This was my first visit to Pompei and every preconception I had of the site was dashed within minutes. I had a schedule to keep and I alloted two hours to visiting Pompei. Instead, we ended up spending five very active hours and when the park closed we were one of the last to leave. I could easily have spent another day or two exploring these ancient ruins- and in fact I expect I will because my photography was rushed and I was not allowed to bring in my tripod …

I’m here at PhotoPlus 2012 with Bob Boyer, my assistant, and so far we’re enjoying the immersion in all things photographic. The Javits Center in mid-town Manhattan is gigantic and it is currently filled with tens of thousands of photo enthusiasts from all over the country, weaving their way through the overwhelming maze of exhibitors.
Today I spent most of my time talking with people who visited the Intelicoat Technologies, Inc. booth. I was one of the guest artists for their Museo Fine Art papers exhibit on the main floor of …

I’m constantly in awe as I travel the Ring Road around Iceland. For one thing, I can’t drive for a mile without seeing a waterfall, whether up close and personal or in the distance. At one point I counted six waterfalls in one view.
Iceland has to be a geologist’s or a vulcanologist’s Valhalla. And if not seeing waterfalls, one is nearly always in sight of a glacier. Some sit atop Iceland’s many mountains. Others have accumulated enough mass to advance down valleys in their unstoppable flow to the sea.
Iceland’s glaciers …

It took a while, but we finally purchased a brand spanking new large format printer, the Epson 9900. Here it is, after being installed in our office today:
Bob Boyer, my very able assistant and master of all things tech, helped me over the past few months deciding on what printer to buy. We narrowed the choices to two excellent products, the Canon ipf8300 and the Epson 9900. Since the Epson was newer, with a tad more advanced technology, we went with it.
It took six men to carry it up the …

I’m preparing to leave the lovely country of Sri Lanka after three weeks spent here. Located off the coast of India, with a population of some 21 million, the country is a tourist’s delight. Since the signing of the peace treaty with the terrorist Tamil Tigers two years ago, the country is now focused on developing its infrastructure, which is badly in need of repair (after driving its roads, my back is howling). Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, means “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” and, believe me, it lives …

I’m traveling through Sri Lanka (literal translation: Jewel of the Indian Ocean), where Internet access is spotty at best, so this will be the first of several short blogs.
Driving through the countryside in the central area of Sri Lanka, there is much agriculture, especially rice paddies. Often you will see these structures in the fields.
Any idea what it is you are looking at? Hint: There are usually four of them, one in each corner of a field.
ANSWER: This is a watchtower. At night hired workers will mouth these towers, protecting …

During my stay here in Finland, the weather has been, shall I say, uncooperative… photographically, that is. The skiers are in heaven, since a lot of snow has fallen. However, for me the weather has been mostly overcast and snowy, limiting my photographic possibilities.
I’ve only had two days of decent or partially decent weather, but oh, were they grand! One evening the skies put on a show-of-shows. Right before dinner, starting at around 5:30 PM, a colleague and I rushed outside as the Aurora Borealis began to form. Here is …

I am so tired of seeing very capable people produce b-o-r-i-n-g photos. The same tourist locations, the same angles, the same composition, the same, same, same!
So, several years ago I got to wondering if there was a better way to help people get beyond boring and into more dynamic expressions of their photographic creativity. I do think I’ve found one path, but first bear me a little slack.
Admittedly, I’m schizophrenic. I’m frequently forced to witness disturbing battles that rage between my left and right brains.
Les, you’ve got to be more …

My recent addition of a Hasselblad H4D-50 camera system to my trusty Nikon system may have been a good move photographically (see my Hassy review:  http://blog.lesterpickerphoto.com/2011/11/29/review-of-the-hasselblad-h4d-50/), but as far as my back goes, not so much.
I realized that trying to cart around a full Hassy system, or a few Hassy components in addition to my Nikon equipment, would be a chiropractic nightmare using my existing backpacks, none of which has the profusion of modern high tech design elements. Plus, neither my ThinkTank Rotation 360, nor any of my other LowePro …

Let’s admit it, we’re now in one of photography’s seasonal doldrums. Fall foliage is over, the trees are bare and snow has not hit much of the area, at least not in the mid-Atlantic, USA, region. This is the perfect time for checking out new equipment, innovative techniques, even changes in attitude toward whatever area of photography you have up to now avoided. In my sporadic “Homework” series (use the search box to find others), I’d like to add the perfect assignment for that rainy Saturday morning.
Depth of Field
Manipulating depth …