It’s my pleasure

Have you noticed a pattern here? Every spring I post an image or two (or three) of a delicate crescent moon rising above Yosemite Valley at sunrise. This spring is no exception, nor will next year’s be. Or the next. Or the next…. I certainly can’t justify this lunar obsession from a business perspective. While the moon rises in a slightly different spot each…

Photographic reality: The missing dimension

“Photography’s gift isn’t the ability to reproduce reality, it’s the ability to expand it.” (The sixth and final installment of my series on photographic reality.) So far I’ve written about focus, dynamic range, confining borders, motion, and time, but I think most obvious (and also I’m afraid most overlooked) difference separating the camera’s vision from our own is the missing dimension: depth. Photography attempts to render a…

Photographic reality: Accumulate light

  “Photography’s gift isn’t the ability to reproduce your reality, it’s the ability to expand it.” (The fourth installment of my series on photographic reality.) Before getting too frustrated with your camera’s limited dynamic range, remember that it can also do things with light that your eyes can’t. While we humans experience the world by serially processing an infinite number of discrete instants in real time, a…

Photographic Reality: See the light

  “Photography’s gift isn’t the ability to reproduce your reality, it’s the ability to expand it.” (The third installment of my series on photographic reality.) Dynamic range One of photographers’ most frequent complaints is their camera’s limited “dynamic range,” it’s inability to capture the full range of light visible to the human eye. To understand photographic dynamic range, imagine light as water you’re trying to capture from a…

Photographic reality: Framing infinity

  “Photography’s gift isn’t the ability to reproduce reality, it’s the ability to expand it.” (The second installment of my series on photographic reality.) If you’ve ever tried to point out to someone a small detail in nature that pleases you, perhaps you’ve experienced a conversation like this: You: “Look at that!” Friend: “What?” You: “Those leaves—look at the frost on those leaves.” Friend: “What leaves?” You:…

Photographic reality: Your camera’s vision

“Photography’s gift isn’t the ability to reproduce your reality, it’s the ability to expand it.” (The first installment of my series on photographic reality.) When I hear a photographer say “That’s exactly what I saw when I was there,” I cringe. Not only is capturing human reality in a photograph impossible (really), attempting to do so is so limiting. I’m a strong advocate of “honest” photography,…

It’s personal

Some of my oldest, fondest Yosemite memories involve Glacier Point: Craning my neck from Camp Curry, waiting for the orange glow perched on Glacier Point’s fringe to grow into a 3,000 foot ribbon of fire; stretching on tiptoes to peer over the railing to see the toy cars and buildings in miniature Yosemite Valley; standing on the deck of the old Glacier Point Hotel…

Returning to the scene of the crime

My Bridalveil Dogwood image is eight years old now. It remains one of my most popular images, and is still a personal favorite because it represents so many of my personal goals for each image: Use camera’s unique vision to reveal nature’s frequently overlooked details Manage the front-to-back plane to create the illusion of depth Guide the eye and create location context with selective…

Making lemonade at the Grand Canyon

We’ve all heard Dale Carnegie’s trite maxim, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Of course these pithy statements become popular because they resonate with so many people, photographers included. And it seems that not only are the photographers who adopt this attitude more productive, they’re just plain happier. For example…. Few pursuits are more frustrating than trying to predict Mother Nature’s fickle whims….

Looking a little closer

My print sales tell me that it’s the familiar, dramatic vistas that people are most interested in (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but what I most like photographing is the often overlooked details that make nature special. While I do my share of landscape retreads–because there are reasons these scenes are popular and I’m still a sucker for natural beauty–when left to…