Win a Drobo S (that's me folks!)

There are a few things I could never live without—my family, my dogs, my photography and of course my Drobo. I’ve been a huge fan of Drobo since day one, and like all GREAT technology, the Drobo just keeps getting better and better with each model. Today I use my Drobo S as my main back-up device. Here’s a short video to tell you more…(try to ignore the bald spot and the fact that I’m talking 100 miles a minute.

Want to win a super cool Drobo S? Thought so…here are the simple rules:

• Leave a comment on today’s post saying something like “I need a Drobo or Drobo rocks.” Remember, leaving a comment on my Facebook page doesn’t count, I’ll be drawing the winner from the comments on the blog only. But feel free to share on Facebook!

• Head over to Drobo’s Facebook Page HERE and let them know you appreciate the contest by clicking the “Like” button.  In order to win you must leave a comment on this blog post AND “Like” Drobo’s Facebook Page

• The contest is open from September 10th-September 23rd
  

• September 23rd I’ll be drawing a name randomly (using random.org and 1- to however many comments we receive)

• September 24th I’ll be announcing the winner on the blog, Facebook and Twitter. Everyone wins a little something–I’ll email all entries to give you a Drobo discount code to be used after the contest. So you have nothing to lose by entering!

• The winning prize is valued at  $799.00.  All you need to do is add a few hard drives and you’ll have your dream back up system.

• Must be citizen of the United States or Canada to win.

That’s it…easy peasy.  I want to thank Drobo and their wonderful team for sponsoring me and making this promotion possible. They’re a great group of people and I truly love their product. To all my readers…good luck!

Vision and Voice by David duChemin

I’ve been back in Chicago for two weeks now and I’m just starting to feel as though I’m getting caught up. I submitted my final revisions to Peachpit for my black and white chapter in their upcoming book, “Composition: From Snapshots to Great Shots.” It’s my understanding the book will be in bookstores sometime in November. You can pre-order your copy on Amazon HERE.  I’m really excited about this endeavor and it’s my hope that it’s the first of many…:)

Speaking of books, I had a  chance to read David duChemin’s “Vision and Voice” over the summer, and I want to tell you folks, I love this book. I’ve read most of David’s books, but this is probably my second favorite, right behind “Within the Frame.” I don’t know about you, but my brain is muddled with visions. I have tons of images floating around in my head…that’s never been a problem. The trick is understanding how to  extract  these ideas and transform the vision into a two dimensional image that I can share with others. “Vision and Voice” does an excellent job of showing you workable solutions for bringing your vision to life. For me it was like a four-hour long vision therapy session that only cost $30.00 — a bargain to say the least!

Giveaway:

Tomorrow is the big giveaway brought to you by Drobo and yours truly. Make sure to stop by the blog tomorrow for all the easy details. This is going to be one giveaway you won’t want to miss!

Me and the team overlooking Grand Prismatic, Yellowstone

Sarah photographing an Idaho wheat field

Picnic on Mormon Row, Jackson Hole

The team doing a Pano of the Tetons

Yellowstone workshop:
The Yellowstone workshop was incredibly fun and educational for all those involved. It was an action packed two days. We spent the first day visiting Yellowstone and photographing such wonders as the Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful, and Yellowstone Lake. The park was surprisingly busy, but we managed to get in some great sightseeing, some wonderful conversation and yes, we even learned a bit while we were at it. We spent day two photographing in the majestic Grand Teton National Park, the Snake River, and Mormon Row. We even enjoyed a wonderful picnic while photographing the Moulton Barn. What was really cool about this workshop is we all happened to be shooting with Canon camera bodies, so I was able to share my lenses with the group. I think the team really enjoyed having some L series glass at their disposal. Finally, we wrapped things up on the last day by going over some post production work in Lightroom, and trying out some new plug-ins. I always keep my workshops intimate to allow me time to get know each photographer and their needs. So, while we had a range in abilities coming in, everyone was successful in getting some great shots. Thanks to Ariel, Cyrena, and Sarah for joining me out west, and for making the workshop so much fun. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much during a workshop! And also, thanks to Staci for being the resident chauffeur and master picnic-maker. Make sure to check out some of our images from the workshop below.

Grand Prismatic by Sarah

Yellowstone by Sarah

Macro flower by Cyrena

Dead Trees by Cyrena

Yellowstone Lake by Ariel

Steamy River by Ariel

This Friday:

Make sure to check the blog on Friday for my biggest and best giveaway yet. I’m really excited about this new partnership, and I wish it was Friday already darnit, but it’s not so stay tuned!

Future Workshops:

If you’re interested in receiving email updates about my upcoming workshops, then click
Get Updates On My Workshops

Side Note: Two of the attendees of the workshop are working on a super cool project in order to hone their vision. Check out their interpretation of the letters of the alphabet on their blogs. Sarah’s HERE and Cyrena’s HERE. They also posted some great snapshots from the workshop.

To download the larger  2560X1600 calendar click HERE

To download the smaller 1280×800 calendar click HERE

To download the iPad wallpaper click HERE.

Tess Chilling on the couch

We said goodbye yesterday to one of our  best buds, our twelve year old newfie—Tess. Tess has been a member of our family for nearly twelve years and was probably one of the sweetest dogs you would have ever met. I don’t know about all of you but my hard drive is littered with photos of my pets and Tess was always a willing subject…I don’t know how many times I said, “Tess, look at the camera.”   She was a big part of our family, from the birth of my daughter to eventual additions of three other dogs.  She’s been the constant matriarch.   She’s been my travel partner on nearly ever road trip for over a decade, and on countless photo excursions. She’s been there for us at times of great loss and amazing joy. She was my muse, my best bud, and our families number one girl.  Thanks for being a part of our life…love, John, Staci and Anna.

Smoky Mountain Morning by Aaron Graham

Hey everyone, I’m finishing up my Yellowstone workshop with an awesome (and I mean it) group of people.  We had two wonderful days of shooting in the Tetons and Yellowstone and today we’re focusing on processing in Lightroom.  I asked a long time follower of my blog to write a post about his experiences growing as a photographer.  I hope you enjoy what Aaron wrote, and make sure to drop him a note on the blog.  He’s a hard working person who, like many of us, shares an incredible passion for photography.  Make sure to check out Aaron’s work HERE.  I hope you enjoy…John

Check Your Focus by Aaron Graham,

A little over two years ago, I really started pursuing photography in a serious way and almost immediately hit, what seemed at the time, an insurmountable wall of frustration.  I would take a bunch of photos, and in my excitement to see what I was sure would be the greatest image ever captured, I would race home, download all of them to my computer and check them out.  Imagine my disappointment when all of them, almost without exception, just seemed to be missing something.  They didn’t excite me the way other images did.  I would repeat the process time and time again and continually get the same results.  At least I was consistent!  Unfortunately, I was consistently bad.  Then it occurred to me.  I needed to check my focus.  By “check my focus” I don’t mean cranking around on that ring at the end of my lens; it was more of a mental focus issue.  After really looking at my photos and considering all the things I liked and didn’t like, I found that my most glaring problem was with my compositions.  I decided that would be my focus for the better part of a year.  I read stacks of books, looked closely at all of my photos, compared and contrasted my pictures with ones that really moved me, made prints to take notes on, and continually tried to apply what I was learning to what I was doing at each shoot.  The result?  While I still have plenty of room to grow, my compositions were greatly improved.  They weren’t professional but they were at least passable, and more importantly, much closer to what I was trying to achieve.

I had another close look at my photos and found that my better compositions were drawing more and more attention to my poor post-processing skills.  Again, I set a goal and spent most of my time reading books, looking at photos, and trying to apply what I was learning.  The results were similar and my post-processing skills were leaps and bounds ahead of where they were when I started.  So, what did I take from this experience?  First, it really pays to look at your photos.  I mean REALLY look at them.  What do you like?  What do you not like?  Do you see a clear way to reinforce your likes while improving your dislikes?  Second, set reasonable, achievable goals.  This can be hard to do since the skills associated with photography are rather hard to quantify.  In my situation, I knew I wouldn’t be producing professional quality images after only a year of work but I felt like I would instinctively know when it was time to focus on some other aspect of my photography.  That really turned out to be the case.  Third, decide what it will take to help you improve.  Everyone learns in different ways.  Are you able to apply what you read from books?  Would a mentor help?  What about online classes or classes at a local school?  And finally, did I mention REALLY looking at your photos?  I can’t stress this enough!  Being able to evaluate yourself on a continual basis may be one of the more important skills you develop.  If you are having trouble getting started, look for help.  Ask people whose opinions you respect.  Have someone review your portfolio and be open to their critiques.  In the end, you are the only one that knows what you like, and in my experience, you won’t enjoy what you’re doing unless you are producing results that you are pleased with.  Being a photographer is a process.  Keep working, keep evaluating yourself, and keep setting new goals.  You will likely be surprised with the progress you will make.  So, where is your focus?

Aaron

Learn from my mistake:

Artistic Photo Canvas contacted me earlier this week about using today’s image for the upcoming Photoshop World.   I of course was flattered and agreed, but I’ll be darned if I could locate the file. I work off one main Lightroom library in Chicago and export all my five star files to an external drive so that I have them with me at all times—just in case a situation like this would ever pop up. Well folks, I failed to label today’s image as a 5 star.  Instead it had been edited in Photoshop and imported back into Lightroom, but never assigned a star rating.  Here’s my advice: go through your library and make sure you’re consistent on your rating system.  I typically assign all my images that are in my portfolio a 5 star rating so that when it comes time to locate them it’s easy peasy.  If you’re like me and work off one library that’s not always with you, then I suggest exporting our your best files (in my case my 5 star images) and keeping those with you on a portable hard drive or laptop.

Wednesday’s Blog

I’ve asked a long time blog follower Aaron Graham to write a guest blog for this Wednesday. Aaron’s written a very nice piece regarding his approach to improving his photography. I can really relate to what Aaron’s going through and what I love about Aaron’s story is he’s like so many of us…just trying to get better at what he loves.

I hope everyone is having a great Monday and make sure to stop by Wednesday and give Aaron’s article a read.  Take care, John

Composition: From Snapshots to Great Shots

It’s been a very busy week, a good busy I guess. I finished a video for Digimarc and I don’t know about you, but videotaping myself was brutal. After 20 takes I think we finally got it. Digimarc will be showing the video at Photoshop World in Las Vegas this September, so if you’re there make sure to drop by their booth to check it out. The video session was my first real attempt at using my Canon 5D MarkII for video and I have to admit the camera was surprisingly easy to use. If you’re fairly new to using DSLR for video I strongly recommend checking out this website  HERE . The one thing I did learn during the whole process is that an external microphone is a must. I used the very popular Rode VideoMic . The mic did great job for the price.

In other cool news, I was contacted by Peachpit about writing a chapter on Black and White photography and composition for their upcoming book, “Compositions: From Snap Shots to Great Shots,” by Lauri Excell. I’m really excited about the opportunity and looking forward to the process. The book looks great, will be full of helpful information, and the best part is I get to have my own little chapter. If you’re interested in learning more or pre-ordering the book on Amazon, then just click HERE.

Well, I better get busy writing. I have ¼ of a chapter written and a deadline fast approaching, so wish me luck…

It’s been a very busy week so I’m sorry if I’ve been a tad quiet on the blog.  By the time this blog goes live I’ll be seeing my girls off in Bozeman as they fly back east.   It’s always bitter sweet seeing them go.  They’re my main support team, but it will give me some down time to focus on a new writing project, as well as my photography.

It’s been a few weeks since our last Q&A but here we go…

Julia: Do you use a lot of filters when you’re taking landscape shots?

John: It really depends on what I’m trying to achieve.  Much of my filter work can be done in Photoshop or Lightroom, but if I have a sky that really needs to be punched up, I’ll use my Lee Filter Kit and throw a graduated neutral density filter on.

Kevin: I’ve been using Lightroom for several months now and I’m curious how often should I back up my catalog?

John: You can never have too many back-ups..;)  But, these catalogs do get large so I typically will back up my catalog twice a week depending on how much editing I’ve done.  I try to keep 3-5 catalog archives on file, and every time I run a new back-up I delete the oldest back-up.

Millie: How important is setting your white balance?

John: This really depends on a lot of factors.   I shoot in raw so it gives me more freedom to adjust things in Lightroom or Photoshop, but typically I try to set my white balance accordingly before I take a photograph.  The trick is to remember to change the settings if the conditions change.  I’ve been out many times and had my camera on a “cloudy” white balance setting just to have the weather improve and then forgot to change the setting to “sunny”.   Some photographers prefer to leave it on Auto White Balance and make the adjustments in Lightroom.   I recommend trying it both ways and seeing which  process works best for your workflow.

Peggy: How can I order one of your prints?

John: If the photo is on the blog, then just click on the image and it will take you to a shopping cart.  If you have any problems whatsoever, then just drop me an email.

Anna (my daughter): When did your beard get so gray?

John (Dad): How old are you?

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  If you have a question you would like to submit for my Q&A Friday then just fill out the form below or leave a comment on the blog….take care, John

Send me your Q&A questions