The Best Inexpensive Tripod for the Money In landscape photography, you need a good tripod. You need it because, it keeps your camera steady and gives you sharper images. At the ends of the day around sunrise and sunset, you’ll often get shutter speeds that range out into the seconds and there isn’t a good
I’ve been teaching winter photography workshops since 2006 and I’ve seen it all. I’ve watched as people lost footing and fell. I’ve seen broken tripods, cameras and lenses. I’ve seen filters break — including my loaners — and I’ve broken my own filters and shutter releases from falling. I’ve watched as people slid towards Lake
As I write this, it’s -20 out and the wind is blowing close to 30 knots. It’s cold. What a change from December when the temps got into the 50s and 60s. And that was a change from November when the temps got down below zero. This up and down weather pattern is just a
I’m starting to look backwards at 2014 in preparation for my annual best of eBook. As I did, I realized that I never shared the images that I made in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park last fall. I teach a Great Smoky Mountains Photography Workshop each fall, and during it we explore a good portion
One question that I get on my workshops is: how do you know what to photograph? I’ve thought about this recently, because I’ve gotten the question more this year than in past years, and I’ve been able to simplify it down to one concept: Seriously, it’s that simple. When I head out to photograph,
All of my 2015 classes are now open for registration. They make great Christmas gifts. Hope to see you on Lake Superior, in the Badlands, the Great Smoky Mountains or in Iowa next year. For the Black Friday weekend, I’m offering $25 off for my workshop registrations (except the Neal Smith Workshop). Use the code
My Northern Nightscapes 2015 Calendar is now out. Here’s a preview of the calendar. I included the dates for meteor showers, full moons, new moons and lunar eclipses. Buy one calendar, get a second copy of the same item for half price. Cannot be combined with other offers. (Coupon Code: PIC4U) <– Works as of
Recently, I read about how photographer David Kingham changed his life. Basically, he sold off all his stuff, paid off his debts, lost weight, found a god, bought a van and decided to live out of it and camp and travel and photograph. Good for him. In a followup to his post, he writes about
One of the big myths believed in photography is that every good photo must tell a story. I simply disagree. While a good photo may tell a story, not all good photos need to tell a story. I think this myth probably evolved from the journalistic side of photography. In journalism, you want to tell a
I’d like to announce a new class. I’m partnering with the Grand Marais Art Colony and the Grand Marais Art Festival to teach a one-day class on shooting the full moon. We’ll start in the classroom and I’ll teach you about the techniques required to capture a good full moon shot behind the Grand Marais
