Favorite Images Gallery
Some images touch us more than others. Some are technically better; some evoke a pleasant memory or emotion from the past. Some simply are beautiful to see. Whatever the reason, we enjoy looking at some photos more than we enjoy looking at others. This portfolio includes some of my favorites for all the various reasons, and you can view...
Welcome
Welcome to photosonthego, a photography blog set in the Bloomington, Indiana, area. It’s a place to find images captured by James Haverstock, images of events, people and scenery from all over the area, the state, and the country. Check back to find new images and new information about photography of all kinds on a regular...
My 1x Gallery …… Sorry, 500px.
Click on the image of the old barn to see my 1x gallery.
More and more I find myself checking the photo website 1x (a link to the main site is here). They have been around for awhile, started I am guessing as a direct competitor to the popular 500px site. A short time ago 1x updated and freshened their site to give it a clean, very professional look. And they have apparently gotten even pickier about the photos they select as featured, whether on the popular page or in any of the categories (the fine print says only 3% of submitted images are selected for general viewing). But in my eyes that has become a plus – the photos displayed are all high, high quality. And the method of displaying each image makes it look its best. I still check 500px regularly, and there are some very, very fine photos to be seen there. But I have to give the nod to 1x these days for quality of images and for appearance.
Given all the above I have signed up for a free account, one that has some uploading restrictions (but ones generous enough for me). I will be adding images to this gallery as I think they are worthy of being seen there (today you click on the image at the top of this post, or you always can go to Photo Collections and click on 1x Gallery). So I am going to be rather picky about this particular group. Check back at times to see what might be new. And I hope you enjoy them even a small bit as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Read MorePlanning A Barn Tour
One of the great old Maple Grove Road barns at sunset.
Most of us probably think old city neighborhoods with big and fancy homes when we hear the term historic district. We have a rural district with that difficult-to-obtain designation here in Monroe County, however, a large stretch of Maple Grove Road. It is beautiful rolling farmland, with old dry-built (no mortar) stone walls in many places. There are old family farms, grazing cattle, and the occasional sound of a crowing peacock to be heard in the distance. There also are a few very old barns, varying in condition and style. They are on private property, but most can at least be seen from the road.
Another old barn in this wonderful historic district.
My wife is very attracted to those old barns, standing dignified and reliable for all these years. A couple of weeks ago she went scouting, meeting some of the owners and sharing her appreciation for the barns and the families who care for them. She was pretty warmly received, and several invitations to shoot were extended. So we drove the route together recently, checking out likely shooting locations and parking places and all the details that accompany a shoot. Tuesday we decided to break the area into smaller pieces and shoot a bit here and a bit there later and some of the others even later yet. Starting out at 5:30 AM we tried some sunrise shots, and we went back at sunset to try our hands again. Not every shot was a keeper (ever had a shoot when they all were?), but we discovered a lot of potential for some great shots in the future. It now is a matter of timing each specific location for the absolute best time of day and figuring out the absolute best spot to be standing. It is going to be a long-term project where we try to capture the best barns and buildings in the various seasons over the course of a year. Oh, and of course it is going to depend on our respective skills in capturing these disappearing sites as to how good the final images will be.
A closer look at that great old barn in the first image posted above.
I am including a few of the Tuesday shots to give you an idea of the character these old buildings have and the beauty they possess. There are many more locations to shoot, but we are excited about what is out there. And we already are blessed by the generosity and friendliness of the people we have met in that wonderful area of our county. Stay tuned as this project unfolds – it is something that already has enriched our shooting lives.
Read MoreYour Camera Bag: Fill It With Lenses … But Lighten The Load. And More FREE Splatter Masks.
You can read that advice from master photographer after master photographer. A quick Google search will produce plenty of articles on the topic. But the advice all boils down to this: honestly evaluate your interests. What do you enjoy shooting? What do you find yourself drawn to, over and over? That simple little (honest and objective) bit of information will dictate many of your equipment-buying decisions. Sports shooter? One kind of camera and assorted lenses. Landscape shooter? A different set. And so on, and so on. Then, after you establish your goals as a shooter, you can get around to putting together a system to get you where you want to be. And after that you can begin to lighten the load, paring down what you have to lug around to capture those precious images out in the field. And I know of no one more qualified (and trusted) to advise us on those decisions than my dear friend Bill Fortney.
I hope you have bookmarked his site and are checking it daily. Or at least regularly. And if you have not, I urge you to do so today. Bill has a couple of timely articles on what lenses (and cameras) you might want to consider when putting together a system (not just random buying) and what you should consider if some of those lenses are available on the used market. Click here for a great little article on lenses and systems and lightening that bulging camera bag. And click here for advice on buying used lenses. And one final article sort of dealing with this whole subject. Click here to read a most helpful article from Matt Kloslowski on making yourself a better shooter by figuring out what you really want to shoot. That brings us rather full circle on the topic for today. I hope it all helps when you begin evaluating your next equipment purchase.
And last week I recommended a nice FREE set of splatter masks for Photoshop from the generous folks over at Shadowhouse Creations. Those masks were so valuable and well-received that there is now a second set of masks … also FREE! I like collecting masks and overlays and textures for my post-processing. You just never know today what you might need tomorrow. And these collections take up very little space on your computer. And did I mention that they will cost you nothing? Click here to visit Shadowhouse Creations and download this FREE collection (number two) of splatter masks. Thank you, Shadowhouse Creations!
Read MoreIt’s A Boy! A Beautiful Baby Boy.
Welcome to this wonderful world of ours, Kaden!
I had a different post for today, one dealing with cameras and lenses and systems and filling your camera bag with all that stuff. Forget all that; we have something much more important to celebrate and give thanks for. Much, much more important.
Our dear friends (more family than friends) Kendall and Stephanie Reeves became the (deservedly) proud parents of little Kaden over the weekend. He is a very little boy, arriving earlier than any of us expected. But he has all the right parts, is getting ready to go home in due time, and obviously is a handsome boy who is winning the hearts of everyone he meets. Mom and dad are doing fine; Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue are bursting with good wishes for a wonderful family.
God has a perfect plan. We often don’t understand it; we certainly seldom know what it might contain. But we all are blessed by His grace and mercy … and never more than with the birth of a precious child. Welcome to this wonderful world of ours, Kaden. And congratulations, Kendall and Stephanie!
Read MoreThe Turkey Hunter. And Never Enough Thyme Photos.
My nephew Scott with an impressive trophy from an afternoon in the family woods.
We spent last week with my mother in Northern Indiana. It was good to spend time with my family and to do a little bit of shooting while there. Spring is about two weeks behind us here in Bloomington; the weather in Rolling Prairie was pretty cold and windy. But that didn’t stop my nephew Scott from trying his hand at Indiana’s annual wild turkey season. With impressive results, I might add! The photo above is the result of an afternoon devoted to sitting and calling … and sitting and calling … and sitting and more calling.
Scott set up a decoy in our family’s woods and found a favorite spot to nestle into. He began to call and soon was answered. A couple more calls on his part and then the waiting and watching began. He described how a tom, strutting and gobbling the entire time, circled the tree where Scott was sitting (going carefully around the area to make sure the coast was clear). Finally, throwing caution to the wind, the tom made his move – coming in to the decoy with tail fanned and wings scraping the ground. The result is pictured above.
I learned you judge a wild turkey’s age by its beard and its spurs.
This bird we estimated to be about three years old (I learned you judge the age by the beard and the spurs). This beard was eight or nine inches long, and the spurs are long enough to give pause when you think about the damage they could do in an all-out fight. Turkeys (the wild variety) are magnificent birds – keen of eye, wary, fast-flying, able to survive tough Northern Indiana winters, and difficult to fool. This is Scott’s third bird in the past four years. If you are a turkey hunter you will appreciate that record; turkeys are far from the proverbial fish-in-a-barrel. Congratulations, Scott!
Then the photos I took at my sister-in-law’s. Becky started with a sort of paint-by-number type of tole painting kit many years ago now. It turned out she had a real artist’s touch and a true artist’s eye for working with wood and all kinds of salvaged (re-used) items. She has turned her talents (with my brother’s wood-cutting skills) into a primitive wood products business that is thriving. She has a huge work area and separate showroom on their farm, along with a retail outlet (Crows in the Cupboard) in nearby LaPorte. In fact, several years ago she had to decide whether to expand to keep up with demand and turn her business into a factory-type operation or to call a halt to the ongoing expansion. She still is quite busy these days, but a new grandbaby has pretty much ended the factory talk. We all are very proud of her (we have been for a long time now), and the products she designs are of only-the-highest quality.
Click on the old granary to see more images from Never Enough Thyme.
I took a few photos while visiting Tim and Becky last week. I concentrated on texture and light and just the general interest of how successful she is in putting all the various pieces together to make an artistic whole. She really is talented. And she is able to re-use items that others have given up on, giving them a new life and a new purpose. I hope you enjoy the images (my own attempt at art). It was a good visit. Thaey make for a good family.
Read MoreFREE Splatter Masks For Photoshop
I have sung the praises of Shadowhouse Creations for quite a while now. Generous to a fault and talented to an even greater degree, they share their textures and masks and overlays and other post-processing aids regularly with us less gifted photographers. Today is no exception.
Shadowhouse Creation’s latest FREE gift is a set of splatter masks (overlays which can be used to give your images creative and individualized looks in post). They are high quality and extremely versatile. And did I mention FREE?
Click here to visit their website and read the short description of this collection. You’ll immediately see the value in the set and the generosity of its creators. There are six overlays in the collection, and one (or more) of them is bound to be just right for that special project of yours. Thank you, Shadowhouse Creations!
Read MoreJim Begley (Improved) Portfolio
A Jim Begley HDR that he graciously has allowed me to use in the past. Visit his website today for a new-and-improved look.
Allow me to illustrate a couple of points today … points that I have repeatedly written about over the past couple of years.
My dear friend Jim Begley (Bill Fortney’s His Light Workshops partner) is an amazingly talented photographer. I have said that over and over, and you know it is true because you have looked at his work in the past. He represents not only what HDR can be in the hands of the truly masterful, but also that you should get your work out there where others can see it. Explore; share; improve; enjoy! When you have visited Jim’s website in the past you were privileged to see some awesome works.
And I have advised many times in the past that you should periodically do some maintenance on your respective websites. Make sure you are showing your best work. Keep it fresh. Be your own critic at what you are seeing (and posting). If you need to, get some outside advice on how to make your site the best it can be (especially if you are marketing your work or trying to attract clients).
Well, Jim makes all my points for me today. He recently added new images to his site, and he went through and examined what he had posted in the past. Top to bottom. Critically. Objectively. With an eye to making sure that he was showing his best-of-the-best. That no matter how emotionally attached he might have been to a particular image, it had to stand on its own. It had to live up to the other amazing images Jim produces on a regular basis. And he told me that the process was a most difficult one. But a worthwhile and periodically necessary one. Proof? Easy to show you. You have seen Jim’s site in the past … click here now to visit again. What you will see is a site without any weak or ‘maybe’ images, a site that truly leaves you saying, “Wow!”
Okay, I need to practice what I preach. I know; I know. But the question I pose to you today is: what about you and your site?
Read MoreMcCormick’s Creek Outing Photos
Click on the trillium to see other images from McCormick’s Creek.
Yesterday I wrote about our Bloomington Photography Club field trip to nearby McCormick’s Creek State Park. The experience we had in dealing with a constant and considerable wind was instructive and good practice (that post is here). And the moral of the story is that sometimes the techniques I tried work … and sometimes they don’t. The early wildflower season and the cold snap we experienced didn’t lend themselves to coming home with any portfolio images. But the techniques, coupled with a lot of patience, can allow you to come home with some photos that at least are in focus, something to take into Photoshop and play around with.
I came home with a few that illustrate my points. The photos were sharp and in focus, and they had a subject that at least represented our reason for heading into the park in the first place. You can view them by clicking on the photo at the top of this post, or you can click here. And you always can view this small collection by going to the Photo Collections tab at the top of my Homepage and clicking on McCormick’s Creek Flowers.
Faced with challenging and difficult shooting conditions? Don’t just give up and go home to wait for a better (or merely different) day. We, my friends, are photographers! Put your camera on your tripod; attach that cable release; go tame some pixels! If I can work my way through Saturday, just imagine what you can do.
Read MoreMcCormick’s Creek Macro Outing: Photographing Flowers In The Wind
Sturdy stems and a low profile. Plan B was shoot something other than flowers.
My wife and I met about ten other members of the Bloomington Photography Club early last (cold) Saturday morning. We drove over to nearby McCormick’s Creek State Park here in Indiana (it bears the distinction of being Indiana’s first state park). A cold front had gone through a day earlier and temps were in the low 30′s and the trails were soft to squishy because of two days of rainstorms in the area. There was a near-constant wind of considerable degree all day, and that made photographing the delicate early wildflowers a challenge. But a bad day of shooting is better than most good days doing something else, you know. So it was a successful trip in that regard, although not without its challenges.
The early wildflowers here mostly are of the delicate varieties. They tend to have thin stalks and very thin connections to the bunched flowers atop those stalks. The slightest of breezes Saturday was enough to set them trembling, always enough to make getting a sharp, in focus image difficult. But it was good practice, and perfect practice makes perfect ( a Bobby Knight-ism from around these parts). Sometimes finding out what isn’t going to work so well is as valuable as finding out what will. And while technique will usually out-best equipment purchases alone, if you discover you need an item to accomplish a certain type of shooting, early in the year may just be the best time to figure that out. And never sell short the friendship and fellowship that shooting with like-minded photographers can do for your spirit and your well-being. Photography is not all competition and comparison, you know. Teaching, learning and sharing make for some fine relationships.
When you find yourself in those frustrating windy conditions and still really want that perfectly in focus flower shot there are several methods to try. First I played with my shutter speed/ISO combinations to get the fastest shutter speed I could manage and still get close to the photo I had in mind. Depending on your camera and its capabilities, shooting at 1600 and 3200 and maybe even higher ISO may be preferable to getting no shot at all. At least you will have something you like to take into post-processing to work on any resulting noise issues. Better to have shot and come home with a sharp noisy image than never to have shot at all, as the saying goes (or could go). Figure out the very smallest aperture you can live with for the image you want and then start in with ISO attempts. That’s what I did Saturday. That I did so with poor results is the fault of the wind, not the concept (at least that is my story and I am sticking to it).
Look for flowers that are tucked away in small shelters out of the brunt of the wind. It is early in the year around here and I didn’t have much luxury in the picking of spots. There weren’t a whole lot of flowers to choose from, so it was shoot ‘em where they are or don’t shoot ‘em at all. But when the numbers pick up in a couple of weeks it very well may be possible to find some sheltered spots that will take care of many of your problems for you. Scout your area for those spots before you throw in the towel.
I tried shooting on Continuous High with my shutter speed boosted as much as possible. If your camera can rattle off a machine gun-like burst, one of them may surprisingly catch that bobbing flower at just the right moment – in between bobs and weaves. Examine that string of shots when you get home. Hidden somewhere in the pack may be just that one image out of all the others that is in focus. It always is worth a try.
Exercise a great deal of patience. I spent a great deal of time Saturday just sitting. I would find a composition I liked of an available wildflower. I would carefully adjust my camera and tripod (it goes without saying that you have to be shooting from a sturdy tripod) and then just sit, finger on the cable release (yes, you need to be using a cable release of some sort, also). I just knew that sooner or later that wind would have to take a break, no matter how short of one. And I would be ready – no composing or fussing with settings of any kind. Just sit and wait for that moment when the flower stopped moving. You know, that never happened Saturday? Never (at least while I was in position and waiting). What would happen was that these little flowers had clusters at the top of the stems. One blossom might be still for a second … but its companions, setting there on the same connected stems, never did. They took turns being still it seemed, one-by-one. Never at the same time. Ever. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t have been successful. I just ran out of time (and patience).
Take something with you to hold those tiny little flowers still. I tried that, too. I have a reasonably-priced Flowerpod from Appalachian shooter Les Saucier (his website is linked here. Click on the Store at the top of the page to see his Flowerpod). That little device has saved the day a few times in the past, but Saturday I struck out. I could hold the stems securely enough, but the multiple little flower heads just danced to their own, multiple tunes. You also could try buying or building a lightweight, portable shelter (sort of like a wind baffle enclosure) that you could quickly and easily set up around a flower or patch of flowers. Once you cut the wind your problems are solved. My wife and I talked about this on the drive home. We are not full-time flower shooters, but I am keeping my eyes open for a reasonably-priced product that we could stow in the trunk of the car. One would have saved the day this weekend.
A couple of friends have suggested just snipping a flower and taking it to an area out of the wind. Yeaaaaaah, you coooouuuuuld try that, but the park frowns on it. There are signs all over asking you (telling you) not to disturb anything, and that certainly would cover cutting flowers for your own personal arrangement. I don’t like this idea, but you may find yourself shooting in an area where snipping a flower or two is perfectly legal. In those case, there are those cheap little green, tubular flower stem holder thing-ees that florists use in arrangements often. They are pointed on one end and it would be pretty easy to shove one in the ground in the perfect outdoor spot, then add a stem or two. I definitely am on the lookout for a couple of those little thingees.
And the last thing we tried, successfully, was to gracefully admit defeat and look for something that wasn’t moving in the wind to shoot. Think rocks, trees, dirt – whatever is able to laugh off the wind that day. Exercise your artist’s eye. Is there some usually mundane composition that you – the artist – could shoot and take back to your trustworthy Photoshop lab? A subject that you could turn into gold? Okay, I know. Easier said than done most times. But it is Plan B and it does give you other things to practice on. And what was our Bobby Knight saying at the start today? Perfect practice makes perfect!
It was a fun and educational Saturday. It was a good trips with good friends. And what more could any of us ask for?
Read MoreBill Fortney Home Run. Very Nice Sale At French Kiss Collections.
My dear friend, mentor, and spiritual rock Bill Fortney is making his first ever appearance at Photoshop World this week. As we all would feel, Bill admitted to being a bit nervous at delivering a series of presentations and messages that would please the many attendees and please God. His Light Workshops is guided by Christ to provide the very best in photo-related instruction while providing fellowship and praise by those who wish to our God. Bill and his partner Jim Begley do all that and more at each event. And the fantastic news coming out of PS World is that Bill’s first presentation was a home run, a session that accomplished all he might have wished. Congratulations, Bill! And congratulations, His Light Ministry!
And the very special part of all this is that Bill is coming to Bloomington to present this same program to the members of the Bloomington photography Club at our July meeting. The date is July 2nd, and if you are anywhere near our area you are welcome to attend … for FREE! Folks, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to meet and hear from Bill Fortney. Just visit the club’s website (it is listed in the Blogroll on the right side of this page) for more information about dates, times, and locations. But mark your calendar now for the first Tuesday in July.
Then for all you fellow texture-lovers out there, you creative ones who are always looking for free or low-cost additions to your Photoshop library. I have purchased some decently-priced items in the past from a site called French Kiss collections (and, yes, they are really based in France). The items are high quality and come to you ready-to-use and easy-to-use. They are having a sale at 50% off (a great deal) to celebrate their birthday. The offer runs from April 18th at 2:30 AM (Eastern time zone) until April 20th at 2:30 AM. You can click here to visit their site and check out an interesting and quite varied set of collections at some quite reasonable prices. I have my eye on a couple of brush sets, and all of us can download two FREE textures just for visiting. Thank you, French Kissers!
And it’s Friday! Spring has arrived and your camera undoubtedly is calling. Enjoy it all.
Read MorePhotoshop CS 7? You Gotta See This De-blur Feature!
A YouTube video from the incredible folks at Adobe, the team putting what are probably finishing touches on the next version of Photoshop. We have been teased with the promise of a de-blur feature for some couple of years now … but it looks like it is getting close to reality (as much as reality ever really is for all of us who use it to make our images seem what they are not). This little video truly is little – it’s only 45 seconds. But it is 45 seconds of OMG! This feature, even if it is not perfect, will sell copies of PS like the proverbial hotcakes. Doubtful? Watch the YouTube below and prepare to be amazed.
At the risk of saying “I told you so” … I told you so!
Speaking of Photoshop … Photoshop World is underway down in Florida. It tends to take a lot of attention away from other photo-related news for about a week. So it’s sort of quiet on some fronts right now. What I am doing is taking advantage of the slow time to read up as best I can on the new version of Lightroom (5). When it is officially released I hope to be up-to-speed, because there is no way I want to lose it from my workflow. Lightroom is that good.
And a heads-up. My dear friend and HDR expert Jim Begley is doing some revamps to his website over on SmugMug. It promises to be back up sometime next week. I don’t have a preview of what is coming, but I urge you to keep watching Jim’s site for the new look (wowphotoshdr.com). Any place that features his work is a place worth checking out.
Read MoreLightroom 5 Preview. Do The Numbers Add Up For Your Camera/Lens Combination?
The photo world still is excited today over Adobe’s announcement of Lightroom 5. Yesterday I recommended Imaging Resource for a nice preview of its new features (and I still find it most helpful). But the good folks over at NAPP (the National Association of Photoshop Professionals) have upstage IR with a series of videos designed to really show off what is new in the almost-final-release of Lightroom. Click here to watch what Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski have put together. They know their stuff.
And there is another video (presented below for your viewing pleasure) that deals with the same general topic of Lightroom 5. It adds the expertise of another of my favorite instructors, Glyn Dewis, in listing the seven hottest new features in LR 5 (at least the favorite of these three experts. It’s about 10 minutes long and definitely worth watching.
Hey, why do I get the feeling that these guys have been in on the whole Lightroom 5 thing for a lot longer than the rest of us? Know what I mean?
And Thom Hogan has an outstanding article over at his site in which he talks about numbers – numbers about cameras and lenses and combinations thereof. Why should we care? His take is that we get way too hung up on numbers and specs and details when we should be concentrating on whether or not what we use to take photos is delivering the end result we are seeking. It is great advice to put our feet back on the ground (where they belong). I mean, is there not a point at which you simply cannot tell the difference between two shades of orange, no matter how hard you squint? Yet you are tempted to invest in that $2,000 calibration system so you can … knowing in advance that it will make absolutely no difference to any human eye out there. Check out Thom’s article, What Do Numbers Tell Us?, on this idea; he demonstrates it much better than I can. Click here and see if he can’t save you some dollars, if not lots of worry and grief.
Read MoreLightroom 5 … Already! Rick Sammon’s Route 66 Photos. A FREE App For Your iMachines That Will Spark Your Interest.
I didn’t see this one coming … at least not this week. Lightroom 5 has been released in beta version for testing and feedback from actual, real users (you and me). Frankly, Lightroom 4 is so good that the thought of a new version right now never entered my mind. But, of course, Adobe never sleeps; they are probably hard at work on Lightroom 6 (and 7) as we speak. I did some checking at my go-to sites and will recommend Imaging Resource as the place to begin reading about new features; they have some introductory videos posted from one of the most talented Adobe instructors out there- Julianne Kost. Click here to visit that site and page. Lightroom 5 has plenty to be excited about, it appears. And if you are the really brave type, click here to visit Adobe and download the beta version. Thank you, Adobe!
Route 66 is a fabled highway; the name conjures up the open road, freedom, Corvettes and cross country adventure. Rick Sammon recently lead a workshop across part of the route, posting as they went. Now he has added to his website a collection of images from that trip and that workshop. And they are pretty darned good ones. He used a collection of his favorite filters to make the images as he went, and you can scroll down through his site to read some of those how-to’s. Click here for the photo collection; it’s a neat slice of Americana.
Finally for today … my good friend Richard Small alerted me to a FREE app for your iMachine (iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad). The app is designed to turn your spare iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch into a FREE WiFi video camera! It features real-time audio and video streaming, motion detection video alerts, and 2-way conversation mode. Wow! Now, I still don’t own an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (let alone have a spare), but for all of you who do … wow! And did I say FREE? Click here for the details and some screenshots. This one is most interesting, definitely worth checking out. Thank you, People Power Company. And thank you (again), Richard Small!
Read MoreSo You Want To Be A Professional Photographer? Perils And Pride.
There are more than equipment considerations to being a pro.
We’ve all had the experience before … you sit down to evaluate your body of work and feel like chucking it all. You’ve probably felt it; I know I have (it’s creeping in on me as I write). You’ve read articles describing the feeling; I’ve written previously about it. But how about that opposite notion? The one where you are in the zone, producing work that just gets better and better. You look at what you are capable of doing and the notion of doing it full-time, professionally, enters your mind. You begin to wonder, if not now, when? Well, I recently came across a couple of fun little articles that deal with that subject – working professionally and turning out a high-quality product each and every time out. They are fun articles, too; just the sort of thing to pick up what may be a dreary Monday morning in your part of the world.
Click here for a fun take on the world of Professional Photography. It was originally posted over at a site called Fotoseeds (a photo site dedicated to helping your business grow. Here is a link to it). And while it is fun to view, it also contains all the truths that we should consider long and hard before making any sudden career changes. Caveat reader-us.
And then it’s companion piece over at Imaging Resource – real posters (you can buy one if it catches your fancy) on the vagaries of that professional photographer lifestyle. Check them out here and see if at least a few don’t ring true in your own experience. So funny … but often so true.
And finally for this morning – no attempt to be mean, just an appreciation of what professional photography isn’t. There are other sites like this one out there, but this link is a real fun way to start a Monday. Enjoy the week.
Read MoreTwo Favorites: Win $50 From Matt Kloskowski. And Glyn Dewis Premiers Wolverine.
Two special offers today from two of my favorite photographers/instructors, Matt Kloskowski and Glyn Dewis. What better way to prepare for a great weekend?
First the almost undefeated, never dominated Matt Kloskowski (did you know Matt is a black belt martial artist?). He is preparing for a new series over at Kelby Training (the best training site on the net) covering all the various aspects of Great Landscape Photography (not a bad name for a band,eh?). And he is soliciting our assistance in making sure every pertinent part of that sweeping genre is covered … and he is offering a two-month subscription to Kelby Training (a $50 value) if your suggestion is used by him. If you don’t already subscribe, this could be a career changer for you (and if you do subscribe your subscription will be extended for an additional two months). Thank you, Matt! All you have to do is click here to visit his site, read what sort of suggestions he is interested in, and then leave those ideas as a comment. This is easy-breezy, and it definitely is a win-win. You could win $50 worth of prizes, and even if you don’t (sniff, sniff), we all get to enjoy the Landscape Series training later on. What a great deal!
And next is another training video from my go-to Englishman, Glyn Dewis. If you follow my blog at all you know in what high regard he is held throughout the world. And what a fine instructor he is. And how valuable his videos are. Yesterday he posted a new one, about 20 minutes long, detailing much of how he produced one of his latest personal projects (an image that could serve as a poster for the upcoming feature movie, Wolverine). Glyn posted the image over on 500px recently, and the response was overwhelmingly fantastic (you can click here to view it). See what I mean? Well, Glyn is a very generous man, and he has posted a YouTube video on how he developed that image. And he generously has allowed us to post it here today. Set aside some time and settle in for a treat. And thank you, Glyn!
Okay, enjoy the weekend. Camera in hand.
Read More