Winter Photography

I just read the chapter in the book about winter photography. I was excited to read this chapter, thinking that it would actually be about taking pictures. Most of the chapter, however, was about clothing. While it was somewhat ineresting, I did not really enjoy reading five pages about what to wear. The part about using zippers instead of layers was something that I had not heard before but made sense, however, I will not be buying a new winter coat simply so I can unzip it. I was very dissapointed in the part about hands. Keeping your hands warm in the winter while taking ohotos has always been a problem for me, and I am sure most other people as well. I cannot take pictures with bulky gloves on, but my hands get very cold very fast if I don't have any. I was really hoping for a creative soultion, but got nothing I had not heard before.

I was also dissapointed in how short the sections on light quality and subject contrast were, and also that they did not explain how to overcome light problems faced when shooting in the snow. I thought the section on subject choices was unnecessary, since anything can be a subject, and I do not need a book to tell me that most birds are gone in the winter. All in all, this chapter had a few interesting points, but I found it useless for most of its intents and purposes.

Nature Photography

The book we are reading in class is the National Audubon Society Guide to Nature Photographry. It is by Tim Fitzharris and is for digital cameras. Looking through the book, I've decided that if after reading it I can take pictures that are half as good as the ones in the book, then I will be happy and it will definately have been worth the money. I was noticing as I read the captions next to the pictures that I do not know anything about cameras. I would read the settings used to take a picture and have no idea what most of the words and numbers even meant. The only one I was even familiar with was the f-stop, but I noticed that it was never the same for two photos, and I wonder why, since I am not entirely sure what difference it makes or what it really does. The first part made me want to add to my "kit", mostly different lenses that would make taking certain types of pictures possible. I also decided that a tri-pod would be especially helpful. I am looking forward to reading this book, as I think it will be very helpful.

Mike Moats

I was on Nature Photographers online magazine when I saw I link to macro nature photographry. Macro phototography is something that has interested me for a long time, so of course I clicked on the link and found a photographer named Mike Moats. After briefly reading through his profile I was intriguied enough to go to his gallery. He said that he first did landscape photography as a hobby, but did not enjoy standing next to dozens of other photographers shooting the same scene and wanted to shoot something seen only by him. He eventually found macro photography.

I enjoyed scanning through the photos at his online gallery, tinylandscapes.com. Of all his galleries - leaf images, junkyard images, and lensbaby images - his abstract ones are my favorite. They are very detailed and clear, and of course taken very close in. Part of why I like these particular shots is you cannot neccessarily tell what the object in the picture is. The one above is of a bristol cone pine trunk. I love the rich color and the flowing lines, and that even though there is not much in the picture, it creates a lot of interest. Other photographs of rocks, shells, and feathers are equally amazing and fascinating to look at.

Moats also has great pictures of leaves and flowers. It is not often you get to see flowers as close up as in his pictures. I love that his photos are nature and landscapes, just like any other nature photographer, just from a different, and of course closer, view point..