Traveling the Journey of Light | Photoblog Thoughts, feelings, and techniques behind the photography of Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston

365 Day Projects - Can You Do It?Posted by drfl on May 20th, 2010

Many have taken on the challenge of a 365-day project, or the task of capturing a new image every day of the year (I guess that would make it a 366-day project in leap years!). While I have never attempted the full 365 days, I do admit, the assignment has intrigued me. The positives these people cite for such an endeavor are to quickly expand their abilities and creative ventures. Given the task of forcing a photograph a day, one must become imaginative and the images should be varied or else the task become repetitive and boring and hard to maintain. Those that do it successfully create some unique and interesting work while steadily improving their skills.

From my shorter experiences with such an assignment and from what I’ve studied from others I have put together a few tips that I believe will help make your 365 project a success, that is if to are up to the challenge.

1. Always carry a camera. Seems logical enough. I suggest obtaining a good point-and-shot or getting clothes with really big pockets.
2. Try cycling between portraiture, nature, street, wildlife, etc. The more varied types of photography, the better. Who knows, you may find out you like noir photography!
3. Take a walk in the park, I find exercise often helps me to gain creativity and lose weight.
4. Search out abstractions and patterns, in this instance repetition and repetition may be welcomed.
5. Study other’s work, let their images soak into your subconscious.
6. Plan ahead, if there is a day that does not look promising for a photograph, take a self-portrait.
7. Not feeling well? Don’t force it, creativity improves with physical wellness.
8. If just beginning, try a photo a week, this will help show how you handle the project. If it doesn’t work out the first time, don’t feel bad, try again when you are ready.

So get out there and shoot! After today, you only have 364 more to go!

Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 200mm, f/4, 1/125 sec.
Dame’s Rocket, Schramm State Recreation Area, Nebraska

Returning to One’s Roots by Using a Point and ShootPosted by drfl on November 24th, 2009

Over the Sea of Grass

When I was a young lad I had a 35mm Kodak camera that I had won at a contest in Montana.  About once a year my family and I would go on a trip, usually to a national park and I would be sure to pack the camera.  I would take several rolls of film and I would ultimately end up exposing most of it in the first couple of days and then I would have to ration the rest for the remainder.  During the time I was scurrying up on rocks and running up to lake shores to snap a quick photo, I had no idea that one day that would turn into something greater.  My only goal in those days was to capture the beauty around me so that I could be reminded of it later.

As time has progressed, so has my equipment.  During college I used a completely manual Pentax K-1000 to capture almost solely black and white images.  I did quite a bit of dark room work in those days, rolling and exposing my own film, and creating prints until the dead of night with only a singular red light for illumination.  I learned of different lenses, apertures, and shutter speeds.  I first used a tripod and a medium format camera.  Needless to say, the quick point and shooting slowly morphed into more deliberate, careful shooting, I had become a “serious” photographer.   Besides, now I had a grade depending on it.

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Announcing “The Quiet Beauty of Nebraska”Posted by drfl on November 2nd, 2009

For the past few weeks I have been putting the final touches on my book “The Quiet Beauty of Nebraska”.  I’ve neglected my blog and some other duties, but I am finally ready to make it available.  Comprised of over 40 photographs from across the state of Nebraska, this book focuses on the scenic landscape, nature, and native wildlife that I have travelled far and wide to capture. 

To see a preview of the book and/or purchase, please take a look, it would make a great gift for the upcoming holiday season!
 

The Quiet Beau…

By Derrald Farnsworth…

Book Preview

Dreaming of TomorrowPosted by drfl on June 29th, 2009

Today’s image was taken at a little Wildlife Management Area called Jack Sinn just east of Ceresco, Nebraska - here is a place of solitude.  The first three times I visited this area I was the only person out in the fields, it was only the wildlife and me.  On this evening the atmosphere was calm and warm with nary any sounds except the chatter of the insects.  I setup my photo gear and watched as the sun set, illuminating the clouds for one more brief minute.  I captured a few images and then quietly packed up, determined to return once again to the quiet peacefulness that this area provides.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 19, f/14, 1 sec.
Jack Sinn Wildlife Management Area, Eastern Nebraska

From the Archives: An Eastern Nebraska FieldPosted by admin on March 7th, 2008

For today’s image I dug deep into the archive, way back to May of 2006 and found this image. On this day in May my wife Holly and I had been on a driving excursion looking for hay bales to photograph. We didn’t find any, but we found this field and I stopped and snapped a few images. I have never processed this image previously since it did not have the dramatic landscape light that I prefer. While going back through my old images again, however, I stopped on this image due to the contrasts between the yellow of the field and the cyan in the sky. Further exploration fo this image led me to the barn and the trees in the background of the image. I consider this to be a stereotypical Nebraska image, which I sometimes try to avoid, but it is still a serene view. Incidently, this was taken the same evening as one of my most popular photographs, “A Country Road”.

Technical Details:

Canon 20d, 10-22 ef-s @ 22mm, f/10, 1/60 sec., May 2006
Eastern Nebraska near Greenwood (I think)

To view other photographs, order this photograph as a print, or purchase licensing rights, please visit my website at http://www.journeyoflight.com/.

First PostPosted by admin on February 15th, 2008

It’s February 15th, 2008 and I am creating my blog to showcase my recent photography work. For those of you reading this for the first time, I am a Nebraska-based Photographer specializing mainly in Scenic Landscape, Wildlife, and Nature shots. I enjoy traveling with my family and photographing not only the world, but the area close to my home here in Nebraska. I have been visiting DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge quite a bit recently since I will be having 2 showings of my work at the visitor center. The first is the week of March 10th, the second will be from April 12th-June 7th. Come up and visit!

My first image was taken on February 13th. It was a beautiful sunset that evening with the setting sun lighting up the clouds above the snow-covered DeSoto Lake.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d, 17-40 f/4l @ 28mm, 5 sec., 2-stop Singh-Ray Hard Grad
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Nebraska Side

To view other photographs, order this photograph as a print, or purchase licensing rights, please visit my website at http://www.journeyoflight.com/.