Last year I made two trips to Mansfield, Ohio to photograph the reformatory where Shawshank redemption was filmed. It is such an interesting place. As a reformatory it was chartered to educate and teach new skills to the inmates in an effort to help them find legitimate work once they were released. Inmates had the… Continue Reading
I have been experimenting with extreme time exposures. This image was shot in early October while driving to Drummond Island. I used a 10 stop neutral density filter and the resulting exposure worked out to be 271 seconds. The extremely long duration allowed time for the clouds to “streak” across the image. The tree also… Continue Reading
I teach numerous people in a variety of different ways. I often hear “there is so much to remember…how do you do it”? The same way you manage to drive your car everyday without incident (hopefully). You do it repeatedly until muscle memory takes over. Have you ever rented a different car when you travel? The… Continue Reading
Time was when you could enter an occasional photography contest, share your work publicly and have an opportunity to win a little something at the same time. Nowadays there is a little good news / bad news scenario surrounding photo contests. The good news is there are still some nice opportunities to participate in photo… Continue Reading
Tripods come is a dizzying array of colors, sizes, materials, and price points. This is the first in a series of articles intended to aid in the process of choosing the right tripod for you. How do you begin to wade through all the choices? I would start by giving consideration to your budget. A good tripod will… Continue Reading
A quality ball head will go a long way toward making you love your tripod. A tripod is a tool, and like any other tool it should make your job easier. If it makes life harder, then you need to re-evaluate the situation and find a solution. The tripod pictured above has been my go… Continue Reading
I bought my first tripod in 1979, and I sold it a few months later. Why? Simple it was poorly designed and made my life harder not easier. I have since bought numerous tripods for different purposes. This is the first in what will be several posts regarding tripods. The image above is made possible… Continue Reading
As I sit watching it rain, I found myself wishing for a nicer day. I decided to find a fun image of better times. Thus the picture above, from a wonderful day in Savannah, Georgia. So what does this have to do with my topic RAW vs. JPEG? Well let’s see. Let me take a moment… Continue Reading
The day started out with threatening weather forecasts, but ended with sun and a delicious dinner. Back lighting is always the way to go when photographing food. This shot was accomplished with natural light and a few pieces of simple white board to act as reflectors. As soon as I cleared away the camera and… Continue Reading
Earlier this week I taught a Night Photography Workshop in Birmingham, Michigan. The city is a little torn up from construction, so we had to be selective in our compositions. Even with the construction there were plenty of great subjects to photograph. We started in Shain Park and photographed the sculptures and fountain. The clouds… Continue Reading