Just Because You Should
In this world bursting with potential and possibilities there is a rule that we all must remember and repeat everyday. Here it is: Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should do something. This applies to all aspects of life but especially to pursuits that have toys included. Photography is one of those pursuits. Let me explain. Just because you can handhold doesn’t mean you should handhold. You will always get a better shot- better composed, better thought out, better executed- if you use a tripod. Don’t argue with me. If you can, use your tripod. Just because you can fix it in Photoshop doesn’t me you should. Fix whatever you can before you take the picture. Clean up the background, adjust your depth of field, de-dust your sensor rather than be dumb and lazy and do it later in your computer. Just because you can include the moon in your picture doesn’t mean you should. Almost every shot I have seen that includes the moon is a terrible shot compositionally because there is so much space between the moon and the rest of the picture the composition falls apart. Either shoot the moon when it is close to something or let the moon go. Just because you can take a tight portrait doesn’t mean you should. This is especially true of wild animals and things that are obviously moving. A tight shot of a wild animal removes the wild from the picture and leaves the animal unattached. Zoom back and include some of the habitat and you will get more pleasing pictures. And a tight shot of a moving animal is too confining. It always looks like the animal is moving within a box and it is uncomfortable. Just because you can use a filter doesn’t mean you should. I mean, how blue do you really want the sky? Navy skies don’t happen on this planet. And neither do nuclear reds and oranges in fall foliage or neon pinks or purples in sunsets. Back off the slider in your computer when you are tweaking saturation and your pictures won’t be so obviously manipulated. Just because you can include the phrase ‘award winning’ in your bio doesn’t mean you should. After all, what does ‘award winning’ really mean? The only ones you are going to impress are not the kinds you want to impress and the ones you want to impress are not going to be impressed. Let your work and reputation speak for itself. No adornment necessary if both are good. If they are not, no adornment is going to help. Just because you can disagree with any of the above doesn’t mean you should. Just let it go and accept the fact that I am right and you are wrong. My life will be much easier.
Big News!!
Photographers Alliance Workshops – my new workshop company!! I have started a new photography workshop and tour company called Photographers Alliance Workshops or PAW for short. Check out paworkshops.net for more info and lots of teaching articles and information. It is all very exciting, at least for me. I am hoping it will be for you as well. The company grew out of my frustration with how photography workshops were being run and organized. I just got fed up with photo companies taking participants to the right places at the wrong time, with leaders who seldom lead, have no teaching experience, put themselves first and make people feel like it is honor to be with them and with crushing overhead, rigid thinking and a participant-last attitude. The things I have seen behind the scenes would make your brain numb. I have seen companies hire people to teach workshops they had never met or had even seen teach before figuring that they will fill a workshop or tour and that is what counts. I have seen leaders berate and embarrass students and then get hired back because the class was full. I have seen leaders take more pictures than their participants (you are getting screwed if this subsidized photography occurs on your workshop or tour) or not let people photograph what they just photographed. I have seen leaders step in front of participants so they could get their shot, the ‘important’ shot, first, leaders who wouldn’t take people to the really good places because they wanted it for themselves and leaders who actually charge extra for the ‘privilege’ of sitting next to them. My God, what egos! Well, PAW is not about egos or subsidized shooting or getting bodies no matter what. PAW is about you, the photography enthusiast and student. I have personally selected all the PAW leaders based on me knowing them and knowing what kind of people and photographers they are. PAW leaders are teachers first; they are there for you. And PAW doesn’t go to places unless it is the right time to be there and the conditions are best for teaching and photography. So we won’t go to National Parks when they are packed with people. We won’t offer trips to places that may or may not work. We won’t send primary leaders who have never been to a place before and we won’t add participants when the trip is already full. I stake my reputation on the Photographers Alliance Workshops; its leaders, its locations, its instruction. I wouldn’t do this unless I knew we had the best of each. That is my promise to you.
Welcome
Welcome to my Blog! This space is reserved for all thoughts worth and while, use and less, non and sense. There will be a little of this and a lot of that- heavy on photography and writing but with sprinkles of odd observations of life and love, wine and whine and all other things that get stuck in my small but perfectly formed brain and need to get out. Consider this blog as a trip on my mental plumber’s snake twisting around in the clogged corners of my mind, gunked up with thoughts nane and inane. I can’t guarantee material momentous or magical but I can promise content of moderate mirth and merriment. You might even learn something! It is going to be some ride; I hope you enjoy it. Welcome aboard.