The last few months have been interesting to say the least. Without going into details, I have had some life changing events take place that included the loss of three family members, a slightly serious health issue, and some sever monetary issues. Needless to say, I have been forced to take a serious look at my life and what I want from it and, important to this blog, my photography. Everything is getting much better at this point in my life, but I still haven’t accomplished what I set out to do with my photography.
I started to reevaluate my photography about two and a half months ago and posted my thoughts on my Moving Forward – Finding Inspiration post. Due to the health issues I haven’t gotten much past the state or thought process that I was in at that time, but having become much more healthy and able to get out and shoot, travel, and maintain a more “normal” lifestyle.
As a result, I have made some more concrete decisions about what I want to do with my photography. I have two websites that I will be using; this one and www.naturelightphotography.com. Again, I am truly inspired by G Dan Mitchell in his work and in his social distribution of his photography.
As a result, I will be using this website for my thoughts on photography, cycling, traveling/overlanding with my FJ Cruiser, and just life thoughts in general. Most of the posts will be photography related, but there will probably be a few that aren’t strictly for photographers. The posts won’t be daily, but they should be fairly regular.
My other site, Nature Light Photography, will be strictly my images. I’ll be honest and admit that it is patterned after Mitchell’s site, but I am hoping that it is different enough that people don’t see it as a copy or knockoff. I’m not sure why I think that would be bad, but it is something I want to avoid. My goal is to post a new image daily. I think I can do that because I can easily discuss my images since I was there when I took them and I know what the situation was and what I was thinking to produce the image.
This site will maintain it’s looks because I like the feel of the site, but there might be some subtle changes in the future. www.naturelightphotography.com will be undergoing a comprehensive renovation to facilitate a more photo friendly site to view.
I will be posting some of my ideas and thoughts about my reasons for change and where I’m headed in the future, but until then the bottom line is that I’m restarting the engine and heading down a different road, but I hope the results will be the better this time.
I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus recently. I haven’t posted as much as I’d like and I haven’t been out shooting much either. I sat down a few nights ago and asked myself why. The answers that came back were the same as most of us have when we find ourselves not working up to our expectations; personal issues, family problems, lack of funds, lack of inspiration and motivation, and no organized plan.
I decided that personal issues and family problems will always exist and everyone has them. They make a weak excuse for not doing what I like to do. I find it hard to believe that every photographer except me has a perfect life. As a matter of fact, if you really pay attention to Twitter, you will find that everyone has these issues. Nope, that I can’t fix, so I’ll just have to get over it. I can do that.
I’ve always known that lack of funds is an invalid reason for not shooting or posting. Yes, I could say that I can’t afford to travel to the places I want to shoot and, as a matter of fact, a four week trip that looped the western United States was cancelled/postponed this summer due to the funding issue. But there are still great shots and opportunities to shoot without leaving my home town. This week’s photo of the week is one of those. I walked out my back door and into the shot.
That brings us to the lack of inspiration. I thought that by staying home, I would find some way to be inspired. Nope, that didn’t happen. I had to go look for the inspiration. I found it in two places. Google+ and 500px. Both are great sites to find some awesome images from amazing photographers. I recommend that you visit 500px just for the images alone.
After looking at the images on G+ and 500px, I have found a lot of new things I want to try photographically. Macro, lighting, different points of view, etc. and I’ve started pursuing those challenges.
I’ve also started going back and looking at my images from the past and reevaluate images that I didn’t think were good enough. I’m trying to use the photographic eye that I’ve learned from looking at G. Dan Mitchell’s work, things I’ve learned in LightRoom, and Photoshop to find images that are good. Not just good enough, but good.
As for the organized plan I am reevaluating my websites, their purpose and what I want to do with my photography. I have already started formulating some of the changes that I want to make in both my photography and on my sites.
When I was coaching, someone once told me that there are only two directions in life. You are either moving forward or you are moving backward. Nobody ever stands still.
My mother, Shelby Williamson passed away suddenly last September and I lost a close friend to cancer in the last couple of months. In both cases, I found some comfort in my photography.
The community had a Celebration of Life gathering for my mother and needed photos of her for the guests to view. I had those images. And as I went through them, looking for the ones they wanted, I was reminded of some good times with her and my family.
When my friend Dave Arnold passed away recently, I was again asked for some images of him for different organizations in which he participated. As with my mom, I had the images and had the same fond remembrances as I went through all of my images of him searching for the correct ones. I found myself smiling as I did so.
I had the images because I took them. I made the effort to carry the camera, pull it out, and take the picture when the time was right.
By doing so and making sure that I took creative, technically correct images, I had good shots of my loved ones.
That is the role we play as photographers. It is our job and responsibility to make the effort to capture the moments and keep them for ourselves and others.
I spent five days in Death Valley last week. During that time, I took Sandy all over the National Park. I traveled from Furnace Creek to Scotty’s Castle then went west to visit the Racetrack Playa again. I like to take Sandy and follow back country roads just to see where they go.
In this case I was just southeast of Teakettle Junction and saw this road that lead to the east and up into the mountains. Seemed like a good road, so I followed it. I ended up at about 7,000′ near White Top Mountain and it was getting dark. I stopped to camp for the night.
It was cold at five-thirty when I finished my dinner. I cleaned up, set up to sleep in Sandy for the night, and went to bed. I knew it would be a long night, but I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal. I was wrong. I had picked the night that a cold front passed through Southern California and I was on the edge of the storm when I went to bed.
I travel with an indoor/outdoor thermometer, just to amuse myself in the morning as I look at the difference in temperatures in the FJ and outside. It records the lowest and highest temperatures both inside and outside. The low outside was 10. The high was 48. Inside it was a toasty 50. That was the high. The low was 29. Inside.
IT WAS COLD!!!
I travel with three gallon jugs of water which I store in the truck on the floor of the front seat. They froze. Not solid, but about two inches from the sides. All of my drinks outside froze.
IT WAS COLD!!
I was OK until about four in the morning. Then it just started getting colder and colder. Finally, at about six. I decided that it was time to get out of there, so I packed up and left. The sun didn’t come up until after seven and it took until I got back to Furnace Creek before the temperature outside rose above 50 degrees.
So, why is am I telling this tale on a photography blog? Because there are a few lessons to be learned.
One, prepare for the worst. I knew it was going to be cold, but I wasn’t prepared for it to be that cold. The purchase of a new, warmer sleeping bag is in the near future.
Two, because I wasn’t prepared I didn’t take full advantage of the situation in a photographic sense. I should have stayed up and shot around the campsite. There were some great views. I missed them because I wasn’t ready to shoot in that situation.
Three, it might have been cold and I might have been warmer, but I didn’t embrace the situation. I should have tried to enjoy the experience more.
The bottom line is that you need to be prepared for the situation you put yourself into and that even though it might be tough, try to enjoy the present.
The above image was taken as the sun set behind the mountains. It is a nine image panorama. I encourage you to click on the image to the original in my Smugmug gallery. Doing so will allow you to see the details of the image.
Please use the form below to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
OK, we are in a new year. It’s 2011. This is the time that we all make promises under the guise of “new year resolutions” and I will be doing the same, except I call them goals.
There are many who have made their resolutions/goals public. Here are a couple: Chris Becker and Peyton Cooke.
I have done this in the past, but have failed each time. The question is: Why did I fail? I think partly because I didn’t have a plan.
I have spent some time reading about how to keep resolutions and have found what appears to be a common theme on how to be successful in keeping resolutions. The different websites that are out there are numerous, but I finally found one that I think sums up the process well. The site is on About.com and you can read it here. The funny part is that it is about controlling inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). No, I don’t have IBD, but I like the logic behind the suggestions and I think that they can apply to all resolutions.
So, what are my resolutions?
Get published. I want to get at least one of my images published in a publication. Not one that you can pay to get your images published, but a regional or national publication that uses the image as part of an article. I want to do this because I think it sets a very high standard and goal.
Sell at least one fine art photograph to a client. Not a senior session or wedding type of image, but one that I took for the shear beauty of the scene.
Enter at least two photography contests a month. This would result in 24 contests for the year. I am not limiting myself to 24, but must enter at least 24. This would make me really look at my photography and how to improve it.
Take at least one workshop on posing and lighting models. I need to learn how to pose and light people. I know how to expose images to capture the vision I have, but I have no idea how to pose people or use lights to get an image I like.
Photograph inside at least once a week. By this I mean that I will set up a situation with props or models and shoot it. Something like my water drop series.
Get outside and photograph at least once a week. I need to get off my butt and shoot in different locations and in different situations.
Take myself and my photography less seriously. By that I mean I don’t want to get so discouraged by set-backs or attempts at something that aren’t successful.
About.com’s suggestions for succeeding in keeping resolutions include:
Being realistic
Planning ahead
Outline your plan
Make a “pro” and “con” list
Talk about it
Reward yourself
Track your progress
Don’t beat yourself up
Stick to it
Keep trying
I think I have covered numbers one and five here. I think that my goals are realistic and I have made them public. I don’t think any of the goals are completely out of reach. Yes, I may not reach them all, but I think I can strive to achieve them and in doing so, will become a better photographer. And, honestly, that is more important.
After I read the post, I asked myself the same question, just like I have asked myself in the past. The answer was always easy. I like the challenge of capturing a moment in time as I saw it so that I can share that moment with others.
At Skip’s Summer School the answer got even easier. Dane Sanders showed this video. Take seven minutes and watch it. You will understand why I shoot and you won’t be disappointed.
I will be referring to this video in the future. It is my inspiration and anchor.
Honestly, it makes me tear up every time I watch it.
Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think.
I’m on the California Central Coast with my family, enjoying the holiday. Take some time today to be with family, relax, and remember why we celebrate today.
Central Coast Seagull
If you shoot today, remember to try to capture the day in a way that tells the story.
I was looking through the [b]school’s forums and came across a GREAT idea.
It was one of those “DUH!!” ideas. You know, the ones that say, “Why didn’t I think of that?!??!?”
Lawrence Kent, a photographer in Augusta, GA is issuing a challenge to his blog readers that for every comment he gets on his blog during the month of December, he will donate a can to the local food bank.
Ok, like I said, DUH!!!
I think this is a great idea. Like Lawrence, my goal is 100 cans and I will be counting the comments already made during the month. Which isn’t too many. Eight to be exact.
So, we have a LONG way to go to get to the goal of 100.
Like always, please feel free to comment, but now you can do it and give back to the community.
Last Thursday Tuesday, I went to the OC SMUG holiday mixer. Ok, it was actually the LA, SD, OC SMUG mixer, but it was held in OC.
Usually the SMUG meetings are about business or motivation. the last meeting had Jasmine Star speak about netmaking. Not networking, but netmaking. She talked about getting out of her shell and into the photography community; learning and helping as much as possible. it was actually very powerful and made sense. I have been trying to do that since then.
Basically stepping out of my comfort zone, I have been trying to be active on different forums, websites, and in a few meetings/get-togethers. Trust me, when I said it was out of my comfort zone, it is WAY out of my comfort zone.
I’m usually the one who stands near the edge of a group and waits for someone to talk to me. Now, I am trying to go and introduce myself to people and talk to them. It is working.
I took a Torye Cooke of PVC Photography (a student of mine) to a FEO (For Each Other) meeting at Dane Sander’s studio about a week ago. It lead by Jen Disney and was about pricing. IT WAS AMAZING!! Jen let the discussion go, but kept it in the realm of the topic and let everyone have their say. Plus, she’s a good photographer.
People were very friendly and very knowledgeable about the subject. Plus, they shared. It was amazing to watch and fun to participate with such giving people.
The best part was when Jessica and Robert of Jessica Elizabeth Photography, started talking to us. We had talked to them once before at an OC SMUG meeting and they were very nice. Out of the blue they asked Torye and I if we wanted to shoot with them during an engagement shoot in the middle of December. I was caught completely off guard by that request. Why would anyone want to have me shoot with them? Of course, we said yes. Why? I need the experience.
Suddenly, I started to figure out how this interacting with others might help me in the business and that brings me to the OC SMUG Holiday Mixer.
Again, with the same student, who was VERY nervous, we went to the mixer. There I forced myself (and the student) to actually mix and talk with the people we met. And we met people.
We talked to Lori and Keith Anderson for sometime. I left Torye and visited with Gabriel Ryan and Chris Becker. I met Gabriel at the FEO meeting; his knowledge of photography pricing and the business is incredible. After that I went back and talked to Jessica and Robert about the shoot and hung out with them for the rest of the evening.
The talking part has never been hard, it was always the introducing myself as if I have something important to say and to add to the conversation. I am learning how to do that.
Here are a couple of bad (as in VERY BAD) pictures of the mixer.
Enter to win your choice of a Nikon or Canon 70-200 f/2.8 lens from @viewbug and Scott Bourne. Please RT. Info at: http://t.co/mytn1elNFrom my Twitter at1 month ago
