You've got to push yourself harder. You've got to start looking for pictures nobody else could take. You've got to take the tools you have and probe deeper.

-William Albert Allard

Digital photography has simplified a lot of what we do as photographers. It has made photo restoration much easier, and the ability of making a new image look old is a snap.

The log structure was built by the C.C.C. back in the 1930’s and the my client was after a retro look for the building.

For many years I had this idea for a photograph of a stand of Birch trees in the fall. I have even tried the shot a half dozen times or so over the years, only to later look at the image and think that is not what I had in mind. Several failed attempts Of this idea all found their way to the trash.

So the idea just simply stayed in my head until a couple of weeks ago. I was walking through one of the lager stands of Birch that I know of on my way back from photographing another subject. And there it was right in front of me, the image that matched my Idea perfectly.

On this day I was very lucky, not only to have found the right location for the image but to have the perfect sky for it as well.

I try to keep track of my image ideas in my head, and as a back up I have a folder on my laptop called shoot list (Ideas). I keep reading through these lists and adding to them constantly . I started my first list over twenty-five years ago, and I keep adding ideas and checking others off, The funny thing here is the lists never get shorter just longer. Years ago that first list got so long I had to split it into several shorter list. Today I keep list for every place I have ever been and even several places I want to go. I set my lists up geographically as well as by subject.

For me that folder full of lists is invaluable in that there is no way to remember all of my ideas. As I read through them I some times think “What was I thinking” and other times I’ll say oh yea I know where I can make that image. Over the years I have heard of people writing their ideas down in note books, pads and blank books. The key is What ever works or you is the way to do it. and this method really works well for me.

1005

I seem to be drawn by old buildings, I have a hard time passing one by with out checking it out. Doors and windows on these buildings seem to have the most significant daw for me. Maybe its the weathering, the texture, who may have walked or looked through, I just know I am fascinated by them and probably always will be.

This door “1005” is located on Route 66 in Tucumcari New Mexico, A town that has seen better days, and may see them again thanks to I-40. There are many towns, old farms, and buildings around this country just waiting to fall down, I just hope the most interesting ones can wait until I can photograph them, wishful thinking I know.

iphone Photography

When Cell phone started to come with digital cameras I thought “I have no use for that! I’m a photographer and I have several camera bodies what on earth would I want a camera phone for? And I proudly told this the sales clerk at the store where I was replacing my broken phone at.

Fast forward several years and Apple announced the release of its G3 iphone, I was going to stand in line for one (The first and last time I have ever done so). It was going to be this great tool for me to have in my pocket but I thought “I will never use the camera, it can not be good enough for my needs”.

I admit I was wrong the iphone camera is a great little camera and I use it a lot! I use it for snapshots, Location scouting, Ideas and price comparison shopping. It is capable of producing a very nice image, not long after I bought the phone I sent an image to a high end lab that I use to have a 5X7 printed, not only was I blown out of the water when I told my rep at the lab that the image was made with an iphone they were amassed.

With all the praise I have just given my iphone’s camera I still have my DSLR and my 4X5 and I have no plans on giving up on either one of them any time soon.