Hitting the Streets in London

While walking the streets of London on our recent visit and inspired by an excellent exhibit at the Museum of London, I thought it was time for a bit of "Street Photography."


Click here to view a full screen slide show.

I made a conscious decision to depart from Jay Masiel's technique of no image manipulation and process these images to a greater or lesser extent as pseudo HDR images to give them a bit of a gritty, urban feel. Sorry, Jay. But then you taught us to find our own vision ;-). I used Nik HDR Effects Pro to process the single RAW files.

Choose the Right

I was hoping for a nice sunrise as a reward for getting up at 4:00 am. I had to find a place within an hour drive from Idaho Falls. I wasn't sure which direction all of the action would be happening in and where the clouds would be so I needed some place that I could shoot in many different directions. And I love reflections so somewhere with water. Decisions, decisions! I got in the car and had about 2 blocks before I had to turn and commit. And the decision is...Camas National Wildlife Refuge north of Idaho Falls.

As I enjoyed the fresh air, sounds of the abundant wildlife, and the beautiful sunrise I was reminded of Galen Rowell's famous quote,

"You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn't waste either."

and I was glad I made the decision to get up early and come to this place.

Your Turn to Shine

A MFA worker carefully cleans the Zhan Wang sculpture entitled "Artificial Rock #85" located in the Shapiro Courtyard at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She used a small bottle of some cleaning fluid and slowly worked around the bottom of the sculpture with what looked like a Q-tip. It was fascinating to watch her carefully and meticulously work.

My challenge was to capture the scene in an interesting way. How would Jay Masiel photograph this? But then Jay would probably tell me something like "Be yourself, make the photograph unique to your style" or maybe his famous quote, "You've got photography in your life. Now put some life into your photography." ;-)

Jay really changed the way I look at photography and I hope I will always remember and use the ideas and principle he taught. The slide show below has a few more images inspired by Jay's teaching...


Click here to view a full screen slide show.

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Have A No Return Policy

Does something cool, interesting, or beautiful catch your eye? Take the shot! If you think you will return and get it later, you probably won't or if you do it will be gone or changed. I have learned from experience that these special moments are fleeting and the opportunity must be seized. Stop and take the shot!

As a group of us were driving up the Whitney Portal Road a large dust storm could be seen in the valley below. The morning sun reflected on the road making it appear as a silver ribbon winding through the Alabama Hills. Finding a place to stop was difficult and inconvenient but I am so glad I acted on this impulse...



Always remember that opportunity only knocks once. Don't think you will return and be able to get the image. Stop and take the shot!

Crossover

After concentrating on lighting and portraits recently I have returned to my roots by visiting Moab, Utah (daughter and son-in-law) and leading a landscape photography workshop with my good friend Bill Wight in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California. It is interesting to me how I look at lighting and composition a bit differently after taking the lighting workshops. The crossover learning from the different types of photography is significant, for instance...

Side lighting...





or Leading Lines...





Backlighting...





Composition and framing...






Well, you get the idea. We should never stop learning or trying new techniques because the process will make us better. Our photographic eye will improve, our creativity will be enhanced, and technique will advance. Crossover learning is not only fun but is a sure way to improve your photographic vision and results!