I think the stars have aligned for me

Well its certainly been a great day for me, luckily chosen by +Joel Tjintjelaar to receive a free mini-workshop with one of masters of B&W photography today. I'm so thankful for the opportunity and looking forward to getting started. Just to top it all off a 10-stop ND filter arrived in the mail today. So excited I had to go out and try it. I only got home an hour ago and quickly processed a couple images. This image is not perfect and compositionally I'm sure I could have done better but it was just a trial to see how it works after the disappointed of a variable ND I'd bought recently costing four times as much but fortunately returned. This one's a version 2 Hitech purchased direct from Formatt in the UK - the Lee BS is too hard to get here in Aus and probably worldwide. It has a similar blue cast to the Lee big stopper but relatively easy to correct in LR. +Vivien Stevens you may be interested in this one as an alternative - I can't fault it at this stage plus it's a gel which I think is an advantage for accidental falls.

It's amazing to think that a 30-sec exposure @ F16 is possible with our strong Australian sun. Anyway I think I'll buy a lotto ticket tomorrow - you never know.

Today: Morning commuter. Just in time.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Stanford Memorial Church Wedding | Nancy + Steve

More images: http://ow.ly/8yI3n

Blizzard in Helsinki, Finland

January 19, 2012
#Creative366Project
#StormyFriday curated by +Reinhard Latzke

"Day After Day"

The Sierra high country is timeless. These granite mountains, these meadows, and even this tree sentinel have been here longer than I've been alive and will be here much longer after I am gone. They stand day after day, month after month, year after year. Not waiting for anything, not expecting anything. No deadlines, no schedules, no Mondays, Wednesdays, or Saturdays.

If you spend enough time in the mountains, you begin to tap into that endless cycle. The feeling of "having to do something" slips away, along with pressures, schedules, and responsibilities. I don't know anything quite so pacifying and relieving as connecting with the stillness of the mountains.

Well here is my entry for #BirdPoker ANGRY by +Phil Armishaw

I would not want to cross this Little Owl...

Enjoy your weekends all.

#BirdPoker Angry curated by +Phil Armishaw

I'll start with one of my favorite Angry Bird shots. A small segue from the Blue theme...

On Aggressive Cropping

It feels great to get back into posting images and anecdotes here. Last week was pretty crazy with travels to New Orleans for the Imaging USA Expo. Anytime we travel for major conferences, free time is a precious commodity. Regardless, I always make it a point to grab at least one body, one lens, and a tripod. NOLA was no exception.

I took this shot the night before we were due to fly back to Oregon. The weather was poor because a major storm was about to roll in. Light was flat, which was a good thing here. It allowed me to expose for about 2'15" using the Lee Big Stopper 10-stop ND filter. I was using my Canon 24-70 lens which, in hindsight, wasn't the best choice because that focal length didn't do much to help spur creativity. There is something very vanilla about that focal range.

When this happens, I try to fall back on the ideal of simply getting the best frame possible in the field and then rely on more creative cropping in post. And that was the case here. The original frame contained way more information than I cared for. By cropping in while constraining proportions, I was able to achieve a much more pleasing image.

The long exposure helped give the scene an ethereal feeling and I aimed to accentuate that with this particular B&W conversion.

So, don't ever feel like you're fully limited to what you capture in your frame.

With digital photography, it's clear that the creation on the image no longer stops at the camera.

The Gap

I'm resharing this favourite of mine for +Ivan Makarov #PlusOneCollection project. More details here: https://plus.google.com/103072807246388063461/posts

Its taken me quite some time to select this shot - and in fact it took quite a long time to get this shot revisiting this location in London over and over again over the last year, but sometimes patience and persistence pays off. For me this time everything just came together - the right light the right clouds and not getting hassled by security !!!

Hi all, this photo is a reshare for +Ivan Makarov 's +Best of 2011 - G+ Photography Book project. An awesome task Ivan has undertaken and one which i'm sure will be a success due to the dedication. Thankyou Ivan!
I had to think it over on which photo of mine to use for this awesome project and decided on my photo named 'Pears' as this photo was a success for me from both the technical and creative aspect. I also have an interest in paintings from the old masters from which I believe as photographers we can still study and learn a lot from in their mastery of light, composition and tonal relationships.
#PlusOneCollection

In the Light of a New Day

Since winter has been stubborn this year and we still have had little snow, I present another image from the past May in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was an amazing trip with night after night of snowfall when the white stuff should have been receding. Oh, and the light was great too!

#PlusPhotoExtract curated by +Jarek Klimek
#FourSeasonFriday curated by +Karin Nelson and +Stephonie Ogden
#FlowingWaterFriday curated by +Rolf Hicker

G+ Photography Book

I did a house building project in Cambodia a few years ago and these kids were standing around watching us... I just love the attitudes.

This is a favorite of mine. It was taken down inside of an old cement plant miles from anywhere.

#50mm