You Might Be Surprised

We just finished our 4 glorious days on the North Shore of Lake Superior.  Great participants, great weather, great accommodations, great photography from all.   Wow.  What a treat to be able to do this.  THANK YOU to George, Chris, Marek, Chet, Gary and Sam!
I don’t formally shoot during workshops, but I’ll carry around my 5D [...]

I bet my HDR can beat up your HDR

I’m writing this post just a few days before I start teaching a landscape workshop to remind myself that HDR for HDR’s sake does not equal good photography.   Like two litttle kids comparing who’s dad is tougher, some photographers compete with each other to produce more graphic, more over the top HDR images with a [...]

You’re So Limited!

The following quote came up in a conversation with a friend, John Benzik, yesterday;  “In an almost classical sense, U2’s guitarist has turned limitations to his advantage, using simple techniques and abundant imagination to produce one of the freshest styles in years.”  This is an excerpt from Guitar Player Magazine, 1985 interview with [...]

Get Divorced!

WARNING!  THIS IS A LONG POST ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY.  TO JUST SEE GREAT IMAGES GO TO BOTTOM OF PAGE.
I was on a commercial architecture shoot in Emmetsburg, Iowa last weekend.  Much to my surprise and pleasure two divorced women I met at lunch tried desperately to get me out to the local casino [...]

Preparation H

Consistent, quality photography is generally not an accident or product of happenstance.  Its a product of management and preparation.  I now spend less than 1% of my time on any shoot actually pushing that silly little shutter button.
I recently had a teaching client in my studio working on a shoot.  I had worked with [...]

Rush City Grain Elevator

Yep, another grain elevator shot.  Whew, how many of these can any of you take?  Well, we’ll find out.  I’m going to start including a short video on my thoughts regarding the WHY of the image post as well as the HOW of it.  Today is the first of these.  Please feel free to post [...]

Is Photography Over?

“Is Photography Over?” is the title of an upcoming symposium at the San Fransisco Museum of Art.  Since many of you reading this probably can’t be there, I thought I’d post the symposium description here and see what you think.
“Photography has almost always been in crisis. In the beginning, the terms of this crisis [...]

Exhibition Selection and Workshop Announcements

NORTH SHORE LANDSCAPE WORKSHOP August 9-12, 2010

North Shore Landscape Workshop
I’m excited to announce my 2010 North Shore Landscape workshop, August 9 – 12.   This is a popular workshop in a very scenic part of the country, and to maximize your experience I’ve limited the class to 7 participants.   For more details and online registration, please [...]

A Morning At the Beach

Every field of study has its weed-out courses, the one that helps you decide whether this is for you. In some fields its just a brutally difficult and demanding course.  In Mechanical Engineering it was Thermodynamics, in Chemistry it was Organic Chemistry.  In some fields, its just sour tasting, i.e. Accounting or Finance.
Last weekend I [...]

Throwing a Hail Mary

This set of images was taken on the night of Dec. 23 and during the day, Dec. 24, 2009.  Our epic snowstorm blowing in, my friend Chet and I decide to head to Duluth and take what comes our way.  We arrived in the harbor at night, but in reasonable conditions.  The winds were blowing [...]

Next Page »