To “ogle” means to look at someone flirtatiously or lasciviously, according to Webster’s. So, I invented the term “oogle” (a takeoff on Google, no doubt) to describe a behavior that many of us landscape photographers do.
Perhaps you’ve seen this in action. A pro photographer takes an image and as soon as it pops up on the LCD, he (or she) whips out a little black device from a belt holster or from around his neck, hunches over perilously close to his LCD screen and just… well… oogles.
The device in question …

I recently traveled to Costa Rica, that anomaly of a country where 25% of the land is held in national parks and where eco-consciousness is a way of life, not political posturing.
Two hotels in the capital city of San Jose that I stayed in serve as metaphors for the old versus new way of thinking. The Gran Hotel de Costa Rica is a magnificent structure, built in the heyday of the capital city. It is huge, ornate and, sadly, run down. The marble and wood entryway are impressive, as is …

Every so often someone sneaks a photo of me. As with many photographers, I’m terribly non-photogenic, so I kinda like it when someone candidly catches me at work in the field. Here I am at exquisite Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada, in a position I often find myself, contorted over a must-have image. In this case the pickings were slim, as it was a cold, rainy, overcast day. I wasn’t even going to bother with a picture. I don’t particularly like Lake Louise for the huge crowds it draws in …

We’re sitting on the aft deck of the Northern Expedition, a BC Ferry en route from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, British Columbia, Canada, when I notice my granddaughter, bless her 16-year old heart, staring at my hands, which were at that moment, clutching my camera and a telephoto lens.
“Pop-pop,” she says, perfectly seriously. “I think you should be a hand model for AARP.” Then she bursts out laughing.
So, my question for you, dear reader’s, is this: Is she right? (Please be kind!)

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Right now it’s the mid-afternoon lull, the time when any decent photographer is bone tired, having arisen before dawn to snag those incredible sunrise images. I’m onboard the Northern Expedition, a British Columbia ferry traveling between Prince Rupert and Port Hardy, a 15-hour journey through the spectacular Queen Charlotte Islands of the Canadian Pacific coast. God, they’re beautiful! Dense evergreen forest covers the mountains from summit to sea as we weave through narrow channels along our 500km route.
Actually, I didn’t get any sunrise pics, but I’ve got an excuse a …

First, to be clear, I’m talking here about taking photos on and from a train, not of a train. There are lots of train enthusiasts out there and I’m often blown away by the quality of the better amateur and pro train photographers. I love grainy black and whites of trains, old train stations, even the expressions of people waiting in stations for their trains. But I’m not a train photographer.
So on this Grand Loop trip I’m taking, I face the challenge of getting decent photos on and from a …

We’re on a two-day train trip from Vancouver, British Columbia to Jasper, Alberta, what many of my fellow passengers are calling the trip of a lifetime. This trip I’m joined by my wife and granddaughter and we are aboard the Rocky Mountaineer, an upscale riding experience that winds through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, a never-ending smorgasbord of mountain, stream and meadow eye-candy.
For me, one of the joys of travel is chatting with my travel mates and, in the case of the Rocky Mountaineer, I find …

Okay, prep time is finally over and we’re off on our Canadian Rockies adventure. Normally I’d be traveling alone if I were on assignment, but in this case I happily have my wife and granddaughter accompanying me so that I can write some travel articles from a family and, specifically, an intergenerational perspective.
I love travel, but I hate traveling. Travel has become such a hassle in the past decade. As if the airlines weren’t bad enough on their own, the security hassles alternate between ridiculous and absurd. Drag suitcases down …

We’re excited to announce that Les was selected as the featured photographer by Museo Digital Fine Art Media. Museo produces some of the finest print  media in the world. Les often uses Museo photographic paper to produce his unique, signed, one-of-a-kind images.
Go to http://www.museofineart.com/featured.050110.aspx to see the images Museo chose to highlight Les’ work.
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Soul of the Desert
by Lester Picker
[This article originally appeared in The Baltimore Sun Travel section.]
The ringing in my ears has finally stopped. Only now, for the first time since I arrived 36 hours ago, can I hear the true sound of The Great Sakhara, Egypt’s Eastern Desert. Silence. Utter, absolute, total quiet. A silence far, far deeper than even Thoreau’s New England forest solitude.
In the desolate landscape of The Great Sakhara there are no tree leaves to rustle in the wind. In fact, other than for a short time in …