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

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.” 

Read the rest of this entry »

Opening The Shutter to New PerspectivesPosted by drfl on May 11th, 2010

It seems to be human nature that we must become entrenched into a specific set of ideals.  These ideals divide us, polarize us, surround us, and engulf us.  Look at the debate surrounding the health care bill in the United States in the past few months or what is happening with the Arizona immigration law or the political debates in the U.K.

Religion.  Politics.  Culture. 

Just mentioning any of those topics engenders intense, never-ending debate.  So what does this have to do with photography?  Just as we often find ourselves bound to views we have developed, over time many find themselves bound to particular techniques, subjects, and equipment.  This bind is often unconscious and just as our views on other topics, we my find ourselves unwavering on these items and our artistic vision as well. 

From personal experience, I spent a few years only photographing landscapes and wildlife.  I would focus on the wide-angle with landscapes and the portraits with the critters.  Great sunset?  Wide-angle.  Bear on the side of the road?  Portrait.  Mountain scene?  Wide-angle.  Canada Goose?  Portrait.  For my landscapes, my widest wide angle wasn’t wide enough and for my animal portraits, my longest telephoto wasn’t close enough.

Although it took some time, I realized I needed to change my singular focus and open my shutter to new subjects and new possibilities.  It’s now been a couple of years since I consciously began this journey.  I’ve started my OLOH – One Lens, One Hour personal assignment project, I’ve engaged in quite a bit of portraiture, and I’ve captured the little guys.

So now I ask all of us to open up to fresh vistas, literally and figuratively.

Today’s post is an example of my changing my vista.  This image was captured in Arkansas, a location that I initially had little desire to visit.  When the opportunity arose to go to St. Louis I researched the surrounding area and I planned a side trip to the Ozarks.  It’s quite a beautiful and diverse area and one that I have passed up visiting many times.  As for the image, this particular landscape was captured using a telephoto lens, a diversion from my wide-angle philosophy from years ago.

Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/8, 1/100 sec.
Ozark National Forest, Arkansas