I have an Epson Stylus Pro 4800 printer that I basically love.  Having a high quality printer like the Epson really unleashed my creative potential by giving me the ability to fine tune my photographs.  Sending proofs off to labs and even waiting only a couple of days to get them back (like some of the better labs do) just wasn’t working out.  Realistically, I could only do a couple of proofs.  But with my own printer I can run scores of proofs if I need to.

There is one thing about the Epson that’s been bugging me though.  I have nozzle clogging problems.  It’s from two things – the relatively dry atmosphere here in Southern California and the fact that I don’t print every day.  It gets so bad that I would sometimes have to spend an hour repeating the nozzle check and head clean before I could start printing.  It wasn’t fun.

But last weekend I heard a tip from two people.  Musical instruments, especially the kind made from wood, suffer from the wood drying out in low humidity conditions.  And that affects the quality of the sound.  So musicians purchase a humidifier device to put in their instrument cases.  It maintains the humidity inside the case at an optimum level which keeps their instrument sounding its best.

The suggestion was to purchase one of these and place it inside the 4800.  Well, the advice made total sense but I took a different tack.  We had a Starbuck’s shot glass sitting around.  I took a kitchen sponge and cut it into four strips.  Two of these fit perfectly in the shot glass.  Moisten the sponges, insert them in the glass, add a little extra water (not too much), set it inside the printer way out of the way where the print head wont hit it, and cross fingers.  After one day I  ran a nozzle check.  Wow, it was almost perfect, good enough to try a print.  I printed a proof and it was just great.

Since then I’ve printed more and it’s working perfectly.  I check the water level every other day or so and am amazed at how quickly it goes down.

So, while time will tell, it seems the nozzle clogging problem may be solved.  And I don’t have go to through the onerous chore of unclogging nozzles before I can print.  I’m cranking out proofs and feeling productive and creative again.  I’m a happy camper.

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I’m here in Southwest Utah for the next several days and just before coming out I picked up the grand new Canon PowerShot G11.  (I was on the waiting list at Calumet.)  Now I’m actually getting a chance to use it and find out jus what this camera can do.

I didn’t do any research, no product comparison, didn’t even check the published or anticipated specs.  When Canon announced it I put my name on the list.  The only thing I cared about was that its predecessors had rave reviews from photographer friends of mine (some of them even dedicated Nikon people) and the fact that it shoots RAW.  So everything about this camera was new to me and I didn’t know it yet but I was in for some surprises.

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There are two filters I want really badly – a variable ND and a warming polarizer.

I want the variable ND to do special water effects with very long exposures.  This is a neutral density filter that allows you to vary the density from 2 to 8 stops.  Pretty cool.  It makes it possible to get very long exposures for those wonderful moving water images.  But I also want to try it on clouds, shadows, windy days and what not.  I asked several accomplished photographers if they could only buy one filter, which one would it be?  To a person they all replied “Variable ND.”

The other filter I want is a warning polarizer.  This is a circular polarizer that also acts as a warming filter – two filters in one.  Polarizer filters are used to darken skies and cut reflections from water, leaves, wet rocks and the like.  Warming filters are used to make the image appear warmer and richer.  Put the two together and you have a powerful combination.

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I just set up a page for Ralph Nordstrom Photography in Facebook.  I invite you to become a fan and join in the adventure.  Here’s the link.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ralph-Nordstrom-Photography/112254382772

I was fortunate enough to have all three photographs accepted for the Orange County Fair this year.  And I was very surprised to learn that all three had won awards.  To today I finally made it out to the fair and sure enough they all had ribbons.

Death Valley Reflections had an Honorable Mention ribbon.

Bristlecone Moon also had an Honorable Mention ribbon.

And Virgin River and the Watchman had a 2nd Place ribbon.

You can see more of my work at http://RalphNordstromPhotography.com

The workshop is ‘in the can.’  We finished up yesterday with a Mono Lake South Tufa sunrise followed by the rest of the morning in Bodie. 

There weren’t any clouds but the sunrise was bright red (“Red sky in morning….” but it didn’t pan out).  Still, South Tufa is always fascinating.  We explored some new places and found some new compositions.  We also found a place where an underwater spring was welling up.  The tufa building process continues.  There were clouds of brine shrimp and alkali flies (in their respective environments).  And amazingly, the flies were not a bother.  They swarmed on the tufa right at the water’s edge and only flew when you disturbed them by moving too close.  Discovering an active site was really very thrilling.

Unfortunately, the water level continues to drop as the drought continues.  I’d estimate the water level is down a couple of feet from the time I first started shooting there about two and a half years ago.  But the potentially good news is that yesterday the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center issued a forecast  that an el nino is building and will last through next winter.  We could use five years of el nino in California to replenish our nearly exhausted water reserves.

Bodiewas fascinating as usual.  And although we were photographing in late morning light the subjects are still very interesting and the photography, exciting.  There’s a temptation to rush around in an attempt to cover it all.  But I prefer to slow down and absorb the spirit of the area.  Oh, and we ran into David Muench and his workshop.

We were so busy the last days of the workshop that there wasn’t any time to even review our pictures much less get any ready to post.  But that will come and soon.  So stay tuned for more images.

You can check out my other photos on my website – http://RalphNordstromPhotography.com

This afternoon I was honored to present “The Photographer as Artist” to about 55 members of the Newport Beach arts community.  The talk was hosted by the Newport Beach Arts Foundation.  The presentation was very well received.  Afterwards people made comments like,

“I expected to see a slide show but was pleasantly surprised to hear your analysis of art and photography.”

“You didn’t give the presentation I expected.  Instead you showed insight into the nature of art and how photography relates to it.”

“I understand better now how photography is an art.”

“Your talk was inspirational.”

Announcing the Eastern Sierra Monsoon Photography Workshop for July 11-16, 2009.  The objective is to photograph some fantastic thunder clouds towering over the crest of the spectacular Sierra Nevada mountains.  And we’ll work in a couple of other things like ancient bristlecone pines, Mono Lake, the Owens River and much, much more.  It promises to be a fantastic workshop.  Click the link below for more information…

2009 Eastern Sierra Monsoon Photography Workshop

To see more of my work go to http://RalphNordstromPhotography.com

If you sell fine art photography you hear this a lot, “I don’t need to buy your photographs.  I’ll go there myself and take my own pictures.”

Sure, why not?  We all have digital cameras these days that do a great job of producing really fine pictures – some of the time.  I would never argue with a person with this attitude but even if you’re a great photographer there are good reasons for purchasing other photographer’s works.

I don’t think anyone would argue that it would be a wonder to own an Edward Weston original platinum print.  But let’s look at some factors that are more down to earth.

Let’s start with capturing the best light.  A landscape photograph is nothing without great light.  Usually that’s early in the morning or late in the afternoon although good light can occur any time of day.  Is our intrepid photographer going to be on site a half hour or more before sunrise?  I know from lots of personal experience that you pretty much have a location to yourself before sunrise.  It’s funny to see people just starting to show up, cameras and tripods in hand, after we’ve shot through the best light and now that it’s gone we’re ready for breakfast.

How about subject selection and composition?  We all have our own personal ways of seeing and interacting with the world around us.  How we choose to select a subject, isolate it and place it along with other components into a composition is a very individual process.  The end result says as much about the photographer as it does about the subject, maybe more.  So each work is a unique expression of an individual with his or her own very personal viewpoint.  You see this very clearly at workshops when the participants gather around to share their work.  The diversity is enlightening.

Then we come to post processing.  This is where the photographer’s personality comes forth even more strongly and loudly.  There are many decisions that come between uploading the RAW file and producing the final print.  I’m plagued with false starts in which I have to go back to the RAW file and begin again from square one.  There is a large variation in the techniques different photographers will apply in post processing and hence a large variation in the results.

So, why would a photographer want to by other photographers’ works?  Because there is so much to learn from the photographers you admire and one good way to learn it is to have their works around you every day.

The Photographer as Artist – Creative Vocabulary

In this third article we continue our exploration of photography from the perspective of other artistic disciplines.  The first article was The Photographer as Artist – Introduction.  We introduced the idea that art stands on the Tripod of Artistry, three principles that are common to all arts.  The first leg of the tripod, the expressive capabilities of the medium, were explored in The Photographer as Artist – Expressive Spectrum.  In this article we will look at the second leg – the Creative Vocabulary.

Creative Vocabulary

We all know that to be an effective writer it helps to have a large vocabulary.  It just stands to reason that the larger the writer’s vocabulary, the more effectively he or she can communicate.  Poets probably have the greatest mastery of the language as that is the most condensed form of communication.  This reaches its absolute zenith in haiku, that wonderful form of Japanese poetry that paints the most beautiful images in three lines of 5-7-5 syllables.  Probably the most famous is this exquisite poem from the haiku master, Basho (1644 – 1694).

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