For me, a lot of the fun of photography is picking which new area I want to go photograph. I’m spinning a virtual globe and searching for the next spot. Once I find that location, the real work begins looking for the spots I’ll visit when I arrive. A lot of that process is done prior to ever stepping off the airplane and actually seeing the place with my own eyes. Searching images, trail reviews and looking over Google Earth …
Why do you still use filters? Why not just bracket?
My grandmother still handwrites letters. My mother still makes all her desserts from scratch. When we make pasta, I still grate the cheese by hand. I also use filters when I take photos. What do all of these things have to do with one another? I’ll tell you. I’ve used filters for most of my twenty years in photography. A Singh-Ray polarizer was the first filter I ever purchased, once I saw how it enhanced images, and provided some much …
Taking the new Mor-Slo 15-stop ND Filter for an initial test shot
I would go as far as to say it saved my trip! The way the 10-stop neutral density filter expanded my creativity was beyond my expectations. I love this filter, but imagine my surprise when I came home one day and saw the 15-stop Mor-Slo filter sitting there on my counter (insert exploding head noises here). As soon as I saw THIS little gem, I was eager to find the time to get out and play with it. When I’m …
Using the Mor-Slo 10-stop in Scotland
Barren, rocky, mountains floating in the mist, the ruins of historic castles, and rugged coastlines — I wanted to see it all. Once I began my career in landscape photography, it wasn’t a matter of if I would finally make it to Scotland… only when. This past summer, after a couple marvelous weeks in Iceland, my travels took me to Scotland to spend three weeks scouting for upcoming Aperture Academy workshops. I had done my research, and spent months on-line …
Going to Olympic National Park and braving the threat of vampires, werewolves and heavy rainfall
From the time I started taking landscape images, there’s been something mysteriously drawing me to Olympic National Park, but it wasn’t the vampires and werewolves described in the Twilight books. The rugged Washington coastline with its craggy sea stacks and rough seas looked like just the place to make dramatic images. The only issue was the weather. When author Stephenie Meyer wrote the Twilight books, she picked the part of the lower 48 states with the highest annual rainfall. She …
Discussing what I’ve learned from previous trips
As I prepare for my fourth trip to Iceland — the third time I will be serving as a guide for other photographers — I’ve given a lot of thought to what I’ve learned to this point. I can also draw upon my previous experience leading workshops to almost every corner of this country. I’ve spent some time considering how I might improve on the way I shot these locations before, and how I’ll guide the other photographers to do …