Landscape photographers seek out compositions during sunrise and sunset for good reason. The low angle of the sun passing through the earth’s atmosphere can paint the skies and landscape with warm colors and create what is called sweet light. My…
Autumn Visions
It is not surprising that autumn is a favorite season for landscape photographers to photograph. As daylight hours decline, trees stop producing chlorophyll and the underlying leaf pigments emerge from behind the fading veil of green. Subsequently, the nearly monotone…
Chiaroscuro
You need light to photograph, but without shadows your photos will not have any depth. Subjects will lack texture and form and appear flat. While this may seem to be counter-intuitive for a two-dimensional art form such as photography, there…
Soothing Blues
Go gentle into thy soft nightLay me down to rest peacefullyKeep me warm with your last light,‘Til the promise of a new dawn shines again Colors can be used to evoke certain feelings. They can set the tone in a…
The Belt of Venus
Photographers are students of light; the more we understand its varied qualities, the better we can capture it for others to see and appreciate. A favorite atmospheric phenomenon of mine is called the Belt of Venus. Named for the breast-band…
My Favorite Photos of 2020
Photography is many things to me: a full-time job, a passion, an escape from reality, an attempt to make order out of chaos, a healer, and perhaps most importantly as an artist, a visual way of expressing my inner self…
Dream World of Orton Imagery
As artists, a proverb we often hear is “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Oscar Wilde expounded on that original quote by Charles Caleb Colton by adding “…that mediocrity can pay to greatness.” Cynicism aside, the irony of Mr.…
Seasons Change
The Coronavirus pandemic, and the need to arrest its spread and carnage, has upended our “normal” lives. Social distancing limits how or whether we gather as friends and family, go to school, work, worship, purchase goods and services, and recreate…
Astrophotography Noise Reduction
Astrophotography presents unique challenges to a photographer: manually focusing in the dark, manual exposure, and in Alaska, coping with the cold while waiting for the aurora to come out. As much as thoughts of post-processing our images nestled in a…
The Digital Divide
The origins of photography date back to a simple principle — known since the time of Aristotle — called camera obscura. Latin for darkened chamber (or room), it was observed that light streaming through a small, circular hole into a…