Hi ,

 

Big week, lots to cover, so let's jump right in!

 

 

Today on the blog I ran an post called Landscape Photographers on Creativity and Inspiration. I’m really excited about this article. Essentially, I posed a question to eight accomplished photographers about what goes through their artistic minds as they’re seeking out and approaching subject matter to photograph. Each of them gave me a two or three paragraphs, which I include along with one of their photos. The article is getting lots of traffic today already; check it out and be sure and share it with your other photographer friends and followers!

 

 

For me, perhaps as much as creativity, much of what I shoot revolves around being able to anticipate my subject matter. I would actually include anticipation as one of the three main ingredients for a great image. 

 

Anticipation, which is actually the secret ingredient behind luck, is essentially knowing, or having a pretty good idea of what's about to happen next. It's almost like seeing in the future, only without 100% certainty. It's thinking geometrically instead of linearly. So much of photography is about anticipation, and incorporating this element into your style will allow you to create great images on a more regular basis, because it makes you a more active participant in your craft.

 

Anticipation is about evaluating the scene before you. It's about studying and understanding all the elements that will need to come together in order to make a great image, and then putting yourself in optimum position so that when a great moment does happen, you'll be right there, ready to snap the photo. It's basically stacking the "luck deck" in your favor. The truth is that more often than not, outstanding images are rooted in anticipation rather than in pure luck.

 

Anticipation is also about understanding your subject. Most good sports and adventure photographers succeed in part because they understand the activities that they're shooting. Having an idea of just when a rock climber might place a piece of gear or lunge for that handhold, or knowing the path a kayaker might take through the rapid helps you better anticipate those decisive moments when the peak action happens.

 

This goes for any type of photography, whether you're shooting dancers, race cars, baseball, little kids on the playground, or even a simple portrait. It involves studying your subject, trying to get an idea of when that decisive moment or expression might occur, and then acting on that knowledge or intuition.

If you learn to work the element of anticipation into your photographic style, you'll go from being an audience member to a director in the image making process. You'll start to see a vast improvement in the quality and production value of your photographs.

 

 

Ever since 2012 began, I’ve hardly taken a breath. In fact, I’m ashamed to say that I’ve actually spent very little time with my trusty idea notebook. (You have one of those, right?) However, yesterday, I sat down for a few minutes before dinner and jotted down a few ideas that I’d come up with while out on the trail skate skiing yesterday afternoon. As I’ve often said, creative ideas don’t live at your desk, and I find that even just getting out on the trail for a short ride, hike or ski will put my brain in idea overdrive mode.

 

Anyway, I’ve got a number of really exciting things on the back burner, which I am gradually starting to bring to the forefront.

Fujifilm X10

 

 

First of all, Gear. I’ve been testing out the new Fujufilm X10 compact camera and will be writing a full review on the blog within the next few weeks. If you haven’t seen the X10 yet, it’s worth a look. With a classic design and solid image quality, it falls somewhere between a point and shoot and a micro four thirds camera. It’s simple, elegant and well built. Again, look for my review soon. I’ve also got a set of PocketWizard Flex TT5s kicking around my office that I’ll also be trying out during the next couple of months. 

 

 

This year, I’m joining the team of Photoflex as a featured showcase photographer. Why me? Between you and me, I think it’s because as a group of southern California people, they’re completely intrigued by snow and cold.

 

Actually, the guys at Photoflex love my work and I love their gear; it’s designed well, and built tough enough so that a spaz like me won’t break it in the outdoors. I’ve been using their stuff for years, some of which I featured in my off camera flash eBook, Going Fast With Light.

 

I’ve been shooting action and portraits with their new TritonFlash Lithium ion battery powered strobe, and I can confirm that it works without a hitch in sub zero temperatures. In fact, after about an hour, it works better than I do.

 

Look for my first Photoflex Lighting School tutorial on this outstanding piece of gear at the beginning of February, which is when they’ll officially unleash me upon the world as their featured photographer of the month.

 

 

You might have seen my video review of the Lowepro Photo Sport 200 camera pack. It’s the pack I’ve been waiting for all my life, or at least the past 15 years or so. It’s been living on my office floor full of gear ever since I got it and has gone with me on just about every single outing this winter. I can’t wait to use it as a hiking back this summer, which, alas… is still quite a few months away.

 

As one of my subscribers, Lowepro has allowed me to extend a 20% discount to you, which applies to any bag of pack that they make. Simply click through this link or the banner below and enter discount code LP20 in your shopping cart on the Lowepro website. Get a cool pack. Save some money. What’s not to love?

 

 

 

I’ve written three of them. How to Become a Pro Photographer, Making The Image and Going Fast With Light, and, yesterday, during my ski outing, I came up with the idea for my next one. Actually, I have a couple of other ideas rolling around in my head, but I’m going to start moving on this one in the next couple of weeks.

 

It’s going to be a behind-the-scenes look at my imagery, and how I create it. I’ll feature a number of photographs and then go through the conceptual and technical steps that I used to go from idea to finished image. I think that you’ll find it to be a really useful resource, and one that will help you conceptualize and create more powerful imagery of your own subjects. Stay tuned. I’m already excited!

 

 

Finally, Craft and Vision released a brand new eBook last week, Making The Print, by Michael Bailey. It’s the second book in his Masterclass series, and it covers everything from paper, color profiles, calibration, sharpening, creating an exhibition, everything you need to know in order to produce high quality prints from your digital images. If you like to print, then definitely check this one out. And as with all of their titles, it’s only five bucks. Can’t go wrong with that.

 

 

So, that’s if for this edition. Take a look at my other recent posts and have a great week with your camera! 

 

As always, thanks for reading, and don’t forget to share my blog and Facebook page with your friends.

 

Happy shooting,

 

Dan