Reviewing and Setting Goals – 2011Posted by drfl on January 11th, 2011

As I mentioned in my End of Year Retrospective, with the start of every new year, I review my goals for the previous year and set my goals for the next year. This is an activity I recommend for everyone engaged in an ongoing activity photography or not. So what did my review find?

Last year I saw a fairly good growth in business, more and more people are becoming aware of my work which means that my marketing engine is working. Website traffic has grown and a great deal of interest in my work came from a diverse collection of sources. Is my marketing working at 100%? Probably not, but then again most marketing schemes do not, there is always room for improvement. How about shooting? While I captured some new and different images, I feel the need to expand my existing collections, try new things, and above all else – learn more!

So what am I planning for 2011? From an image collection perspective, I have at least 2 trips envisoned – one for Rocky Mountain National Park and another for western Nebraska. I really want to show a different side of the state than to which I accustomed. I also hope to add a couple of pieces of really unique equipment, one which may be coming this week! Stay tuned for what that may be! We can learn together (if you’re into that sort of thing.  A shiny new thing may help me lift the photography funk that has plagued me since early November. The 6-8 inch blanket of snow that just fell is also helping with that though.

From a business perspective, I hope to expand my stock offerings and collection with additional supporting imagery. So often I pick 1 image out of a couple of hundred, process it, and present it. There are several variations of my images that I simply archive, some of these may be useful to those looking for a larger variety. I do not know how I will accomplish this yet, but I hope to a have a structure and plan for this by the end of January. I also plan on expanding to new art fairs. In the past I have only attended one per year. I hope to expand that to 2-4 this year.

So what are your goals?  Share them if you like, but be sure to set some!

2011 looks to be exciting and I’m looking forward to making some new images!

Technical Details:
Falling Water Falls, Ozark National Forest, Arkansas
Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 33mm, f/16, 2 sec., ND Filter (3-stop)

5 Arguments Against “Is That REALLY How You Saw It?” – #3: Can You Stop Time?Posted by drfl on June 9th, 2010

A hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there — even if you put them end to end, they still only add up to one, two, perhaps three seconds, snatched from eternity.”
- Robert Doisneau

Let’s face it, our eyes are more geared towards movies than photography. When we look at something, it is rarely static. Still photography captures only a slice of moments, fractions of experiences. Our lives are interactive films. Even on a still day, when we point our lenses at an outdoor scene, the sun’s deliberate transit causes shadows to move, light to scatter, and depths to change. A photograph is a wholly singular point in time. We never truly see anything as unchanging. Waterfalls, for example, are usually caught over a long exposure, transforming the motion into silky-smoothness. Is that how we saw it? No. Sometimes, water is captured in a quick stop, drops hanging in mid-air. Is that how we saw it? No. So how did we see it? Simply, motion. A photograph by its very still nature makes it only a frame from the movie of our lives. Unless one is using mind-altering drugs or have achieved higher levels of consciousness can one maybe stop time, and I don’t recommend the former and I have no answers for the latter. Only through a camera can you freeze time easily and effectively.

Mass Believability? – 7 That water looks so surreal!

Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/16, 1.3 sec., Singh-Ray 3-Stop ND Filter
Six Finger Falls, Ozark National Forest, Arkansas

5 Arguments Against “Is That REALLY How You Saw It?” – #5: Are you Superman?Posted by drfl on June 7th, 2010

When exhibiting their work, photographers always go through the “Is that REALLY how you saw it?” question and subsequent discussion. Of course, this phrasing isn’t always exact, sometimes it appears in the form of “What did you photoshop?”, “Is that real?”, and my favorite, “It certainly did not look like that!” (Notice the lack of actual question). Photographers handle this question through a wide-range of explanations and emotions including, but not limited to:

• Reasoning with the individual (who needs to justify their art?)
• Providing a one-word answer (usually, “yes”, which alienates the viewer/potential buyer)
• Giving an overly technical discussion of the image (confusing and then alienating the viewer/potential buyer)
• Unbridled anger (never good, in any situation)

This week I plan on exploring this question through 5 technical discussions. At the beginning of each discussion I will provide an image that I captured. At the end I will provide a scale that designates what I believe most of the non-photographer public would peg the amount of photoshopping or “Mass Believability”. The scale will range from to 1-Nothing “real” here, baby! to 10-Au Naturel. To obtain a ultimately fruitful result from this series, on the last day these analyses will culminate in a discussion of effective ways to tackle this from a business perspective.

Today’s argument – Are you Superman?

I’ll start the week-long discussion with the obvious: Cameras are not made with human brains and eyes. I’m not sure I’d even want to touch a camera made with those items anyway. By the very nature that the tool is not human, well, that makes it not “how you saw it”. If it was, we would have a usb port to our brains and that is so Star Trek – as in, not today.

So, let’s focus on the camera as a tool. It’s common knowledge that one can buy lenses for cameras in different focal lengths. Even point an shoots have little zoom lenses that change when pushed. The last time I checked, I did not have the ability to zoom my eyes. Sure, I can focus my brain on an object and so some visualization, but in the strictest sense the camera is capturing my subject in a way in which I did not technically “see” it.

It is purported that the focal length of “normal vision” is 50mm. Sorry, wildlife photographers, if you use a telephoto lens, then you did not “see” the critter like that. By the very selection of your lens, you cannot in good conscious answer the ultimate question with a “Yes!”. Landscape photographers, did you use a wide-angle? You too, not how you saw it! Sports photogs? Nope, not even close! Unless you’re superman, then you do not have the ability to change the focal length of your eyes. Is the image of the egret above how I “saw” it? Nope, I was on a road, across the pond from this guy. In my field of vision, I had a couple of trees, a hill, a run-down building, oh and an egret. With this particular photograph, in most photographic exhibitions I would not be asked if that is how I saw it, because it isn’t a completely uncommon sight, and yet it is definitely not what I saw! Most viewers have probably witnessed something similar – i.e. cardinal on a birdbath, heron in a marsh, rubber ducky in a bathtub. Because of prior history and based upon experiences, viewers are more likely to dismiss the image as the real-deal.  It’s got great “Mass Believability”.

Mass Believability? - 10 So Real I Can Touch It!

Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/400 sec.
Egret, Northern Arkansas

Looking For Inspiration #3: Relax Your Brain!Posted by drfl on June 2nd, 2010

After brainstorming, one’s brain needs a little rest. Blank your mind, relax, and let it wander!

Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 300 f/4l + 1.4tc, f/5.6, 1/4000 sec.
Near the Buffalo River, Arkansas

Photo Friday: Walking in the SpiderwebPosted by drfl on May 14th, 2010

Today’s image is another in my “New Perspectives” series. Through these images, I broaden my work and expand my subjects and, well, perspectives. Near King’s Bluff in the Ozark National Forest, Arkansas, I found this singular cobweb on a shrub laking its foliage. The colors in the rocks behind really made the white of the web pop out. I used a touch of the “Orton Effect” here to give additional attention to the subject.

Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/4, 200 sec.
King’s Bluff, Ozark National Forest, Arkansas

A Story From the Field: Illumination at Whitaker Point (Hawksbill Crag)Posted by drfl on May 13th, 2010

It was a cool, dark morning.  The sun wasn’t due to arrive for another hour and a half.  My drive had been quiet and uneventful save the lone bobcat crossing the dirt road who had stared at me briefly, taunting me, knowing there is no possible way I could capture his image through the blackness.  I arrived at the trail head and gathered my gear, preparing for the hour hike that lay ahead.  I slid my backpack on, grabbed my flashlight, and looked for a box of energy bars that had somehow gone missing in the hour drive.  I paused, I heard something.  A bear?  Elk?  No, it was man-made, it was the sound of an approaching vehicle.  As I looked back down the road, I could see headlights filtering through the trees.  Here I was, in the middle of rural Arkansas, on a less-traveled dirt road, in complete darkness with an unknown individual approaching.  I slammed the door to the car, turned on my flashlight, and quickly began my hike. 

“Hello?!” yelled a voice through the early twilight. 

I responded with a very apprehensive and much quieter, “Hello.” 

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