In the previous post in this series I presented the idea that calendar art is a worthy first goal for serious photographers.  (Read Taking Your Photography to the Next Level.)  And aside from the fact that the subject matter of calendar art may be fairly run of the mill, the technical and aesthetic qualities are generally excellent.

In that post I ended with this thought:

Calendar art is about the subject of the photograph.  The photographer is transparent.  In fine art photography the influence of the artist becomes more apparent.

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Often times when out shooting with other photographers I hear them say, “I wish I had brought my grad ND filter.”  Or maybe they didn’t have the lens they needed.  “Where is it?” I ask.  “It’s back in my hotel room,” is their response.  “Why didn’t you bring it with you?”  “I didn’t think I would need it,” or “It’s too heavy.”

Truth to tell, I don’t understand the rationale of selecting the gear you think you might need when going out on a shoot.  Why not take it all?  I suppose if you have 20 lenses (I exaggerate) you can’t take them all with you.  But a normal complement of gear that gives you the flexibility you need isn’t that hard to pack and carry.

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I read a great series of articles by George Barr on taking the next step in photography.  They were passed along to me by a good friend – Brian Graham.  I have some early thoughts on what Barr proposes.

In his articles he defines six or seven steps for both technical and aesthetic growth in photography.  His articles define each step, discuss ways you can determine what step you’re in and gives ideas on how to advance to the next step.

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Photography is all about light.  In nature photography we study the weather, time of day and time of year to learn all we can about light.  And the more diligently we study light the more it pays off.

One of my favorite types of light is alpenglow.  There is a bit of confusion about what it is.  Many people think it’s the sunlight shining on the mountain peaks during sunset, after the valleys below are in shadow.  And while this is beautiful, that’s not it.

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Brooks Jensen published a very provocative article in the current issue of Lenswork.  He delves into a topic that I’ve thought about ever since I first picked up a digital camera.  It relates to the question of whether or not it is OK to manipulate photographs.  I’ve always contended that it is not only OK but, at least for the kind of photography I do, it is required.  The photographs I create reflect my interpretation of the natural world around us.  Therefore, their subjects and contents are going to reflect something of me.

Jensen goes several steps farther by identifying three major types of photography – Documentary, Personal Narrative and Imaginative.  Jensen describes Documentary photography as telling “someone else’s story.”  What a great way of describing it.  Clearly, then, in documentary photography, the photographer strives to be as true to the subject as possible and minimize or eliminate his or her own coloration or bias.  The goal is total objectivity.

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One of the things that we landscape photographers pay a lot of attention to is light.  In fact, it is my belief that the study of landscape photography is a never ending study of light.  And that’s a good thing because there’s so much to learn.

Now, I must confess – my analytical mind needs to break things down to help my creative mind better recognize and capitalize on great light.  So get ready ‘cause here come a series of blog posts on light.

What Color Is a Cloud?

The first thing I want to look at is Color.  Now, we’re all pretty familiar with red, green and blue, even cyan, magenta and yellow.  I don’t want to talk about color in that way.  We could discuss the color wheel and that would be informative but, well, not all that exciting.  I’d like to kick this off by asking a simple question…

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I’ve been printing, matting and framing for the past several days ,getting ready for the first shows of 2011.  I have a lot of new photographs so this is both a busy and an exciting time.

It occurred to me that I went through a lot of trial and error  when I first started this process of preparing photographs to display and sell, and that it just might be helpful to some if I shared the system I finally worked out.

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Backing up our photos is something we put off doing because it can be a lot of work and expensive.  And we think it’s something we’ll never need.

I got motivated to come up with a backup scheme about a year ago when I thought I had lost all my photograph files from 2010.  I had several days of panic and was able to recover most of them from a hodgepodge of backups scattered randomly here and there.  I didn’t have anything systematic in place and fortunately they weren’t my portfolio files, the ones I sell. (After it was all over I discovered all the files had inadvertently been moved to another folder. They hadn’t been deleted after all.)

It took a while to come up with the backup strategy that I shared with you in a post last month.  Here’s a link to that post.  Check it out.  I received some valuable comments with some good ideas from others.

Link to Backup Your Photos

It Happened – Duh Duh Duh Duuuuuuuuh

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Our photography workshop prices are going up next year.  But you can lock in 2010 prices and additional discounts if you register before December 31, 2010.  So if you’re considering attending a workshop in 2011 check out our offering of six extraordinary workshop opportunities.  But hurry.  With this offer, they’re already starting to fill up.

Click here for the 2011 Ralph Nordstrom Photography Workshop Schedule

Please not that the prices quoted on the website are for 2011.  Subtract $50 for 2010 prices.  And, by registering early you qualify for an additional 10% early bird discount.

To see more of my photographs click here.

I love flickr.  It’s arguably the best photo sharing site for photographers.  I get to see some really good, inspiring work from the other photographers I follow.

And, like most photo sharing sites, you can add comments.  When I post photographs I always look forward to receiving feedback and encourage anyone who visits my page on flickr to leave copious comments, both complements and criticisms.   If you haven’t visited yet, here’s the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ralphnordstromphotography/

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