If you wonder what the state of photography is and where it is headed, PhotoPlus was the place to be last week. The annual show was held at the Jacob Javits convention center in New York City. It was not just huge, it was mammoth. Vendors of every major camera brand had large, walk-through display booths. Accessory makers had tables or even, in some cases, display booths themselves. Thousands of people streamed through the show.

There were several developments that impressed me. Of course, digital photography will continue to evolve, much …

There are good days and there are bad days. And then there are days like today.
The day started out poorly, as inclement weather kept us grounded until just before lunch. The skies began to clear and we sailed north along the Dempster Highway, tracking reports of grizzly bear sightings near the border with North West Territory. Along the way we stopped for some landscape images right at the Arctic Circle (click on the images to enlarge).

Proceeding north from there, we didn’t have to wait long before we sighted a gorgeous …

Okay, let me get this over with before my “friend” Richard Hartmier spills the beans. I sprayed myself with bear spray today. In my defense, it was a teensy spritz and it was done protecting Richard and a tourist… well, kinda. Sorta. Well that’s almost the truth.
Here’s what happened. We were photographing a mother with three cubs that had climbed up the embankment of the Chilkoot River and were now on the road, heading for a group of tourists. So absorbed were we in our work, we did not realize …

I get asked this question frequently at workshops and from you readers online. People wonder what software I regularly use and what websites I regularly visit. So, here goes.
Please, No PhotoShop!
I came into digital photography kicking and screaming in my fifties. I started by trying to climb the learning curve with Photoshop on my PC. Now for those of you who use Photoshop regularly and expertly, my hats are off to you. But after a few months of diligently studying and experimenting, I found I was taking way too much …

As the summer travel season heats up, there has recently been a lot of discussion on safety issues when traveling abroad. Some commentary focuses on personal (bodily) safety and other on property safety. I recently pointed my readers to an article (http://www.consumertraveler.com/columns/traveling-to-europe-this-summer-keep-your-camera-equipment-and-valuables-safe/) by one of my colleagues at Nikonians.org concerning keeping your equipment safe while traveling.

As it turns out, I was asked to do a companion piece on equipment travel safety from my own personal experiences as a travel photojournalist for the blog site of Darwin Wiggett. For those of you …

It’s probably the oldest truism in photography. “If I only had THAT piece of equipment- that newest pro digital camera, that newest $6,000 lens, that newest gizmo- then I could take pictures like that!” Sigh. How many times have you heard that during your lifetime? Oh, what’s that? You haven’t actually said that yourself, have you?
Well, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that said to me, I’d be able to open my own (part-time) bar in Tahiti and not have to work at making photographs. We’ve …

If you are a reader of this blog, you probably already know that one of my goals is to learn large format (LF) photography this year. By ‘learn’ I don’t mean to become expert in its use. I’d be a fool to say that, given that some incredible photographers have spent a lifetime mastering this art form.
What I’m trying to do is determine whether a view camera has a role in producing the kind of prints that my clients are increasingly demanding; really huge prints that are crisp and clear …

There seems to be a growing trend toward large prints among my clients. Vaulted ceilings in homes, large lobbies in hospitals and clinics, airy office spaces all seem to call out for huge images.
At the same time, digital cameras are steadily improving, offering crisper images from densely packed sensors, allowing even 12-megapixel images to be blown up to a decent size. Add to that some amazing software programs that use complex algorithms to blow up images and you have the photo equivalent of a super-sized Big Mac.
One of the results …

You all probably know by now that I shoot travel, landscapes and wildlife nearly exclusively. I rarely shoot sports or ultra-fast action shots, like car races. But even wildlife shooters have a need for stopping fast action once in a while. Of course, if you are a bird photographer (God bless you all), you always need to stop action.
But now that I’m a “senior” photographer, my ability to hand-hold and control my camera at 1/30 or even 1/60 of a second has been severely compromised. Yet, I still want to …

This is a strange tale, but one worth telling. I was in New Mexico, speaking one day with a Native American about the protocol for visiting sites considered spiritual. What many tribes did was to leave an offering, perhaps a sprinkling of tobacco or a keepsake, as a gift to Mother Earth for allowing the visitor to take away some of the spiritual essence of the special place.
A few days later I just happened to be photographing on a trail and considered climbing to a higher spot for what I …