Road Trip – Photo of the Day – Jackson NH

September 30th, 2010 in Photography

Still Raining.  Still Shooting.

Road Trip – Photo(s) of the Day – Mt. Washington, New Hampshire

September 29th, 2010 in Photography

Rain, Rain and more Rain, but photography goes on. (just a little soggy)

Road Trip – Photo of the Day – Belfast, Maine

September 28th, 2010 in Photography

Beautiful little harbor on the central coast of Maine.

Road Trip Photo-of-the-Day – Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park

September 27th, 2010 in Photography

The Mega-Road Trip

September 23rd, 2010 in Photography

Mary and I are taking an 18 day mega-road trip through New England that we have been talking about for years.  The impetus for this trip is a 4 day photography workshop in Jackson New Hampshire (Mt. Washington) that I will be taking with Moose Peterson, Joe McNally , Laurie Excell and Kevin Dobler.

Sooooo, since we were gonna be in the neighborhood anyway, why not hit ALL of New England, after all its fall foliage season right?  So that’s how the little 4 day workshop has grown and evolved into the mega-road trip that starts in northern Maine and ends in State College, PA (where our daughter happens to be attending my alma mater, Penn State and it also happens to be Homecoming weekend). All very neat and tidy don’t you think.

We will be exploring coastal Maine, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the “Northeast Kingdom” of Vermont, the Adirondack region of upstate New York, the Finger Lakes region of central NY and central PA, all during the most beautiful time of the year!

One of my goals for this trip, besides having a great time with my wife, seeing some interesting and beautiful places and doing tons and tons of photography, is to blog and facebook DAILY about the trip and the workshop and come up with at least one “Photo the Day” and maybe even some commentary.

Stay tuned

Yosemite Workshop #3

March 21st, 2010 in Photography

It’s been a few weeks since my California trip and the Yosemite photography workshop with Steven Johnson.  I wanted to wait a bit to better reflect on what I learned and what were the lasting impressions left by the experience. (Plus I’ve been really busy in my other life, it’s almost mosquito season!)

The overall experience was simply great.  Like I said in an earlier post, I had never been to Yosemite before and I consider it to be one of the most concentrated location of spectacular scenery on the planet, and obviously a photographers paradise.  I’ve read that you could spend a lifetime photographing in Yosemite and never do it justice.  Absolutely true.

The workshop was three days of classroom lectures by Steven, on location “shoots” and critique sessions with group input and discussion. This was a small group, only 5 students.  Steven is an excellent teacher with decades of experience and it shows in his teaching and his photography.  I was a little surprised that I knew much of what was covered in the lectures but still managed to glean a few key bits of info and helpful tips.  The lectures covered raw workflow and processing, color management and some photoshop technique.  The other workshop that I attended a few years ago (DLWS/Moose Peterson) had significantly more classroom time and photoshop instruction. I feel I learned the most and gained the most confidence during field shooting and particularly the photo critique sessions not only of my photos but the images of the other participants as well.  The group discussion was worthwhile in that you not only had the opportunity to hear from Steven but others with different experience and views. Good stuff.

After the first day of gawking at the valley and taking “tourist” shots of the icons (El Cap, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite Falls) I was able to settle down and concentrate on my own vision of Yosemite and simplify.  I was much happier with the images I captured on the 2nd and third day of the workshop and even more so on the day I spent shooting on my own after the workshop was over. I always feel I do my best work when I’m in the “zone”, usually by myself and able to fully concentrate on just “seeing” and capturing what I see.  It’s tough to do that in a workshop situation.

I really liked all of the other participants and instantly made friends. They were all great photographers with a myriad of life and photographic experience. A couple have active websites and blogs.  Here are the links I encourage you to take a look.

Harry Sandler:  http://hsandler.blogspot.com/
Natasha Calzatti: http://www.calzattifoto.com/CalzattiFoto.htm

Overall an awesome experience and I can’t wait to go back to Yosemite, hopefully in the fall with better backcountry access.  There is a lot to tell and share if anyone has any questions please write me a note at mike@mmpropoto.com

M

Yosemite #2 – Preparations

March 6th, 2010 in Photography

Those of you who know me, know that I can get a bit obsessive when it come to getting prepared for trips, events, etc.  Of course this Yosemite workshop was no different and probably a little worse than usual. A photography workshop is more than a vacation that concentrates on taking pictures.  There is classroom time, field trips to shoot, critiques of the work, digital darkroom processing and on and on.  So you need to be prepared and on top of knowing your gear, your laptop and your processing software. Before you go everything needs to cleaned, checked out  and in good working order.

I thought it might be interesting (or at least helpful) to briefly  go through some of my preparations.

Computer & Back-up

  • Make sure operating system, software and software plug-ins are updated with current versions and operating properly.
  • Run maintenance and cleaning utilities to assure efficient operation.
  • Clean and defrag external back-up drives.

Photo Gear

  • Properly clean camera body, lenses and filters.
  • Test sensor for dust spots, clean if needed. (Visible Dust products are awesome)
  • Empty and format (in camera) CF/SD data storage cards.
  • Clean and check tripod/ballhead
  • Make a checklist of all required gear and repack your gear bag according to the list.

To get myself ready I read and re-read a few of my favorite books.

I also reviewed  several video tutorials on lynda.com. If you are not familiar with lynda.com please do yourself a favor and go take a look. They have extensive, very well done and inexpensive video tutorials on just about every software title on the planet.  They are especially strong in graphic arts and their tutorials on Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture and InDesign are excellent.

Next blog I’ll talk about the Yosemite Workshop.  Stay tuned.

M

Yosemite Workshop #1

February 27th, 2010 in Landscape, Nature & Wildlife, Photography

For Christmas, I received a Photography Workshop in Yosemite National Park from my unbelievably amazing wife. The workshop was with Steven Johnson a legendary landscape photographer based in San Francisco who grew up in nearby Merced and who has photographed Yosemite, the Central Valley and the west for years. (www.sjphoto.com)  More on Steven, the workshop and what I learned later.  Recently I went on the Workshop adventure and would like to write a few blog posts about the experience.

First off, I grew up in Pennsylvania and had never been to Yosemite or most of the great western National Parks. Why it took so long, I have no explanation or excuse.  Yosemite is incredible and everything that has been written about it is true, but no book or video could possibly do it justice.  If you have not been there: GO!

As an aspiring landscape photographer the experience was more than a bit daunting. Yosemite is THE place for landscape photography.  Everyone knows Ansel Adams’ spectacular images and the iconic photos of El Cap, Yosemite Falls, and Half Dome that seem to grace thousands of books and calendars and seem to be everywhere you look.  How could I possibly go to Yosemite and take photos of anything other than the icons.  But, does anyone really need another photo of El Cap?  Well fortunately, Steven was the right person to go with and learn from.  His mantra throughout the workshop was simplify! For Yosemite and in many other situations; great advise.  Of course I did take “the Icons”,  how could I not?  But I also worked on simplification.  I have posted two Yosemite Galleries in the Special Places area of my website.  The first is Yosemite – The Icons, the second is Yosemite – My Vision. The Icons for the most part are “grand landscapes” and several are large multi-shot stitched panoramas best viewed in the slideshow.  Sorry, I just had to do it…

The second gallery is more how I personally see and shoot.  Many of these shots also follow Steven’s advise.

More soon.

M

Photoshop’s bad rap

January 21st, 2010 in Photography

It seems like every other day Adobe Photoshop is in the news or fodder for a Jay Leno stand-up joke or two.  (i.e. OJ is made to look more evil, some supermodel is made thinner, an actor is made to look younger and on and on)  Photoshop certainly gets a bad rap. But, like many other things in our modern age it’s not the tool that’s the problem but the person using it and their intent.  Sure photographs can be changed, manipulated and be made to deceive; nothing new there.  From the very beginning photographs have been manipulated by the photographer, the tools have just gotten better. Darkroom techniques like dodging and burning, light filtering, and chemistry were all used by early photographers to add contrast, highlight the subject or help the viewer to better see what the photographer was trying to show.  Whether good or bad, photo manipulation is a modern fact of life.  You should assume that every photograph you see has been manipulated in some way.

The use of Photoshop in advertising, lifestyle and glamor magazines, and television is ubiquitous.  Again, you should assume that every single photo has been manipulated.  The problem is when photos that appear in documentary or journalistic uses are manipulated.  Those are the areas that photos should not be changed.  We expect to see the truth.

What about fine art photography? Here again Photoshop is just another tool in the artist palette. My take is that I always try to get the image “right” in the camera. But some things you just can’t change or foresee in the field.  You do your best but there is always a little tweak here or there that can improve the image.  Visit any gallery or art museum; Art is art and anything goes.  My images are simply there to be enjoyed. Many are manipulated in some minor way, others a little more.  What follows is an example; a before and after view of a photo that I “cleaned-up” in Photoshop. I did the best I could in the field, but the wires and light poles were unavoidable.  You be the judge; evil deception or just an improved image?

Before (click for larger image)

AfterAfter (click for larger image)

Remember, “Photoshop doesn’t deceive people, People deceive people”.
M

Do you see what I see?

December 22nd, 2009 in Photography

Maybe you see what I see, maybe you don’t.   The other day my youngest daughter ask me, “why do you take the pictures that you take?” WOW!  Tough question. Honestly, when I’m in the field making images I try not to think too much about what I’m shooting and why, I just follow my “eye” and my instincts and let the world come to me. I guess that’s what some artists call following their muse.  From the training I have received and from everything I’ve studied, I do have the basics of photography ingrained in my brain so I don’t have to “think” too much. Hopefully I am trained and have the instincts to see in a way that most other people don’t and to be able to capture an image that is interesting and pass it on to my audience.

When you look at a photograph, most likely you either immediately like it or you don’t.  What is it about human beings that allows different people to see certain things so differently?  Lots of people, besides photographers and artists struggle with this question everyday and I certainly won’t be able to answer it here.  Some examples are teachers trying to reach their students, advertising agencies trying to get their message across to their target audience, or how about the police interviewing multiple “eye-witnesses” and getting completely different accounts.

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