Blue Pixel

Last week I had an amazing inspirational experience. Disabled Sports USA (DSUSA.org) was running a massive event in Breckenridge, Colorado, the Ski Spectacular. Disabled people from around the world come to learn to ski, improve their skiing abilities and race. I was there to begin work on a project to document the Wounded Warriors program, which helps injured soldiers and sailors get back into outdoor activities. Over my life I've had the opportunity to see some pretty impressive things, but this one was at a whole new level.
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Over the years, Nikon's 200-400mm f/4 zoom has become a huge favorite among wildlife photographers. Its reasonable size, fast aperture and ability to zoom has made it a "must-have" lens for this group. It's never been very popular among sports photographers, though, as it wasn't quite fast enough for night sports. That's changing.
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Photography's all about light, and people often talk about "available light" photography. In photojournalism we often called it "available dark," a joke about how little light there often was. Quite honestly, though, I'm a big fan of available dark photography.
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After shooting the Kansas City Chiefs game against the San Diego Chargers recently, another photographer and I were discussing the differences between luck and skill. Those are two things every good photographer has experience with.
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There are two things that can ruin photos - blur and being out of focus. At times, though, blur can make a picture better. The trick to doing that is understanding how to use blur as a creative tool.
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Ever had someone tell you about some great new thing, and you promptly forgot about it? That's what happened with me and Tripit. Then about a year later I heard about it again, and wow, what a wasted year!
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You know by now I'm a big fan of using strobes. Good light is so important to good pictures that I love being able to create and/or add it whenever I want. And I've always been a fan of softboxes as a way of controlling and directing that light. Now there's a new softbox that I just can't say enough good things about. But I'll try :)
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Being a newspaper photographer for over twenty years has taken its toll on my neck and shoulders. I've grown to hate the weight of cameras around my neck, and am tired of trying to keep them from falling off my shoulders. One company looks like it has a good solution for me.
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Back in my newspaper days I volunteered at one time to do the food and fashion shoots. That wasn't really my kind of photography, but it was time to try something new. I ended up enjoying it, and learned the value of working with an experienced model.
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I'm in Long Island right now, getting ready to start a photography workshop for American Photo (one of their Mentor Series programs). And for the first time in a long time, I've left on a photo trip without an extra hard drive to backup my images.
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