Read the Dan Bailey Photo Newsletter, June 2019 Issue
Published: Tue, 06/25/19
Hi ,
Welcome to summer!! Officially, the best month, June offers so many wonderful opportunities for hiking, cycling, traveling, adventuring and of course, outdoor photography. I’ve been flying my little Cessna quite a bit and shooting photos out at the glaciers, and I’ve been doing some bike racing and waiting for some of the higher elevation trails to dry up.
I'm also diving into some new ventures and trying things I've never done before, both with my camera and in areas outside of photography. It's fun to push yourself and expand the boundaries of what you do in life. I hope you're doing the same and pushing your own creativity and comfort level in life.
Three Million Views and 1,000 Posts
I discovered that my blog passed three million views earlier this month, and I’m only three articles shy of 1,000 published blog posts. I’m totally blown away by those numbers. After all, I’m just one guy banging away on my keyboard a few times each week, writing about photography and exploring the ideas about creativity and picture taking that fascinate
me.
Since my first post in 2007, I’ve attracted quite a few visitors along the way, and you’re one of them, . Nearly one thousand posts later, you and your fellow readers have shown me that out of the billions of possible web pages out there, you continue to find that my articles are worth your time in your journey to become a better photographer, and in the process, you have made me a better photographer too.
Your continued readership has pushed me to keep thinking about photography in new ways as I continue to come up with new topics and new ways of explaining and expanding on older topics. In other words, you’ve kept photography on my brain during all these years, which, I can say has added a great deal to the quality and depth of my own life. In many ways, it’s helped define my life, my business, and who I have become as a person during the past decade.
I’m grateful for your support, and so I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to you for helping achieve this incredible milestone. If you’d like to read a short history of how I got here, check this post.
Photography On The Brain
I’m so excited for my new video lesson series. It’s been a really exciting journey so far. At this point, I have three lessons finished and uploaded that cover creativity, lenses and "style," and the other night, I shot a lesson outside while out at the Knik Glacier. That one will feature three
simple concepts to think about that can help you create stronger compositions.
What I really like about these three concepts is that you can use them in conjunction with any other compositional tips and methods that you’ve learned along the way. Think of these as overall themes that can help you bring all of your ideas together as you strive to capture your subjects in the most compelling way.
The caveat is that it actually requires some thought in order to figure out how to apply them. It’s not like connect the dots or fill in the blank. Great photography requires a certainly amount of curious, creative exploration and confident application of ideas, and this is exactly the kind of creative introspection I’m trying to inspire with Photography On The Brain.
I also have some new video equipment, including a remote HDMI monitor and new background, so just as my own video skills improve, overall production value of the lessons will continue to grow and improve. I’m grateful to those of you who have already signed up, and especially to those who have given me your feedback. I can’t wait for you to see the next couple of lessons.
If you haven’t checked out Photography On The Brain yet, I encourage you to give it a look. I’ve got a brand new video that introduces the series, and I have some new testimonials that will let you know how the first couple of lessons have been received by viewers.
And, even though the lessons are short, they’re long lived. They can be applied again and again, and expanded upon as your own skills and confidence grow. In addition, you can watch them as many times as you want.
You already follow me, so you’re already familiar with my honest, open teaching style. This just takes it to the next level. Think of it like you're sitting down having a regular, personal conversation with me each month, for about the same relatively small of buying me a bagel and a cup of chocolate.
3 Tips for Improving your Travel Photography
For most of us, Summer is the time for travel, and it’s often the most important time for photography. As we’re planning our trips and expeditions we also we start thinking about all the cool subjects we’ll see and the super awesome photos we’ll come back with.
It’s also inevitable that we’ll build up our own expectations about what kinds of images we hope to shoot during our trip, and this can sometimes create problems.
Anytime you fill yourself with expectations, you open yourself up to disappointment later on if things don’t turn out like we hoped they might, if we don’t get an amazing sunrise on that mountain we hiked, or if excessive crowds prevent us from getting a clean shot of that really cool scene.
The way we get around this is to prepare our compositional and visual skills and our minds so that we can be free and open to new ideas if the location or setting doesn’t produce the exact results we were hoping for.
To help you with your visual skills, here’s a post called 3 Simple Tips for Improving Your Travel Photography that can help you learn to see more effectively during your next trip.
Gear Corner
There are lots of rebates going on right now! Fujifilm, Nikon, Canon and Olympus all have lens and camera rebates, and some of them offer huge savings.
The Fujifilm XF55-200mm lens is currently $200 off. This is a great budget zoom lens that produces great image quality and it’s relatively compact. I’ve fallen back in love with this lens and I use it quite often for shooting travel and landscape imagery. The amazing XF23mm f/1.4 is current $250 off. I love this lens for environmental portraits and it’s my preferred macro lens when I use the MCEX extension tubes. The XF100-400 is $200 off, and
many of the GFX lens are $500 off.
If you’re a Nikon user, you can save $650 on the AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR workhorse zoom lens and $300 on the AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G lens.
Canon users can save $300 on their EF 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and the EF 17-40mm f/4 lens, and $400 on the EF 100-400mm lens.
3 Legged Thing Billy - A great, affordable carbon fiber tripod. I’m a huge fan of the Billy tripod, in fact it’s what I use to film my video lessons. It extends higher than my Gizto, it’s still pretty compact and lightweight, and it’s quite affordable, only $279.
Seattle Classes and Photo Walk at Glazer's Camera, July 14
If you live in the PNW, you can catch me at Glazer's Camera in Seattle on Sunday, July 14. I'll be doing two FUJIFILM classes and leading an evening photo walk, and a Fujifilm rep will be on hand with some demo gear for you to try out.
Space is limited in these events, so if you're interested, you can find out more info about the event and sign up here. I had a great time doing this at Glazer's two years ago, so I'm excited to be coming back for more. I hope to see you there!!
Around The Web
With each generation, the iPad is becoming a more viable computer companion for travel photographers who want to leave the heavier laptop at home. The latest iOS, which is coming later this year, will finally allow the use of external hard drives and even external NAS servers. This article on fstoppers gives a good rundown of what to expect in the iPad’s near future.
Here’s an introspective article by Steve Simon about finding inspiration and story ideas. It’s a pretty fun read that offers some insight on the photography and the creative process.
In this article called Are you Creating Trophies or Memories, my friend and fellow Fuji shooter Bryan Minear explores the creative process from his own experience. Definitely worth reading.
A couple months ago, I was a guest on the FUJILOVE podcast. The episode generated quite a lot of interest, so I’m linking to it once more, in case you missed it or want to listen again. I have at one more podcast coming soon from My Crazy X Live, and I’m scheduling at least two more for the coming weeks.
Ok , that’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed this issue of the Dan Bailey Photo Newsletter and I hope you’re having a great summer so far! If you’ve got some really cool photos you’d like to share with me, tag me on Instagram, Twitter, Flickr or send me one or two shots on email.
Enjoy the rest of the week and best of luck with your photography this summer!
-Dan
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