BetterPhoto Instructor Insights

Recognition of Memorial Day

by Jim Zuckerman

When I tell my friends that I haven't had a vacation since 1972, they all laugh. Because I've been to so many places in the world, they think my entire life is a vacation. Well, not really. Even though I travel so much, I'm always shooting, and that for me is work. If I lie on a tropical beach somewhere, after thirty minutes or so I get bored and I start looking around for something to shoot.

In 1981 I made my first trip to Tahiti. The color of the water is so saturated, and the palms and the verdant mountains are so seductive, that one could easily come to the conclusion that this is paradise with a capital 'P'. I flew to Bora Bora from the capital, Papeete, and after checking into my lodge I went straight to the beach and did what everyone dreams of doing: I laid down in the tropical sun and thought I had been instantly transported to Heaven.

And that lasted about a half hour.

Ok, now what? Since this was before the Internet, researching photogenic subjects was done with travel books, post cards, and talking to local people about things of interest geologically, historically, culturally, etc. Someone told me that there were two canons in the nearby mountains, so I decided to hike up to them to see if they were of interest. I thought that perhaps they had been left over by the French army, perhaps from the 1800s, but that was not the case at all. They turned out to be artillery from the United States Navy. To help protect the islands in case the Japanese moved that far east in the Pacific, the Navy placed these canons here early in the war. In fact, carved in a nearby tree was an engraving that read "Katz, USN, 1943".

The canons were rusted and had been covered with graffiti, and by the time I trudged up the mountain carrying my medium format film camera, the sun was already high. I took pictures which I knew would never be considered fine art, and probably would never sell. But I stood there trying to imagine how the servicemen stationed here spent their time as they watched for enemy ships.

These pictures were taken with a Mamiya RB 67 on Ektachrome 64 transparency film. I used a 50mm wide angle lens, which is approximately equivalent to a 24mm lens in the 35mm or digital format. The aerial view I've included in this blog was taken from a small airplane I hired on this trip to do aerial photography, and it shows the rugged terrain in which the canons were placed.

On this Memorial Day I thought it was appropriate to remember these pictures and the sacrifices so many have made for our freedoms.

Learning from Sharing Photos

By Ibarionex R. Perello

Buddhist Monk at Computer © Ibarionex Perello All rights reserved

It used to be that I could only find inspirational photographic work by visiting a local museum, subscribing to a magazine or purchasing a monograph. These resources were very important toward developing my photographic eye, but magazines only arrived at my doorstep once a month, time didn’t always allow for trips to a gallery and some monographs put a heavy strain on my wallet.

The Internet changed all that. Suddenly, access to the world’s best photography was literally at my fingertips. Not only could I view the work of my favorite professional photographers, but also more importantly, I had the chance to discover the work of photographers, who might not be famous but who were producing phenomenal work.

Photo sharing sites and websites have been promoted as ways for professional photographers to get work and for the casual snapshooter to share their images with family and friends. However for enthusiasts like me, it provides a daily dose of inspiration that keeps me excited about my own passion for photography.

Though my years at the photographic magazines allowed me to view the work of some of the best photographers, it’s often been the work of amateurs that have amazed me the most. It’s one of the reasons that I love browsing through the websites and folios of many BetterPhoto members and students. I am often floored by the quality of the work that I see on a daily basis as a result.

What I especially love is the fact that I can easily reach out and communicate with these photographers to not only compliment them about their work, but to build relationships. It often becomes more than just a mutual admiration society, but a way of maintaining my own focus on challenging myself and having fun with my camera.

I love getting comments on my images in my BetterPholio, but what really excites me is discovering an image that inspires me to see the world a little differently. I will often browse through the galleries of my favorite BP photographers to help open my eyes before a day of shooting. This helps me to think out of the box and take a different look at the world around me.

With four choices to share photos BetterPhoto makes it easy for any photographer whether amateur or professional to create a presence on the web. With several design choices, it’s simple to personalize the look of a site. I love seeing how people choose to make the most of their sites as well as it helps to consider some great ways of making the most of my own presence on the web.

This image of a Buddhist monk working at a laptop is the kind of image I might not have “seen” years ago. But having the opportunity to learn how other photographers use light and color helped me refine my eye so that I not only recognized the moment, but also had the means to successfully capture it.

Have fun with your photography and learning from others!

Making the Most of a Place

A friend of mine (who just happens to like B&W photography alot) invited me recently to the small town of Locke, California, for some photography. He mentioned it was an old Chinese town, built and inhabited by the Chinese that came to work the railroad and gold mines and support services for those things. I was intrigued by that, and set a date to meet him there. When I arrived, my first reaction was "interesting, (read) funky, but where are the photos?" At first glance, the place was dilapidated, funky, and very small. How were we going to spend a half day photographing here? I was sure I'd be done in an hour or less. So first, we went for lunch - to fortify our creativity - and the more I settled in to the surroundings, the more things I saw.

Afterwards we walked the streets, all two of them, looking for photos. I set a goal to capture things that expressed a sense of place - that old travel photographer in me just can help it - and so I looked for Chinese signs, things that intermingled with today's shops that are there. I looked for architecture, something that might define a Chinese influence, but really didn't find any of that. But I did find interesting slatted structures that protected the fronts of the buildings from the strong, summer sun, providing cooling for the thin wooden buildings. I began to see in B&W, too!

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And, I looked at the people - not so much the inhabitants, because they were few and far between, but the visitors - the motorcyclists, and other travelers that came through to have a drink at the well-known bar. Although the place was really small, I ended up having fun, and making a few interesting pictures of the place. All because I was being open to what was there, letting myself wander and get into the spirit of this old place. I find that more times than not, if I can go out and be open to what's in front of me, I'll find good things to photograph.

Have a great week of photography,

Brenda

Attitude of Play

By John Siskin

Clapping Hands © John H. Siskin All rights reserved

I think that photography is a language and I am helping people to learn a way to write in that language. I hope that they will learn how to write both creatively and technically. To say one is better than the other is to say that a poem is better than an instruction book. In my experience both can be incomprehensible! Just like English has rules that are essential for it to make sense: “Bob hit Bill” is not the same as “Bill hit Bob.” Similarly there are rules that can be broken but the style of the sentence is poor: “Bill hited bob.” In photography the syntax is based on the physics of light and the reactions of film or sensors to that light. You can make a camera with out a lens, but you can’t record an image without controlling exposure; at least you need a lens cap as a shutter. The lens and the shutter and a way to hold the sensor or film are essential aspects of communication. You can’t really break these rules and make an image that will function to communicate information intelligibly. The meter and the auto color settings are only tools; what they say is sometimes wrong or not the best choice. You should be willing to override these tools: they should be the slaves of your vision rather than enslaving your vision.

Adverb © John H. Siskin All rights reserved

In order for me to be able to use a new technique I need to adopt an attitude of play. I also think that creative play is more important to image making than study. People need to be able to make mistakes with out feeling as though they did something wrong. One of the great things about digital photography is that there is no per image cost. With digital the voice in the back of your mind that blames you for making a mistake because you have wasted materials can go to sleep. I find that when I want to learn a new technique I have to play around with it, before I start trying to take control. This reduces frustration and builds creativity.

Have fun!

John

CAN YOU REALLY LEARN TO IMPROVE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY?

by Jim Zuckerman

This past week one of the students in my Perfect Digital Exposure course, Jay Nordstrom, asked me a great question. I thought other students in the various Betterphoto courses as well as visitors to the site would be interested in Jay’s insightful question and my answer which comes from decades of teaching photography.

Question: “I want to know if the way you see things (symmetrical, should be brighter, should be darker) is a talent I can acquire or is it a talent you are born with? I would like very much to get really good at photography, but I’m wondering if it’s like music where you have to have talent that you are born with. Please be brutally honest. I can take it.”

My answer: “I appreciate your question and your invitation to be honest. You are asking a great question, and I've thought about this a lot.

I think photography is like music, but not 100%. I have a niece who, when she was 3 years old (she's now 22), could carry a tune so perfectly that everyone who heard her was utterly captivated. Today she's truly an incredible performer. My mother could sing and so can my sisters. When I try, I can hit the correct note about one in twenty tries. I've known that no matter how much money I might spend on lessons, it wasn't going to happen for me. Not even close. I have no clue how someone can open their mouth and out comes middle C.

With photography, the skills involved in seeing things can be developed. People can improve their picture taking. I've seen it, and I've helped many people do this. Noticing shadows and highlights and distracting backgrounds is really just a matter of being shown these flaws and then focusing your attention on them. That's not the same as forming your lips, tongue, palette, vocal cords, and diaphragm and hitting A sharp. As far as I'm concerned, you can't teach that. It can be developed, honed, and it can mature. But it's ultimately an inherent gift. Seeing a tree trunk sticking up from behind someone's head, on the other hand, is a no-brainer once it's pointed out.

The hard part with photography is composition. It has to do with making sense out of all the elements and coming up with an attractive photograph. For example, let's take landscape photography. You've got trees, bushes, clouds, rocks, dirt, bodies of water, stuff sticking up out of the water, etc. etc. How do you make sense out of that? That's the challenge.

My Eight Steps course and the Developing Your Own Personal Vision course are both designed to address this problem. I try to do so from different perspectives, but ultimately that's what I'm trying to help people do -- make sense of the visual chaos -- and to recognize what is good and not-so-good in compositional design. From the very positive feedback I get from students, I think I succeed at least in many cases.

That's about as close as I can come to answering your insightful question.

MAKING SENSE OUT OF THE VISUAL CHAOS:

Keeping your Eyes Open

By Brenda Tharp

Am old friend of mine, Dewitt Jones, once published a book title "What the Road Passes By". It was comprised of interesting and beautiful scenes that were oft-overlooked in our searches for that greener pasture, for the magic of beyond. His goal was to prove that Beauty was right here, right at our feet, and that interesting things were never very far away, if we just opened ourselves up to the world around us, we would see some great stuff. I made that idea a sort of mantra in my life, and whether it's nature subjects or travel related scenes, I have tried to always go out with an open mind, with the awe and wonder of a child or an enthusiastic visitor, to try and see things that other people may miss.

© Brenda Tharp. All Rights Reserved.

While in Italy in May 2006, I was walking through an indoor market, and I came upon this funny scene of a woman shopping for fish. Surely this was a bored dog - maybe even "dog-tired", but the message was clear - it wasn't interested in going any further. Now if it had been a cat, it might have shown more interest in the fish, but you don't see too many cats on leashes - even in Europe!

On a more recent trip to Tuscany (Sept 2006), my partner and I had decided to explore some villages we'd never been to, and knew little about. Todi turned out to be pretty quiet that day, and it was hard work to find the people moments that I enjoy photographing so much. Exhausted and hungry, we stopped for lunch, and a rest. On my way out of the terrace restaurant, I spotted this cat - who obviously had the right idea of how to spend the entire day! I could learn from that cat, I remember thinking. Take it slow, let Life come to you...

© Brenda Tharp. All Rights Reserved.

© Brenda Tharp. All Rights Reserved.

Finally, in one other village, we saw the most humorous thing. Either this was a very large dog, or these were very tiny chairs! The reverse scale made this picture so funny, I had to snap a few - but one was all I got before the dog, aka salesman, came forward to greet me. "Wanna buy a chair?" he gruffed.

I have a whole file of funny sign-spotting, expressions of people, animals doing funny things, and subtle humor (that sometimes only get - sound familiar?) but those images are a way for me to connect with the moment, the experience of being there, in that moment.

Have a great week, and keep your eyes open!

Making the Most of Bad Weather

© Brenda Tharp

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but inside, it's so delightful...so goes a popular American holiday tune, and for some of us, having bad weather right now, we might want to stay indoors and read a book curled up by a fire, or work on our thousands of images that need converting from RAW, or need cataloging. I was reading John Siskin's blog about keeping a clean studio and felt it really applies to my office, too - which I've been cleaning thoroughly the past two weeks, in between projects. I won't show you a picture, because it's not finished - yet! That's because when the weather's not great, I find I head outside - because it's the time for an outdoor photographer to get out there and make pictures!!

© Brenda Tharp.

Now I'll be the first to admit that there are times when the weather is just plain ugly - flat, detail less gray skies, no direction to the brightness coming through the clouds, no wet leaves, -nothin' to inspire. But there are just as many times when I head out there and find that there are pictures galore - droplets of water on grasses, flowers, pine branches; ice-encased berries, a path of wet leaves; and there are times when the drama in the sky is fantastic - so just because it's "frightful" weather, don't give up and stay inside every time or you'll miss the magic that's happening outside. Additionally, even if you come away without a great picture for that day, you will hopefully have experienced Nature in some special way. So no matter where you are in the world, when weather hits, you can often find great things to photograph outdoors.

Have a great week, no matter what your weather is, everyone!

Photographing Springtime in the Smokies

Redbud Tree and Little River, Tennessee.
© Brenda Tharp. All Rights Reserved.

You never know what you’re going to find when you plan a trip to photograph Spring somewhere - or any season for that matter. If you have a flexible schedule that allows for last minute changes, you might be able to watch the progression of the season to predict when it might be peak for certain things - wildflowers, fall foliage, etc., and make changes to your travel plans. But most of us don’t have that flexibility. My field workshop in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park last week was planned over a year ago for the school to finalize their scheduling and advertising. It’s not possible to know what Spring will be like for 2006 way back then! I arrived on April 7th, only to find that Spring had not really come to the Smokies just yet. Barely begun, the redbud tree were blossoming, but little to nothing else. The dogwood, which often come after the redbud, were scarcely seen save for a blossom here and there on an early blooming tree. The other trees were mostly bare, with few catkins or seeds just beginning to emerge. I was in shock; as I drove around, I wasn’t finding much that grabbed my attention, and I had 12 people coming to meet me on Saturday night! They were anxious to capture the essence of Spring in this park, and it was my job to teach them how. “Yikes!” I remember saying to my assistant as we scouted out all my favorite places there. “Nothing’s happening yet, at least not very pronounced at this point, anyway. What are they going to photograph?” Concern was beginning to set in, as I had specific expectations. That’s when I remembered the danger of going out with a specific plan. And that I know from past experiences that you can always find things to photograph if you look closely and appreciate what’s there. I had to reframe, shift my thinking, pull in my sights. The big vistas of forests dressed in lime-green leaves and bright white dogwood blossoms weren’t happening; so what was? As I looked, I found early spring flowers blooming. And the water was flowing wonderfully over sculpted rocks and mossy boulders, freshly green from the last few days of rain. Bark patterns were still there, and textures of moss with tiny green plants embedded in them. It might not be perfect, but there were things to photograph. The historic cabins were still there, with their silvery weathered wood and peaceful settings in forest clearings and coves. Sparks Lane held possibilities, if we got good morning light and maybe some ground fog. As I inventoried what was there, I began to feel a little better. In the end, I needn’t have worried so much. The students really found great things to photograph, as shown here in these three small examples.

© Rick Tolbert, © Kat McFarland, © Mike Turner.

Many more were made, too. And as each day progressed, Spring began to burst forth and we had new things to photograph! When the end of the week came, it was just coming around nicely. Once again the point was proved that if you are open to what’s around you, and if you love being out in Nature, you will find beautiful things to photograph, no matter what the season. It isn't always about the large landscape; sometimes the beauty of the season is contained in the small things.

Have a great week, everyone!

Capturing Moments means Paying Attention

I’ve finally been getting to my backlog of digital files to process and have found a few of them fun to work with in Photoshop!

After reading Jim Zuckerman’s posts about Italy, I’m salivating over the the thought of cappuccino's and morning light spilling across the wonderful stone walls of authentic villages, of sunrise through the lamps of Piazza San Marco in Venice. There’s one space left on my tour for May, if anyone’s interested!

I don’t consider myself a photojournalist by career, yet I had training to be one many years ago, and that training has been so useful in other areas of photography. Studying, through workshops and classes, to become an expert at observation meant I had to be present while walking around town, in a village, on a boat, bus or subway train. It meant I couldn’t “zone” out and ignore the world around me. If I had any hope of capturing life’s funny or poignant moments, I learned I had better pay attention. That means not walking around with a Walkman, Ipod or cell phone attached to my ears all the time, too.

Today, as a travel photographer, that skill of learning to be observant has helped me photograph many interesting moments - moments that tell a story, that make you wonder, laugh, cry or smile.

That same training has helped me observe animal behavior and to be ready to capture moments with them, too. They don't have to be high-action moments, either. Sometimes just coming upon a simple scene of a cat perfectly positioned between the railings is enough to make a nice picture.

So if I learned only one thing from that early training, (and I really learned more) it was to pay attention - to everything around me; to watch the light, the action amongst people, the gestures of individuals, of animals. All of these things will provide a plethora of pictures if you're watching for them.

The Office or The Outdoors? That is the Dilemma!

We've been having so much rain in northern California lately! I wish I could send it to places in the country that need it desperately, like Oklahoma and Nebraska and Texas, to name a few. With all this rain, it's kept me focused on getting office chores done - like editing my digital files, prepping them for stock submissions, scanning older slides and archiving things. In short, getting my act together!

As I sit watching the downpour hit my office window, though, I have cabin fever. There's so much to do here, but there's so much beauty outside. Yikes! So, when the breaks in the storms come, I take a break from the office and head for the outdoors to capture what all this water has created: lush green forests of oaks, bay laurels and madrone trees, dripping with lichens, covered in mosses. Water cascading down mossy rocks Overcast skies are great for that type of photography, and with everything wet, there is a rich saturation to the colors.

It's the season of mustard between the grapevine rows in wine country, too, and when the sun shines on a freshly washed landscape, there is a clean crispness to the light that I love. We get incredible cumulus clouds and wispy "mare's tails" in the skies, above the saturated yellow mustard rows, and it screams to be photographed! I used a polarizer to make the clouds pop a little more in the sky, and in the process, it actually helped to saturate the yellow - not that yellow needs it very often - but there was just enough wetness on the mustard plants that it cut some of the glare from that. All in all, it improved a picture that celebrates the great skies of spring in the wine country.

My challenge is not unlike what many of you face, working full-time jobs and having little time to get out there and photograph. But if you carry your camera system with you, and plan a little extra time getting to and from the office, you can make the time to create pictures - and be ready for the days when the weather makes photography that much more exciting.

In the long run, I'll hopefully get both the work done in the office and some great photographs, too, during this wild month of March!

Have a great day, everyone.