Ever watch a pro or advanced amateur photographer at work? Chances are you’ve noticed that almost all of them share a twitch of sorts. It goes something like this: camera hangs on a strap on their left shoulder… up goes their right hand… grab strap at shoulder… pull up as left shoulder simultaneously rises and left arm juts out a bit to help out… put right hand back down… repeat every 60 seconds.
What I’m referring to here is camera strap slippage (not related to George Castanza’s shrinkage problem, mind you). …

One of the hassles of travel for me is toting around an entire file folder of flight, hotel and rental car confirmations. Why do the confirmations have to be 5 pages long? Even if I print only the first page, on a 3-4 week assignment that frequently entails 30-40 pages of confirmations.
Enter the niftiest iPod Touch (also iPhone and iPad) app I have ever seen. It’s called TripIt and I’ve fallen in love with it. Here’s what it does and how it works.

Basically, TripIt creates a complete itinerary of your …

Every so often a product appears in the marketplace that makes you think: Why didn’t someone think of that sooner?
That’s how I felt the first time I used a ScotteVest product, the brainchild of founder Scott Jordan. Scottevest (www.scottevest.com) is a line of clothing designed for people who embrace an active lifestyle. The pants, shirts, vests and jackets are ruggedly constructed of lightweight materials, but any similarity to standard outdoors wear ends there. In my quest to share great products with my readers— products that I actually use— I’d like …

For me, one of the joys of writing a blog, or teaching a workshop, is the opportunity to pass on knowledge that I’ve gained from 40 years in the field, as well as learn from others and make new friends.
There are some aspects of photography that I do not consider my area of expertise. I think of people like Bob Boyer (http://photo.rwboyer.com/), who is a true expert in photographic lighting, post-processing and the technical aspects of photography (aside from being an Aperture guru). His expertise on Aperture (and Photoshop) draws …

Right now I’m in the throes of prepping for a month-long assignment that will take me to Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand, three places on my bucket list that I’ve never visited before. As with my recent Canadian Rockies adventure, I plan to blog my way through this.

First, if any of you have favorite photo spots in any of these places, please let me know. Our plan is to fly to Sydney and spend several days driving along the coast to Brisbane and back, writing and photographing along the way. …

By now you readers know that I only review items that I have actually used, ones that have made my photography job easier… or a living hell! Since I do not allow advertisers on my site, I am beholden to no one and always try to tell it like it is. Of course, I’m always quick to remind you that these reviews only reflect my opinion and you may find the same piece of gear perfect for your needs. Go figure!
With that in mind, here’s my take on Right Angle …

How crazy that we spend $5,000 and up on a camera setup (hey, the D3X body alone is $7,500!!) and we can get tripped up by not spending another $8.69?  That is exactly what I spend on a pair of kneepads at Home Depot. Since I use them pretty heavily when I’m out shooting landscapes, I go through them or lose them pretty regularly, so I like to keep the cost under $10 a pair.
I have found that kneepads can make the difference between a mediocre shot and a great …

I thought I’d do a wrap-up of my Canadian Rockies trip. There’s no way to soften this; photographically, it sucked! Oh, I snagged some decent images, but not one-tenth of what I had hoped. But, as far as family-bonding time went, that was wonderful, so I’m really not complaining. Okay, maybe a little bit.
The photography challenge was a combination of rainy weather and forest fires. More than 300 fires were burning in British Columbia during my visit, casting nearly every scene in a brownish haze that not even my Singh-Ray …