Favorite Photo, August 2

Kristina, Columbus, Ohio. August 2, 2016.

All of my favorite images for August 2 are from one photo shoot with one professional model. It all started with a phone call from Kristina, a model and actress based in Los Angeles. We have done several photo shoots together, beginning when she was a college student in Ohio.

Continue reading

Colorado Fall Color Travel and Photography Guide

Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake. Mid-morning. September 24, 2015.

Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake. Mid-morning. September 24, 2015.

Welcome to my Colorado fall color travel and photography guide with over 100 pages of information (if you print it all out), 120 photos, and 17 maps. I cover some of the best known fall color locations in Colorado, and one real gem of a road that is mostly unknown to photographers and leaf peepers. Spend anywhere from a few days to three weeks exploring the beautiful Colorado Rockies at a gorgeous time of year.

Continue reading

Wise Words From Dewitt Jones: “Stay This Moment”

Dewitt Jones

Dewitt Jones is a world class photographer who spent much of his life working for National Geographic. His articles in Outdoor Photographer and his movies and videos have been a source of inspiration for me for a long time. If we have a rainy night at one of my photography workshops (it is hard to photograph stars in the rain) I show his movie Celebrate What’s Right with the World.

Continue reading

Brittany in Ferns

Brittany in Ferns

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has places that are a forest wonderland and the soft light was perfect for a model amid tall ferns.

Brittany in the Moonlight

Brittany in the Moonlight. Click to see a larger image.

With a motionless subject and the camera on a tripod, shooting in the moonlight is easy. Just leave the shutter open long enough to record the image.Leave the shutter open too long and the image will look like it was taken during the middle of the day except for the stars in the sky.

Continue reading

This Made My day!

Photo of Jim Doty, Jr. by Winnie Johnston.

I did a photo workshop in Northern Michigan June 8-11. The workshop registrar, Winnie Johnston, captured this image of me on a workshop field trip, and she wrote this:
Continue reading

Warning! Fake Memory Cards at Amazon

Memory Cards in Think Tank Memory Card Holders

Fake memory cards have been a problem at Amazon for several years. The biggest problem with fake cards is card failure and the permanent loss of the photos on the card. Just think about how you would feel if you lost precious, once in a lifetime photos on your memory card. And to make matters worse, you find out data recovery software can’t recover the lost photos from a fake memory card. They are gone forever. Continue reading

Total Immersion Nature Photography Weekend in Beautiful Northern Michigan

Michigan Photography WorkshopUPDATE, June 3: Due to a last minute cancellation we have one slot open this weekend. This is your chance to register. Go here.

Are you ready to take your nature and wildlife photography to the next level? Are you ready to learn the professional secrets that make the difference between good images and great images? Are you ready for a high intensity, action packed, total immersion photography weekend? Come to Park of the Pines on beautiful Lake Charlevoix June 8-10, 2018.

Continue reading

The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part Two

You order a set of lenses expecting to pay $29. Your credit card gets charged several times that amount and you get socked with an outrageous $85.00 shipping charge. You find out later you could buy the same lenses at Amazon for less than $10. You’ve been ripped off.

Posted Aug. 9, 2016. Updated Dec. 2, 2017. Revised and re-posted June 2, 2018.

Continue reading

The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part One

After reading a glowing review you order a set of smart phone lenses and you are billed over $100. You get socked with an additional $85 shipping charge (the ad said shipping was free). Then you find out you could have bought the same lenses for less than $10. To add insult to injury you discover the great review was from a fake review site and the quality of the lenses is disappointing. You’ve been ripped off.

Continue reading

In Remembrance

Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Washington D.C.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Washington D.C. Click for a larger version.

Richard Duane Klug (the name just above the rose) was born January 26, 1946. He died in Darlac Province, Vietnam, November 14, 1967 at the age of 21. He is one of over 58,000 American soldiers that died in Vietnam, and one of over 1.1 million American soldiers that have died in all American wars (almost half of them in the Civil War). It is with a profound sense of gratitude that I reflect on the lives of those who “gave the last full measure of devotion” on behalf of their country.

Continue reading

Video: Into the Wild with Thomas D. Mangelsen

“Catch of the Day”, © Thomas D. Mangelsen

Tom Mangelsen is a world class wildlife photographer.  His image Catch of the Day has been called the most famous wildlife image of all time. His book Images of Nature has pride of place in my photography library. In this 12 minute video at 60 Minutes you go out into the field with Mangelsen and Anderson Cooper.

Continue reading