Update – November 1, 2016: I get many emails and comments related to this post — from people interested in micro four thirds (m43) and mirrorless cameras as a wildlife format. I’ve been shooting with Olympus m43 gear exclusively now for three years and plan to update my impressions before the end of the year. In…
Post Processing, Realism + Conceptualism: A Postscript
Long-billed Curlew photographed at sunset, on the dunes at Morro Strand State Beach in California. These thoughts are an extension of the discussion that began under my piece on post-processing. Thanks to my blogging friends who shared their methodologies and perspectives, initiating some thought-provoking explorations of realism in photography. I heard a lecture recently where…
How Much Post-Processing Do You Do?
A friend linked to this story in her Facebook feed today: Why do Photo Contest Winners Look Like Movie Posters? Post-processing is obviously not a new topic … and it’s one that’s been evolving alongside digital photography and darkroom skills. This particular piece questions the lighting on the winning image in the World Press contest,…
Studies in Ghost Geese
The first time I witnessed a blast of Snow Geese I described it this way: The sound of flocking snow geese is sometimes described as a “cacophony,” a “symphony,” a “storm” — a “baying of hounds,” a “noise blizzard.” The sound, in fact, varies. There’s a comfortable warbling of goose grumbles and calls as the…
Draped in Kelp, Below by 8000 Feet
“Under the brine you won’t notice the dark Can stone and steel and horses heels Ever explain the way you feel? From Scapa Flow to Rotherhithe, I felt the lapping of an ebbing tide Oh the heavy water how it enfolds The salt, the spray, the gorgeous undertow Always, always, always the sea Brilliantine mortality.”…
The Benefits of Anthropomorphism
If you work with or care about animals, the nonhuman ones, eventually, someone will say something like, “shouldn’t you care more about what happens to people?” That question doesn’t faze me anymore. Given our predominantly anthropocentric world view, I’d actually be surprised if people didn’t ask it. I have plenty of answers for why it’s…
Arc of the Kingfisher
I have a few terabytes of backlogged photos I’ve never posted — many of which should probably stay archived. But, I thought for sure I’d published this one. When I searched my blog archives, it appears this image never touched the pages of The Quark. This is a banner I created last year of a…
A Return to Itten: Days 9 to 12
Today seems like an Itten’s Contrasts kind of day, with rainbows reflected in puddles as the sun dances in and out of Seattle downpour. I started an Itten’s Contrast series on the eve of 2010 — finishing just eight of my twelve promised posts. I’m tallying up the final four today, two years later, with…
Beautiful Things in Humble Places
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” ~ Camille Pissarro. I can’t see the world the way Pissarro did, let alone paint it. My own mother creates watercolors like Georgia O’Keefe’s, but I can’t draw a stick figure in proper perspective. In other words, were it not…
Wildlife Photography on a Budget
Here’s a great way to make a photographer happy: After viewing her photos, say something like “wow, you must have really great gear.” Everyone knows photography is not about the gear. Right? Well, it isn’t . . . but sometimes it is. Artistic vision is definitely not about the gear. And you’ll rankle a lot…
