I feel kind of funny  writing this post. I’m feeling that this end-of-the-year, beginning-of-the-next band wagon is awfully crowded.  But it’s something I want to do, if for no other reason than to reflect on the year just passed and learn what I can apply to the new one just started.

As I’ve worked on my website over the past year and compared the work I’m doing these days to the works from four and five years ago I see definite signs of growth.  I’ve had many powerful influences over the years who I’ll not attempt to list here, except for my brother Roger.  One doesn’t learn photography in a vacuum.  While each of us is striving to find our own voice there is a long period of gestation where we are best served when we learn from and let ourselves be influenced by other photographers whom we respect and admire.  I feel that after five years there have been a few brief flashes of individuality where my personal style is just beginning to express itself.

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A few weeks ago I published the first of a series of articles on histograms, “Mastering Exposure – Histograms Part 1.”  I eventually want to talk about different types of histograms and how to work with them in the field and during the post processing.  But before getting into that I want to take a deeper dive into the histogram itself.

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I jut put up the November print of the month on the website.  It is a photograph that gives me a great feeling of peace and solitude.  It was photographed in Zion National Park, Utah during our photography workshop there in October.  It’s one of those photographs that felt good at the time I was taking it and was even better when it was finished.

I am proud to present “Gateway to the Narrows (2010).”

Join me on an upcoming workshop.  Click here for more details.

To see more of my photographs click here.

Why study composition?  Edward Weston said, and I paraphrase, that studying the laws of composition before taking a photograph is like studying the laws of gravity before going for a walk.

Well, sometimes I feel like a toddler when it comes to composition.  And if you’ve been around a toddler as they’re learning to walk you know how diligently they study the laws of gravity and why they have such thick padding on their rumps.  There’s a reason they’re called ‘toddlers.’

I’m always searching for new ways to present the principles of composition in my photography workshops.  And I think I’ve come up with an approach that will get some of the people seeing the world differently, at least that’s the goal.  I like to challenge my workshop attendees to stretch themselves and expand the way they see.

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Every year I lead a photography workshop in Death Valley.  We offer personalized instruction and photograph some of the many exciting locations there.  Click here for more information.

Now, the only time you want to be in Death Valley is late fall through early spring.  Otherwise it’s just too darn hot.  Personally, I like February.  It’s kind of a quite time and we’ve had some mighty good luck the last couple of years with major rainfall in the weeks leading up to the workshop.  What this has meant for us is some of the playas were flooded.  When that happens you have lakes six inched deep that spread for miles in every direction.  It doesn’t take a lot of rain to flood the playas either.  Generally an inch will do.

There are some locations in Death Valley that I really love and I’d like to share them with you.

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I just published three new photographs on http://RalphNordstromPhotography.com.  They’re from my shoot in Minnesota the first weekend of October with my brother Roger and his friend Travis Novitsky.  There are more to come but here are the first three.

Oberg Lake

Superior Twilight

Spirit Tree

Stay tuned.

Join me on an upcoming workshop.  Click here for more details.

To see more of my photographs click here.

Alas, the histogram is misunderstood…, or not understood at all.  I often run into students on photography workshops who say they’ve noticed the histogram but never knew what it was nor paid much attention to it.  But the histogram is one of our most effective tools we have for getting the correct exposure.  And a correct exposure is essential to a compelling photograph.  So, what is a histogram?  Read on as we explore the ins and outs of this powerful tool.

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It was a couple of years ago when I was shooting in the Columbia River Gorge up in Oregon when a fellow photographer (a stranger, not a friend) laid this stinging remark on me.  But let me explain.

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You’ve spent a lot of money and are about to invest a lot of time in an upcoming photography workshop. It’s natural you’ll want to make the most of it. And there are several things you can do before hand and during the workshop to maximize your experience.

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I arrived in Death Valley the day prior to the start of the workshop.  There were a couple of locations I wanted to explore and you don’t get a chance to do that during the hectic pace of the workshop.

One location that was becoming more and more interesting the more I learned about it was Golden Canyon.  It is literally on the back side of Zabriskie Point.  In fact, the upper end of Golden Canyon passes beneath Manley Beacon, the iconic formation so often photographed from Zabriskie Point.

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