AC Johnson Photography Education » lake superior

You Might Be Surprised

Alec — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:39:27 +0000

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 Mark II to document participants and moments with still images and video. Here’s a smattering of what I captured. The first three are of an old Ford Edsel, or as my dear friend Matt Gibson said, “The new Antelope Valley,” (shot before the workshop with tripod), with a 24-70mm lens.

Everything else was captured without a tripod and using the exact same lens, a Canon 100mm macro, which I can’t imagine actually choosing for many of these circumstances. Its what I had on my camera the entire workshop. Upshot: teach yourself to see with a lens you seldom use. You might be surprised.

Welcome to my New Photography Site

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Landscape Photography: Giving Up #1

Alec — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:26:11 +0000

Today’s image is the first of three I’ll be posting as a series titled, “Giving Up.” In early Octoboer, 2009 I left Saint Paul at 3 am to catch sunrise on Lake Superior in Duluth. The forecast was for rain, it rained all the way up I35, then stopped in Duluth. Then started again in Two Harbors and never let up the rest of the day. “Perfect” I thought to myself. I’m not at a computer, I’m not working, I do have my cell phone, but thank you ATT for having bad service on the North Shore. No pushing. Its so easy to push hard, natural for many of us. To take hold of circumstances, engineer a vision or outcome, start pushing on the objects we think we need or can help us construct this vision, often times repeating the same processes we’ve employed in the past. This is not good or bad behavior, but we can’t assume it will actually produce the outcome we desire. My entrepreneur friends should notice I’m speaking directly at them.

Nor does it guarantee that we’ll feel good about the process when we’re done.

“Perfect” I thought again. I can’t lose today. Its horrible weather, so no expectations on the photography, just get settled into being here, explore areas I haven’t explored before, and just keep moving. At times I still love exploring. Maybe its just looking at land for sale around the arrowhead, maybe its taking the recommendation of my friend Lavonne; that gravel road “shortcut” to the top of Carleton Peak or the trail up the east side of the Beaver River that might give me a entirely new perspective (I’ve looked Lavonne, the trail isn’t there:)). In the next installment of Giving Up, it will be the turnout on Hwy1 near Finland. The “turnout.” Its not marked, its not used much. It was magical.

In taking this attitude, in avoiding the same routines I usually use, in giving up on the idea of taking good pictures, I was able to have one of the finest days of personal photography I’ve had in a long time. This was the last image created on that day in early October. I shot this at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, let Kaya out for a run, and headed home.

Technical: ISO 50, f/10, 2 second shutter, manual exposure mode, camera flash set to manual and rear curtain sync with no flash compensation

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(V) (I) Landscape Photography Tutorial: Duluth Harbor Black and White

Alec — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:26:01 +0000

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Hi Gang, today’s post is an image and video tutorial of a photo I captured on Oct. 2, 2009 in Duluth Harbor. Some may recall the storm that passed through there and I showed up on the back side of it, when things had calmed just a little. The structure in this image is the Fort Whitney unloading dock, used in the 1920’s to unload sand and gravel dug from the bottom of Lake Superior. To get a more complete story and great black and white photo from 1920, click here.

This image is also available for purchase in print form at my fine art site, ACJ FINE ART PHOTO, exclusively in 16×24 inches on traditional metallic photographic paper or canvas!

I’ve produced a 12 minute tutorial on black and white photography and the production of today’s image. I hope you enjoy it.

Creating The Image: Black and White Digital Photography from Alec Johnson on Vimeo.

Welcome to my New Photography Site

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Welcome to my New Photography Site

Alec — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:44:14 +0000

NEW NEWS Well, I did it again. I have a new site with a new domain name and for good reason. The short of it is a change of focus and a need for better SEO (don’t worry if you don’t know what that means). Those two simple sounding issues created a number of large headaches, now cured! Many, many thanks to my good friend, Matt Albiniak, for overseeing the overhaul. THANK YOU MATT!!!!!

What’s new? I’ll be offering more workshops and that information will be available here, including online workshops. I’ll be producing more video tutorials, and I’ll be blogging in a more traditional sense about photography. Most of this new blog activity will be found in the “News” category. I will blog frequently, but I don’t know if I’ll blog regularly. Hmmmm…..

So, if you’re in to pictures or you’re just a good friend that puts up with me, then I’ll send you an email when I’ve posted a new image (like today). If you’re really into photography, you may want to subscribe via RSS to keep up with the frequent “News” posts, or subscribe in the “ENEWS & UPDATES” area. If you prefer, you can follow on Facebook via Networked Blogs and always feel free to share a post on Facebook or other social media using the new sharing feature found in the posts. Ok, please subscribe one way or another, if you haven’t already.

OTHER NEW NEWS I’m in a new studio as of Wednesday, Oct. 30th, located in Edina, MN. I love referrals for studio work and if you have an idea for creative studio photography you’re interesting in trying, let me know. I’m usually game. You can view my portfolio of studio work at my commercial website.

Fine Art Gallery: Please visit the Fine Art Gallery to purchase fine art prints. The design needs tweaking but the site is fully functional. If you have questions regarding a print, feel free to contact me directly.

Regarding today’s post:

Today’s post was shot from a perspective shown to me by a 2009 Digital Landscape Workshop participant, Amy Okaya. I was so taken with the image she produced from this spot that a few weeks later I went back on Sept. 10, 2009 and shot my own take on it. This was sunrise at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. What stunned me was how many new ways there are to see an old subject and all it took was a fresh set of eyes to show me. Perhaps there is a lesson in there for all of us, regardless of what we pursue????

Technical: ISO100, f/8, 2 stop bracket exposure, 3 frames total, High Dynamic Range (HDR) with Photomatix software.

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Lake Superior: Split Rock Lighthouse and New Web Site

Alec — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:27:14 +0000

Hi Gang,

This image was shot just before sunrise, August 13, 2009. The fog started to move inland off Lake Superior and into the harbor of Split Rock Lighthouse. There were high clouds (not seen in this image) and the fog was frequently changing its character. I don’t often shoot the lighthouse, but these conditions were producing a quality of light I have rarely experienced on Lake Superior (probably need to move there:))

I chose to underexpose the frame, making the lighthouse a silhouette, and forcing saturation into the colors. I also waited for the right fog bank to reveal the sliver of land in the foreground.

Technical Data: ISO100, f/11, 1.3sec shutter, -2EV exposure compensation, 70-200mm lens. no filters.

AC Johnson Photography Fine Art Prints

I’d like to use this image to introduce you to a new site I’ve launched, AC Johnson Photography Fine Art Prints. Over the years I’ve had a number of people make a request for this and finally found a cost/price effective solution to offering prints for sale. The site still needs a little tweaking for graphics, but its fully functional. Please take a look at the various galleries.

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Video from 2009 Digital Landscape Photography Workshop

Alec — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:05:20 +0000

Hi Gang,

Lots of upcoming posts and news, but I thought I’d start off this phase with a montage of video and still images shot during the 2009 Digital Landscaped Workshop, August 9-13, 2009, on the north shore of Lake Superior. A huge THANK YOU goes out to Marek, Mark, Sharon, Chet and Amy, our participants. An equally big THANK YOU goes to Travis Bechtel for assisting. Some amazing images were captured during the workshop, many of which are seen in the video. Enjoy!

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Scouting The Workshop on the Gitche Gumee

Alec — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:08:01 +0000

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I’m still digesting the amazing workshop week we all experienced. I have to send out a BIG THANK YOU to all the participants, including Marek, Amy, Mark, Sharon, Chet, and Travis, who assisted and contributed to the wonderful vibe of the group.

I went out Sunday afternoon before the workshop to scout a trail in Gooseberry State Park. I decided to just shoot “long” regardless, forcing myself to see differently and in hard light. This image was near the end of the Gitche Gumee trail on the bluff overlooking the mouth of the Gooseberry River. I’ve used some selective focus technique that has become a little popular in some circles and I’m curious to know you’re reaction to both the image and the post production technique.

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Landscape Photography: Establishing Relationships

Alec — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:19:01 +0000

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Hi Gang,

I’m choosing today’s image to discuss the relationship between subjects in big scenic landscapes. In a few weeks I’ll be teaching a 4 day workshop on landscape photography up on Lake Superior, a very amazing but difficult place to shoot big landscapes and this discussion will be the FOCUS of our shooting: finding relationships between land, water and sky that create a cohesive and balanced image.

Some landscape images are dramatic. The sky has gone crazy or there is some form of crazy, dramatic light effect. The latter is more common on Lake Superior during the summer. Clouds OVER the lake during sweet light are hard to come by for various meterlogical reasons. Dramatic has its own visual value, but that does not necessarily imply Balanced. I see many images in which there is drama, but virtually no relationship between the key elements. Creating a balanced, cohesive image usually takes a lot of scouting and a little bit of luck. Today’s image has both.

One, of several ways, to create relationships between subjects is to look for opportunities to capture elements that repeat themselves. In this image I was LUCKY to get just that. I’ve shot over this rock foreground several times, but on this evening I did not start there. I was shooting a different area, working with the concept of cloud motion blur. But the direction I was shooting, combined with the cloud structure, was not yielding much. Upon making this observation, I pulled up stakes and moved to this location to grab the last few remaining minutes of light and let things go where they wanted to…

I got lucky. I saw it in the LCD display. This amazing relationship between sky and foreground in the form of repetition of shapes. While this image is heavily photoshoped for the purposes of black and white photography, nothing here is manufactured. The repetition of shape allows for the subject of the sky to now work in harmony with the subject of the foreground. I have balance from top to bottom, two potentially conflicting subjects now working together.

Unfortunately, there is something working in this image against harmony. Perhaps you have a sense of what it is?

Some audio to go with the image:

Technical: ISO 100, f/22, 30 sec, Singh Ray Warming Polarizer, 3 stops ND, 2 stops reverse ND

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Landscape Photography: Beautiful Experiences and HDR Images

Alec — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:40:15 +0000

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Today’s post title is inspired by another amazing photographer, Guy Tal. In a recent post on his blog, Guy discusses the purpose behind his landscape photography, “…you are there to make images of beautiful experiences. Make it a beautiful experience first, and you will have something to photograph.” Guy’s writing articulates very well a message I’ve been delivering to camera clubs all winter and spring, and is the energy behind the name of my blog, EXPERIENCE, and its a major theme in my workshops. A huge THANK YOU to Guy for articulating this so well.

This image was made last Friday night, on the Beaver River as it enters Lake Superior, under the overpass. I left Saint Paul and arrived there with just one hour to shoot. It was cloudy, late, cool transitioning towards cold and beautiful. I photographed, I sat and watched a man catch a trout, and I listened to the water. I experimented and played with images, I got my feet wet because I forgot my waders. 3 1/2 hours to shoot for an hour, go to sleep and turn right around in the morning and drive back, and for what?

To EXPERIENCE. A BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE. I’ve added some audio captured at the same time and location as the image, to add to the experience.

Technical: ISO100, f/10, 24-70mm @70mm, 3 images/1 stop bracket HDR processed with Photomatix Pro software

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Landscape Photography: Lake Superior Redux

Alec — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:40:28 +0000

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A previous take on today’s image was posted here. This past weekend I was shooting a friend’s house and had a few minutes to run out and work with some thunderstorms that were starting to roll in. I decided to head back and try a new composition on this location. Hope you enjoy.

Technical: Canon 1Ds MarkII, 16-35mm @16mm, Singh Ray Warming Polarizer, f/9, 1/20sec, ISO100

Raw Converter Settings: exp +.20, recovery 100, fill light 30, blacks 0, contrast 100, vibrance +20, saturation -20

(V) (I) Landscape Photography Tutorial: Duluth Harbor Black and White

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