Simple Tips to Better Photography
Visual Poetry
When I was an interpretive park ranger at Dinosaur National Monument last summer, I created a photography program to give amateur photographers ideas on how to improve their vacation photos. The “Simple Tips to Better Photography” was a non-technical tutorial on the art of seeing. With today’s do-it-all-for-you digital cameras, most of the technical stuff is already done by the camera, and often done quite well.
But what snapshooters need to learn most is what I call visual poetry. They need to learn how to make a compelling photograph. Too many people don’t use their telephoto lenses to their best advantage, and that is one of the most important tools they have to capture the compelling part of the photograph.
Although this presentation is focused on landscape and nature photography, the same can be said about photographing people.
I began my presentation with a discussion about visual poetry, adapted for general audiences: Read the rest of this entry »
Banks Lake Part 3 – Cypress Studies in BW
Banks Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Lakeland, Georgia is more like the quintessential swamp than a lake. These huge pond cypress have escaped the wildfires that define the landscape of its sister refuge Okefenokee, and the ample beards of Spanish moss attest to many decades of undisturbed serenity. The lake is popular with anglers, but to truly experience its mysterious beauty, one should be out at dawn in an autumn fog. Even in December, birds are singing, and the gauze challenges you to find them. Enjoy a black-and-white world paddling through the cypress of this unique blackwater lake. Read the rest of this entry »
Black-and-White at Big Bend
Moonrise over the Window, Chisos Mountains
I decided to do something different and go retro – back to black-and-white. These are a few of my favorite BW images of Big Bend National Park in far west Texas. I worked and lived in Big Bend for two winters, and it is truly a special place. Of course, these are all digital images. Read the rest of this entry »
