On the 28th floor of the Time Inc. building, the photographers would gather around the coffee table and tell stories about their shoots. This website is a recreation of that kind of community experience.
photo and words by Robert Schultz
As artists we have many tools. These tools can come in both hardware and software forms. And when used in the proper manner, they can communicate something that cannot be obtained; emotion.
However, these tools are frequently used to achieve a particular style that does not help the photograph convey emotion or feeling, but rather hinder it unintentionally. More often than not, I see artists abusing these tools and using them to communicate style rather than story. This enables the ostensible artist to take simple snapshots and “fix” them by tweaking them in post so that the viewer is still drawn to the photograph, but in reality they are drawn to the unique processing and not the content.
Photographers are in essence, storytellers. And as storytellers we must not only capture a good story, but convey it well. We shouldn’t have poor content and make up for it with a rich delivery; we should first start with a powerful scene and use our tools to make the delivery efficient and effective. Every adjustment we make in post communicates something. For instance the color tint can be warm or cool, and this parameter alone effects mood in a very potent way.
As artists, storytellers, and photographers we must strive to capture meaningful stories and use our tools to convey them dramatically. The day we learn to examine the content of our photographs, is the day we will become truly skilled photographers; using our God-given talent to the best of our ability.
Robert Schultz is a talented photographer and videographer, and can be found on his flickr page.
photo and words by tim jones
This shot was taken on my last trip across the Northwest. I had been driving for several hours across central Oregon. My goal was to hit Idaho to crash for the night. As I topped this hill, the sun was setting and I immediately pulled over. Needless to say there wasn’t much traffic out there, so I grabbed a couple of exposures. This is one of those shots that will always make me feel small and alone, yet loved by something so much bigger than me.
So here I am back in Alabama waiting to go back out into the wide open country. For the meantime you can find me here. www.hinterlandphoto.com, or at my flickr stream at flickr.com/hinterlandphoto
photo and words by evan travers
This is a huge panorama, about 3 high and 7-8 wide. This lends a great DOF to the image, as well as pulverizing image noise to tiny tiny bits. It also enabled me to shoot at a wide angle with a 70mm f/4 if I remember correctly.
I have barely modified this image, it pretty much looked like this after I pulled it out of photoshop’s photostitching app. I was very happy. Sometimes the image just matches your vision, straight out of the camera. That’s magic.
Evan can be found on flickr at www.flickr.com/evantravers, enjoys shooting his Nikon D80 and posting to this and many other blogs. You can follow him on twitter as @evantravers.
photo and words by evan travers
I have had an obsession in my photography recently. I’ve been fascinated with contrasts between warm and cool colors. It’s been something I’ve noticed really grabs my eye when I’m browsing my contact’s work, and it’s something that draws my eye to scenes. Although it’s gotten me in what feels like a bit of a rut artistically, I just haven’t been able to shake it. This photo is the result of that obsession. It was an idea that I’ve had in my head for a long time. Every time I washed dishes in the kitchen I would see these old apples, ripened past their prime but still beautiful like a sun browned grandmother. I just had the idea for the shot, I just didn’t have the light. One day I saw that light in one of our window sills and three minutes later I had the photo.
All through my “career” as a photographer (if you can call the frenetic products of an obsessed amateur a career,) there’s been that one photo that has driven me on, made me try to beat my “high score.” This is one of those photos. Every time one of these exposures is taken, you just know. Sometimes it is after some accident, either in the initial capture or in post processing. Sometimes it is the triumphant result of painstaking planning and work. In either case, it is those moments that I keep shooting for, a moment that justifies the sweat and tears of days of unhappy, unfruitful shooting. Those moments are golden, and it’s doubly awesome because that triumph is captured for all to see.
Evan can be found on flickr at www.flickr.com/evantravers, enjoys shooting his Nikon D80 and posting to this and many other blogs. You can follow him on twitter as @evantravers.
photo and article by Luis Argerich
This storm picture is a composite of 4 images taken during a storm over Buenos Aires. Some might say it is not “real” but reality is a delicate concept in photography. To me a picture is a representation of what we think, feel, see and remember. About this storm this is what I remember, the brain remembers not only one instant in time but many and it is difficult or impossible to capture time in a single photograph so this is somehow a 3D picture where the third dimension is not depth but time.
Capturing rays during a storm is an interesting process, for this picture I set up the tripod and camera as soon as the storm started. I focused and guesstimated the exposure then took a test picture and refined the exposure to the “right” time, it was 40 seconds this time. Then the camara, a Canon 40D, was put in bulb mode F11 and I programmed a remote (ebay) to take 40 second exposures with a 1 second interval. Then I just went to take some coffee and enjoy the show. Drinking something while the camera works doesn’t make you feel like a phtographer but it seems to be the right approach. Once the storm ended I just scanned the pictures looking for the best rays and made this composite image, as real as it can be if only a picture could capture time.
Luis is an amateur photographer from Buenos Aires, Argentina mostly interested in Landscape photography and novelty techniques for image processing. He only uses open source software and makes all his work public. He can found on flickr as lrargerich
photo and story by Olivier Garand
People often ask me the how I produce images with a my signature desaturated look. No way! I won’t reveal any post production secret. Simply because there is no secret there since the truth is elsewhere. This picture was taken early in the evening with a 50mm 1.8, aperture priority, 1/1000, in raw mode. I was watching the young lady playing with the leaf, passing it from one hand to the other… just waited a minute for the girl to forget me and without really thinking of it I shot.
Further, as to do some of those pics i must wait for the light to decrease in intensity and put the 50 mm/1.8 or a 28-75/2.8 at their larger aperture. But producing desaturated images forces to proceed as one would do it in black and white. So, one must think mid-color before clicking the shutter. That’s the key for me, the one thing to remember … think before and not during the shot, then you can go through photoshop or your preferred editing program with the levels and curves.
Olivier Garand posts his photos on flickr here. He has been posting to flickr since 2005, and resides in Lyon France.
photo and story by bernd zeisberg
I have made many pictures of my cat, and over time developed a specific technique to get good photos.
Usually cats are very curious animals, so it should be no problem to get a good portrait shot.
Some of them are very shy, so they have to habituate to the camera. If this is the case, go slowly forward to the cat. If the cat looks fearful, don’t move on. Talk all the time with the cat. A soothing voice takes the fear of the unfamiliar situation.
After a short time the cat will accustomed to the camera and you can go closer to the cat. If the cat once remarked that there is no risk of the camera, it will behave naturally.
Try to be at the same height as the cat with the camera (or even lower than the cat). In this way you will get a good perspective and the shot looks very interesting. Thus it can ever be necessary to lay on the belly to make the shot! :-)
Very good photos can be make if the cat is feeling unobserved, as it was in this shot. My cat Minka was exploring our garden. She especially investigated quite a few withered roses.
I lowered the DOF in this shot with Photoshop, so that the cat is in the Spotlight of the photo. To ensure that the colors do not distract from the subject, I have retrofitted the photo in b&w conversion.
Bernd Zeisberg can be found on flickr as zeisberg. He has been working on a very cool series with castles and cathedrals called “It’s a Kind of Magic”
photo by Evan Travers
It was a very rainy day, and we were getting ready to shoot Sloss Furnaces here in Birmingham AL. As we pulled up to the parking lot, and waited for the front gate to be unlocked, the curator of the museum pulled up in an exquisite 1970s Volkswagen Beetle. I took the usual front on shots, and all the other angles, but this was the shot I really loved.
I shot with a Sigma 50mm 1.4, set wide open and with a shutter speed of 1/500. I tweaked the blacks and midtones in aperture, as well as added a vignette and the crop. I feel like this shot really exemplifies the beautiful curves and design that makes the Beetle such a recognizable and wonderful little car.
Evan can be found on flickr at www.flickr.com/evantravers, enjoys shooting his Nikon D80 and posting to this and many other blogs. You can follow him on twitter as @evantravers.
