I decided to make a holiday shopping list for landscape and wildlife photographers. I did not include any cameras, lenses, tripods, bags, etc. as there are multiple websites with thorough reviews to help you choose. Rather, I have created an eclectic list of items that I have and use. Some…
Given the slow pace of fall color change here in Southern Indiana, I was more than ready to wander West-Central Indiana on Sunday in search of images for a new guidebook project and hopefully experience some of the familiar reds, oranges, yellows and golds Indiana autumn is world-famous for. It was, after all, a picture-perfect fall Sunday.
I got what I needed image-wise from the Jackson-Schnyder Nature Preserve near Terre Haute and from Raccoon State Recreation Area (SRA) to the east in Parke County near Rockville. But colorwise, the trip was largely a bust.
A Detour… I visited Goose Pond FWA this past week searching primarily for an American White Pelican that were reported in the area. It was a cool morning with a heavy cloud cover that was supposed to turn to partly cloudy skies about the time I would arrive at my…
In my driver education class, the instructor stated that if you ride a motorcycle either you have crashed or you are going to crash. If you use memory cards in your camera, either you have lost images, or you are going to lose images! Last week, I became one of…
Saturday, I lead a Photowalk sponsored by Scott Kelby at a foggy Pioneer Village in Spring Mill State Park. Saturday was also part of their autumn harvest days. Several folks were dressed in period clothing and demonstrated the work pioneers did during the period. The park and village are well…
I chose the Big Walnut Nature Preserve for the unofficial start of a new book project for a variety of reasons, not the least being its status as a registered National Natural Landmark (NNL), which means it contains “outstanding biological and geological resources.” It’s also a Dedicated State Nature Preserve, which means it’s protected against development in…
As one who’s lived his entire adult life in Southern Indiana, I can say with confidence that we Southerners are pretty smug about our natural heritage — and perhaps a bit condescending about it. Indeed, every conversation I’ve had the past few years regarding Northern Indiana natural areas has pretty much followed the same…
Last week, Steven and I ventured into Owen County to visit at least two locations. Our first planned stop was McCormick’s Creek State Park. We had a few different possibilities for the second location that was dependent on the weather conditions. Earlier in the week, we had approximately two inches…
Gary and I heard McCormick’s Creek long before we reached the Statehouse Quarry, which sits creekside a quarter mile or so upstream from the White River West Fork. And I can’t say I was thrilled when I found the creek a muddy, coffee-with-cream color. The water rushed, unlike I’d ever seen it,…
I’ve long taught my journalism students to think of photography as “painting with light.” The camera doesn’t record the subject matter you see in the viewfinder. It captures the light that is reflected off it.
Indeed, the elements we compose into our final images exist because of and within the light. Without it, color and form are pretty much irrelevant. Many of the greatest nature images ever captured lacked color altogether. Think Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. In fact, without light, color doesn’t exist. (More on that in a second.)
