We photographers often suffer from labeling issues. Folks often say, you’re a photographer, not an artist. True, some photographers are not artists, and vice versa. But new technologies have blurred those barriers. I spend a hefty part of my life … read more
These days we communicate in so many ways. The best communication is face to face, but that is not always possible. We photographers often network with one another, even when we’re thousands of miles away. Blogging—a term not even invented … read more
Recently I came across a photo taken by a distant relative in the early 1920s. He and his wife were doing the “grand tour” of Asia, traveling by steamship. Their photo album chronicles their amazing adventures. Amid photos of various … read more
I love bears. I’ve spent a lot of time with them over the years in Alaska, observing most of them in Southeast Alaska. But never have I had an up-close experience like the one that happened last August. With a … read more
Although the affliction is found in every photographic genre, nature photographers seem to be particularly guilty of this phenomenon: the iconic photo. For landscape photographers, there is no more iconic location than the Yosemite Valley. This is where Ansel Adams, … read more
This has been a time of retrospection, the end of a good year. I have used the quiet time to sort and keyword images, a massive job that has taken days. I have about 120,000 digital images that I can … read more
Often, people ask me how I began my photography career. The early part was pretty simple. I was visiting Japan and picked up a Nikon camera and a couple of lenses. I then moved to Alaska and bought a darkroom … read more
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the ethics of photo manipulation. Tom Till, the noted Southwest photographer, brought this up recently in a piece he wrote for Outdoor Photographer magazine. He found that he had drifted along the … read more
I’ve been fortunate to visit many of the most beautiful places in the world. Most of the time these are “hurry up” moments: gawk at the site, maybe take a snapshot. Sometimes I am more fortunate: I can linger at … read more
I was sorting and culling today through old correspondence with publishers. A generation ago, getting images to a magazine was a ponderous process. First, one had to label slides, then create a separate typed (yes, with a typewriter) list of … read more