Dance Recital, Living Art Studios
One of the highlights of the year in Lamoni Iowa is the annual spring dance recital featuring the dance students at Living Art Studios. The award-winning Graceland University Gadets also performed. This is a selection of photos from this year’s recital. If you want a print, you can order prints here. Ordering information is at the bottom of this page.
Click any of these photos to see a larger version.
We’ve been down this road before. To understand how this scam works, read this article. It covers all the details.
Moon Over Balanced Rock, Arches National Park, Utah.
Are you planning a spring photography trip to one or more U.S. national parks? Where should you go? Which parks will provide the best photographic opportunities? Which parks are at their best in the spring?
Sarah, Professional Fitness Trainer
Your camera is in love with middle gray. The quicker you learn how to deal with this infatuation, the better your photos will look, including all of your color photos.
Snowy Egret Feeding
Some days are “so so”, some days are average, and some days are amazing. Summer is not my favorite time of year to photograph birds at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, but July 14, 2016 was an amazing day. This photo of a feeding Snowy Egret was just one of many fine images from the morning. He stabbed at his prey and it came out of the water but not in his beak.
The view across the wildlife refuge looking west at the Dumbarton Bridge.
Located on the east side of San Francisco Bay near Fremont, California, the Don Edwards San Fransisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge is one of my favorite places to go when I am in the Bay Area.
RGB Histogram (upper right) and Luminance Histogram (lower right).
If your camera offers both RGB and luminance histograms, choose RGB. An RGB histogram is one of your most valuable exposure tools. A luminance histogram can lead to bad exposures and poor colors.
Sarah, Professional Fitness Trainer
Your camera is in love with middle gray. The quicker you learn how to deal with this infatuation, the better your photos will look, including all of your color photos.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
The video quality of some of these links is iffy.
I Have a Dream – short version with still photos
I have a Dream – short version with video
Martin Luther King Jr.
Today is Martin Luther King Day in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929. He was a Baptist minister and a prominent civil rights advocate. King was the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize when it awarded to him in 1964. He was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
One of his most famous speeches was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial August 28, 1963. Often referred to as the “I have a dream” speech, it is one of the most significant and powerful speeches of the 20th century. A portion of the speech follows. Links to the full speech and an audio file are at the end of this post.
Kristina in the Snow
The white snow in a winter scene can and often does fool a camera meter into underexposing a portrait, so here are the steps to take to get the right exposure. I throw in a few portrait suggestions too.
Mount Hunter from a Bush Plane. Denali National Park. Alaska.
Metering for scenes with a lot of snow can be tricky since the bright snow fools the camera meter. I see a lot of winter photos with gray snow, which means the camera meter did exactly what it was designed to do. The solution is quite simple provided you know what to do.
Last Light on El Capitan, Yosemite National Park
In addition to all of the usual photographic challenges, winter provides some extra complications, especially in terms of metering. So I began this series of articles on winter photography. Check out the links below. The articles will help you meet the unique challenges of winter photography. So get out there, have fun, and create some great winter images!
Have a joyous holiday season!
Silent Night, Moraine Park, Colorado
Snow glistens in the last light of dusk.
Distant clouds glow with the fading light from the sun, long since set.
39% of Americans never backup their data. That’s not good. Another 19% do this only once per year. No wonder so many people lose important files and photos if they have a hard drive crash.
Granite Ledges and Otter Cliff, Acadia National Park, Maine
Your camera falls down a mountainside or off a cliff. An unexpected rogue wave drenches your valuable photo gear in salt water. Your photo backpack is stolen from your home, motel room, or trunk of your car. To add insult to injury, you learn your homeowner’s insurance will not replace the value of your damaged or stolen gear.
Ava, Living Art Studios Dance Recital
When photographers crop photos they can choose any aspect ratio (length vs width) that they want to suit their artistic purposes. If they are making their own prints that isn’t a problem.
My favorite camera stores are B&H Photo, Adorama, KEH Camera, and Amazon. I will tell you why I like them, and why you should be wary of so many other online camera stores.
Estimated Print Life from Wilhelm Imaging Research
Would you rather have a high quality print that will last up to 50 years, or a print that will fade in 5 years? That’s not all. The print with a very short life expectancy might cost more than the better quality print. People buy short life span prints all the time. Why? Because they don’t have the right information, and they may have no idea that prints have such widely different life spans.
Full Moon (Supermoon), November 15, 2024.
With a nice clear sky I went out to photograph tonight’s supermoon. Then I pointed my lens at Jupiter.
Trunk or Treat
The local weekly newspaper asked me to send them a bunch of Trunk or Treat photos, so I did. These are my favorites. As it turned out, it was a much busier news week than usual, so only two of my photos made it into the paper. Every year Trunk or Treat is sponsored by the Enactus program at Graceland University here in Lamoni Iowa.
Rose Hill Cemetery, Lamoni Iowa.
There might be ghosts!
Arlington Covered Bridge and Norman Rockwell’s Home. Vermont. October 24, 2017.
Thanks to Michelle and Kim at the Sugar Shack (see my prior post), I was in Norman Rockwell Heaven. I love Norman Rockwell. Before I stopped at the Sugar Shack I did not know Rockwell lived just a few miles away.
Korbin Nall (25) scores a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage.
As usual, when I photograph an event for the weekly Lamoni Chronicle, I create a lot of images and select about 6 to 12 to send to the paper. The paper usually chooses from 2 to 6 to publish. On really rare occasions a dozen might get published. If it is a slow news week, more of my photos get published so I always hope for a slow news week. The photos in this article are my “selects” from the October 7, 2024 middle school football game between the Lamoni Demons (red helmets) and the Melcher-Dallas Saints.
Autumn, Upper Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Fall color is sweeping the country. To make the most of it, you want to be at the right place at the right time. With some help from the internet, I will help you find the best fall color locations at the peak of the season.