I spent the morning of July 4 giving my new motorcycle tailbag a "shakedown" ride to test it. The bag allows me to bring along my camera gear without wearing a backpack. It worked great!  I was able to quickly stop, access my camera, take the shots, and then resume my road trip. For those that ride, I'm not a fan of big "baggers", preferring lighter and more nimble machines. However, light comes with a cost - no storage. However, I found ample after-market modifications for my Sportster S, and was able to put on a small rear rack and tailbag that work great. 

Photo expeditions are more interesting from a motorcycle than a car or pickup truck. Getting there becomes an adventure. I don't see the countryside, I experience it. Air-conditioned cars isolate you from the world, motorcycles immerse you.  I can smell what a place looks like (if that makes any sense) and it imprints in my memory.  I see more, and its easier to turn around and park. I love to listen to my music and let the miles roll by, but I can 't "zone out" on a motorcycle.  I must stay engaged every moment or the experience can turn unforgiving in a second. When I stop, I strike up more conversations, especially with fellow riders. Simply put, It's incredibly fun. ​

Here are a few shot of my set up and the images I captured that day. Enjoy! 

Last night I spent about an hour trying to catch the Tau Herculids Meteor Shower. NASA said it was either going to be a bust, or glorious. It was a meh. I saw two with my eye, and captured several more with the camera. In fact,  it was the first time I have ever captured a meteor streak on camera. In this image I included the Big Dipper to give perspective where my camera was pointing. 

It was a good time. I'm looking forward the next meteor shower. 

A tip led me on a January journey into Pike County, Alabama. I was looking for an old church. Sunset was fast approaching, and I was beginning to lose hope I'd reach it in time to get any good shots. Sure enough, it was right where I was told. 

I can find very little about Union Springs Primitive Baptist Church online, other than it exists. However, its clearly taken care of, including the adjacent graveyard. By the looks of it, there may still be services conducted here. The first thing I noticed was the long dirt lane leading off the main road. The sunset light here is spectacular, and I am positive the sunrise will be equally spectacular.  I spent as much time taking photos of the lane as the church. 

This is a beautiful place. I will return to this place at dawn. I'm sure the church, with its eastern exposure,  will light up in the sun rise. 

Does anyone out there know the history of this place? If so, please leave a comment. 

I've been quiet lately. Its mostly my day job, but some of it is taking care of photography clients and, yes, writing. In fact, right now I'm in the Smokey Mountains in a secluded location for the sole purpose of writing. However, along with that, I've been hiking and taking photos, too.

I've knocked out two chapters for Book 4 of the Chronicles of Fu Xi.  I'm hoping to complete two more before I have to leave. Its going to be difficult, because this place is so amazing. 

Right now, I'm exhausted. I hiked 7 miles today and forgot I was an out of shape fat guy. To celebrate I roasted a t-bone over an open fire, drank a few cold ones and watched the sunset. I took these images just a few minutes ago right in front of my cabin.

Its going to be a short blog...OMG WHAT THE HELL!? WE  INTERUPT THIS BLOG FOR IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS.

I'm sitting here typing out this blog when all of a sudden a damn spider lowers itself on a web RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE!  Needless to say, my pre-programmed automatic threat countermeasures deployed. Basically, I clapped and tied to smush the little bugger. It only served to propel said spider right on top of my keyboard. I present for your approval LITTLE BASTARD. 

The little shit sat there and, of all things, started critiquing my writing. I tried to explain to Little Bastard this is just first draft, but he wasn't amused. I mean LOOK AT HIM! Can't you just see the judgement just dripping off his expression. I asked him if he was poisonous, to which he replied not nearly as poisonous as my prose Then it chastised me for assume its pronouns. 

Being that I have nothing against spiders, I have spent the last ten minutes trying save Little Bastard, but Little Bastard would have nothing to do with it. In my said attempt to save him, I accidentally crushed to life out of him. 

This spider was a dumbass. He tried to attack me during the rescue effort. I'm going to have to chalk this one up to Darwin and keep on moving. 

If you want to honor the memory of Little Bastard, you can visit my author page and buy a copy of one of my books in his honor.  If you do so, you will be a better person. 

See ya Monday, when I'l try to have a worthy blog entry that doesn't involve dead spiders. 

I barely made my self-imposed deadline to blog this week, but I'm not going to linger long. Sorry for the short installation of Photo Phriday, but I'm buried this week with work and actually taking photos. I'm going to have to pick up next week with another full installment. However, I'll leave you with some of my latest aviator photos. 

This class just received their wings, and are the US Air Force's newest pilots.  Here'a few of my favorites from their graduation photography session. 

​See ya next week! 

#photos #photography #portraits #minisessions #military #airforce #flying #helicopter #pilot #aviator

***
​
If you enjoyed this blog, please like the post and leave a comment. Also visit my Facebook, my fine art photography and check out my photography book from America Through Time, "Abandoned Wiregrass: The Deepest South's Lost and Forgotten Places."

As promised, here's my shots of the L.A. band "Temple Monarc" from their October 2nd appearance at Harlow's in Ozark, Alabama. However, I wasn't the only photographer there that night. My friend Savanna Kirkland of Embrace Photography was also there.  As the wife of "MidLife Crisis" bassist Ken Kirkland, Savannah is keyed in to the local music scene. She takes some incredible photos, and I was excited when she agreed to let me post her images from that night. Here's a little about Savanna and Embrace Photography in her own words:

The slideshow intersperses Savanna's and my photography to give the viewer some idea of the great show and energy on stage that night.  Thanks to Live at Harlow's for letting us take photos. Located in downtown Ozark, Harlow's does an amazing service by bringing great music to the Wiregrass, including acts from across the region and US. Please check them out and support local music! Please visit Temple Monarc's Facebook as well and check out their great music.

Enjoy! 

music #photography #musicphotography #liveperformance #canonphotography #rockandroll  #liveatharlows #templemonarc #embracephotography

​***
​
If you enjoyed this blog, please like the post and leave a comment. Also visit my Facebook, my fine art photography and check out my photography book from America Through Time, "Abandoned Wiregrass: The Deepest South's Lost and Forgotten Places." ​​

I promised to talk about composition this week. I've been dreading it. Why? Because one cannot discuss composition without talking about THE RULE OF THIRDS. Every photography blogger, tutorial, video and expert on the interwebs has talked about the Rule of Thirds. There isn't much new to cover in this area, so I'll cover it my way - short and to the point. 

The Rule of Thirds dictates that its best to put your subject in one third of your composition (one side or another), and leave the other two-thirds open. That's it. It's nothing more complex than that. Experts say this provides balance to your composition. As crazy and as simple as it sounds, it works. It's been proven repeatedly using this basic ratio for composition provides a more balanced and pleasing image. Why? ​Some say it has something to do with The Golden Ratio, which is a mathematical ratio of roughly 1.61. When you do magic math stuff it creates a spiral like the one below. Scientist and other smart people say The Golden Ration is present everywhere in nature, and generally God thought it was a good idea. Notice, the spiral tightens in one third of the image. Essentially, the ROT and GR are expression of the same thing. 

This is what you need to know about to use these composition tools. 1) Your camera or phone likely has a menu function to place a grid or ratio image in your viewfinder or screen. This will allow you to template your image. 2) You can also set the manual focus points on your camera to focus your subject on one side or the other. This will ensure you are using the ROT and to make sure you're focused on your subject.  We'll cover these tools in future blog posts. 3) You can also crop an image to get the ratio correct, but that is a last-ditch move. Cropping degrades your image quality. Its best to get the ratio correct when you take the image. 

Why do I think ROT is important? Using this ratio allows the photographer to set up their subject and give it context. It allows you to frame your subject, and provides room to "dress" up the subject with light, context, leading lines, or powerful settings. IT GIVES YOU ROOM IN YOUR IMAGE TO TELL A STORY. 

That's it, the Rules of Thirds in a nutshell. I'm going to leave you with one of my images which I think demonstrates the ROT. Notice the vase is the subject, and its center occupies the left 1/3. It is the focal point. The vineyard provides both context  and leading lines. The hills beyond bisect the vase's top, which then leads you to the vineyard, which leads to the vase. The bush isn't ideal, but sometimes ideal isn't possible. However, the bush does provide balance and blends with the greens so isn't so noticeable. It also leads your eye back to the vase.  

​See  you next time. 

***
​
If you enjoyed this blog, please like the post and leave a comment. Also visit my Facebook, my fine art photography and check out my photography book from America Through Time, "Abandoned Wiregrass: The Deepest South's Lost and Forgotten Places." ​

I've decided to try something different on Photography Phridays. When I'm not actively blogging on a topic I'll debut my images here first. Today's debut, "Driftwood Portal" comes from my recent trip to the west coast, specifically McVeay State Park in Oregon. An interesting tidbit about this image, there was a whale not far beyond those rocks. 

We'd stopped here on chance, and I spent an hour looking for the right shot. As it happens, the Gray Whales had begun their annual migration. This was the first time I've ever seen a whale. We spent another half hour just standing on the cliffs, watching. I never got a good photo of them, but that doesn't matter. The experience was amazing. 

You can find this image, and the rest of my gallery, at Fine Art America. 

#photography #gallery #sunset #beach #coast #Oregon #driftwood 

We talked last week about subject. Subject is what you are photographing. It’s what you want the viewer to see. Everything else in the image supports the subject. It could be the tiniest insect, a child, a bride, or the Grand Canyon. 

Here’s the first question you should ask: “What is my subject?” On the surface, it seems like an easy question to answer: it’s a person or defined object. I recommend tweaking that question to “Where do I want my viewers eye drawn?” Your subject might have a subject! Is it the model’s stunning eyes? Is it your child’s beautiful smile? Is it a lone tree out on a prairie? Is it one person in a crowd or the crowd itself? Is it the tree or the beam of light shining through the branches. The subject’s subject is where you place your focal point. 

There is a relationship between focal point, depth of field and your subject. That relationship will determine your first camera settings: focal point and aperture. 

Focal point is that box, boxes or dots that blink around the area when you point your phone camera, or the boxes that blink when you press your shutter button on your DSLR or mirrorless.   If you’re shooting on a phone, or in auto, the software will determine your focal point. This can be good and bad. Good it you have to get the shot quickly, bad if the device picks a spot you don’t want.  I highly recommend taking control of focal point. Don’t let your camera pick it for you!  

If you have a DSLR, there will be a button somewhere on your camera or as a part of your control screen that allows you to take control of you autofocus point. Controlling the focal point is the first step in mastering your camera and getting the image you want. Cameras come with more than one focal point and it doesn’t have to be in the middle of the image The more advanced the camera, the more auto focus points it has. Press the focal point button on your camera (the image I show is on my Canon) and start playing with adjusting its size and placement. It will differ from camera to camera. There are plenty of videos on Youtube that can teach you this depending on your model. If you really want to get creative, turn off the autofocus entirely and use the manual focus ring on your lens.

Aperture is depth of field, or how much of the image is in focus. This is measures by the “fX.X” number on your lens. There are lots of factors regarding aperture, and we won’t get into all of them today. The lower the f number, the blurrier everything gets outside your focal point. The higher the number, more of the image is in focus. It’s more complicated than this, but this gives you the basics. Here’s the important part: If you are shooting below about f7.0 you better know exactly where your focus point is, or your subject may be blurry. 

Here are some examples of focal point and aperture in my own photography.  This landscape is a wide angle shot (18mm) with a wide depth of field (I seem to remember about f7.0). The focal point & subject are the barns, but I  wanted a great deal of the field is in focus, too.

This photo has a narrow depth of field (f1.8) and a tighter focal range (50mm). This called for a precise focal point on the flower's stamens (my subject's subject), and letting everything else blur into shadow and color. 

The rule of thumb I use is the more shallow the depth of field the smaller you want your focal point, such as using only one point or block. If you are doing broad, sweeping landscapes at deep depth of fields you want a broad focal point. The auto focus points don’t have to be in the middle, either, but we’ll talk more about that when we get to composition another day. 

If you want close up and intimate, then you want wider apertures, like f4.0 or lower. This will concentrate the viewer on one spot and let the rest of the universe melt away. If I have a zoom lens and I’m using it at high, tight focal lengths, I usually also want to use lower apertures.  So to recap, a good rule of thumb is the tighter, closer and more intimate the shot, the smaller your focal point. This allows you to focus exactly on what you want. The wide, broader and larger the subject, the bigger the focal point. These are guidelines, not rules. 

So to recap: 1) Control your focal point. 2) If your depth of field is shallow, use a more precise autofocus point. 3)  If you are zoomed in, use a smaller focal point, too. 4) Loosen up the focal point as you zoom out and as you depth of field increases. These are the first steps to ensure your subject is what the viewer’s eye is drawn to. 
Next time, we’ll discuss subject as it fits into composition. 

Next time we talk, we’ll start bringing composition into the mix. Thanks for stopping by!

***
​
If you enjoyed this blog, please like the post and leave a comment. Also visit my Facebook, my fine art photography and check out my photography book from America Through Time, "Abandoned Wiregrass: The Deepest South's Lost and Forgotten Places." 

#photography #subject #photographytips #tutorial #photographytutorial #howto #photographylessons