“My future starts when I wake up every morning…everyday I find something creative to do with my life.” – Miles Davis
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” – Albert Einstein
“Master your instrument. Master the music. Then forget all that bullshit and just play.” – Charlie Parker
“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” – Mary Lou Cook
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct arising from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves.” – Carl Jung
“When we all think alike, then no one is thinking.“ – Walter Lippman
“Techniques and skill and even a point of view are often handed down, formally or not. It’s easier to get started if you’re taught, of course. But art, the new, the ability to connect the dots and to make an impact—sooner or later, that can only come from one who creates, not from a teacher and not from a book.” – Seth Godin
The May 2013 Free Desktop Wallpaper is now available for download. The mountain ridges in the Great Smoky Mountains provide endless opportunities for interpretation, and combined with great light offer some of the most dramatic landscapes in the world.
As always, come closer to nature in the Great Smoky Mountains, NC.
1920 x 1200
1920 x 1080
1680 x 1050
1280 x 800
Instructions:
First determine your screen size. Your Current Resolution Is:
Then click on the link for the correct size. When the image opens in a new browser window, right click on the image and select “Set as Wallpaper” (on a Mac, select “Use Image as Desktop Picture”).
Late last summer I was asked by Hudson Valley Magazine, a major national publication, if I was interested in taking an assignment to shoot photos of people paddleboarding on the Hudson for an upcoming issue on “summer fun.” They would be used in an article and possibly for the cover. I agreed and started planning the shoot before the summer ended as the creative director wanted them as soon as possible.
I don’t always accept commercial assignments – not because I don’t need the money, but rather because I want to make sure I can provide exactly what the client needs. In general if it’s an outdoor shoot and involves sports or recreational activities, I may consider if I think I’m right for the job. Otherwise I’m more than happy to refer a very short list of other photographers I’m confident can get the job done.
For this assignment, they wanted closeups of someone on a paddleboard in the Hudson River. I was free to shoot it any way I wanted, and had no limitations aside from the color of clothing for the model, and that the photos provide plenty of space for text. They suggested using someone I actually knew locally, since they had seen previous photos of her I had shot for fun and thought they would work for their purposes. Katy Bell and husband Leonard own Mountain Tops Outfitters here in Beacon, and are good friends, so I knew the shoot would be fun.
I decided the waterfront in Beacon would provide a great backdrop for the shots with the Hudson Highlands in the background, so all I needed were clear skies for text and great light. Luckily we got both on our first attempt, and I spent about 2 hours shooting in total. They also used a second image for the actual story inside the magazine.
While I experimented a bit with different angles, in general I wanted a very low perspective along the water to really highlight Katy and the mountains in the distance. I used my 70–200mm lens with an f/2.8 aperture to blur the foreground and the background. This creates a very distraction free image that really focuses on Katy and her great expression. I shot hand held with image stabilization on at ISO 200.
Post processing was done in Lightroom 4, then exported as a hi-res tiff file to Photoshop for CMYK conversion. And that’s pretty much it. I had lots of fun and am really grateful to the creative team at Hudson Valley Magazine for the opportunity.
Any questions, comments, or feedback, let me know!
