I’m excited to announce the release of a new Free Course: Intro to Fine Art Printing!…
I’m at the Omega Institute teaching a sold out week long workshop “Nature Photography and the Art of Seeing.” This is truly a privilege for me as I have always wanted to combine the concepts of mindfulness and photography—how what we focus on and what we’re aware of at any given moment shapes our approach to photography. This is especially true in nature where all that matters is you and your thoughts.
As part of my opening remarks to the students, I explained my 8 principles of nature photography which I recently put together. Of course this is not an authorative list for all situations and all photographers, but for the purposes and goals of the workshop, I think it was important to share. And most of all I truly believe in and try to practice each of these daily in my own photography. I hope they provide some insight and perspective for you.
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The worst thing you can say or think as a nature photographer is “what’s wrong.”
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Approaching the time you spend in nature as a privilege, a gift, a moment by moment experience allows you to see and appreciate “what’s right.”
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Gratitude is the best emotion in nature. It’s also the most difficult to express at times because we want to control the results, control the technology, and control our creativity. And most of all, we want to overcome our creative shortcomings.
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In nature there is very little we can control. We can only be open to the each situation, each opportunity, and be aware of how we’re reacting to it. We can control how we react to what’s happening.
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There is an intrinsic connection between nature and the breath. Only when we are aware of our breathing can we be most aware of nature. This is true for life in general, but for nature photography it is crucial.
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Technology is a tool. The camera is a tool. It is there to serve us, not for us to serve it. The faster you decide how and why to use the technology, the more it will get out of the way. And the more it will become a trusted friend, a tool to serve your creative vision, rather than something that dominates your process.
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Photography is a language, a visual language of light, form, color, and allegory. With it we can tell stories, convey emotions, and express our opinions about what we find captivating in nature.
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The best thing you can do as a nature photographer is to have an opinion. Passion is good, but having something to say is better. It reveals you as a photographer to others. And best of all it reveals you to yourself.
As always, let me know if you have any questions or feedback to offer – it’s always welcome and I enjoy hearing from you. Thanks for reading!
Great advice and well said. Thank-you! I certainly identify with much of what you described, but have more to learn and practice!
Always grateful Hillel for the feedback. We all have much to learn and practice, but for me that’s what makes every day special. It keeps me inspired to keep going, and I suppose without that purpose, I wouldn’t be as committed to sharing it her with you and others. thanks again for the support.
RR
Enlightening post! You stopped me cold at #1.
Hi Mike, many thanks and apologies for the delay in response – very busy week. I hope you can get past the first one and think about the rest, my hope is that they inspire you as a whole. I love the feedback and questions, so always feel free.
RR
Robert, I really like and respect your approach to the art, though I must say I don’t practice all of these points as much as I would like.
Thanks for the feedback David, and apologies for the delay in my responding – if we only could do everything we’d like to do! The interesting thing is I don’t either, but I don’t let that stop me from trying or learning from my failures. It’s all a process and a path, and as cliche as that might sound it doesn’t stop it from being true. As long as I’m aware of how I’m walking that path, and for that matter how you’re walking that path, we have the chance to make better images and be truer to ourselves.
RR
As always, well put Robert. Hope to get a chance to see you one of these daze, oh Lord of Light!
Many thanks Clip – appreciate the kind words! Hope to see you around town as well…
RR
Your photos are amazing! Such clarity and depth! My digital photos, by comparison are pretty flat and listless. I need to learn to take better shots of our horses and Longhorns and our farm life in general.
Thank you for all the good pointers and information. I’ve already learned to take a better look, and I think that’s a good start.
Martha in Texas
Hi Martha, many thanks for leaving your comments and for reading. My strong suggestion os to experiment with light and see how it affects your images. Spend one whole day photographing the same subject/scene from sunrise to sunset, perhaps every few hours or so, and then look at the results to see where the light makes the biggest different in terms of mood, dimension, feeling, etc. If you do this a few times you’ll start to see patterns and it will help you discover what conditions need to be like in order to make the images you prefer. Practice is the key, make it a habit..hope that helps and let me know what happens.
RR