Just some thoughts
The workshop season is over once again- my 25th!- and I thought I would share some end of season lessons that seem to always come up on every workshop.
My 2011 Schedule
Here is my tentative schedule for 2011. I am pretty sure the dates are good but I still finalizing some of the arrangements so I don’t want to put it in stone quite yet. There is also a good possibility that I will add a few more workshops. I will put more information about each of these workshops and lots of pictures on my website soon.
Death Valley report
Last week I was in Death Valley National Park doing a workshop with my friend and digital guru, Scott Rouse. We had a great group of people and really nice weather and based on the pictures Scott and I saw during the critiques, our participants got some really nice shots. This is the first time in Death Valley that I felt really comfortable in the park, the first time I was able to evaluate the conventional photographic wisdom and do things differently and better. For instance, the west side of the dunes is the worst side to photograph yet it is the area that is always recommended. I don’t photograph on the workshops I lead. The participants are paying for me to pay attention to them not for me to pay attention to my photography. I don’t understand why anybody tolerates leaders who do their own photography on the participant’s dime. It is a workshop or a tour, not a subsidized photo shoot for the leader and yet leaders photograph on workshops and tours all the time. I don’t get it, it is the wrong way to conduct a workshop or tour. Here are two shots from the dunes that my students gave me to use for teaching. I can’t wait to go back and get my own shots.
More on High ISO Photography
If I need high shutter speeds and depth of field…lobster activity at a dock at dawn or dusk or an action shot in the barn when it is still dark outside…I will push the ISO to 3200 or even 6400. And why not? Sure the picture quality would be better if I shot at much lower ISOs but isn’t it better to get a shot you can still use than to get no shot?
Astonishing Quality High ISO
12,800 ISO! Really? High quality images? Can’t be! Now I have just finished a book on the men and women who lobster in the Gulf of Maine. I have a new Nikon D3s and I am shooting regularly at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400. No, really! And when I am pressed I will happily go to ISO 12,800!