I awoke to the soft tapping sound of rain falling outside my cracked open bedroom window. I could feel the cold air rushing into my room. It was well before sunrise and the conditions were not looking great. If I’ve learned anything over the years of taking photos, it's that you should never let the weather deter you from getting out with the camera. So with this in the back of my mind, I gathered my gear, changed into my hiking clothes, and headed out to one of my favorite local locations.
Read MoreJanuary brought a lot of exciting aspects to my photography. First, we were finally treated with the wintery conditions I have been longing for, although I haven’t made the best use of the conditions yet. The snow is forecasted to keep falling, so fingers crossed I’m able to be out when the snow is good. Second, I finally took the long-overdue plunge and upgraded my camera body and lenses. I’m not one to talk too much about gear, but I’m toying with the idea of dedicating a blog post to the gear upgrades and discuss what I learned from using an entry-level DSLR for 4 years.
Read MoreLike many mornings out with the camera, I allow the conditions to dictate where and what I will shoot. On this particular morning, the temperatures dropped and snow began to fall. So, I decided to head to one of my local locations to shoot the many little islands out on the lake.
Read MoreThis blog post will be short and sweet. I’m currently out in the field on a trip again. Originally I was planning on being on the road for 4 days but turns out I’ll be gone for 10 days. This was a much-needed departure from this crazy world. I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity to be out traveling with my camera again and I feel I have not wasted my time. I’m producing some of the best work I have made in a long time (at least that’s what I feel as first impressions). I hope in the near future you will see the photos I have taken up on my website and in my next few YouTube videos.
Read MoreI returned home after a peaceful walk around my neighborhood and conditions were perfect for a backyard photoshoot. The wind was calm and the temperature was mild, exactly what I love to shoot in. I grabbed my camera gear from inside and went out to the backyard to check on the many plants starting to come up. We had received a good amount of rain and sunlight leading up to this particular afternoon, so many plants were beginning to grow toward the sky. Many of the plants grabbing my attention were the big, green leaves growing up on the bushes and the tulip plants beginning to blossom. I planned to take intimate and abstract photos using the patterns created by the many layers of leaves.
Read MoreI have taken some time to reflect on the many lessons I have learned throughout my photography journey and landed on what I feel are the most important lessons I’ve learned so far. The purpose of me writing this blog is to share my experiences with these lessons and how I implemented them into my photography. I hope by doing so I can inspire others to reflect on their own photography or even learn a thing or two from what I have to share. Photography is a very personal creative pursuit and because of that these lessons can be used in many different ways with many different results depending on who learns them. So without dragging this intro on for too long, let's get into the most important lessons I’ve learned so far.
Read MoreIt’s 1 hour and 45 minutes before sunrise and my alarm sounds. I get out of bed and quietly walk to the kitchen to start the morning coffee. I return to my room to find my already laid out hiking clothes from the night before. I quickly change, grab my camera gear, fill my water bottle and finish making my coffee. I softly walk out the side door of the house and get to the car. I put my gear in the trunk, place the coffee in the cup holder, start the car, begin a podcast, and drive off to my desired location.
Read MoreFebruary was a very up and down month for photography. The weather here in Michigan continued it's trend of not so great wintry conditions. We had a few good snow showers but nothing too exciting. The temperatures fluctuated from high to low so most of the snow that did fall didn’t stay for longer than a week. These kinds of conditions are not very inspiring to me, so as a result, I struggled to capture many photos that I liked. In my January Photo of the Month blog post, I talked about how I visited a new location for the first time and saw a lot of potential in it. A week after taking my January photo of the month at this new location I was back for more.
Read MoreI began the New Year very hopeful for the future of my photography and excited for the remaining months of winter. As the first month of the year flew by, I began to be uninspired by the landscape around me. The weather was just short of miserable except for the one snowstorm that blew through Michigan. This mid-January snowstorm felt like my only chance to capture a compelling photo during the month or even the entire winter. I watched the weather forecast very closely in the 24 hours leading up to the storm hitting. The storm was due to hit in the middle of the night and would continue through the following morning. With this forecast, I knew exactly where I needed to go to shoot. Since October I have had my eye on a tree that stands on its own on the top of a hill. I envisioned a snowstorm blowing through, causing a whiteout, allowing me to take a minimalist photo of the tree. This forecasted snowstorm had all the ingredients for the photo I wanted to capture.
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