Category: Journal

My personal journal of the Photographer as an Artist

The Surprises in the Camera

Do we always know what we’re going to get when we press the shutter or are we sometimes in for a pleasant surprise?

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.  No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”  Robert Frost

In my workshops I talk about feeling a place before you photograph it.  In fact we do an exercise.  When we arrive at the location I ask the participants to leave their cameras in the car for at least fifteen minutes and just quietly wander around the area until it speaks to them.  Only then can they get their cameras and try to capture what they are feeling.

This is a wonderful way of slowing down and getting in touch with the essence of a place.

But I must confess it doesn’t always work that way for me.

Continue reading “The Surprises in the Camera”

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A Great Photography Car

The Ford Escape Hybrid gets to stretch its legs in Big Sur.

My 2003 Prius has had it.  At 230,000 miles it was time to trade it in.  It served me well and we went places I had no business taking it (read “some pretty nasty dirt roads”).  But it wasn’t really a good car for landscape photography.  Nevertheless, it never complained.

So around the end of last year I started thinking about a car that would be great for the kind of photography I do.  I had some basic requirements:

  • Cargo space (to carry all my gear including the stuff I need for workshops)
  • High clearance (for those nasty dirt roads)
  • Good gas mileage (I was addicted to 45 mpg from the Prius)
  • 4WD (again, to go those nasty dirt roads)

A survey on the internet turned up several makes and models but the Ford Escape hybrid was at the top of the list.  I visited the dealer and none were to be found in all of Southern California so on January 11th I placed the order.  The decision looked good on paper but would the actual vehicle measure up?

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Orange County Fair Judges Walkthrough

Come on out to the Judges Walkthrough at the Orange County Fair photography competition – Thursday, 7/21 at 8:00.

This year I’ve been honored to be asked to judge the photography competition at the Orange County Fair.  It’s been an amazing experience.  I’m hoping that the experience can be as good for all the people that submitted photographs as it has been for me.  It’s not an easy assignment to sit in judgment of so many fine photographs.  I’m quite sure the other eight judges found the task as difficult as I did.

(Read the first post in this series at

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/journal/orange-county-fair-photography-judging/ )

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The Making of a Photograph – Pond, Owens Valley 2011

Follow along in the making of a photograph as we go from kneeling in the mud to the final print on paper.

It all started with kneeling in the mud.

I was with David Muench, Jerry Dodrill and twelve other eager photographers on a Mountain Light Gallery workshop in May.  We lined up along the bank of the pond just outside Bishop, California and aimed our cameras at magnificent Mt Tom, the dominant peak in the Eastern Sierra crest in this area.

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I’d like to take you through the process of making a photograph from the images I captured that morning.

Continue reading “The Making of a Photograph – Pond, Owens Valley 2011”

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Vacation Photography – What to Take

Read about the pros and cons of point and shoot and digital SLR cameras.

Good news!  Summer is here!  And we’re thinking “Vacation Time.”  Now, you don’t have to be a professional photographer to figure out that you’re going to take a camera.  So the question becomes, are you going to take your camera that has been sitting around for umpteen  years or use your upcoming vacation as an excuse to buy a new one.  (When it comes to buying camera gear, any excuse will do, at least for some of us.)

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Computer Upgrade

Read about the exciting experience of setting up a new computer.

A little over a week ago my new Dell Inspiron 580 arrived at my doorstep.  My wife and daughter finally convinced me to buy a new one.  I think they were getting tired of me storming around the house all grumpy and such when the old on acted up.  Disclaimer:  Computers act up after years of use not because they wear out but because of all the junk you load on them as time goes by that literally clogs the operating system.  So, with a little persuasion from my girls I gave Dell a call.Inspiron 580

If your one of those that gets into these things, here’s what I ended up with:

  • OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
  • Processor: Intel Core i% CPU 760 @ 2.80 GHz (it’s a 64 bit quad)
  • Memory: 8 GB
  • Internal storage: 1 TB
  • Display adapter: ATI Radeon HD 5450 (supports dual monitors – VGA, DVI and HDMI) with 1 GB memory)

So that’s the starting point.  And from here on it gets more interesting – not exactly the Chinese curse interesting but kinda-sorta.  I got a good deal on the Dell but it as it turns out I wasn’t even close to being done spending money.

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Orange County Fair Photography Judging

In this post I share with you what it’s like to be a photography judge at the Orange County Fair. It’s not that easy.

Over the years I’ve entered photographs into the Orange County Fair photography competition (with some success).  This year I was thinking about the photographs I wanted to enter when I was contacted by the folks at the fair.  They asked if I would be willing to be a judge.

Now, it’s an honor to have your photographs selected and an even greater honor when some of them receive ribbons.  But I think the greatest honor of all is to be invited to judge the competition.  But when I accepted I had no idea how tough it would be.

(For a followup post, please see

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/journal/orange-county-fair-judges-walkthrough/  )

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Camera Gear–Camera Bag

How I ended up with a thinkTANK StreetWalker camera bag and how much I love it.

It was about this time last year that I was absorbed in deciding what camera gear to take with me to Germany.  We had a family vacation planned for a one week cruise on the River Rhein – from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, Netherlands.

I knew I was going to take my Canon PowerShot G11, my don’t-leave-home-without-it camera.  The big question was would I take the big Canon with its retinue of lenses.  And would I take my laptop with Lightroom and Photoshop?  It came down to one simply stated problem – how could I safely get them over there and back?

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Photographing the Eastern Sierra

Let me show you some of my favoriate locations for photography in the Eastern Sierra.

I don’t know where you’ll find a more spectacular range of mountains than the eastern edge of the mighty Sierra Nevada Mountains.    This is where the gargantuan slab of granite from which the mountain range is formed plunges precipitously from the peaks along the crest into the Owens Valley below.  Driving up the Valley on legendary highway US 395 is likely to give you a crick in your neck.  Because you can’t take your eyes off the endless procession of towering summits.
I’ve camped and backpacked in these mountains since I was a young boy and I always love returning to them.  And now that I come back with camera in hand I have an opportunity to capture and share with you the inspiration I receive here.
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Mt Whitney
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Mt Williamson
Mt Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48 and from your vantage point in the valley below it towers more than two vertical miles above your head.  It’s nothing short of breathtaking in the morning sun.
But there’s more to the Eastern Sierra than the grandeur of these mighty peaks.  Come with me on a journey as I show you the superlative and the sublime.

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You Don’t Have to be a Master Photographer

Join Ralph Nordstrom Photography in the majestic Eastern Sierra for a extraordinary spring photography workshop.

The Sierra Nevada Mountains have always been magical for me. The granite peaks are among the highest in the lower 48, demanding the best from backpackers and climbers. The alpine lakes, verdant meadows, glacier carved valleys, forested slopes, all of these captured the imagination and passion of the legendary John Muir and still capture ours today.

Now I have the thrill of photographing these beloved peaks and the wonders that surround them. I get up there several times a year and always find something new, something fascinating. The light can be incredible (it’s no mystery why John Muir called the Sierra, ‘The range of light.’).

sierra_storm_2_yosemite_2010Come with me. Join me for six days of extraordinary springtime photography in the Eastern Sierra as we follow in the footsteps of such celebrated photographers as Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell and David Muench.

We begin our exploration in Lone Pine in the shadow of Mt Whitney. We will spend two days exploring the fascinating Alabama Hills and other nearby locations.

Next we move north to Bishop. Here, we heed the call from North Lake, South Lake and Lake Sabrina to the west and the ancient bristlecone pines to the east.

tufa_mono_lake_2010After two days in Bishop we continue our journey north to Lee Vining on the shores of Mono Lake and at the base of Tioga Pass, the eastern gateway into Yosemite National Park.

We wrap up the workshop in Bodie, the best preserved and most interesting ghost town of them all.

I love the Eastern Sierra at any time of the year but springtime offers its own unique beauty. We have a record-breaking show pack this year (the Mammoth Mountain ski area plans to be in operation until July 4th)! The spring melt will be in full flow and I am so excited. It’s going to be an incredible year.

storm_tanaya_lake_yosemite_2010You don’t have to be a master photographer to attend a workshop or get great photographs.  You just need someone who will get you to the right places at the right time and work with you as much as you need to ensure you get the shots.

We still have openings for few more attendees so come join us. You’ll be glad you did. This is a spring not to be missed.

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