Vacation and travel  Season is upon us!  As we travel and explore our world we are exposed to new and exciting things, things that inspire us to photograph.  Whether we are traveling just 50 miles away to stay at a Bed and Breakfast and explore a small town or traveling halfway across the world to spend a month trekking across southeast Asia, we want to capture the excitement and experience and share that with others.  In This article I will give you 5 quick tips to dramatically increase the quality of your photos to make them more interesting and the kind of pictures that will garner you tons...

Having previously done an extensive series on Korea from 2008-2010 called "The Korea Years"  I am searching for a new inspiration now that I am back and will be here for some time.  I feel I want to explore a niche, possibly a subculture in Korea.  Last weekend I had an opportunity to photograph the band Magna Fall at DGBD in Hongdae, Seoul.  They were playing as part of a fundraiser for for a summer concert called Rock-Do organized by Exit Six.  Magna Fall is an American/Irish three-piece band based in Seoul, South Korea. The band's style of music can be best described as classic rock mixed...

  In this post I will tell you the best tip I ever received about photography.  This insight completely transformed how I looked at the concept of Subject and how I shoot images.  It is simple and it is brilliant. Here it is: Light is your Subject. Ex: An ordinary kitchen mess is transformed into a tranquil still life through the use of diffuse lighting. The term "Subject" in photography usually means "the main focus of a photographic image", an object.  For example; a person if you are doing a portrait or a mountain if you are doing a landscape.  What "Light is your Subject"...

Zen and the Art of Photography part 1: The Photography Triangle If you can remember this one simple concept you will learn how to use manual settings on your Camera and get perfect exposures every time:  Photography is a Triangle.  Now, I studied photography for years and it seems like I took a lot of technical classes, but it is really not very complicated at all.  The base of all photography is the exposure triangle of Aperture (f-stop), Shutter Speed and ISO ("film" Speed).  The Photography Triangle is a simple mathematical formula:  Exposure= f-stop + shutter + Film speed. Q: ...

Well, the holiday season is over and the photos are back from the lab.  As you look over your Holiday pictures you may start to wonder, "Why don't my pictures look like a shoot from W magazine?"  I'm here to tell you in order to get interesting pictures you must start do do something different.  I will describe in this article a few quick easy tips anyone can follow to make your holiday pics more interesting, more beautiful, and more fun to look at again and again.   A major reason so many holiday pictures look the same is because everybody is doing the same thing:  They are documenting...

The other weekend I went to a Traveling carnival in Austin Texas.  I am pretty sure this is the same carnival that has come through town a couple of times a year every year since 1979.  After all, one of the rides is still called Disco Fever.  That's a bit dated, don'tcha think?  This is not sponsored by the city, county or anybody.  They just set up in the same empty lot on the side of Ben White Blvd by IH 35 year after year.  Old School, classic. I love how innocent children are.  Their enjoyment is enthusiastic and total.  While I enjoyed the carnival for it's ironic value, for the memories...

Take Amazing Pictures With Any Camera Yes! Even your disposable point and shoot!  One of the fastest ways to improve all of your pictures right now is by understanding this amazingly simple compositional technique.  This "Rule" is one of the first things that photographers learn about in classes on photography.  It is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots.  To use this rule effectively you don't even have to know anything else about how photography or cameras work.  It's that easy! Composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a photograph. ...