Preserving our wildland for our wild heritage is such an important aspect of my landscape photography. I will be sharing with you the lessons this pursuit has taught me. I want you to bring home your grand experience in your images sharing you passion is what I want to help you do with every click. I’ll be bringing two new classes to the KelbyOne Landscape Conference:

Our Treasured Lands. Bringing home the memories
We are incredibly fortunate to have some amazing national treasures all across the land. Some like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon are well known. Others like the Redwoods, Badlands and others are not so well known. Let’s take a photographic journey through these lands and talk about planning, best times, best locations, hidden treasures, and making the iconic shots so we can bring home the memories and share them!

Shoot the Subject, Finish the Light
There are times when you step outside, the photograph takes itself. There are other times when no matter what you do, how you’ve planned, there isn’t a photograph to be found. No matter if you find yourself in the first delight or the last disappointment, or any place in between, we’re going to make the visual story come to life. How do you make the subject take center stage in your viewfinder? How to finish the light on the computer to invite the viewer into meet that subject. You’re going to learn how during this class!

Come join me and a host of talented and passionate photographers for a great two day!

How far can I push the Z 9 and get the photographs I need and want? That question is part of the last three months of experimenting, typical when I have a new camera body. And this past weekend, I went one step further with another in finding answers. Using the USBc power option in the Z 9, I set up Z 9 remotely on The Ranch to capture the incoming storm. The Z 9 was remotely shooting the Time Lapse for ten hours, taking 1 photo every 15 seconds (Aperture Priority, f/5.6 no exp comp), with the Z 9 creating the video when finished, I learned some things. First was the connected solar battery ran the Z 9 the entire time, the EN-EL18d was still at 100% charge after ten hours and the solar battery had 25% power left. Amazing! Next, the Time Lapse feature in the Z 9 is even nicer than in the Z 6II producing a clean vid right from the camera. Finally, NX Studio has music right in the program you can use. You hear it here. Love learning new things, even more things working the first time so darn well.

I love all Chickadees … they are simply a ton of fun to watch. They have always seemed smart to me compared to a lot of other birds. Well, it seems there is science to back that gut feeling of mine. Here’s a great article about this you might enjoy!

We use contrast, the difference between highlight and shadow, to help define our subject. For example, shadow helps define the shape of a subject, shows its round rather than flat. In flat light though, we have no exposure contrast but we do have another contrast we can take advantage of. If you look carefully at this photo of the Black-capped Chickadee, there is no shadow showing the plumpness of the chickadee or roundness of the limbs or tree. But because I have used color contrast, the mind fills that in and the soft, saturated light helps create the feeling of softness. The color contrast between the greens and white of the chickadee rather than a shadow makes the chickadee pop in the frame so you see it even though it’s small in the frame. I use color contrast all the time because it permits more play with the subject bringing out character and emotion. It’s a powerful tool you need in your arsenal of visual storytelling!