Warning: This is a shameless, unabashed fan blog. 
I was in bed last night decompressing from a wonderful family event, but a rough travel photography week in Colorado. I decided to thumb through some Instagram images and catch up with some blogs from fellow photographers. As it turns out, I hit upon images and a blog by one of my favorite photographers, Tony Sweet. And sweet it was, as I perused and admired Tony’s latest work.
However, it was Tony’s latest blog that put something in perspective for me. At the very …

Every so often I like to challenge my readers with a photo assignment; not a meaningless exercise  to fill blog space, but one based on a photographic experience that I recently had. That was the case with this next assignment. My hope is that you will find it as challenging as I did.
The back story is that I was in Iceland recently and found myself at the famous iceberg beach, an experience to which I had looked forward for years. Unfortunately, the photo gods had a good laugh that day …

I woke up this morning, poured my tea and started reading the paper. It wasn’t exactly unexpected, but the headline jumped out and grabbed my heart. Kodak was filing for bankruptcy.
I’ll try to explain what this means to me. I was brought up on Kodak film. My father, a wonderful photographer (and genuinely nice guy) gave me my first camera and rolls of Kodachrome 25 when I was 11. He was a periodic beta-tester for Kodak film, although he rarely used anything other than K25. His photography around New York …

Tomorrow Bob (my assistant) and I are off to NYC for PhotoPlus, a 2-day photography convention. The Jacob Javits Conference Center will feature camera and equipment exhibitors from around the world.

Our main purpose for going is to spend time interacting with the Hasselblad people, since I’m still on the learning curve with my new H4D-50 camera and lenses. I have so far found the technicians and the sales people to be incredibly helpful and highly knowledgeable. I’m looking forward to some workshops and discussions with staff and hope to learn …

Let’s face it, we all get a lot of junk in our email box every day. Ninety percent I delete without ever opening them. I especially hate it when someone sends me time-wasting videos. Eight minutes into some stupid video I still don’t know what the point of the damned thing is.
That’s why I was dubious when I received a video from one of my colleagues with a note urging me to watch it. But I trust this guy, so I clicked on the link. I was immediately enthralled. That’s …

I’ve been photographing for several decades now, and to this day I am mystified by the lengths some people will go to get a photo. Oh, I’m not talking about the well-trained pro who carefully weighs the risks and operates on the edge to bring home the goods (more on that later). No, I’m talking about regular people who take insane risks in the name of a photograph.
For one thing, I’m thinking about that moron at the Grand Canyon who leaped across a chasm- in flip-flops!- onto a tiny ledge- …

Histograms! Sounds like a medical procedure or, worse yet, mathematics.
Well, if you’re a photographer, histograms are your friends. Don’t be intimidated by them. Learn how to use a histogram and your images will dramatically improve.
What Is a Histogram?
In digital photography a histogram is an electronic display of all the pixels, light-to-dark, recorded on the sensor when you press the shutter release. It appears as a graph on the rear LCD screen in DSLR cameras and even on many point-and-shoots, such as the Canon G12.
There is really no such thing as …

There are many things wonderful about Albuquerque, from its central New Mexico location to its fine restaurants, museums and outdoor activities. As a landscape photographer, I’d say that I most enjoy the myriad stunning vistas that are in or within an hour or two of Albuquerque’s center. Since one of my photographic goals this year is to expand my panorama skills, what better place to test out new techniques than the southwest?
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
I visited one of these sites last week, the incredible Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, …

Life is a rich stew of pain, pleasures, new discoveries and chance meetings. I’m waxing philosophical here because of my Internet friendship with James Winters, a professional musician and amateur photographer, who comments frequently here on my blog site. I’ve written about James’ heart-felt photography before (http://blog.lesterpickerphoto.com/2011/03/31/an-eye-for-photography/).
In a recent post on the Nikonians website, Jim credited me and another photographer with inspiring him to think more seriously about his gift. Sure enough, a day later this other photographer sent me a blog comment and so, curiously, I visited his website …

I am incredibly honored to have been named to the faculty of the prestigious Nikonians Academy (http://www.nikoniansacademy.com/viewFacultyPage.html?page_id=7). Nikonians is the world’s largest organization of Nikon devotees. It is a wealth of information on anything Nikon… and more. Their forums are chock full of useful information about photography in general and I often contribute to them as my schedule permits. It’s also my go-to resource when I have a technical question.

As a faculty-member, I will be offering workshops in the field for accomplished and aspiring photographers. The wonderful thing about Nikonians workshops …