Life: Through the Lens

Viki works to get a wildflower shot, remembering that it's much better to get down to the level of your subject to get the best angle of view. Now and then it's important to drop everything and go take pictures.  It's also wonderful to share that experience with someone. Decide what our subject is,  then make sure it's obvious to your audience. Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with a talented novice photographer, someone who wanted some pointers.  We had agreed to meet at a local park where we could photograph sunrise on the river, the wildlife in the area, and then a friend's garden.  There was a lot of opportunity to share skills and ideas and get down and dirty as we collected photographs in our own "back yard," so to speak. The sun had technically risen, but had not reached it's beautiful fingers to the park.  As we talked a little about our experiences, and what we each liked to photograph the most, the color on the tree tops...

Unfortunately, our days of outdoor winter photography have changed with our increasing health issues.  So we are getting creative with winter blinds - like this new set-up following the holidays. We start with this, our Christmas tree.   The last few years we've purchased a potted tree, which we decorate with lights, and set on the deck outside the family room window.  Up until this year we have brought it in for a few days around Christmas, so the grandchildren can open presents "beneath" it.   But this year we left it outside and everyone seemed satisfied.  After the festivities, we end up with this. Instead of putting the tree in it's final location, a stand of trees out front where we're beginning a wind-break, we created a spot to anchor the tree just off the deck.  The idea is to create a bird-feeding area where we can get some good bird shots from the warmth of our dining room:).  We have some pretty great windows t...

It's unbelievable that today is August 1. Where have June and July gone? It's time to cram in the sailing, flying, biking, and other outdoor activities we enjoy so much when the weather is warm and the breezes are balmy. However, stronger breezes are in order for sailing. Daryl loves to see the rail in the water, where I happen to love a gentler heel. The wind filling the sails, the water lapping on the bow, and the ability to sit back and bask in the motion, and the silence, of a ship under sail. Our own boat is not in the water this summer, but we were able to enjoy a sail recently on the tall ship Friends Good Will , based in South Haven, MI. If you haven't had the opportunity to sail on one of these historic vessels, look for the nearest port and sign up for a fabulous experience. Friends Good Will is a replica of an 1811 ship, chartered by the U.S. government to transport military supplies to Fort Dearborn (Chicago). The ship was captured by the British after being...

As I've mentioned before, we belong to a camera club . Monthly meetings 9 months of the year bring us together to have workshops on various photography topics and skills, as well as to have themed competitions. February's competition , Motion, was great fun. Members can enter either digital or print images; slides have gone by the wayside, I'm afraid. But this makes the set-up very easy and the meetings run smoothly between the two venues. Three judges enter scores for the entries and the results are averaged. If someone enters photos and is also judging, this person enters a "0" when their photo is displayed, and the other scores are averaged. It works. The highest score you can get is an 18, which means you've earned a "6" from each judge. Fortunately, neither of us is fiercely competitive, so though our photos compete against each other we haven't had a major meltdown yet:) Here's a perfect example, from this month's competition. Thi...

Travels near and far takes us to the zoo this week. The last day of summer vacation before school started, we took two of our grandchildren to the zoo and had an excellent adventure. The weather was nice and cool, perfect for the animals to come out and play. Okay, so maybe not ALL the animals wanted to play. The picnic lunch was perfect, too, and there's always ice cream for desert at the concession stand. The challenge with zoo photography is trying to get a shot of an animal without showing glass, or caging. One trick is getting in close so you can chase out that reflection, or shoot through the wires. And sometimes there's not much you can do. It depends on your equipment, to some extent. In this case, I just didn't have either enough lens to allow me to zoom in through the bars, or a way to get so close I could actually put the face of my camera between the wires. This was definitely not one of those kinds of photo opportunities, as you can see by the expression on h...

Only 5 1/2 hours from home, and a new experience opened before us. We went with a group of fellow photographers to a beautiful national park near Cleveland, OH, and came away with sweaty clothes, mosquito bites, and memories of good times and photo opportunities. Every summer our photography group takes a field trip to a location not too far from home. Typically we leave on a Friday morning and return Sunday. The last couple of years we haven't been able to attend the entire weekend, but we go for whatever time we can. This year it was Friday and Saturday, returning in the evening so we could be here to photograph our airport open house on Sunday. Of course, the weekend was as hot and humid as most of our summer, it seems, so we did the best we could to stay hydrated, and apply mosquito repellant as we walked a wonderful walkway through a swamp, early Saturday morning. That walk was heavily traveled, we found, by a large number of cyclists, walkers, and beautiful wildlife. If we...

Sometimes all you need is a good book, or a good program, to take you away from your present location. For a while you can be lost in an adventure in a far away place. This is what Art Wolfe's Travels to the Edge does. Image by Art Wolfe Wolfe is a fabulous photographer, who can actually make a good living as an artist:). One of his many venues is public broadcasting, usually on Sunday night at 6:30 here. If you can't watch his program, all episodes are highlighted on his companion web site. He has 2 seasons of programs on places far and near, with information on how he got the shots, and what equipment he used to capture those magnificent photographs. There is also an episode about the making of his series. Image by Art Wolfe Of course, Wolfe has a crew to carry equipment and guides to get him into places most of us will never see. The people he meets and locations he visits are not only photographed, the cultures and ways of life are honored. So when you are looking for a g...

We do love photographing nature and wildlife, but we also love to photograph people and places. New Orleans is a wonderful location for architecture, culture and atmosphere. Sometimes when you travel you have to grab your opportunities, and the shooting situations may not be "prime." This means, you may not have the best light, the best temperatures...the best time of day. I'd be willing to bet that if you have choices, you don't choose to go to a hot, humid climate when you know it's at its peak - like New Orleans in July! The only time we had for our whirlwind visit was on the way home from our daughter's, in Texas, and we didn't have much time to work with. This is how we found ourselves wandering the French Quarter of New Orleans on a hot, humid Friday morning in July. Doing the best we could meant trying to shoot as few contrasty scenes as we could, which was really tough. The hazy morning certainly wasn't conducive to sharp, crisp images, so we ...

Tuesday, June 15, is Nature Photography Day and everyone should try and spend some time in the great outdoors. My last post gave you a number of suggestions for how to spend your day, so let everyone know what you did. You can do this a couple of different ways. You may email me your photo, and blog address, which I'll post at the end of the week, or you may run your own post and send me your link so I can spotlight it. I'd love to create a network of nature enthusiasts, taking the time to share the wonders of our great natural world. Let me know what you have decided to do, and I'll make sure the network is created! And don't forget....it doesn't matter the weather, as NATURE is glorious in sun , rain , c o l o r or black and white ! Happy Shooting!

June 15 is fast approaching, the 5th National Nature Photography Day. The challenge is to use this day to raise awareness, and take intentional photographs. The North American Nature Photography Association has some suggestions for celebrating the day: There are dozens of ways, including these: Pick a special spot to photograph a sunrise or sunset. Then plan to repeat that visit at the same time and location every Nature Photography Day. If you teach, encourage your students to pick a subject they haven't yet photographed and arrange to shoot on June 15. Visit a gallery or museum exhibit of nature photographs. Or start a gallery at home-by displaying your images of plants, animals, and natural scenes. Invite friends and neighbors to join you on a nature adventure at a garden, trail, or even your own backyard. Find inspiration and beauty close by. Select a subject in nature that is small or common and thus easily overlooked. Then photograph it in a way to make the ordinary seem ...

Five of our (almost) nine grandchildren Oh how we want things to last forever. Our loves, our families, our cherished memories, our lives. We want our "things" to last, as well. Christmas mittens for a grandson How long will our photographs really last? How many generations of our family will sort through albums, scrapbooks, and yes, boxes, guessing who everyone was and who was related to whom? Our stories are not just written, or shared using the oral traditions, they are told through the visual medium of photography. My first quilt made from individual blocks. Sometimes we forget that there are many aspects of ourselves we'd like future generations to know about as well. Yes, we're photographers, yet we are also parents, grandparents, teachers, pilots, readers, and crafters. As much as I want our photographs to be legacies of "family" and events in our lives, we have other things to share as well. Results of a quilting class - learning new skills So this...