
I think this is called a "blog."
10-24-2007
Recently I was fortunate enough to spend some time in Guadalupe National Park. Although high winds and freezing temperatures cut my visit short, I was able to capture a nice sunrise from the Tejas Trail above the Dog Canyon campground.
7-21-2007
During the drought of 2005-2006 here in Texas, I personally knew of some ranchers who were buying hay from as far away as Kansas just to keep their livestock fed. Nothing was growing anywhere due to the lack of rain and a lot of what was left was being ravaged by wildfire...
How things have changed. Record rains in our area have meant bumper crops of hay. This was taken at sunrise around Bulcher, Texas.
7-5-2007
OK, so this is not exactly my primary line of work and some of what's
presented here probably doesn't deserve to be shown. Nevertheless,
this section is something that I've been prodded into doing by the handful
of people who have suffered through endless slideshows and albums of my
nature photography (primarily my kids and family). In all honesty,
this is still a passion of mine, one that began many years ago; one that all
too often takes a backseat to actually earning a living doing portraits.
After 15 years in the portrait / wedding business, one would think that golf
or some other outdoor activity would have more appeal to me than getting up
in the pre-dawn hours and slogging down some dark trail to a pre-determined
location, trying to capture whatever God happens to serve up that day.
To me, nature and landscape photography offers boundless opportunities to
get away from the daily grind of running a business, one that just happens
to revolve around an art-form that I dearly love.
As often as possible, I like to re-charge by letting someone else control
what I see in front of my camera. Rather than creating and controlling
the light that bounces off of my subject and strikes my CMOS sensor, I can
simply react to the changing scene as it happens. Sometimes I arrive
with a well-though-out plan and a vision of what I'd like to take home.
More often, though, I show up with an open mind, a blank canvas so to speak,
and just see what happens. The later approach seems more enjoyable
and, while I don't always leave with a wall-hanger, God always provides some
sort of reward for my efforts. In the end, it's always worth it.
A word about
equipment…
Photographers are always asked what equipment they use, prefer, recommend,
etc. Let me state first that I am not an equipment junkie, a
gear-head, or a techno-geek. While I do visit a few online forums just
to stay abreast of what's available, I choose my equipment based on what
works best for me. Cameras are simply tools, tools that require a
certain degree of basic photography skills to operate. Several times over
the years, I've heard someone exclaim "Wow, your photos are fantastic!
You must have a really good camera." Thanks, buddy. Care
to stomp on my heart now that you've torn it out? While there's
nothing wrong with dropping a thousand bucks for a good quality SLR (film or
digital), in the end, your skill in using the tools you own will determine
the final image quality. Before you take the plunge, a good question
to ask yourself is "Am I being limited by the camera / lens combo I'm
currently using?" Would a Digital SLR with higher ISO or mirror-lockup
for example, improve my photos? Could I have nailed this shot if I had
been using that 2.8 telephoto instead of making my mortgage payment?
Basic photography skills apply to film cameras as well as digital, and
Photoshop will only go so far to correct a poorly exposed, poorly composed
or blurry image. If you're just starting out, invest in a good basic
photography book or take a class or workshop to make sure you’re able to
squeeze all the capability you can out of that fancy SLR. That said,
here's what's currently being hauled around in my equipment bag (including
my equipment bag).
Canon EOS 1D Mark II n
Canon EOS 20 D (for backup)
Canon 100-400 L IS
Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS
Canon 28-70 2.8 L
Canon 17-40 L
Canon 85 1.2 L
Canon 580 EX Flash (2 of 'em)
Better Beamer Flash extender
Canon remote release
Singh-Ray Galen Rowell ND Filters,
Singh-Ray Daryl Benson Reverse Grad ND Filters
Singh-Ray Vari-ND Filter
Circular polarizer and an IR filter which I haven't quite mastered yet
Lots of batteries and several Sandisk CF cards
All packed neatly into a Lowe-Pro TrekkerII AW backpack
My current
tripod is a Gitzo 1325 Carbon Fiber with a BH-55 Pro ballhead from
Really Right Stuff plus a Wimberley Sidekick for flight shots.
What I hope this gallery becomes eventually is something more than a place
to show off a bunch of pretty pictures. Every photo that will
eventually land in this gallery has a story behind it as well as some
technical information which may prove useful to someone else. Where
possible, I've tried to include GPS data that will at least get you to the
same area where the photo was taken. In some cases, the location is
obvious.
A word
about light…
Standing on the
side of the road at high noon in July, pointing a disposable camera at some
distant mountain range and hoping the photos “turn out.” That’s how a lot of
people approach landscape photography. Just a quick record of where you’ve
been, a grab shot out the window of a moving vehicle. While these types of
hastily obtained photos have a place in your family scrapbook, they’re not
likely to earn a spot on the living room wall. There are several things that
could be improved upon in the above scenario, but the one that would make
the most difference is the one the photographer has the least amount of
control over. I’m talking about the middle-of-the-day sunshine that (unless
softened by consistently heavy cloud cover) will cause dark muddy shadows or
blown out highlights, regardless of your chosen medium, be it film or
digital. Sometimes, your most valuable piece of equipment can be a cheap
alarm clock. Nothing compares, in my opinion to the soft, predawn light that
happens on all but the most overcast of mornings. While comparable results
can be achieved at sunset, personally I prefer the pastel hues that precede
the dawn. Of course, most scenes will require the use of either a graduated
neutral density filter or some heavy duty Photoshop heroics to properly
render both sky and landscape. I cannot stress enough the importance of
light to what any photographer is trying to achieve. Poor lighting will
render all that fancy equipment useless and usually means the difference
between scrapbook, scrapheap or living room wall.
Note: Kip Garner’s wife does, in fact allow him to hang the occasional trophy on the living room wall.