Tag: fine art

Cliché

Cliché, to many photographers this is a dirty word.  Photographs of Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View, the Tetons from Ox Bow Bend, the Watchman in Zion from the bridge, Delicate Arch – all are considered by many to be clichés.

What exactly is a cliché?  Something that has lost its originality, ingenuity, impact from long overuse.  In other words, it’s been done before – and many times.  Some have gone so far as to suggest that there are no photographs left in Yosemite Valley that are not clichés.

Not all of us agree.

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On Purchasing a Fine Art Photograph

Most of us aren’t in the habit of purchasing art.  And for some of us the thought may be just a bit intimidating, especially when the work of art is, oh, shall we say “expensive.”  How do you now you’re investing your money wisely?

I can’t speak for other art media such as paintings, sculpture, etc.  But I can offer three suggestions when purchasing fine art photography.  Here are some things you should expect from a fine art photograph.

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Why I Attend Workshops

Life is too short and there’s too much to learn. I could approach photography on a do-it-yourself basis and grow by trial and error. And while I never stop exploring and discovering new things on my own, it’s slow. Or I can accelerate the learning process and work with other photographers whom I admire. They have a lot to offer and workshops with them gives me the chance to soak up as much as I possibly can in a short, concentrated period of time. And, I get some great photographs.

I’m a professional nature photographer.  I not only take and sell photographs  but also conduct workshops in some beautiful locations around our world.  Admittedly I’m relatively new to the business and am not one of the big names of outdoor photography – yet.  But I have a loyal following that continues to grow.

Like I said, I lead workshops, both on my own and teamed up with other great photographers.  I believe my workshops have a lot to offer photographers of all skill levels from novices and amateurs to professionals.  And our attendees confirm that with their comments.

First of all, we get to great locations and we photograph them in the best light.  Location and light are the two most critical elements for exceptional outdoor photography.

Second, we provide lots of one-on-one attention.  The primary reason most attendees sign up for workshops is they want to become better photographers.  So we really focus on working individually with each photographer on the areas in which they want (and need) to grow.  I say ‘need’ because often the attendees don’t have a clear idea of what areas to focus on and we can help with that.

Third, my partners and I have our own unique personal styles of photography that we share with our attendees, both overtly and in more subtle ways.  If an attendee knows our work, presumably they like it and may want to learn how to do what we do for themselves.

So, with all that by way of introduction, that’s why I attend workshops.  I can photograph unfamiliar areas of our earth with someone who is intimate with the location, its best views and light.  Second, I may feel pretty comfortable with my technical and creative skills but, let’s face it, there’s always more to learn.  Happily, it’s a never ending process.  Thirdly, the workshop instructor’s personal style is just that – personal, unique to that individual.  Working with them for three to five days is a wonderful way to absorb some of their magic and stretch my own personal style.  After all, simply put, our personal styles are our means by which we express yourselves through our art.  It is something that is growing all the time.  Working with other skilled photographers just helps it grow faster.

To sum it all up, life is too short and there’s too much to learn.  I could approach photography on a do-it-yourself basis and grow by trial and error.  And while I never stop exploring and discovering new things on my own, it’s slow.  Or I can accelerate the learning process and work with other photographers whom I admire.  They have a lot to offer and workshops with them gives me the chance to soak up as much as I possibly can in a short, concentrated period of time.  And, I get some great photographs.

Join me on an upcoming workshop.

To see more of my photographs click here.

Become a fan on Facebook and follow along.

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Epson 4800 Tip

A tip for preventing nozzles from clogging.

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.

Join me on an upcoming workshop.

To see more of my photographs click here.

Become a fan on Facebook and follow along.

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2009 Orange County Fair Awards

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

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Eastern Sierra Workshop – 7/17/2009

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

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I’m a Photographer, I Don’t Buy Photographs

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.

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The Photographer as Artist – Creative Vocabulary

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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The Photographer as Artist – Expressive Spectrum

We’re exploring art from the perspective of other artistic disciplines to shed light on what it means to be a photographer and an artist.  (You can read The Photographer as Artist – Introduction.)  We’re doing this because photographers often seem to be expected to meet a “reality standard” that has not been imposed on other artists since the classic period of Greece two thousand years ago – “Did you use a filter?” “Are these colors real?” “Did you manipulate this photograph?”

There are three areas to explore – what I call the Tripod of Artistry – the three legs upon which all arts and artists stand.  This article looks at the first of the three – Expressive Spectrum.

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The Photographer as Artist – Introduction

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the role of the photographer as artist.  I don’t think there’s doubt in anyone’s mind that photography can be a sublime art form. 

But not all photography is art and not all photographers are artists.  Just about everyone has a camera these days.  In fact it seems you can’t buy a cell phone without one.  Virtually everyone is taking pictures but not very many photographers are trying to produce art.

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