News
Jan 9, 2012
The definitive basic photography class has just been rebuilt and refreshed with new images, illustrations and animations. Many more hours of meticulous tweaking, construction and animating have been spent updating this class. Thanks to hundreds of students suggestions and ideas this class is now even better than before.
Every new photographer, and many experienced ones, have lots to gain by knowing all the fundamentals. If you have gaps in your photographic knowledge, this is the place to put all that behind you and get you closer to your goal of great photography.
Dec 24, 2011
Free Talk
Noon - Saturday Jan 7, 2012
Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door
Edmonds
This class offers something for all skill levels, from the basic point-and-shooter, to the more advanced digital SLR photographer. Techniques, concepts and innovative ideas will open your eyes to the world around you and set you on a course for taking your photography to a higher level.
Oct 23, 2011
Free Talk
11 a.m. Sunday Nov. 6
Kenmore Camera's Digital Expo
Lynnwood Convention Center
This insightful talk takes a unique look at the way a photographer sees the world. Using illustrations, illusions, diagrams and photos (both good and bad) you'll see why we don't always get in photographs what we see with our own eyes. You'll learn about the limitations and unique advantages of the modern digital camera and how they impact your photographs.
Sep 5, 2011
New Class
I’m pleased to introduce a new class on one of the most popular reasons for taking photos - Travel Photography. It’s a half-day (4-hour) class that covers everything from equipment and packing tips, to shooting advice in both technical and aesthetic regards. It’s designed to prepare the photographer heading out on the trip of a lifetime with tons of practical advice.
Myanmar Photography Workshop
Fall 2012
A new location and a new adventure, I think there’s nothing better. I’ve teamed up with experienced Southeast Asia tour guide Karen Houge to lead a photographic tour in the sublimely photogenic land of Myanmar (Burma).
We're looking for a few intrepid souls with cameras to share this experience with. Professional or beginner, all are welcome with our group. We’ll keep the group small and do our best to make it a great learning experience for everyone.
Jun 1, 2011
Southwest
Three weeks of photographing in the American Southwest is the perfect escape for most any photographer. National Parks, State Parks and rarely visited locations are all full of photographic potential. Yes, it’s been done by other photographers, and you’ll likely run across many while you are there, but this was my time to see what I could make out of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. I made my wish list, cleared three weeks, cut the list in half and took off before gas prices went up again.
Having traveled here twice before I knew exactly where I wanted to go - Zion N.P., Bryce N.P., Antelope Canyon, The Wave, Monument Valley, Arches N.P., Canyonlands N.P. and Goblin State Park. Beyond these there were other lesser known areas that provided great opportunities.
Favorite places...
The Wave - Only 20 people are allowed per day via a lottery system, I got lucky on my second try, hiked in at sunrise and didn’t come out till well past dark. Google “Wave Utah” and you’ll find a million images or so, but I wanted to create my own versions.
Monument Valley - Beautiful blue skies with puffy white clouds in the afternoon turned into a fast moving rainstorm, dashing my hopes for golden light on the famous mittens. The storm indeed moved quickly as the clouds broke free and let the sun through for 15 glorious minutes of golden light.
Toadstools - I’m for renaming this location to Space Needle Rock. A collection of stones on pedestals is highlighted by one in particular that looks eerily similar to our Space Needle here in Seattle. This strange collection of eroded rocks, which looked beautiful in those last minutes before sunset, transformed to downright mystical after nightfall when I lit them up with my own lights. These bizarre shapes backed by a sea of stars shows us just how unpredictable and wonderful our world can be.
Click to see the Southwest Image Gallery
Mar 28, 2011
5-Day Crazy Time Lapse
Check out this short YouTube video.
Here's the result of 5-days of shooting some 2,400 images of Glen Case, (SuperWetPaint) putting up 2 murals on the side of Easy Street Records in Seattle. Pearl Jam and Sony hired me to shoot and assemble the footage. There was a lot to deal with - camera position, protection from several days of rain, theft, movement, etc. Thanks to Mark, Glen and a few others - nothing like a team effort.
Jan 8, 2011
Crash Course in YOUR camera
I’m proud to announce a brand new class, to be precise, it’s a whole set of new classes. These are aimed at detailing and explaining the workings of specific cameras.
I’ve found that while teaching my other photography classes that a lot of students don’t really know their cameras all that well. It’s time to change that in my opinion.
Modern cameras are amazing in what they can do and every photographer should be aware of and what is capable from that magic box hanging off their shoulder. Knowing everything about every feature in your camera isn’t necessary because nobody needs (or uses) every feature built into a modern camera. The key to photographic success is figuring out which features you’ll need and when to use them. And that’s what this set of new classes is designed to do.
The camera that I have started with are some of the most popular camera being sold today. As new cameras are introduced I am likely to create classes for them as the need dictates.
The four classes are:
Canon Rebel T3i/T2i Crash Course
Nikon D5100/D3100 Crash Course
If you own one of these camera and want a good clear instruction in how to use it I’ve put together a great class I hope you’ll consider enrolling in.
Click here to find out more about this class.
October 15, 2010
Jordan Photo Tour
Fresh off the plane and I'm still reeling from a great time leading my first international photo tour in Jordan. My co-leader, Emily Wilson, and I had four clients that were just fantastic and we all had a great time and got some great images.
We visited all the major hot spots but also spent time in lesser know but photo rich places. A number of the places date back to times when the Romans ruled the area and have since left behind their distinctive mark. Amphitheaters, columns, temples and lots of ruins made for fun shooting especially when combined with beautiful evening light.
More challenging to photograph but lots more fun to float in was the Dead Sea. Located at 1,385 feet below sea level it has a salinity level of 33.7% making it one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet, this of course makes it very easy to float in.
The highlight of the trip was of course Petra one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It’s an ancient city which was carved into the sandstone cliffs in southern Jordan. The most photographed entity is the Treasury, a 2-plus story facade at the end of a kilometer long slot canyon. It’s a breathtaking moment to be walking down the narrow canyon and have the sliver of this beautiful structure emerge as you round the final bend.
Petra is a large site with thousands of rock cut buildings providing ample opportunity for exploration and photography. The light can be tricky to work with so we arrived at the opening of the gate and were among the first few people in on the two days we spend there.
Our clients came from very diverse backgrounds - Australia, USA, and Switzerland with a wide range of photographic experience - beginner to photo instructor. We all got along great and many thanks to everybody for making it a fantastic experience.
Click here to see the Jordan Photo Tour gallery.
October 15, 2010
Egypt Photo Tour scouting trip
As part of my Middle East visit this fall I wanted to check out Cairo Egypt for shooting possibilities as I hope to lead a photo tour there in 2011. Emily Wilson, business partner and co-tour leader for the Jordan Photo Tour has lots of experience and connections in Cairo and it proved to be most helpful.
Most exciting for me was obtaining special access to the Giza Pyramid complex before sunrise and well before the gates opened to the general public. Getting this pass was due to knowing the right person as well as a bit of luck, from what I’m told it’s not likely to be repeated. I, along with Emily, a driver and guard entered about 6 a.m. where I was taken around to anyplace that I wanted to shoot. Since it was dark and I had never been there before it was a bit frantic but I ended up getting to some nice locations with nice light to get perspectives not seen by most.
Very high on the fun factor was working with an Egyptian woman - Rana, to do a bit of modeling in a variety of locations. Rana, a former exchange student at the UW here in Seattle exhibited some traditional as well as contemporary styles. She’s not a professional model but she sure could be with her beautiful look and easy going style.
Most chaotic on the shooting schedule was the camel auction. Dust, wind, noise and thousands of camels made for great photo opportunities. This regular event was a ton of fun to shoot. The site is located just outside of Cairo, far enough and adventurous enough so that you are not likely not to see many tourists there.
The city is definitely one of the most crazy and intense places I’ve ever been. It’s rich with subjects and a great photographic opportunity. I can’t wait to see more of the country when I return next year to lead a photo tour.
Now, I just need about 8 crazy people who want to take this journey with me - what are you doing next fall?
Click here to see the Cairo Egypt photo gallery.
August 6, 2010
&
Classes now offered in Portland Oregon
Crash Course in Digital Photography, my most popular class, will now be offered at Portland's leading professional photography store - Pro Photo Supply. The first of hopefully many classes is scheduled for October 23, 2010, location to be determined.
Pro Photo Supply is Oregon’s great resource for all things photographic. They are a pro dealer, which means they carry all the best gear, like Canon, Nikon, Sony and all the other top names in cameras and accessories. The also sell a fantastic lineup of lighting gear, video cameras, darkroom supplies and they even have a rental department. They are closely tied in with the photographic community hosting and sponsoring many local events.
Many of my students have been making the long drive up from Oregon, so I’ve figured it’s time for me to return the favor. I have close ties to Oregon, I graduated from Oregon State University and I have many friends and thus have spent many vacations in Eugene, Klamath Falls, Sisters, Bend and of course Portland.
It’s a privilege to be working with Pro Photo and to serve the Oregon community. If there’s something you would like me to offer feel free to drop me a line and offer an idea.
July 14, 2010
The hardest thing I've ever done?
I’m completely aware that I’m just about the last photographer on the planet to establish a website, and I’m totally fine with it. It's here now, it’s pretty much what I want, and I have direct control over it.
Long ago I could have simply paid someone to build a site for me but there were two major problems.
Problem one: I didn’t know what the message was. I’ve always been of the mindset that if your going to say something, think about it, and make it a clear message.
Problem two: Just about every photographer I’ve talked to that had a site built for them, was frustrated at the lack of control. If they wanted to post a new image, a blog posting, change a font, or add a product, they had to wait for their webmaster to have time to do it, and then, one way or another, it was going to cost them.
So I decided to wait and figure out what my message was going to be and then to find a way to create and build it myself. In someways it’s took me about two years. It’s taken on-line training, books, DVDs, and advice from my tech savvy colleagues and finally one-on-one tutoring.
I’ll grant you this - making websites is not my calling in life. With the difficulty of trying to build a website from scratch, with no knowledge of code, SEO or anything else - I’m astonished the internet even exits!
For those of you who find all this a “piece of cake” - my hat’s off to you. Thank you for building the internet or at least enriching it with more content. You have a talent in an area that I feel like a stranger in a strange land.
As I’m a total novice at this please drop me a line to let me know what you think, I realize I’ve probably made more mistakes than I even knew were possible.
June 28, 2010
Alaska Small Ship Photo Cruise
I've just returned by Southeast Alaska where I spent 8 days on the Island Spirit traveling from Sitka to Petersburg via various waterways, fjords and inlets. Jeff Beherns, captain owner and operator of Fantasy Cruises (smallshipalaska.com) runs this route during the pleasant summer months with up to 32 passengers on his nimble yet versatile boat. The crew of 8 were first class with special kudos to the 2 chefs (Emily and Jake) in the galley.
This type of tour is much different that the full sized cruise lines that regularly ply these waters. The first major difference is type of places the boat and thus you can go. With a smaller boat you get into shallower bays, smaller ports as well as closer to scenery and wildlife. The second difference is that the entire cruise in great scenery whereas the larger ships spend a great deal of time getting from one place to the next at high speed in big open water.
This "photo emphasis" cruise was the first of type for the Island Spirit. During the journey I gave several talks and classes on photography and was available to guest to sit down and shop with. I met several great people who all had different types of questions ranging from the operation of their camera to composition.
Jeff and I hope to offer this tour next year, so if you're interested stay tuned.
If you want to see a collection of images from this year's trip click here.
Spring 2010
Seattle Public Library series
In my preparation for my Fundamentals of Digital Photography and the section on Light, I felt that I need a good test subject to photograph in different lighting conditions. The Seattle Central Library seemed to be the perfect subject. With it’s glass walls the effects of light would be dramatically different from sun to clouds to night. I visited the building several times over a few months, while certainly not and exhaustive series, I did end up with a nice collection of images.
The building, open to the general public on a daily basis, has few restrictions on photography. You are not allowed to use a tripod, which greatly disappoints me, however I found out that I could get around that problem with the proper lenses, angle of view, and strategic bracing of the camera.
Many of my favorite shots came from across the street to the east at the steps of the U.S Court of Appeals building. The colored brick work and night lights make for an interesting and open foreground in an otherwise crowded downtown. I twice photographed at night from this location and have since become a big twilight fan. Twilight, not the book/movie series, but as in the time when the sun is below the horizon but the sky is still illuminated by the scattering of the sun’s rays.
If you find yourself in Seattle and wanting a little photographic exercise I can highly recommend our library. There are plenty of shots, inside and out under all typed of conditions.
June 20, 2010
A new class
The teaching gig is going along pretty well, so I’ve decide to expand my offerings. Part of me has wanted to stay as far away from the whole “workflow” market as possible. It's hard to say exactly why, but let’s just say my interest is in actually creating photographs in the field.
Staying with the concept that taking pictures is more enjoyable than “workflow”, I realize that one does need to learn how to process the images properly and quickly, if for no other reason than simply to get back out in the field for some more shooting.
The last few years I’ve been using Adobe’s Lightroom and each year I’m liking it more and more. So in what is quite likely my only foray into the post-processing world I’m proud to offer a one-day Crash Course in Adobe’s Lightroom.
I’ve decided to keep it short and sweet. I’ll only be teaching the Library and Develop module and skipping over the Print, Web and Slideshow options. Why? After many surveys from students here is what I’ve learned...
1, Virtually everyone is interested in better organizing their images.
2. Virtually everyone is interested in quick and easy techniques to improve their images.
3. A small portion 5-20% have any interest in printing, publishing to web or creating a slide show.
So if time is limited, and it is in a one day class, it’s best to spend it on what is most important. It’s thus my goal to teach as much as possible about the two critical areas of Lightroom: The Library and The Develop Module.
Click here for more info on the class.