IronMan Wisconsin - Swimmers

Niagara Falls Before & After

I decided to post the before and after - first one with no processing except the crop. Handheld, 1/4s, f/13, ISO 200, 8x ND.

This place had a hush and a roar at the same time - innocent and mesmerizing but also powerful and deadly.

In one place it was quite strange to stand 3 feet from where the water quietly glided over the edge.

I tend to not do a lot of post-processing, but I'm not a "purist" either. With artistic images, I don't have qualms about doing moderate or extreme things to an image to achieve a desired effect. I should experiment more than I do, just to see what's possible.

Niagara Falls

This is *way* more processing in Lightroom (very light original image + recovery, blacks, vibrance) than I usually do.

I just felt like it, I like the resulting mood. This is not what I shot, but somehow it represents what I felt.

As a family we only spent a couple hours in the area. I could easily spend a week or two shooting in this place, with all the light, mist, water, lines, and gravity. It felt powerful!

And we made some interesting demographic observations about the other tourists. Ask me sometime. :-)

Horses

I've had several opportunities to shoot horses (with a camera) over the past few weeks. They're such beautiful and intelligent animals.

I have lots more editing to do but here are a couple "hortraits" and one of a very friendly interaction between a horse and a dog, they just nuzzled for a while.

Passion and Imagination

I have several passions. They change over time, they do ebb and flow with some sort of tide and timing.

One of the staying-power lasting passions for me after 46 years is for the visual arts, specifically photography: recording glimpses of things which represent other deeper things.

Like any healthy passion pursuit, there are many aspects of and outlets for this passion of mine. I like that.

I make images / photographs almost every day. Some are casual and careless; others are intentional and serious.

On the days I don't make them, I definitely consume images, taste them, ponder them, dream of making them, refine my mental framework about visual images.

My worst nightmare would be to become blind, I sometimes think. But in a strange way, I would probably accept even blindness (just as every person who is blind must do), and I think my passion for the visual would not go away, it would just adapt.

Much of our vision is imagination. We see a ball, but we imagine childhood, play, innocence, leisure, competition, cohesion, teamwork, or perhaps many other things. We even imagine things that are not possible to see, triggered by the things we see.

If we were to lose our sight, we'd still have imagination, which spans much broader and deeper than physical sight.

Imagination is a form of faith: wondering, hoping, believing, conjuring, placing trust in what might be even if we don't exactly see it.

There's so much mystery in this realm of sight and imagination that I expect I'll never lose my passion for photography. It's poetry for the eyes; and when poetry really moves you there's no explanation, there's only mystery.

What if HDR were taken away?

30 Lessons for Photographers

Here are 30 lessons I'm learning as a photographer and visual artist.

I write these in the first person because primarily this is a list for me, not about some other theoretical photographer somewhere. In no particular order:

1. set goals and track my achievement of those goals, revising along the way
2. learn and adapt on a daily basis
3. at times move beyond on my "tried and true" or default techniques (lighting, composition, gear, framing, angles, whatever.)
4. always get the shot and deliver the results
5. learn from mistakes and failures (mine and others)
6. don't repeat the same mistakes or failures ("ya don't get fooled again" - W)
7. don't look too much at the photography of others (if I end up largely trying to imitate it, or thinking it's already been done)
8. don't look too little at the photography of others (if I miss learning from others' inspiration, successes, failures; how good images could be better, or what makes them great)
9. review my work from last week, month, year, and 10+ years back, to see how I've improved and where I need to improve or get out of a dumb rut
10. never become complacent (a healthy discontent is much better, it leaves room for striving & moving somewhere)
11. push myself regularly to tackle projects I'm not sure I can accomplish, or things I haven't done before
12. dispel the notion that new gear will help me make better images than I can make with the gear I already have
13. keep my promises, such as when I'll process and deliver images & prints
14. deliver results, instead of making excuses (to myself or a client)
    
15. don't wait for the best work to come to me rather than setting a strategy, going out to get it, making it happen
16. don't be a well kept secret - not doing a half decent job at marketing
17. don't be a self-absorbed self-promoter or spam my social networks (which I really don't, just something I want to remain sensitive about)
    
18. move toward work I'm passionate about, rather than relying on work that I don't care so much about
19. don't repeat "I hope some day to do more of such and such" rather than just doing it
20. pay less attention to the latest buzzwords, jargon, fads or hype (examples might be HDR, Lensbaby, etc.) than to the consistent quality of the images I make
21. make photographs, more than reading about / discussing photography
    
22. don't play it safe, avoiding risks; be a little reckless now and then
23. take a break from photography now and then to enjoy the finer things in life (yes, there are)
24. present my work in a way that elevates it, puts it in its best light; not too casually as can be my tendency
    
25. don't take myself too seriously at any time
26. take advantage of opportunities to elevate and encourage the work of others - accomplished pros and amateur photographers alike
27. pursue my best ideas even if I might not know how to get paid for them
28. shoot it Now, or This Week; don't say "I'll shoot that sometime"
29. always notice the light, how it behaves, and how beautiful it makes everything
30. don't be so preoccupied with chasing my own concept of vision or inspiration that I don't let wonderful images knock down my door, come and find ME out of the blue

What did I miss? Please comment, add to the list.

All of that said, I'm sorry to admit I fall short of many of these lessons all the time, that's part of my own failure and recovery and striving to be better, more professional, innovative, adaptive, and versatile as a photographer. There's always room for improvement.

Photography will never be boring unless I work myself into a deep nasty lazy rut and stay there.

To some, this list might make photography seem like a big burden, and I could see how it might feel that way. For those who simply enjoy photography as a wonderful, casual, creative hobby, much of this list is not necessarily for you and that's OK. This is more for those who make a significant portion of their living as (and/or desire to improve as) serious visual artists over the long haul. To do so requires discipline and intentionality.

And more on this soon, but I love having an iPhone with me and making simple, creative images with it daily. It's suitable for work, and for play, and repeatedly helps me lean into some of these lessons.