

Rockefeller Christmas Tree, New York City

2011 was a great year for photography eBooks. Below are some of my favorite releases from 2011 aside from my first eBook Photographing the 4th Dimension – Time. eBooks are easy to take for granted these days, but great photographers have a much easier time publishing content related to their expertise through the eBook format. It’s also worthy of noting it is no small task to create an eBook so try not to flip through them too quickly, appreciate them as reflections of the author’s passion for the subject.

Don’t let the year pass without taking a little extra time to indulge on yourself with some great eBooks to help you learn, stay inspired and improve your photography. Enjoy and have a great holidays.

Lightstalking.com released their first eBook titled Rabari – Encounters With the Nomadic Tribe, The Insider Series to Travel Documentary Photography. Author Mitchell Kanashkevich does a great job of walking through each photo of his photo project covering every facet of the creative process.

Guy Tal’s Creative Digital Printing and Creative Processing Techniques are essential reading. Guy’s eBooks are exceptionally well written striking the right balance between creative and technical discussions. They also feature his stunning photography bringing his discussion points to life. Guy has far more to offer than just these two eBooks so be sure to see all of Guy Tal’s Photography eBooks.

William Neill’s eBooks are both beautiful and inspiring. Specializing in nature and landscape photography William’s Impressions of Light, Meditations in Monochrome and William Neill’s Yosemite: Volume One are essential viewing for any outdoor photographer. Also don’t forget about his latest iPad app William Neill’s Yosemite Volume One (iPad edition)

DIYPhotography.net released a great eBook on Home Studio Photography with great content for those interested in creative solutions for DIY studio lighting. This eBook is full of great solutions to save a lot of money on off-camera lighting gear. You’re pretty much guaranteed this eBook will pay for itself with the many DIY ideas inside.

The Digital Photography School blog eBooks included Going Pro Kit: How to Make Money from Your Photography and Photo Nuts and Shots: Tools and Techniques for Creative Photography are incredibly informative and exceptionally designed. DPS eBooks are consistently among the best available. All worthy of checking out.

Craft and Vision put out numerous eBooks this year with my personal favorites being Light & Land by Michael Frye. In all Craft and Vision released 14 eBooks covering a wide spectrum of topics including Winter photography by Darwin Wiggett to David duChemin’s Vision is Better series. Be sure to check out their 2011 eBook bundle before December 31st to save some money.

Dan Bailey released Going Fast with Light, How to Become a Professional Photographer and Making the Image. Dan has a knack for sharing his professional experience in a concise and entertaining fashion. Each of his eBooks are comprehensive and well laid out for easy reading and reference.

Technorati Tags: photography, ebook, ebooks, recommended reading

It seems like only yesterday, but it back in October I had the privilege of taking some great folks out to the Racetrack in Death Valley National Park. We had a blast even considering temperatures were unseasonably low, dipping well below freezing. The trip was timed to take advantage of the new moon in order to get in some great night photography. Those who joined me took full advantage of the dark skies to take some amazing star trail, Milky Way and light painting photos. Below you’ll find 3 photos from each participant.

If Death Valley is on your list of locations to visit and photograph join me on my next Death Valley Photo Tour (February 18-21, 2012). Space is still available.

From left to right: Rebecca R. Jackrel, Glenn Maslen, Maurice Moore, David Sharp, Tom Keenan, Russell Brown and Jim M. Goldstein

Russell Brown

Tom Keenan

Glenn Maslen

Maurice Moore

David Sharp

Click to Enlarge

Rebecca R. Jackrel (Co-Lead)

Click to Enlarge

Technorati Tags: photography, photo tour, Death Valley, National Park

Earlier in the year I blogged about originality and the trend of taking photos of heavily photographed iconic subjects in Originality – A Matter of Perspective. I was reminded of this post when I saw a brief YouTube video titled “Out of Control Bridge” (see below). For some this scene induces a panic to head in the opposite direction, while for others it’s merely a reminder to get your spot early.

With so many people interested in photography I’m not surprised to see this mass flood of people on the bridge at Zion National Park. It’s a common sight in numerous parks in fact. I can’t fault anyone for wanting to get their version of a popular scenic vista, but I also can’t help but remind other photographers not to be blinded in the pursuit of the icons. Landscape and nature photography holds so much more potential than just these select vantage points.

That being said it would be interesting to see how similar or different the images turned out by all these photographers on this particular evening. With all the post-processing options available these days I bet there might still be a decent amount of variation, but you never know.

Technorati Tags: photography, time-lapse, Zion National Park, Zion, National Park, originality

Update: See the results – Best Photos of 2011 by JMG-Galleries Blog Readers

As has become a tradition on the JMG-Galleries blog I’d like to invite you to take part in the 5th annual best photos of the year blog project. This is by far my most popular blog project. Year over year this project has continued to see a 30% increase in participation with last years participation hitting 162 participants (see Best Photos of 2010, Best Photos of 2009, Best Photos of 2008 and Best Photos of 2007). As happened last year people have been curious to know if I’d be running this project again. The answer clearly is YES! I love this project and I love that so many people get excited about it. So with out any further delay here is how you take part.

How to Participate (Read Carefully)

1. Review & select your top photos from 2011.
   Note: Photo edit carefully narrowing down your results to your best 10 or 5 photos. Reference Pro Tips: Photo Editing with Gary Crabbe for pointers.
2. Create a blog post on your web site or a Flickr/500px set containing your top photos from 2011.
3. Complete the form below by Saturday JANUARY 7th at 11:59PM PST to take part. The following Tuesday I’ll post a link to all submitted sites and photos.

Spread the Word!
Feel free to spread the word of this project on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, photo forums you frequent and/or your blogs. All who are interested in taking part are invited.

Thanks again for taking part and spreading word of this years Best Photos of 2011 blog project.

I got turned on to a video titled “Happiness Revealed” by Louie Schwartzberg last week and found it really hit home. If you’ve spent any time in nature you might have had a similar thought as the last narrator of this video on “gratefulness”. As you start your week and prepare for the New Year I recommend reserving 10 minutes of your day to watch this video.

I love Louie’s take on “what you see in nature” which piques my interest to what you see in nature?

For me I love that no one moment in nature is exactly the same when I’m in the field. In that regard every moment in nature really is a moment to be grateful for and a moment of challenge to capture effectively for my audience.

The surreal scenery of Death Valley offers some great photo opportunities, but no more so than at night. During a new moon the skies above Death Valley unveil every star in the sky. It’s really breathtaking to see how many stars can be seen less any light pollution. The sky lights up so much from the stars in fact my clients on this night kept asking me if I was sure that there were no other light sources. Truly an awe inspiring scene and one that translates well in star trails photos. I’m looking forward to returning here in February on my next Death Valley photo tour with a new group. I still have openings so consider yourself invited to join the fun.

Technical Details
Canon 5D Mark II, 16 mm, f/9, 4 hours, ISO 3200

Racetrack Star Trails, Death Valley National Park

If you enjoyed this photo be sure to check out my new eBook Photographing the 4th Dimension – Time where its featured with other great photos and photography technique discussions.

Technorati Tags: photography, star trails, Death Valley National Park, national park, Death Valley, landscape, nature