As I left my brother's home near Gramercy Park in Manhattan, I fully intended to take a cab to Penn Station. But, comfortably cool and remarkably fresh air met me as I exited his building at 18th Street at Irving Place. So, I decided that walking to Penn Station was a good idea, despite feet that still ached from yesterday's pounding of the pavement.
As I walked past the only privately owned park in Manhattan, Gramercy Park, I was already reaching for my iPhone camera. Fresh tulips and daffodils smiled at me from behind the cast iron fence surrounding the park while trees further west...
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This week I've traveled to the Big Apple to be with my friend Tim and his family as he underwent a rare and critical heart procedure. It was not as successful as we had hoped. Fortunately, he hasn't lost ground but neither has he gained the ground he had prayed for. But that's another story.
As I prepared for this trip I pack a camera and couple lenses in a shoulder camera bag. Then, just as I was about to leave for the train station, grabbing my briefcase with computer, my duffel bag and my camera bag, I thought about trudging around the city carrying all this stuff. Suddenly, I wanted...
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That's a big part of the challenge of photography . . . in my case, maybe in our cases, nature photography . . . or landscape photography. For some of my friends it might be wildlife photography or bird photography or flower photography. I don't think it makes much difference what our subjects are. We all try to discover how to come home with images that satisfy us. The funny thing is what satisfies one day might not on another. Is that because our tastes change, our knowledge of what we're doing changes, or understanding of what we like changes? I'd guess probably a bit of all three.
Of...
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What can we learn at a conference. Well, if it's a conference as well put together as this year's North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) Summit was, quite a lot. I had intended to begin writing about my days at the summit, late last month and earlier this month, even while I was still there. Even though I had been to a previous summit two years go, I wasn't prepared for the intensity and pace of this one. It was truly an all day and then some experience. And what an opportunity to learn, with so many of the top nature photographers in the world on hand.
People like Clyde Butcher,...
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As we begin a new year, many of us make the resolution to "to do better than last year." One of the ways we can keep this resolution is by looking back over the previous year's efforts. As it turns our, one of my favorite photographers, I often benefit from his example, is William Neill. Bill has made it practice to share his selection of favorite images and to seek input about them from his blog readers. So, I'm unabashedly taking a page out of his book.
Why would we do that? Well, the whole process of taking time to review what we've done in past year can tell us a lot. Has our photography...
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Over the holidays, a couple of things happened. One, I should have expected. The work I was avoiding just piled up. I mean, I took a break and the work didn't get done. Imagine that. Really, I knew it was happening and I just decided to pay the price later.
The other thing that happened I didn't expect. I started out by enjoying a belated and short-lived (so far) winter and took the opportunity to get out with my camera. I didn't get far and that was part of the enjoyment. Less than a half-mile up the street I managed to get some interesting images, to learn how a street light would color...
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I was listening to an educational CD yesterday on which someone was asked, "How are you today?" His response was, "I'm blessed."
What a great answer. If we all took time to count our blessings, it would be the only answer we could respond with. "I'm blessed."
And it all goes back to a single glorious day in history, when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was born. At this time of year as we celebrate His birth there is so much to be thankful for and whether our focus is family, friends, country, work or play, on Christmas most of us take pause.
So, from my family to all of yours, may you enjoy...
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What you see is what you get? True? Fiction? Good? Bad?
The argument has been going on as long as there has been photography. To one degree or another there have always been people who thought photography was not art, at least partly because it was too realistic. Then as time passed and the ability of photographers to use their craft to "paint" with light and "tell stories" with their images grew to the point that many were often accused of "PhotoShopping" their images . . . which was a way of saying that what the photographer was presenting wasn't real.
A few questions:
Does the photo...
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We (all members of Cazenovia Artisans) got a call from Barb Gilbert, one of our fine jewelers at the gallery, letting us know that our "advertiser's copy" of Plank Road Magazine had arrived and that our Cazenovia ad looked great. Then she added, "However, it was Tom Dwyer’s two featured photos under the section named “Wonderland” that was an unexpected surprise!"
Of course I knew I had submitted photos to the magazine. However, I had yet to see this edition so I did not know for certain if any of my images were selected for publication. At that point, Barb did not realize that the cover...
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It was snowing today . . . just a little. But, enough to get me thinking about winter photography. Okay, I was yearning for the opportunity to get outdoors to do some winter photography. Unfortunately, the ever-so-slight dusting we were getting wasn't going to make it look all that much like winter. I just looked out and it's spritzing a little snow, so I can hope that my morning shoot will give me a taste of winter.
But, since that may not be the case, and there will be more than a few times this winter when "that winter look" won't be out there or, I simply don't feel like going out in the cold....
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