Category Archives: Photography

Photography

Fire dancers at Riverside’s 2015 Lunar Festival

Tupua Productions performer enthralls crowds with his fiery display.1/90 sec @ f2.8 ISO 1600 80-200 zoom set at 170mm
Tupua Productions performer enthralls crowds with his fiery display.1/90 sec @ f2.8 ISO 1600 80-200 zoom set at 170mm

Getting access  often accounts for at least 65% of your chances of making a good picture at an event.

The rest of it? Camera handling and picking out the backgrounds, right lenses, shooting with right shutter speed to make sure there is no camera shake.

This weekend when  I visited the annual Lunar Festival was just such an example.

Continue reading Fire dancers at Riverside’s 2015 Lunar Festival →

Advice, Photography

News photographers don’t just take pictures, they tell stories

Riverside Police cuff a suspect outside a bank during a robbery in progress. Original shot on film, so this picture was taken before 1990. ©The Press-Enterprise
If you happen to know someone who used to work  as a news photographer and you are interested in photography, buy them a drink or a cup of coffee.

I can assure you it will be worth  your time.

Not only will they have some interesting pictures to share, they should have matching compelling stories as well.

You will hear about the bizarre, the unusual, the creepiest and  just about any of the other superlatives you can think of.

News photographers find themselves in all sorts of situations and are often eyewitnesses to ‘breaking news’ as they unfold. Continue reading News photographers don’t just take pictures, they tell stories →

Advice, Photography

Coaching as opposed to teaching photography

A field trip to the local park, some imagination to set up a situation followed by instructions on panning and here is what my student Laurel came up with. Photo by Laurel Williams
A field trip to the local park, some imagination to set up a situation followed by instructions on panning and here is what my student Laurel came up with. Photo by Laurel Williams
Tripods in the daytime? We were playing with neutral density filters and jets of water in the fountain downtown during a field trip.
Tripods in the daytime? We were playing with neutral density filters and jets of water in the fountain downtown during a field trip.

I am not a self-taught photographer.

But I hear lots of other photographers who say they are autodidactic.

I learned a lot by trial and error but a lot of what I learned were from generous wonderful photography teachers and mentors. Continue reading Coaching as opposed to teaching photography →