Here we are, racing towards the end of July and I only feel as if I’ve scratched the surface with what I want to get done this summer. Do you feel the same way? Let’s take a quick breather so that we can regroup before heading back out into the field to shoot more photos.

 

 

Need a tripod? This is a really good time to pick up a new set of legs or upgrade to a better tripod because there are some fantastic deals going on right now. Gitzo, Manfrotto and Induro are all offering manufacturer rebates that make it almost a no brainer. 

 

Gitzo is offering up to $200 rebates (26%) on most of their superbly popular Mountaineer series tripods. The Mountaineer is pretty much the standard for serious outdoor and landscape photographers. Galen Rowell swore by his Mountaineer, as do many others pros. They’re rock solid, they’ll hold pro-weight gear and they’re light enough for backpacking use. Ask any photographer if they like their Gitzo and I’m sure you’ll get nothing but positive response. You can get the rebates at both B&H Photo and Amazon.

 

Manfrotto is also offering rebates of up to $60 on selected tripods, including the popular 190CX3 model, which I think is the best all around value for a carbon fiber tripod. The 190PROXB is also on sale, it’s the aluminum equivalent and is an excellent all around affordable tripod for a variety of photography uses.

 

Finally, Induro is offering rebates of up to $165, or 25% on selected carbon fiber models. Induro tripods fit in the price range between Gitzo and Manfrotto. They’re excellent quality tripods that offer high load capacities, and a number of very usable features like rubber/spike feet options, center column hook, non-rotating legs, full-width leg locks, extra long center columns and foam leg covers.

 

 

While we’re on the subject of gear, let’s quickly talk packs. Shooting summer landscapes often means carting your gear miles into the backcountry. You want to have a comfortable pack that allows good access for your photo equipment. 

 

Two great pack choices are the Lowepro RoverPro AW, which comes in both 35L and 45L sizes, and the F-Stop Tilopa, which is also a favorite with many pro outdoor photographers. I haven’t used the Tilopa, but it comes highly recommended from some of my fellow outdoor shooters. You can check out my review of the RoverPro here.  

 

 

Portraits of the Earth has been out for a few months and I think that it’s one of those books that I think is worth checking out if your a beginning landscape shooter. I’ve read through it, though and I think that it’s an excellent primer on landscape photography. It’s 64 pages of really solid tips on cameras, filters, lenses, tripods and how to make better photographs of the natural world. For only $5, it’s an excellent value and is filled with superb advice on composition, framing and how to use the light to make powerful images. 

 

Also check out my post, 5 Great Books for Learning Landscape Photography.

 

 

I always like to share interesting articles that I find around the web- Here are a few pieces that I stumbled on this week:

 

Effective Instagram Marketing: 7 Creative Ways for Growing Your Small Business. Storytelling is the new marketing. People don’t just want to hear pitches, they want to connect. They want to see how others use the brand and see/hear descriptive tales that create buzz and genuine excitement. Instagram has become an increasingly popular way for brands to connect with people; see how others do it and get ideas of how you can market your own photography.

 

Lightroom 5: 10 Tips in 10 Minutes: Adobe Lightroom 5 is out now and it’s loaded with some impressive and very usable new features. Here’s a short video that will familiarize you with what’s new. It’s worth watching, even if you consider yourself a pretty competent Lightroom user. Also, check out Piet Van den Eynde’s eBook, Lightroom 5 Up to Speed. Piet is an Adobe Certified Expert and his book shows you all the new features and tools that are included in the upgrade.

 

What do Do When Your Customer Wants it Cheap? Check out Pro Business Coach Beate Chelette’s quick 2-minute video session about how to deal with clients who want you to give away your work. Beate is a great person to follow, she always gives excellent advice.

 

The Death of Photography Has Been Greatly Exaggerated: This is a great piece that describes in depth why photography will endure. Regardless of how popular, easy and affordable it is to create high quality video these days, it will never replace photography because it cannot tap into our memory the way that a still image can. Our brains do not “remember” in video, but they do “remember” in still image format. Anyway, check out the article and see what you think.

 

 

Sometimes I wonder how I evolved into a pro writer in addition to being a pro photographer. I’m not sure that I planned it this way, but when I look back, I do see how I laid those seeds. I’ve always loved reading, and after college, I took some travel writing courses; even submitted a few articles. I seem to have found my voice and my niche with online writing and blogging, although I do have print project in the works (stay tuned for details!). 

 

I know that some of you also enjoy writing as well, so I’ll share a few of the resources that I use to manage my productivity and keep everything in line:

 

 

 

This is the cornerstone, backbone and foundation of all of my writing. Scrivener is an amazing program and full featured writing studio that lets you create, organize and structure long documents, or a series of documents, by keeping everything organized in manageable sections. It’s packed with so many features, too many to describe here, so I’ll just say this: If you’re a writer, then you should check out Scrivener. I use it to write and export all of my newsletters and ebooks, many of my blog posts, and I use it for creative writing and idea keeping. 

 

 

Seriously, the minute you start using Scrivener, you’ll NEVER use MS Word again, because unlike Word, which forces you to write in a linear fashion, Scrivener lets you write in blocks, chunks, ideas, sketches, edits, rewrites and you’ll be able to keep track of everything. Put simply, Scrivener makes me want to write. See, I’m doing it right now! 

 

If you write, definitely check out Scrivener. There's also a version for Windows.

 

 

Right now, Scrivener is not on the iPad- not yet anyway, so when I’m writing on the iPad, I use a few different apps, including Index Card, Plain Text, Day One App, iA Writer and Daedalus, all of which can export or sync with Scrivener in some way. Each has a different look and seems to lend itself to all of the different types of projects that I have going on. 

 

 

A few months ago, I did a Google+ Video Hangout with fellow adventure photographer Dan Carr. If you missed the hangout, you can see the video here. In it, I talk about gear and approach to shooting a variety of sports and tips on how to market yourself and go pro. 

 

 

If you are interested in taking your photography into the pro realm, I can help you in a couple of different ways. First, you can pick up my How to Become a Pro Photographer ebook, which is the equivalent of sitting down with me over lunch and picking my brain. It has is all the stuff I’d tell you anyway, and it costs less than lunch for two.

 

The other way is to sign up for my Outdoor Photography Mentorship Program. This is a multi-week online course that features targeted, personal assignments, critiques of your work and your portfolio and two Skype calls. I just finished up a mentorship with one student who has made incredible progress during the past few months. With my coaching, she’s made some really solid decisions and has actually set herself on a very defined path towards going pro. See what I can do for you and your photography. 

 

I hope that you’re having a great summer! Enjoy the posts below and don’t forget to share! If you’re a new subscriber, be sure and check out some of the newsletter archives to see what you’ve missed in previous issues.

 

Thanks for reading and take care!!

 

Dan