Photographing Winter
Time for the annual ‘How to Photograph Winter’ report, something that is written every year and the same thing is written every time. So lets get the obvious suggestions out of the way with little else said: it’s cold so wear warm clothes- hat, gloves and boots; don’t take your camera from a warm humid place to the cold, dry outside. It’ll fog up and you’ll be unhappy; Beware of contrasty full sun scenes and check your histogram religiously; footing is tricky so be careful where you walk. Now that the obvious stuff is out of the way here are some less obvious but probably more important suggestions to get your best winter (and I mean snow) photography. 1. Go out while it is snowing. Use a lens hood, keep your camera tucked under your parka, pay attention where you walk but go out. Your camera will be as tolerant to the conditions as you are so don’t worry. Going out while it is snowing or blowing makes for great pictures- ones others are unlikely to have. 2. Be very careful using your tripod in snow. This is what can happen- you extend the legs, separate them and then plunge the tripod into the snow. What happens is you’ll have a bi-pod in one hand and a mono-pod in the other because the snow will force the legs even farther apart, past their breaking point. The solution is to not pull the legs apart very far so when the tripod is thrust into the snow the spread is not so costly. 3. Be aware of your path as your wander around in the snow, it can be a great compositional element for your image. Whenever I am out and I see a nice area ahead of me I will walk deliberately to make a pleasing path. Snake around some trees, play with a fence, crash through a drift- be playful. 4. Be aware of shadows as well. If you go out on a cloudy bright day (my favorite light for snow) there are always great shadows especially late and early in the day. Sometimes the shadows can be a nice foreground and sometimes they can be the entire composition. Shadows and your trail are even better together! 5. Steams are great in the winter. Early winter the water is open but the banks and surrounding areas are all snowy making for really nice pics. Later in winter the stream becomes more and more covered with ice and snow. There are often very pretty snowy pillows on rocks and magnificent icicles and ice plates on the edges of the open water. 6. Don’t forget the human environment and humans too! Barns, fences, wood piles, gardens, all look great when covered by snow. People are also, I think, more photogenic in winter when they are all covered up in heavy clothes and their expressions often match the weather at the time. Kids having fun in the snow make for great action shots. 7. If you can’t find winter (snow) here is a trick I have used a number of times. Go to a ski area and ride the lifts to the very top where winter is likely hiding. Ski areas charge relatively little for a non-skier to ride the lifts. Bring along snowshoes and stay out of the way but you should have the entire mountain top to photograph. If you live near a ski area watch the weather and try to wait for a time when the summit trees are heavily flocked with snow. Oh, you don’t have to walk down. You can ride the lift back down just like you rode it up. 8. And don’t forget animals in winter. Birds at birdfeeders are great subjects for winter photography. Put up a photogenic perch near a feeder and if you have more than one feeder up take them all down so birds are forced to go to the feeder you want and to your perch. Focus on the perch, be patient and you’re good to go. Also, mammals look great in the cold months because their pelts are the thickest and most luxurious looking. Triple D Game farm is the place for the best winter mammal photography- snow leopards, raccoons, wolves, mountain lions. What are you waiting for? [nggallery id=31]
Holiday Happies
Holiday Happies to one and all!!
2013 Workshop Schedule
Well I have finally gotten my workshops for next year figured out. You can find brief descriptions on my website for now, more detailed information will be posted shortly. Here is my thumbnail 2013 workshop schedule: May 21 – 26 Pacific Rim National Park, Tofino British Columbia June 23 – 29 Thinking Like a Pro, Manchester, Vermont July 17 – 21 Oregon Coast, Newport Oregon October 9 – 13 Fall Color of Vermont, Manchester, Vermont October 16 – 20 Fall Color of the Maine Coast, Acadia NP, Maine November 6 – 10 Death Valley, Death Valley NP, California My website has contact and price info. Please contact me if you have any questions.
All About the Light
I recently did a 3-day drive from Vermont to Colorado to be in the Rocky Mountain snow for the holidays. I know, I know, there are airplanes that will do the same trip in just a few hours but I like driving across our country and reacquainting myself with the ever-changing landscape. Three days in a car gives one a lot of time to think and while most of my thoughts were just a wee notch above idle some actually were worthwhile. The best of these was the realization that photography is all about the capturing of light and the better the light the better the photography. I know, I know, you have all heard this a gazillion times before- blah, blah, blah, light, blah, blah, blah, photography. And yet we all forget about it as soon as we grab our cameras. Don’t believe me? How many times in the past year did you photograph something ordinary in beautiful light versus how many times did you photography something beautiful in ordinary light? I am pretty sure that we all spend much more time photographing beautiful things in ordinary light. And what is the result? An ordinary picture. I don’t care how beautiful your subject is if you photograph it in ordinary light the photo will always be ordinary. For 30 years I have saying “dull light equals dull picture” just as ordinary light equal ordinary picture. But beautiful light? Photograph anything ordinary and you will get a beautiful photo. It may not be the best composition, that is up to you, but it will be a beautiful photo. This really hit home to me when I was driving just after sunrise and just before sunset. Didn’t matter where I was- city, suburbs, farming fields, rest stops- with the beautiful light the world before me was beautiful. So here is my challenge to you for this coming year- instead of seeking out beautiful subjects or locations try seeking out beautiful light. Chase light, don’t go around chasing subjects. Chase clearing storms, chase twilight, chase light misty days, chase the warm light early and late in the day, chase light snowy days. It doesn’t really matter where you are or what you are photographing during these times it just matters that you are out there trying. It’s all about the light.
A Plea
This is an essay from my friend Brenda Berry. I am sharing it here because I think it is important and beautifully written. Please indulge me and read it. It’s past time for me to do another blog post, maybe one of those ubiquitous year-end lists, or something about photo highlights of 2012, but in light of the shootings in Connecticut it all feels silly or pointless right now. Like most of you, I am feeling gutted with sorrow and frustration. I can’t imagine a Christmas with presents wrapped and now forever waiting for a first grader who will never have the joy of opening them. A child, just barely past babyhood, shot for no reason, no reason at all. Some say the best thing to do is to hug your own children, and certainly I will do that, but how do I hold my own without feeling the unspeakable pain of those mothers and fathers who’s children lives were cut short in the worst way possible? We shouldn’t feel lucky in our own particular good fortune, we should feel outrage that as a country we continue to allow this to occur over and over again. We should feel disbelief that a lack of political will and cowardice will ensure that mass shootings will continue to happen over and over again. I don’t know about you, but I had a notice from my children’s school about how to talk to them about the tragedy – how to reassure them, and how to answer their inevitable questions. Really? There are no rational answers and no blanket reassurances to offer. As is often the case, our children are smarter than we are, and my own children’s questions were pointed and insightful. My eighth grader, who is co-incidentally studying the constitution right now, wants to know how this “obvious misinterpretation of the second amendment freedom has been allowed to trump freedom of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness”. We talked about the term “arms”, and how 200 years ago the term meant arming a militia with single shot rifles or muskets, and how unlikely it was that the framers of our constitution meant for mentally disturbed young men to have easy access to military grade firearms. My sixth grader wanted to know if “arms” might eventually be taken to mean hand grenades or bombs, and if not, why not? Would the adults in his world be smart enough to see the absurdity of allowing that, and if so, then what about assault weapons? My sixteen year old astutely observed that the same people who are so desperate to save the life of one unwanted embryo seem to care very little about what actually happens to most children once they are born. Sure, someone tell me how to talk to my children about the complete moral failure of their parents and grandparents to set reasonable limits. Please, by all means tell me how to tell them that the reality of going to school, or the movies, or the mall, could mean death at the hands of random fate, and that is the price we pay for the so-called interpretation of the “right to bear arms”. Have I ever personally shot a gun? As it turns out, yes I have. I enjoy skeet shooting, and sport shooting at clay and paper targets. I appreciate that sometimes hunting is a means to an end. I feel that with the proper training and safety procedures there can be a legitimate place for private ownership of guns. However, I do not see why a weapon made for wartime – and the wholesale slaughter of human beings – should be easily available to the public. I will never understand the vocal NRA crowd for whom all weapons are sacrosanct, and the “right” to own them trumps the right to life, education, healthcare and public safety. Don’t give me the bullshit line, “guns don’t kill people, people do” – and if that is your stance, then fine, then let’s make it a little harder for the insane and violent people among us to get ahold of these weapons. And here is a really radical idea, let’s take care of the mentally ill and distraught people in our communities, those “people” most likely to use these weapons to take innocent lives as well as their own. It should be at least as difficult to acquire a firearm as it is to adopt a dog. My fear? My fear is that we will all once again be very very sad for a very short period of time. That good people will shake their heads in sorrow and disbelief and finally when they can’t stand the pain anymore will turn off the TV, turn the page in the paper, and begin the active process of forgetting. We Americans have short memories, and our sense of futility overwhelms us. We are far beyond needing meaningful dialogue. What we need are leaders who actually lead, and we desperately need President Obama to step up and become the leader we hoped for. Tears of compassion are fine, action is better. Perhaps Elie Wiesel said it best, “ all that is needed for evil to flourish is that good people do nothing”. Let us not be those people. When your children and grandchildren ask you why – why did you allow this to happen – and somewhere, once again, a mother screams in unbearable agony, “why… why…. why….” in your heart, you should also ask yourself, why, indeed.