Hessell Rules

LOOK AT THE LIGHT

GET CLOSER

SHOOT LOTS OF PIXELS

I teach photography part-time at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute in Hudson, North Carolina. Two classes, three rules. I start each class with a guarantee. I tell every student that shows up for a Tuesday/Thursday evening class, or my Saturday morning class, that I can make them a better photographer. Guaranteed. Period.

Simple. In fact, I go on to say that after the first class, if they follow my three simple rules, they will already have all it takes to be a better photographer. No shutter speeds, no apertures. No exposure. No technical jargon. No numbers.

Well, except three. Three rules. Three rules, that I feel anyway, get to the heart of photography. The rest will fall into place. I then go on to mention that just about everyone in America over the age of ten is already a photographer. I have never had a student that has not taken a picture in their life. They are photographers before they ever sign up for the class. The odds are in my favor. True, I have had students that didn’t own a camera, but that did not stop them from signing up.

Truth be told, the camera is the least of my worries. Today’s cameras are great. The quality of even the cheapest point-n-shoot is unreal. Taking a picture is simple. Making a photograph, on the other hand, takes three rules, and a little more effort.

Effort. I have that covered as well. As mentioned, anyone willing to pay money to show up twice a week for two and a half hours each night already has put forth the effort. Or better yet, nine o'clock on a Saturday morning. Again, the odds are in my favor. My job just gets easier.

LOOK AT THE LIGHT

Photography is light. Period. Cameras are tools that record reflected light. Film or digital, photography deals with light. That is why I start with it. Look at the light. Sounds simple, and it is. Sort of. We have to learn to think about the light. Study the light. Analyze the light. Control the light. That is the key. Taking what light you have, or don’t have, and using it to your advantage, that is photography. Look at the light.

What type of light? Soft diffused light, or harsh bright light? What direction? What angle? Is there enough light? Do you have to add more light? Can you manipulate the light? Use reflectors? Move the subject? Move the light? These are questions that a photographer asks. A picture taker just accepts what is there and snaps away. Look at the light and ask questions. Even if you just accept what is there and just snap away, at least you thought out the situation and tried to make the best of it. We can’t always answer the questions, or come up with the ideal solutions, but just by asking, one becomes a better photographer. Simple.

I remember walking down the streets of Moscow and actually thinking about which side of the street I wanted to be on depending on the light. It is all a game of asking and answering questions. Trying to be in the right place at the right time with the right light. It takes work. It takes effort.

What can you do about the light? Simple. Make the light work for you. Get up early or stay out late in order to capture that "golden", low angle light that, if everything works out for you, makes for great photographs. True, it doesn’t always present itself as we wish, but being in bed or eating breakfast does not boost your odds. Get out there. When working with the sun, you never know. Being out there, making the effort, is the key to better images.

What about when the sun is not available or not working for you? Add or manipulate the light. Use a reflector to add light. Use a diffuser to change the light. How? Try a white trash bag. Carry several, they are light, compact, and even water proof. The fact is that you can take "bad" light and make it better. Look at the light.

How about flash photography? I teach flash photography with two simple concepts. Diffuse it and move it. That is it. I go over several ways to get away from direct, harsh flash images. You know, the washed out faces, that red-eye look that just does not work for anyone, and the dark shadows. Direct flash has got to be the worst solution ever devised. Simple, yes. Either pop-up, or turn on your small hot-shoe flash and fire away. But the results are far from perfect. The answer? Diffuse it and move it.

First off, diffuse it. Scotch-Tape. You know, the frosted kind. Stick a few layers over your flash head. It softens the flash and takes away those harsh shadows. Well, it helps anyway. Use it. Next, Cool-Whip. Round frosted plastic lids. Cut out a section and use velcro to attach it to your flash. Works great. Yes, you can spend the big bucks and buy an Omni-Bounce like the pros use (even I have one), but I like Cool-Whip, so why not kill two birds with one stone?

Second, move it. Buy the cord that takes your flash off-camera and use it. For Nikon, it was the SB-17, but now I use the new SC-28 cord which replaced it (There is also the SC-29 with an auto-focus assist light). Costs over $50 but is priceless when making images. I like to think of it as studio results without the studio. Hold it off-center to the subject and you have just improved your flash photography. I tell my students, if it comes down to it, buy the smaller, cheaper flash, take the money you saved, and buy the cord. You can move it, bounce it, and direct it any way you want. Not as simple as direct flash, but well worth the effort. There is that word again, effort.

GET CLOSER

My favorite. Actually, if I could only have one rule, this would be it. Get closer. I always point out that film is small (as well as the even smaller digital chip), make the most of it. Fill the frame with only what you want to have in the viewfinder. Either move in closer or zoom in, but do everything you can to get in there and fill the frame.

Painters add, photographers subtract. The problem is our selective vision. We "see" only what we want to see, the camera, on the other hand, does not have that luxury. Again, it takes effort, and it takes practice, but begin to really look at what is in the viewfinder and eliminate everything that does not add to what you what your image to say to the viewer. No matter what, the camera fills the frame, that is what cameras do. It is up to you to make sure it is filled with only what you want it filled with.

Keep it simple. The goal of any good photographer, or any artist, for that matter, is to simplify. Say what you want to say as simply as possible. It is your statement, make it as clear to the viewer as possible. One image, one statement. Now here is when it gets tricky. Simple does not mean only one object or subject in each image. No, many of the great images are complex and thought provoking, but that is the power of photography, the power of art. You can have as many subjects, objects, what ever you want to call them, in any one image as long as they are the only things you want in your image. I like to call it "complex simplicity". The message can be complex, just work on keeping the image simple. It is not that simple. Get closer. Eliminate. Work at it.

I will say right here that getting closer also helps in the technical aspect of getting the "right" exposure. By working at making the image as simple as possible, you are also making it easier for your camera’s meter to come up with the simplest exposure. Not always the case, but worth mentioning, worth thinking about. Keep it simple.

SHOOT LOTS OF IMAGES ... or PIXELS

This is where the learning comes in. Shoot lots of pixels, or film. Shoot lots of images and ask lots of questions. Shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. Get out there and run film through your camera, or whatever it is that digital cameras do. Push the button, that is the key to becoming a better photographer. No, this does not mean just holding down the button, this goes well beyond that. Shoot everything and anything. If using film, try slide film. In fact, try 100 speed slide film. It is a great learning tool. When you get the results back,, you can see your results, not the results of the machine that prints your pictures.

Shoot slide film and look, really look, at the results. Shoot all types of film in all types of conditions. Flash photography, night photography, nature photography, action photography, people photography, studio photography, you name it, shoot it. And shoot it again with a digital camera. Shoot it in the rain, the snow, the fog. Shoot indoors and out, with flash, without. Shoot a roll of only multi-exposures. Shoot all the new films that come out. Shoot with only a 50mm lens (Do you own a 50mm lens?). Turn your lens around backwards and explore macro photography. Shoot at 50 ISO and f16 without a tripod. Heck, shoot two or three hundred images blind-folded, I don’t care. The truth is, just shoot a lot of pictures. Break every rule you can think of. Shoot, shoot, shoot. Learn, learn, learn.

Same is true with digital cameras. Shoot at ISO 100 (or lower) and you will soon see why tripods are so important. Boost your ISO up as high as it goes and see what happens. And while you are at it, try everything in between, and see what works best and when. Play when you can so that when you really need to record something important, you will have a reference point on which to fall back on. Shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. Play. And look at the results BEFORE "fixing 'em" in Photoshop!

That is one aspect. The other aspect is to shoot it from every angle you can think of and then make up a few more. Yes, and hold that button down. Shoot, shoot, and shoot. Look through your lens, shoot. Move, and shoot again. Go one step further. Change lenses and start all over again. Learn what lens does what at what angle. Shoot and learn. Shoot sports with as long a lens as you have and then turn around and shoot it with as wide a lens as you have. Know your equipment, know your limitations. Which lens do you want on your camera to get what results? How close do you have to be with each lens to get the results you want? Can you change results by changing lenses, your position, your choice of film or digital ISO setting? Shoot and learn. Ask, and answer questions.

Another aspect of all this is the notion of actually adjusting your tripod while using it. Yeah, a novice idea for many of my students! Tripods are adjustable. Use those knobs, move those legs, adjust the tripod so that the camera is where you want it, not just stuck at the top of the tripod.

When using my tripod (which I try to as much as possible), I look through the viewfinder, find where I want the camera, then I adjust the legs to get the camera where I want it, not the other way around. Don't just attach the camera to the tripod and set it down and then look for your shot. Find the image first, then place the tripod to get your image. A big difference.

That is photography. That is becoming a better photographer. That is art. That is becoming a better artist. Three simple rules. Three huge concepts.

That is how I begin each class. Every semester, every year. I have taught photography in one form or another for over twenty years and this is the end result. To be honest, the one thing that has made me a better photography instructor is the fact that for the past fifteen years, my real job is that of a Special Education teacher. I take broad concepts and make one-liners out of them. My middle school students like me to keep it simple and break down the facts so they can better understand the information. Wow, what a concept!

Or maybe that is just how I, as a photographer, teach learning disabled students. Keep it simple. Point is, I have seen my photography lessons change over the years and like the results. Twenty plus years, three rules. Teaching is learning. Keep it simple.

Without even getting into how a camera works, I believe, one can become a better photographer in one easy lesson. Simple, I just go over my three rules. No, actually I do mention two other important aspects of becoming a better photographer. Buy a tripod (the one piece of equipment that actually makes you better), and do not center the subject, at least for the first half of the semester (no one has ever been able to accomplish that feat!).

The camera comes later. First the concepts, then the understanding. Photography is much more than the camera. So much more in fact, that it can be summed up in three rules. OK, three rules and two suggestions.

 That is what I feel to be the most important aspects of photography. That and the fact I tell my students to be sure to show up for the next class. Over and over again.

Three Little Buttons

First things first. ISO. Find the little button, use it. You should be able to find it in the dark, by memory, and understand that you must use it if you want to take charge of how your images look once you squeeze that shutter release.

Keep one thing in mind – OK, two things.

The ISO setting you choose dictates what the shutter speed will be whenever you take a picture. It is the most important setting you can make. Everything else comes second. Look at the light and choose an ISO setting that is appropriate for that situation.

AUTO ISO is what your camera comes set with, and in most cases, that is fine, if you want some technician back in Japan (or Taiwan?) being in charge of your art. The idea is for you to take charge, and this is the first step.

What is ISO? I thought you would never ask. ISO stands for International Standards Organization, but that tells little about what it actually does. This little button is in charge of how sensitive you want your digital sensor to be. Higher number, more sensitive. Lower number, less sensitive. If there is a lot of light, use a lower number, if there is not a lot of light, use a higher number. Each camera must meet the "standards" set by the industry so everyone is on a level playing field. Nikon's ISO 100 is the same as Canon's ISO 100, etc ... Or so they say.

Yes, these are numbers, which means math, but don’t let that bother you. Most cameras offer ISO settings of at least 100, 200, and 400. Many have more ... 50 and 80 at the lower end, and/or 800 and 1600 on the higher end.

They are all about light. If it is bright and sunny, set your camera at 100 and go at it. Once it gets cloudy, or later on in the evening, or if you happen to walk inside a church, set your ISO to a higher number, say, 800, and continue taking images. It is all about your shutter speeds. "Faster" number (800), faster shutter speeds; "Slower" number (100), slower shutter speed. Think NASCAR, and you will be fine.

Really.

Even on a sunny day. If your subject is moving very fast, try a "faster" setting (800). Humming birds, two year olds, or race cars, the idea is the same. Try it.

Here is the secret, and the key to the whole process; the lower the number (100), the finer quality image you will be able to capture. Sharper, more vivid colors, finer detail. Think about it; if the sensor is less sensitive to light, the little "light gathering thingys" (I am not a technician) on your sensor don’t have to be that large, hence, a sharper, better quality image. If they have to gather more light, they have to be bigger, and that produces bigger grain, or "noise" in your image. True, that is not a very technical way to describe what goes on, but I hope it helps (if your are a camera technician, please forgive me). Again, try it and find out what I am talking about. " Noise" is the little dots you see when you take a photo at ISO 800 or 1600 (or higher).

Another thing to remember is this, the smaller the camera, the smaller the sensor. Small sensor, more noise, no matter what the ISO is. For example, I don’t think twice of setting my Nikon D90 to 800 or even 1600 ISO when needed, but cringe when I have to use even  ISO 800 on my smaller water-proof Pentax W60. Over  ISO 400 on the Pentax and things get a wee bit grainy for my taste. Smaller sensor trying to meet the same "standards" as a larger one, makes sence to me.

 It is a game of give and take - blurry images  (slower shutter speeds) or noise, you choose.  Use the button and find your camera’s limits. It is after all, your image.

Want an advantage? Buy a tripod. No, let me take that a step further and say, use a tripod. Buy it first of course, but then carry it with you and use it. Big, small, light or heavy, the choice is up to you, just have one and use it. It is the one piece of equipment that will make you a technically better photographer. It does not breathe, so your images will be sharper. Period.

No tripod? No worries. Find something that doesn’t breathe and set your camera on it and use your self timer ... oops, that would make four buttons, forgive me. Find the button that looks like a stop-watch and see if you can’t set it to two seconds, and fire away. If not, the 10 second timer will do. The two second setting just makes it more convenient. You are not touching the camera, the camera is not moving, and your image will be sharper. Period. Tripod, soda can, fence-post, rock, whatever ... steady your camera, use the self-timer, and step away and let the camera do all the work. Simple.

All my "night" (twilight) images are shot in this manner. ISO 200, tripod, self-timer. Yes, my shutter speeds are longer, but that is what the tripod is for. Lower ISO, better quality. I go for better quality every time. Without the tripod, a higher ISO setting would have to be used which produces more noise.

 The trick is, if you have a tripod, you can shoot it both ways for different effects, but if you don't have a tripod, well, you are down to one option. Two is better.

　WB Button

No, not Warner Brothers, this is not a cartoon. WB stands for White Balance. Think filters. Filters are pieces of glass that photographers use to put over their lens to change the color of the light. The WB button is the digital version of a  "filter" and takes care of all that for you. One button, several "filters". Very nice. Saves you a lot of money - and time.

Different light sources give off different colors, our cameras, like our brains, balance them all to look "natural" or what they call "daylight balanced".

If you are new to photography and never change your settings, you have no idea what I am talking about, right? Find the WB button, take it off AUTO and you will find out fast enough.

Truth is, the AUTO setting works very well. You can shoot outdoors in the sun, in the shade, inside in various light conditions, and your camera will follow right along and put the needed "filters" in place and you come out smelling like a rose. The right filter for the right light source. Automatic. Those tech guys are great. But again, they are not the artist, you are. I can not stress that enough.

Each camera has different settings so I don’t want to get too involved with the different choices/names, so just take charge and find out what each "filter" does.

I like CLOUDY myself. If you have it, use it. Try it when it is sunny.  It warms, or gives an orange tint, to your images. Makes it look like you got out there at sunrise instead of nine or ten o’clock in the morning when the color of the sky has shifted more towards afternoon "white" light. That is what your camera does, it balances the light to look "white" , or like daylight, no matter what type of light it really emits. Play. Have fun. Push the button.

True, you are "cheating" but that is what the artist does. I always say, "don’t let reality stand in the way of your art". We have enough reality on TV. Yes, of course, you can choose DAYLIGHT for daylight, or TUNGSTEN for tungsten, but the fun is to try SHADE in the sunlight, and INCANDESCENT outdoors at noon. Washed in blue, the sun becomes the moon (that even sounds like art). Try it, you might like it.

And on the other hand, try the "wrong" settings in different situations and you will very quickly find out why they are wrong. Don’t worry, you can delete them. A green sunset is pushing it.

Yes, you can get carried away (and I have), but the point is to know what the WB button is for, and at times, be brave and use it to your advantage. AUTO actually works great most of the time, but I want you to know you have an option. Use everything you paid for on your camera. Push those buttons, get your money’s worth.

  Copenhagen

    Deja-vu

It hit me as I was walking to The Little Mermaid. I was just following the line of people along the water; turn right, veer left, repeat.

It was a nice day, I was in no hurry, and then it hit me.

Yeah, I knew I was in Copenhagen before, I’m not that bad ... I even remember walking from the downtown area to the small statute that gains so much attention. That I remember.

What caught me by surprise were the windows ... Bam! that was it. I had been here before, the same route, the same building, the same windows. I know, I have the picture. My picture. No, not a picture, a  slide. I have the slide upstairs in the filing cabinet somewhere. And a digital file of the image on a CD somewhere downstairs.

I'll find it.

Twenty years ... no, twenty-two. I was walking by this same building - I have no idea what building, I just remember the windows. Well, to be honest, I didn’t remember the windows. I remembered my reflection in the windows. That was it. I had taken this image before.

I remember images. Don’t you?

That is what I do; take images. One image out of tens of thousands came into view. I was here, my camera bag (I still own it) over one shoulder, a camera (either a Minolta X-570 or X-700, OK, I’m not that good - I had both) over the other, and in my right hand, another Minolta, as I crouched down to photograph a boat as it sailed by. I remember. Me, framed in a window with a boat.

So, what did I do?

Yeah, I crouched over and looked for another shot just like the last shot. True, I didn’t have a camera bag over my shoulder (older) or a second camera (smarter) but I did crouch over in my "photographer stance"; looking, waiting, thinking, planning, remembering, and yes, to be real honest - giggling like crazy, having a riot, making yet another image. A new image.

I love doing what I do. Simple as that. Twenty-two years and I’m still at it, still out there looking, seeing, playing ...

That is what photography is all about. That is what I am all about. Yeah, it is not all good, all the time - I have my regrets - but man, it was good this time; just as it was the last time. Giggling.

Deja-vu.

And yes, I kept waiting for a boat to sail by ... different year, different day, different image. But hey, the bike works.

I’ll see what I can do the next time.

PEOPLE PHOTOGRAPHY:

More than the Person

People photography is more than taking pictures of people. That would be the easy part. Just as there is more to the person than one could tell in 1/250th of a second, telling the story of a person is more than recording them on film.

Pointing a camera at people has been special since the invention of the tool itself. It is still one of my greatest joys as a photographer. If I am out with my camera and people are around, sooner or later they tend to appear in my viewfinder. It was not always that way.

Working with people is just that - work. It is something that I try to convey in my photography classes that I teach for the local community college, but it is also the hardest concept of photography to teach. In fact, I tell my students that it is the one aspect of photography that I can not teach them. It must be learned, but it can not be taught by anyone other than themselves.

Getting out there, meeting people, photographing people, is the only way that anyone can learn how they relate to other people. Work at working with people, with strangers, that is how one becomes a better people photographer. Work.

It is also something that is much greater than the subject itself. It is hard to explain, but I often state that it is not the person I am photographing, but an aspect of that person that I wish to explore, to capture, to photograph. What caught my eye? Was it the freckles? The mustache? The light? Was it the person, or was it what the person was wearing or doing? People photography is more than a portrait of a person.

Often, and I hope people take this kindly, I use people as nothing more than props. The Chicago skyline. The Vietnam Memorial. The Great Wall. Here, it is not so much the person, it is where the person is. Now, if it is your wife and/or family, or even yourself, the concept is reversed of course, and it becomes the person first, location second. Same frame, just a different frame of mind.

As far as travel photography is concerned, one of the greatest aspects of traveling is meeting new people. What would any town or city, or even a National Park be without people? Visit any country, large city, small village; stop at any general store, anywhere, any country, and you will find people worth meeting. If they are worth meeting, they are worth photographing. Get to know them better by sharing time on either side of the camera. You must enjoy meeting people in order to enjoy the results of photographing people. Very simple.

Another simple concept is that the human element, or form, adds to any scene. Landscape, cityscape, mountain vista, or desert expanse, the placement of a person within the frame gives the image a perspective that the viewer can relate to. A scale. More than just a landscape, more than just a person.

Take that one step farther. Many cameras today have a self-timer that can be used to place yourself into the scene. In the middle of nowhere? Show it my making yourself a very small and insignificant part of the image. In a crowed city? Place yourself within the chaos surrounded by the masses. Your placement  within the image alters the story you wish to tell. Think about what you, the photographer, want to say, and use the human form as another tool to get your message across. It is more than the person.

One aspect of traveling is that you end up in some great places. All travelers like the "I was there" aspect that photography offers. You made it, this proves it. The only problem with that is in many cases, the resulting picture shows a tiny person - could be anybody - standing in front of this or that famous landmark. Proof that someone made it, but who? Often the landmark is many times the size of the adventurer and, in order to fit it all in, the photographer backs up, or worst yet, tells the person to back up until they end up the size of an ant in this wonderful landscape, lost for all practical purposes.

The key is perspective. Next time you are watching the evening news, check out the relationship between the newscaster and the background while on location. They are up close, and the background plays off them, not the other way around.

Next time you are at a certain famous landmark (or not so famous) and want to photograph yourself, and/or your friends, place them close to the lens and then see where you want the landmark placed in relationship to them. A wide angle lens is great for the situation, as long as you don’t get right up in their face. Many of the cameras on the market today offer some type of zoom lens. Try using the shortest setting (e.i. 35mm on a 35 - 80 zoom lens) and have your subject about four or five feet from the camera, off center of the landmark in the background. Perspective is the key, use it to your advantage. In this case it is more than just the location or the person. It is the relationship between the two. Work at it.

Which leads me to my last suggestion, which, if you remember, is one of my rules - get closer. No matter what the case, by getting closer, you fill your frame with what is important. People photography is based on meeting people, sharing something with those people, and recording that experience on film or digital chip. True, people photography can mean different things to different people, but to me, getting involved in someone else’s life, even for  1/250th of a second, is the key to a successful trip and, as Bob Seger once poetically sang ... "Makes me a wealthy soul".

 Take the time to show your subject just how important they are to you. Take an extra shot or two (or eight or twelve) and work on bringing out the best of them in your images.

Which reminds me of the greatest aspects of switching to digital over the past couple of years - Instant feedback. The ability to share the moment, that one moment, is a great joy that can not be overlooked. To capture a smile and be able to share it with that person, and their family and friends, opens the door for many more smiles and images.

I might not be able to speak Russian, Chinese, Spanish, or Greek, but I can communicate with people anywhere in the world with a digital screen and a smile of my own. It is more than the person or the camera.

 I hope this artice (and the images on my website) and concepts on people photography speak for the need to see people in a new light, one where you begin to see people for what they are, not just what they look like.

Many of my favorite images are of people. "My" young Tunisian girl, the Russian soldier saluting, the Hmong girl with her headpiece, the "Amazon Girl" with her paddle ... All these people, and countless more, are forever with me. That moment, that connection, for however brief, will always be with me. Stay, this moment.

One such encounter was at the Rhinebeck, NY BMW rally where I gave my first motorcycle photography workshop. I met a gentlemen with the greatest handlebar mustache - No, make that a handlebar beard, I have ever seen. Wait, make that the only handlebar beard I have ever seen.

After a few shots, and getting the image I envisioned, he commented on the fact that I must be weird to do what I do, or something to that effect.

We laughed and parted ways. He was right of course, and I was pleased to see that someone else picked up on the fact that I love to do what I do. Weird? Well yes, but I like to think of it as a good weird ... Like growing a handlebar beard.

Meeting, and photographing people, is one of my passions. Weird? Maybe, but then again, it is more than just photographing the person, now isn't it?

Getting Out There

For me, photography is more than recording light on film. No, that is only one small part of photography. I love getting out there and doing what I enjoy doing. At the same time, being a photographer is what gets me out there in the first place. It is a vicious cycle. One passion drives another until they actually become one.

FOREVER YOUNG

I went and listened to Sam Abel, a long time National Geographic photographer, when he presented a lecture at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. I have admired his work for many years and consider his work an influence on my own.

Quiet and artistic are words used to describe his work. Artistic I got right away, quiet, on the other hand, is not a word I would normally associate with describing a photographic image. That took me a bit longer. The journey was well worth the effort.

His slide show - yes, he still shoots slides - was based on his latest book, Stay, this Moment. Taken from a line of one of Virginia Wolfe’s novels, Mr. Abel discussed the ability of an image to capture a single moment and forever keep the subject in the image frozen in time. Forever young. A child. A young bride. Your father. Your grandparents. One moment that stays the way it is, never changes, never grows old.

What a powerful concept. Stay, this moment. As I look over my work from the past thirty years or so, I understand the implication. Photography, my photography, lets me re-live all the moments I have captured over the years. My first cross-country motorcycle tour, my time spent in Japan as a young Marine, my motorcycle trip to Alaska, my "Honeymoon Tour", then the start of my "real" photographic life. Florida, Georgia, Germany, Korea, Illinois, graduate school, OUR STATE magazine free-lance work, motorcycle tours and articles, river cruises, bicycle touring, white-water rafting, and college photography classes and workshops. My photographic life. The images that make up my life.

Stay, this moment.

I wish.

Of course, we all know that life does not work this way. Life goes on. My images of my married life are the only reminder I have of such a time. Life moves on. I have to resort to looking at my past images to actually remember what color my hair was. Memories fade. My images also remind me of how there are really never enough to cover a single life. Moments are lost, moments are forgotten. Never enough moments recorded. Never enough film or these new digital things.

I am just grateful for the images I do have. The moments I can project, the moments that stay with me forever. I was reminded of this recently while giving a slide show on North Africa to one of the seventh grade Social Studies classes at Granite Falls Middle School. A picture of a young Tunisian girl standing in front of a pottery kiln with smoke surrounding her was shown and the teacher mentioned that she liked the image and asked me about it. I went on to explain the story behind the image - I can remember it like it was yesterday, and was shocked to hear that the girl must be in her early twenties by now. What? "My" little Tunisian girl? No way ... I couldn’t believe it.

I really never thought about it. 1988. The girl looks to be about four or five years old, maybe six. I never even talked to her, never had the chance. Two frames. One with eye contact. Then my guide spoke to her, she glanced at him, another frame. Then she disappeared back behind the kiln. Gone. Less than a minute. Nineteen years ago. Stay, this moment. Her eye contact, our connection, has stayed with me ever since.

While running the other day, one of my favorite songs played on my I-pod. Forever Young, by Rod Stewart. The musical interpretation of Virginia Wolfe’s concept of a moment frozen in time. The musical equivalent of a photograph. I like it. It got me thinking of the role photography plays in one’s life. Forever young.

Every person, young or old, that I photograph on any given day, stays that age in my mind’s eye. It got me thinking of other images, other strangers, that I never really got to know, but remember through my images. Thirty, twenty five, twenty, fifteen, ten, five, or even a year ago, my images keep my subjects forever young. Young or old, the concept remains the same. The old man in Richland, NY that I photographed the summer before his death, remains the "old man from Unity Acres" sixteen years after the fact. The first "New Year’s Baby" born in the U.S. Army hospital in Bremerhaven, Germany is just that, a new born baby. I know, I have the image upstairs. OK, so she was born in the early hours of January 1^st, 1986. Big deal. I was there, I photographed her. I remember. She was small. Forever young; even twenty plus years later. She is still tiny.

I could go on and on. Images stand out. My favorite images stay with me. All the others show up now and again in my lectures and on my website. Images that keep my memories forever on my mind, forever young.

What a concept.

Virginia Wofe wrote about it, Sam Abel talks about it, Rod Stewart sings about it, and I photograph it. Now I also get the chance to discuss it in my photography class and in my articles. I knew there was a reason I like Sam Abel’s images. Today, I know it had to do with more than just the images, it was the thought process behind those images.

Quiet images. Images that make you think, to envision, to infer more than what is presented before you. Again, I like to think they had some influence on my own work. What a concept.

Stay, this moment.

The Connection

(Article for The BMW News)

Point-n-Shoot Does Not Mean

 Just Point and Shoot.

Travel Photography: The Essence of Time and Place

I joke and say that I was born in California, but made my first move at six months and have never looked back. It is true, and I have the military to blame for it. My father was in the Army in the 1950s and 1960s, I joined the Marines in the 1970s, and I worked for the Department of the Army throughout the 1980s as a photographer. I have lost track of the moves. That is over. I have now lived in Hudson, NC for over thirteen years and am very happy where I am.

Travel led to photography while on my first cross-country motorcycle adventure following my senior year in high school. I drove to Arizona from New York via Chicago and received my first camera to record my experiences.

That is when it all began. I travel, I take pictures. It really is that simple. The distance nor the time matters, if I go anywhere, chances are that I will have my camera in hand. Over the years, as my interest in photography grew, the separation of travel and photography began to blur. Now I am not so sure if I travel to photograph or photograph because I travel. Like many people, the point is moot. It is my passion and I don’t really care which drives which as long as it still drives me to get out there and capture what I like to think is the essence of time and space. My time, my space.

I learned long ago that no image can capture the full travel experience, not even video with its movement and sound. No, nothing can record the smells, the weather, the energy of a place. That is what makes the experience more overwhelming than the mere journey. As a still photographer, my goal is to record not just what I see, but what I feel, what I experience. Not an easy task and one that drives me to keep trying. In fact, travel photography is actually very hard to pull off due to the fact that one is actually traveling: On the road, between flights, in-between meals, and always, it seems, seeking the next hotel, campground, or gas station (with a clean restroom). Never mind the fact that after the fourth of fifth of anything, things all start to look the same. We get tired, hot, and ready to move on. Lets be honest, traveling is not always what it is cracked up to be. I get sea-sick, tour buses are a trip in themselves, even motorcycle journeys have their downside (usually in the form of rain), not to mention air travel, which has taken on new meaning of late.

The travel experience is unique to each person, each day, each minute. I can be on tour with hundreds of other people, yet can come away with different experiences. That is what makes travel so exciting, and which makes travel photography so rewarding. My images are my interpretation of my time, my space, my experience - no one else’s, at no other time.

I live in North Carolina because of the Blue Ridge Parkway, period. I have driven every inch of it many, many times over, yet it is never the same, it is always changing. The light, the weather, the traffic, the leaves, the people, the wildlife, the construction. It is always in flux, as are my experiences and memories. Without a doubt, I am drawn there like no other road or place. Yes, I have many images of, or from, the Parkway. Each is a slice of time and place. Same place, different time. I can never take too many photographs while driving on the Parkway and that is why I head up there most weekends - when I’m not out on some other adventure.

Travel photography is as old as photography itself. What better way for people to experience other locations than by seeing it. In fact, most of our knowledge of the world while growing up comes from pictures. As a teacher now, I see this all the time. Social Studies books are full of pictures of the world far and removed from the average eighth grade student’s first hand knowledge of the world. It was true one hundred and fifty years ago and it is still true today. I believe National Geographic is proof of that. People want to see what the world looks like at any given point in time. Paris in 2004 is unlike Paris in 1904, yet the beauty of all this is the fact that no matter how much things change, they remain the same. It is the photographer’s job to pick up on what is going on at that moment, to capture the mood and the energy of the place. Paris is Paris, just as New York City is New York City. Capture the essence of any one place at any given time, that should be the goal of any traveler.

I am going to Europe this summer on a motorcycle adventure in and around, as well as up and over the Alps. I am looking forward to revisiting one of the special places in the world aboard my favorite mode of transportation. I was last in this region in 1998 after a ten year absence. It was special then and I know it will be special once again. That "specialness" is what I am going to try to record on film. What aspect of Germany is going to catch my attention? Will the Alps appear different? How will my group experience effect my individual memories? Will I "see" the old or will I sense the new? Last time I was in Berlin, there was a Wall, what will I feel this time around?

That is why I do what I do - to answer those questions on film for myself as well as my editors and viewers. Travel photography is more than pretty images on the page or hanging on the wall. Like photography of any type, travel photography should strike a cord within the viewer, it should connect, evoke a feeling. The subject is not as important as the emotion.

Film records light differently than our eyes perceives it. That is the beauty of photography. The camera lens sees differently than the human brain. Again, that is what makes photography so special to me. The magic lies in what I call "Photographic Vision" - recording on film what is unseen to the human eye, and also in the fact that a still image is a slice of time that will not, and can not, happen again. The past can not be photographed, nor can the future. I can only record what happens when I am there, or, in the case of remote cameras, only what appears in front of the camera at any given time.

Photography is work. Travel photography, for reasons mentioned earlier, is even harder. I’ll even go out on a limb here and say that motorcycle travel photography is even harder because you have to think about what you are doing, as well as what the other riders are doing, or more importantly, what they will be doing - before they do it. Plan, discuss, prepare, scout out different locales, and then rely on mother nature and human nature to make a mess out of whatever you thought was a good idea at any given moment. Think about it. Ten or twelve people coming together from all walks of life, from all parts of the country (or the world for that manner), with all types of riding skills, and head out in unfamiliar surroundings. And you are supposed to capture the "essence" of the tour? Who’s tour? Who’s experiences? Truth is, you can’t. You can only capture your experience within the group, within the overall motorcycle tour. That is the joy of photography. That is what makes it unique.

What does all of this mean to you? Well, the point is that your photography is the only record of your travel experiences, be it by motorcycle, bicycle, canoe, or cruise ship. Make the best of it. Point-n-shoot, digital, or the top-of-the-line SLR, the equipment is not as important as the attitude. Technical expertise is not as crucial as cultural expertise. Know, or get to know, the essence of any given place, at any given time, and your photography will reap the rewards. Not a photographer? Same holds true. Photographs are really nothing more than visual memories. With or without a camera, hooking into the underlining essence of a city, a country, or village is what travel, and travel photography, should be all about. Even without a camera (shame on you), memories are memories, and they are the only ones we have. Good luck capturing the essence of your next adventure in time and place.

Passion

It always comes down to one image. I’ve been doing this for more than twenty years, thirty if you count the trips I took when I had no idea how to use a camera. Thirty years of travel photography and of all the photographs I take on any given trip, it always comes down to one favorite image. The image that captures the essence of the adventure, the journey, the experience. One trip, one image.

Yes, I have several images that I like from each adventure, but there is always that one I say is my favorite. The one I think of when I think of the trip. The image. Not the experience of actually taking the image, just THE image. I think of that image when I think, or am asked about, any given trip. Funny how that works. When I think of Peru, I think of the little girl, "my" little girl.

Never said a word to her. Her mother was trying to sell me a necklace or something. There were two dugout canoes and several women making their sales pitch ... I had no idea what they were showing me, I saw the girl. Well, and I saw the paddle. The girl caught my attention, but the paddle made me take the picture. I was in the Amazon Rain Forest and the dugout canoe was a symbol I wanted to capture on film. The canoe itself, and the large, wide paddles I had seen everyone using. Very unique, to me anyway. It was my first time on the Amazon and the canoe and an odd shaped paddle became symbols of the river itself. To me, they say AMAZON. In capital letters!

Enter the young girl and her custom fitted paddle. I loved it. Handmade junior sized Amazon paddle. I had to take the picture. It became my favorite.

True, it is my experience, my memories, but is it a good picture? I believe it is. What makes it good? First, as a photograph, we must look at the light. Photography is light. Period. Nice light. We were tucked up under some trees off a small lake, and the trees diffused the light and made it dance off the water, filling in some of the shadows on the girl’s face.

The girl herself. I always tell my photography students that you can’t go wrong with kids and/or pets. She was worth taking the picture all by herself. Did I? No. I had to place her in her world with her paddle. The dugout canoe and that paddle made it the "Amazon Girl," and not just "Young Girl" or "Young Girl in Boat."

How about the background? Her expression? The tight cropping? Her body language? The colors? Very important. These are all elements that add up to the total image. They are the setting, she is the main character, and the paddle, well, let’s call the paddle the climax, if I may borrow freely from the literary world. Nothing is in the image that I don’t want in the image. That is my role. That is the artist in me, telling you, the viewer, what I think is important, and what I want you to look at. Photographers subtract, painters add.

I call it a "clean image." As the artist, I subtracted the "clutter" around this beautiful young girl and made her the center of my attention, and in doing so, made her your center of attention. Her and the paddle. I hope her mother forgives me, but I just had to cut her out of the frame.

Is it a good photograph? Is it more than the girl and her paddle? Does it evoke an emotion? Does the eye contact draw you to the subject? Does the light enhance the image? Do you like it? Does the paddle add to the photograph? Should it be my favorite image from more than 25 rolls of film? Does it say "AMAZON" to you? Is it worth me writing about? Is it worth the fuss?

Yes.

To me anyway. And that is the key. It is MY favorite image from the 400 plus images I kept from my week on the Amazon. I will remember the river, my week in the Rain Forest, and my trip to Peru, by this one image. Funny how that works. The Amazon Girl. I saw her about five minutes tops, but the moment, her expression, and yes, even that darn paddle, will be with me for many, many years to come.

I love photography. I love the power of photography. I love the power of the photograph ... That one photograph. That one image.