Broaden your technical and creative skills. Unleash the artist within you.
Capturing the essence of Burney Falls. Turning what the camera saw into what the photographer saw.
“What was he thinking? What kind of picture is that? It’s not very good.”
I had heard about Burney Falls at MacArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park for some time. It sounded intriguing. Located in Shasta County in Northern California I wanted to see what Teddy Roosevelt called “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” Continue reading ““What Was He Thinking?””
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Photographing the coastal redwoods of Northern California should be on everyone’s bucket list.
It’s often said that California has everything. And it’s true. From the southern border with Mexico to the northern border with Oregon, the state goes from parched desert to lush mountain slopes.
California also has the oldest living trees in the bristlecone pines of the White Mountains, the most massive trees in the Giant Sequoias of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and the tallest trees in the Coastal Redwoods along the California coast.
Can you imagine what it is like to experience these trees? Just think of it. The oldest bristlecones were seedlings when the pharos of Egypt were laying massive stone upon stone in Giza. And both the giant sequoias and coastal redwoods were seedlings when Christ was born in Bethlehem.
The coastal redwoods are the monarchs of these mountains, especially the unlogged old-growth groves….
Continue reading “The Call of the Redwoods”
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A walk through a redwood grove.
Even high up on the mountainside the parking lot is shrouded in the utter quite of the fog. I am alone. I set out, relishing the solitude. The crowns of the towering giants fade away into the mist. The fog condenses on the leaves and drops to the forest floor with barely perceptible random taps.
I continue along the trail, breathing in the moist air, breathing in the quite, breathing in the majesty that surrounds me. It is enough. And yet, there’s more.
The clouds begin to part, granting beams of sunlight passage into the cool, shadowed grove. My heart fills with joy, my eyes with wonder. And I have the presence of mind to bring it home to share.
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Your photograph’s borders are key elements to a strong composition. What goes on there can make or break the image. Read about just one consideration to take into account when composing your photographs.
“When I compose an image I spend more time getting the borders right than I spend on the subject.” You think this is a surprising statement? There are a lot of photographers that I really admire for whom this statement is true. I know when I first started out I had no idea what was happening on the borders. I paid no attention to them. Until it was pointed out to me that my borders were very sloppy. And from that point on composition got a whole lot harder because getting clean borders is not a trivial task. But over time it became second nature to me. Now I always check the borders and make appropriate adjustments before I press the shutter.
Well, almost always. Take a look….
Continue reading “Mastering Composition – Border Patrol”
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