Rocks and surf at dawn, Wallis Sands State Park, Rye, New Hampshire. F16, 30 seconds. (Jerry Monkman)
If you live in the northern U.S., you are probably experiencing a low snow winter this year. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I live, we haven't had any appreciable snow since before Halloween! The gray and brown hues of a snowless landscape can definitely make it hard for a landscape photographer to be inspired enough to get out there and shoot. I feel fortunate that I chose his winter to start a new project I call 0630, where I go out every morning and make a picture at 6:30 (you can read more about the project in this post I made over at the Outdoor Photographer website.) The project has forced me to get out and shoot, when I normally would have stayed in bed, and it's really getting my creative juices flowing and giving me good practice on techniques I don't always use on a regular basis. For most of the last 6 weeks, I've been shooting primarily 30-45 minutes before sunrise, so here are some tips on what to do when it's winter, it's dark, and there's no snow.
Find some light, any light! On clear mornings, I head to the coast, where I can use the pre-sunrise glow and colors to my advantage. Since I like to use low ISOs like 100 or 200, and small apertures like F16, that means I'm often shooting very slow shutter speeds, anywhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes. A sturdy tripod is a must, and I really recommend using a cable release or the self-timer on the camera. Since most cameras have a maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds, you'll need to put the camera in bulb mode for anything longer and then use a cable release to hold the shutter open the appropriate amount of time. What's the appropriate amount of time? Let's say the camera's meter is telling you that F11 and 30 seconds is too dark of an exposure. Increase your aperture until the meter reads a proper exposure. In this example, assume that it now says F5.6, 30 seconds. This equates to F8 at 1 minute, F11 at 2 minutes, or F16 at 4 minutes. Put the camera in bulb mode, dial in F11, then trip the shutter with the cable release, locking it in the on position and keep the shutter open for 2 minutes. If you have an intervalometer (a fancy cable release), you can set it to automatically hold the shutter open for 2 minutes. If you include a dark foreground like in the above photo, you will probably also need to use a graduated split neutral density filter to hold down the exposure in the sky and avoid blown out highlights.
Pre-dawn surf, Rye Harbor State Park, New Hampshire. F16, 2 minutes. (Jerry Monkman)
On cloudy days, finding light is obviously even harder. I'm finding it's still fun to make long exposures on the coast like the above shot, but there's a lot less color. Though it's not part of my normal subject matter, city scenes here in Portsmouth have proven to be a good thing to shoot when I need to find a little light on dark mornings. For many of these urban scenes like the below image of the Memorial Bridge in the fog, I'm finding High Dymanic Range (HDR) software to be a huge help. For this image, I locked my camera into the tripod and shot three exposures at F16, 2-stops apart: 4 seconds, 15 seconds, and 30 seconds. The combination of the three exposures captured detail in both the dark recesses behind the buildings and in the bright lights. I used Nik HDR Efex Pro to combine the three shots into one.
The Memorial Bridge in the fog, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. HDR. (Jerry and Marcy Monkman)
Trees silhouetted against the morning sky at Odiorne Point State Park in Rye, New Hampshire. F11, 3.2 seconds. (Jerry and Marcy Monkman)
Another technique I like to use when a "normal" shot might not work because of mediocre light or so-so subject matter is to purposefully blur the photo to create an abstract composition. For the above shot of trees against a pre-dawn sky, I used a shutter speed of 3.2 seconds and moved the camera up while the shutter was open. This is a really fun technique because you never know exactly what you're going to get. In addition to moving the camera up and down, you can try moving it horizontally or diagonally as well.
Captain Tobias Lear's 1781 tombsone in the Point of Graves Burying Ground in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. F4, 15 seconds (Jerry and Marcy Monkman)
Of course, you can always add your own light with flash, or as I did in the above photo, with a flashlight. "Light painting" with a flashlight is as easy as waving the flashlight across your subject during the exposure. For this shot, I just used a basic maglight that I bought at the local hardware store, and painted the tombstones during a 15 second exposure. I love the skull and crossbones, by the way.
I am enjoying shooting at this time quite a bit. Most days, I'm done shooting before the sun even comes up so I can go about my normal daily routine. I was actually startled to see the sun come on Saturday when I lingered longer than usual, and I have been so accustomed to shooting in the dark, that I wasn't sure what to do with all that light!
The forecast is calling for a little snow tonight, but hopefully this post has given you some ideas of what to do on those dark, snow-free, winter days.
With the snow coming in (here in the Northeast U.S. anyway), it seems like a good time to review some winter photography tips.
1) Stay powered. Cold temperatures reduce the length of time your camera's batteries will function. Always bring a spare or two, and use power-sapping features like auto focus, live view, and LCD playback sparingly.
2) Stay dry. Keep snow away from your camera and lenses as much as possible. While dry, fluffy snow isn't as bad as rain on your equipment, you should still blow or wipe it from your gear whenever necessary. Also, never bring a camera and lenses directly into a warm environment after it has been out in the cold. Pack them in your camera bag or plastic bags before heading inside and let them warm up to room temperature before taking them out. Otherwise, moisture will condense on the glass and metal surfaces, potentially damaging your gear.
3) Expose for your highlights – the snow. A snowy landscape will often throw off a camera's meter, sometimes to the point of underexposing your photo as much as two stops. When shooting in winter, take a test shot and check your histogram. You should have pixels stretching almost to the right side of the graph in order to ensure properly exposed snow. If you don't, add light to your exposures by using a slower shutter speed. However, if your histogram spikes on the right side (you'll probably have the blinkies too), then your photo is overexposed and you need to use a faster shutter speed.
4) When the snow is falling, try a variety of shutter speeds. A shutter speed of 1/250 second or faster will stop the motion of falling snow – if that's the look you want. For a streaky snow, use a shutter speed between 1/125 and 1/30 second, but slower than that and the snow may blur completely away and look more like fog than snow.
5) Get out in the good light. Just like during other times of year, shooting during the "Golden Hour" around sunrise and sunset will result in more opportunities for photos with interesting shadows and textures, warmer tones, and more colorful skies.
Dawn in winter in New Hampshire
For those of you looking for some winter photo instruction, I'll be leading a 3-day winter photography workshop in the White Mountains at the AMC Highland Center, Feb 10 -12, 2012.
Let me know if you have any winter photo questions, or tips of your own.
Until next time…
-Jerry
Find out more about Jerry at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @jerrymonkman
The barn at Elmwood Farm in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
Today I'm working on one of the dozen or so one-day conservation photo projects I get to work on every year. I'm shooting at a small, old family farm in Massachusetts that is in the process of being conserved both for the open space and to provide some community garden opportunities. Like I have to do for many of these projects, I drove about two hours in the dark this morning to arrive at the farm about 20 minutes before sunrise. It's not an ideal way to shoot, especially when you've never seen the place, whether in person or in photographs, but I love this kind of challenge and I think these types of photo projects have made me a better photographer.
Milkweed pod at Elmwood Farm in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
I'm blessed to have the opportunity to shoot in some of New England's most iconic locations several times a year. Places like Acadia, the White Mountains, and Vermont. While I love shooting in these spots, it's easy to get lazy and just shoot the same dramatic landscapes that look good from year to year. However, shooting in a less impressive location like where I was this morning makes me work a lot harder and faster. I literally had about 10 minutes to take a quick look around, and then I had to start shooting (heck, today I wasn't even sure I was in the right place.) This place definitely isn't as dramatic as Monument Cove in Acadia or the summit of Mount Monroe in the White Mountains, so it takes some effort to quickly surmise the scene, break it down into those few elements that I feel define it, and then find a simple composition that works with the light at hand. These types of locations also force me to look a little closer for those interesting details that can be easy to overlook in a more dramatic landscape.
Dawn at Elmwood Farm in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
What starts as a groggy feeling around in the dark approach soon becomes a mad dash to capture as much as possible when the golden hour commences and the Dunkin Donuts kicks in. I'll be sticking around to shoot some more later this afternoon after some good leisurely walks around the place, but clouds are already moving in, so the photos I shot during my whirlwind hour this morning might prove to be the best shots I get.
Lily pads and pond reflections at Elmwood Farm in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
Sometime you want to take pictures without your feet on the ground. Here are some tips for keeping your gear safe while shooting from a kayak. In this video, New Hampshire based conservation photographer Jerry Monkman explains how to keep your camera gear safe while shooting from a kayak.
Check out Jerry's fall Cape Cod workshop here: Eco Photography
[toggles active=0 speed=500][toggle title="Transcript"]Hi, everybody. This is Jerry Monkman from Ecophotography.com. I'm often asked how I keep my gear safe while paddling. So today, I'm going to give a few tips on how to shoot from a kayak.
First off, obviously our main goal here is not to get our camera immersed in water. Everything we do is to keep our gear safe, and the first thing you need to do to do that is to know your own limits as far as paddling. If you're not good at keeping a boat upright, don't take your camera out when you're in a boat. If you can't handle big waves out in the ocean, don't take your camera out when you're in the boat.
Otherwise, if you've got those skills, there are some things you can do to minimize the water getting on your camera. One thing I do is use this really cool camera vest called a cotton carrier, which holds the camera snug against my body so I'm not banging it with my paddle and water is not dripping down my paddle onto the camera.
It's really a pretty neat little gizmo. It's got this Velcro strap to hold the camera snug, and then you just twist and turn and get your camera out and you're shooting.
When I'm shooting, I'm shooting for shutter speeds of 1/250th, 1/500th of a second, a little faster shutter speeds. If I need to use a faster ISO, ISO 200, 400, something like that, I'll do that. There's a lot of movement when you're in a boat, obviously, so you need to use that faster shutter speed so you don't get camera blur.
Before I had a cotton carrier, I would just cinch my camera strap up so the camera was up here, a little more snug, not down here where it was more likely to get some water on it.
That's pretty simple kind of stuff, but that is the basics of what you need to do when you're shooting.
Now, if you're in really extreme conditions but need your camera out to shoot, you're going to probably want an underwater housing. If you can't afford a real expensive one, do what I do. I'm kind of cheap, so I've got this U-A Marine housing. It's still a few hundred dollars and it doesn't give you access to all your camera controls, but if you use auto-focus and auto-exposure, you can shoot all day long with your camera in here safely. If the waves are crashing over you, you don't have to worry about your camera getting ruined. This is a good investment if you're going to be shooting in that kind of stuff.
Also, you can store your camera and other gear in a dry bag, either in your cockpit so it's easily accessible if there's room, or in the hatch where you'll need to, obviously, stop the boat for a moment to get out and get your gear.
Let's see, what else. Lastly, I always have pockets in my PFDs so I can get at extra camera gear easily, such as a memory card holder. These Geppie holders are great because they're waterproof and they float. If your memory cards fall in the ocean, you can just paddle over and pick them up.
I also keep a lens cloth in here somewhere. There we go. Inevitably, you are going to get a few drops on your lens and your camera, and you'll want something to wipe those off. I keep that handy in here. I'll also sometimes throw in a polarizer. It's where I store my lens caps, things like that.
It's good to get a PFD with pockets.
All right, those are my photo tips for the day. Get out there, have fun in your boat, be safe, and enjoy your photo adventure.[/toggle][/toggles]
A couple of months ago I was asked by OPG to try out a new camera carrying system by Cotton Carrier.
Their Camera Vest system works much like a Baby Bjorn for cameras, holding a camera snug to your chest and distributing the weight comfortably on your shoulders and torso. When I am on my shooting adventures, I usually carry my camera and a spare lens or two in a waist pouch, which I position so that the gear compartment is in front of me. This has always seemed to be the best way to have my camera easily accessible for action shots, but either I'm getting older (o.k., I know I am) or my gear is getting heavier because I'm finding the waist pouch option is increasingly putting pressure on my lower back. I was eager to try out the Cotton Carrier vest to see if it fit my shooting style. After a few outings over the winter and this spring, I've decided it will be my "go to" system for adventure shooting.
To see how the system works, you can check out the above video made by the Cotton Carrier crew. Basically, a mounting plate attaches to the bottom of the camera, which then slips into the mount on the vest. A Velcro strap can be placed across the camera to keep it snug, a feature I found to be very helpful at keeping my camera from swing around and banging into rocks and trees as I made way way along the trail, especially on steep climbs. You can also attach a leash to the camera to prevent accidental drops.
In addition, you have the option of adding a second mounting holster down near your hip, where you can mount a second camera or a longer lens that has a tripod collar. Once the camera is in the mount, it won't come out until you turn it 90 degrees and pull it up, so there's no risk of it falling out of the mount. The vest distributes the camera's weight very well. I spent one day cross country skiing about 8 miles and did not all feel encumbered by my camera and felt no pain from carrying the camera at the end of the day. And being able to access my camera and start shooting in just a few seconds is a great advantage that I'm looking forward to having this summer as my shooting schedule fills up.
If you are a plodder who mainly shoots landscapes with a tripod, this system may not be for you, as you do have to remove the Cotton Carrier mounting plate to then attach your regular quick release plate. However, if you're an active shooter who wants to have your camera at the ready, this is a great way to carry your camera comfortably.
You can see all of the Cotton Carrier products at the Outdoor Photo Gear website here: Cotton Carrier
Until next time…
-Jerry
Find out more about Jerry at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @jerrymonkman
Sunrise at Dorr Point in Maine's Acadia National Park.
October 1st marked nine years since I quit working on Maggie’s Farm. In my case, “Maggie’s Farm” was a cubicle at a large insurance company that was just the last of several identical cubicles I worked in over the course of eleven years as a software engineer. I never liked this job, though it made me a decent income and the stress was relatively low. I realize that software engineer wouldn’t make many lists detailing the crappiest jobs in the world – in fact, most would consider it a pretty cushy gig – but I was never satisfied. I yearned to spend more time outside, and I felt there must be a way to channel my creative energy for something more important and beneficial to my mental health and the world in general. I spent the last five years of this “career” begging for as much time off as possible to get out and make pictures, and I’m fortunate to have had managers and colleagues who supported my crazy photo obsession. After 9/11, and with a new baby at home, it became obvious to me that it was time to quit the job that made me good money, but left me unhappy, and I took the plunge as a freelance photographer.
If you’re one of those people who feels stuck in a job, but you have loftier aspirations, all I can say is “Go For It!” It will change your life. Don’t just take my word for it either. I was inspired to write this post after reading “Five Ways Photography Changed My Life” by Moab, Utah based adventure and nature photographer Bret Edge. All of what Bret says in his post is applicable to me, and probably most other photographers as well. I really encourage you to read it.
Though I’ll admit to occasionally missing that steady paycheck, I can honestly say I have never once regretted my decision. Of course my life is more fun as I get to spend 100 days or so a year out shooting in beautiful places. This is what I expected and dreamed of often (usually as I dozed off, head down on my keyboard in the cubicle,) but it is the unexpected consequences of my decision that have really improved the quality of my life.
So following Bret’s lead, here are five unintended benefits of quitting the farm and striking out on my own:
1)Effecting change. All along, I had planned to offer my imagery to conservation organizations to use in their publicity, fund-raising, etc., but I had no idea when I started out that photography had such power to inspire others to change their lives or help change the world. I have been blessed to work on over 100 commissioned conservation photo projects in the last ten years. All but three of those projects have resulted in the successful conservation of open space here in New England, and my clients tell me that quality photos do make a difference when it comes to inspiring government officials and the general public to protect these places. As a software engineer, I may have dreamed of the freedom of a photo career, but I never realized how much positive influence the photos I make would have.
2)Becoming More Comfortable Around People. I wasn’t exactly a hermit before becoming a photographer, but I do have a quiet personality. This of course played into my wanting to be a nature photographer, where I could enjoy long days alone, or with my wife, out in wilderness just creating art. What I discovered though is that to be a successful photographer means spending a fair amount of time around people, giving slide shows, showing portfolios, networking, attending gallery openings. As I started shooting more adventure imagery, I even started just approaching strangers on the trail, in coffee shops, bike shops, etc., and asking if I could photograph them. This might sound painful to the shy, aspiring nature photographer, but it has become one of the parts of the job I actually look forward to. Some of my most memorable experiences as a photographer have come from the reactions I get at presentations or the conversations I have with complete strangers on the trail. Some of these people have even become life long friends.
3)Mountain Biking and Sea Kayaking. O.K., chances are good I would have gotten into these sports even if I had never picked up a camera, but the truth is I only started doing both of these activities after Marcy and I were asked to write “Discover Acadia National Park” back in 1998. We were avid hikers and backpackers, loved Acadia, and proposed a photo guide of the park to AMC Books in 1997. They didn’t bite on that book idea, but later proposed we write the Discover book, which is a multi-sport guide (hiking, biking, and paddling.) I honestly don’t remember if we let on that we only participated in one of the three sports the guide would cover (probably not,) but this opportunity out of the blue really inspired us to explore wilderness in different ways. This was pure serendipity. These days, I can’t imagine a summer going by without a dozen days or so spent dipping my paddles into the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine.
4)Teaching. Workshop leader was not on my radar either when I started my photo career. I had never trained as a teacher nor did I think it would be something I’d enjoy, but serendipity struck again when the Appalachian Mountain Club asked me to fill in for an instructor that had to cancel one of his workshops in the White Mountains in 2002. I was nervous beyond belief, but soon realized I had some clue what I was talking about and that people actually seemed to understand what I was teaching. Now I find myself truly looking forward to the five or six workshops I lead every year. It is deeply satisfying to watch my students practice what I teach, and I get almost giddy when I see one of them have one of those “ah ha” moments when it all starts to click for him/her. I have even been asked to teach photography at my kids’ school, but teaching 17 8 year-olds is way scarier than 8 or 10 adults!
5) My kids think I’m cool. O.K., they’re only seven and nine, so maybe this opinion will be different five years from now (or maybe five months from now in the case of my nine-year old, who yesterday uttered, “Daddy, don’t talk to me in that tone of voice.”) But you know what, my kids do appreciate the work I do. They take pride in the fact that I work to protect the environment, and it really bolsters their own self-esteem when I have them come along to work on a project with me – they are already astute at holding a reflector and finding little critters worth photographing. I feel like my photography career is a major and positive influence in my relationship with them, and our experiences in the field are the building blocks for their own interesting and successful lives. And that is worth its weight in gold and something I could not have purchased no matter how many hours I billed for cranking out computer code.
These are just a few of the reasons that my life changed for the better because of photography. I can’t imagine a career that feels more “right” than being out shooting in the natural world. I realize how lucky I am to have realized that this is the right job for me, let alone having been fortunate enough to make it a reality, but I really believe that anyone who is given the time to explore his or her passion will find success in one way or another.
Until next time..
Find out more about Jerry at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @jerrymonkman
Cherry Mountain and the distant Presidential Range as seen from Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge in New Hampshire's White Mountains.
I am currently spending a few days in New Hampshire's White Mountains thanks to a couple of speaking engagements. The White Mountains are the place where I became hooked on nature photography 20 years ago. Marcy and I had just moved to Boston and for some reason we decided to give hiking a try even though it wasn't something either one of us grew up with. I still remember our first two hikes like they were yesterday – an easy valley walk into Zealand Falls followed the next day by an above-treeline adventure on Mount Jefferson. To say these hikes changed our lives is a bit of an understatement. At the time, we lived and worked in the city, Marcy in human resources and me in computer programming. Going to live music clubs and Fenway Park were our usual forms of entertainment, but after glimpsing the vast Pemgiwasset Wilderness and the world of glacial cirques and alpine wildflowers so close to home, we quickly converted to weekend backpackers and peak baggers. Within a year, I met Galen Rowell at a book signing and I suddenly knew I had a new calling in life. It took another decade to hone my skills and shake the chains of the programming cubicle, but it was worth the wait.
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"The Whites" were easily my biggest inspiration when I became a photographer and most of my favorite images from my first ten years of shooting come from there. At first, my main goal was to make the best "calendar" style images I could, but as I learned of the history of the region I became more interested in conservation. In the second half of the 19th century, the White Mountains became one of the premier tourist destinations in America, as the region became known through the paintings of Hudson River School painters like Thomas Cole and writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ironically, by the early 20th century, the Whites were also the scene of some of the most unsustainable logging practices in the country. Through the efforts of groups led by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the Weeks Act was passed in 1911, establishing the national forest system east of the Mississippi and then the White Mountain National Forest. Our book, White Mountain Wilderness, tells the story of the "rewilding" of the region that followed.
My experiences in the White Mountains led to my decision to focus my photography efforts on conservation in New England, and I have since worked on close to 100 land conservation projects in the region since I left that cubicle job. Ironically, that means the bulk of my time is spent in places other then the White Mountains, as these projects primarily involve unprotected private lands outside of the Whites, so it is great to have times like this weekend to get a few moments to shoot familiar landscapes like the opening shot in this post from Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge. While nature photographers as a group like to explore and shoot in new and exotic landscapes, I find it is equally important to have favorite places you can revisit time and time again. This gives you the opportunity to see a place in different lighting conditions and seasons, and as you get to know a place you inevitably start to see the place in new ways. I also find that going back to the same place over and over results in a more relaxed approach. Last Friday night at Pondicherry (a place I've shot probably a dozen times), I felt no pressure to produce because I already have plenty of Pondicherry images in my files. This freed me from the need to produce a bunch of images that describe every inch of the place and instead I could focus on just looking for one or two nice images if the light worked out. (It also allowed me to not regret missing some photo ops while I sat for an hour hoping the black bear I saw ahead on the trail would return – he didn't.)
Big Cherry Pond, Pondicherry National Wildlife Refugre in New Hampshire's White Mountains.
I find that shooting in familiar places is a necessary diversion from other work and the best place to practice new techniques that you can then use during those trips to new places or when on assignment. Nailing down technique when there's no pressure can make or break a photo shoot in a new location when you have limited time. Soon, I'm heading to the Lake Sunapee region of New Hampshire for a one day assignment on a property I've never been to before. Having tricks in my bag that I know how to execute ahead of time gives me the confidence that I'll do a decent job as long as the weather cooperates.
Until next time…
-Jerry
Find out more about Jerry at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @jerrymonkman
A couple rock climbing near the top of Cathedral Ledge. Echo Lake State Park in North Conway, New Hampshire. White Mountains.
This last April I attended the American Society of Picture Professionals’ reinvention weekend in Boston, and the major theme was finding ways for those working in the picture industry to keep working while the landscape of the industry is rapidly changing. Both stock and assignment prices have been deteriorating for years, if not decades, challenging both stock agencies and photographers to change business tactics in order to survive. It’s no secret what is causing the decline in prices – digital technology. To some extent, digital cameras have leveled the playing field on the content creation side of things. More importantly, digital distribution has drastically reduced the cost of selling images. On the stock side of the business, digital distribution (first in the form of royalty-free CDs, then with the advent of microstock) has enabled stock companies to be profitable without charging large rights-managed fees as the administrative costs of managing a large stock library have been drastically reduced due to digital image management and distribution. Lower stock prices have also led to lower assignment fees, both on the commercial and editorial side of the business, though to a greater extent in the editorial world, as newspapers and magazines are downsizing and going out of business.
I’m not a doom and gloom kind of guy, but it’s hard to ignore the trends in the industry. As a nature and adventure photographer and editorial shooter, my big question going into the ASPP conference was this, “Is there a future for the solo nature photographer or photojournalist?” The romantic image of the lone wolf photographer spending weeks in the field funding his or her work through the sale of stock and assignment fees is definitely under assault. After the conference, I got the sense that the answer to my question is “probably not,” though the experts seemed to be unsure how the marketplace will shake out. I’m cautiously optimistic, but I’m pretty sure the “lone wolf” approach is dying out and that the new paradigm is going to be collaboration – with other photographers and creators, with NGOs, with foundations, and so on.
I’ve collaborated with NGOs for most of my career, both for funding and for discovering the conservation stories that are relevant and newsworthy. This collaboration has definitely kept my business afloat during the recession, but it is clear to me that I need to take this idea to a higher level by working with other photographers and other creators to create feature-rich, story-driven multimedia content. This is a big change from how I usually work (I rarely even work with an assistant) but it is a way of working that I’m embracing and excited about.
Why am I excited that this approach can work? Simply because of the success stories that are emerging in the midst of this downturn in the industry. At the ASPP conference, we learned that this collaborative approach is already working from speakers like Brian Storm, whose company MediaStorm is leading the way in partnering photographers with other professionals to create powerful, multi-media stories. If you haven’t yet seen what MediaStorm is creating, then you haven’t seen the future of photojournalism. We also learned about VII, a photo agency where some of the world’s best photojournalists work together to create equally powerful multi-media stories. Both companies use a new model that uses multiple content creators working together to create stories that the big media companies won’t spend the money for. My impression is that no one is getting rich, but these companies are giving photojournalists the opportunity to do what they originally set out to do in their careers – tell important stories. These stories are getting told in new and on non-traditional ways – through print, multi-media, exhibits, etc. Funding these projects requires a new model as well. No longer are the magazines, newspapers, and big news organizations footing the bill. Instead, money comes from a diversity of places: NGOs, foundations, media companies, print sales, book sales, etc. Photographers need to pay attention to this new model. The old way of paying the bills with assignment fees and residual stock income is just getting harder and harder to do.
Conservation photographers like myself should also check out the work of the International League of Conservation Photographers. ILCP is setting the bar very high for collaborative conservation photography projects with their Rapid Assessment Visual Expeditions. These R.A.V.E.s are intense, short-term photo projects where a group of the world’s best nature photographers descend on a location and quickly create a body of work that is used to bring about environmental change. Another collaborative conservation photo project seeing great success is Stephan Widstrand’s Wild Wonders of Europe, and the newly launched Meet Your Neighbours (led by Niall Benvie and Clay Bolt) project seems destined for similar success.
So…if you’re a photographer, are you willing and ready to change?
I spent two days backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in May. It was my first time spending a night in the backcountry this year, and it felt great to be out. The smell of balsam fir was intense along this section of trail, conjuring all kinds of great memories of hikes past. I was working on a project that has great potential.
Paper birches next to stream.
I spent day one in a light drizzle, which provided great diffuse light for photos like this one of paper birches next to a stream. To keep my gear dry, I used that most advanced piece of equipment known as an umbrella. I use various camera and lens covers in the rain, but I still find that I prefer to use an umbrella clamped to my my tripod. The only other accessory I used for this shot was a polarizer, which I consider to be required for shooting forest scenes like this in order to really bring out the colors of the forest.
Camping on the Appalachian Trail in Maine.
Luckily, day 2 was sunny and breezy so my clothes and camping gear dried out pretty quickly. I used a Lensbaby for the above shot. I’ve always found it challenging to shoot camp scenes in fresh ways, and the Lensbaby was a fun way to mix it up a bit. While my socks dried out in an hour or two, they were soaked again pretty quickly as the trail that day was covered in about two and half feet of wet snow above 3700 feet. It’s melting fast though and the trail below the snow line was a running freshet for about half a mile.
Near the Appalachian Trail in Maine.
This boggy area was filled with fresh moose sign. I spent about five hours hanging out and waiting for moose with no luck though. I could also see the bog from much of that day’s hike, but no moose sighting. Maybe there weren’t enough flies yet to drive the moose out into the open. Still it was a cool place to hang out, knowing that they were around somewhere. After the hike, I drove to Bar Harbor to shoot a photo tips video for the Appalachian Mountain Club.
Until next time…
-Jerry
Find out more about Jerry at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @jerrymonkman
The sun rises above fog as seen from the summit of Cadillac Mountain in Maine's Acadia National Park.
The Maine Coast, including Acadia National Park has been inspiring artists for more than 150 years. In the 19th century, before the area had been designated a national park, Hudson River School painters like Thomas Cole and Frederick Church painted here, bringing back to the cities of the northeast canvases of iconic scenes from Eagle Lake, the Beehive, and the Porcupine Islands. Throngs of tourists followed and the popularity of the area continues to this day. In the 20th century, the park was photographed by America’s best landscape photographers, including Ansel Adams, David Meunch, William Neill, and in the 21st century, the park is still a mecca of sorts for photographers, with numerous photo tours visiting the park each year and plenty of tripods to be seen at popular spots like the summit of Cadillac Mountain and Otter Cliffs.
If you are planning a trip to the Maine coast this year, here are some tips for making your photo journey a success:
Timing. While you can make beautiful images of the Maine Coast throughout the year, my favorite months to shoot there are June and October. Summer weather peaks in August, but so do the crowds and hotel rates, so I prefer to visit in June. Not only is it a quieter experience, but you are also more likely to find wildflowers to photograph – woodland flowers in early June, and meadow and wetland flowers like lupines and iris in mid to late-June. Fall colors peak in the region in mid-October – just be sure to book your lodging ahead of time as many hotels and campgrounds are closed after Columbus Day.
Light. Like most places, the Maine Coast looks great in that golden light that occurs for an hour or so around sunrise and sunset. With 3000 miles of twisting coastline, it is possible to find great sunrise and sunset locations with water in the scene. In Acadia proper, the pink-hued granite of east-facing shorelines look best at sunrise as the light enhances the color of the rock. Of course, that only happens in clear skies, and on the coast of Maine fog is just as common in the morning as sunshine. Fog can be your friend, enhancing classic coastal scenes, but if it is too thick you can drive to the summit of peaks like Cadillac Mountain in Acadia or Mount Battie in Camden. In the right conditions, you will be blessed with a dynamic scene of texture-rich undercast and rugged rock outcrops bathed in warm sunlight. If the fog hangs around or the day is overcast, head into the woods. Coastal woodlands of spruce and cedar are lush, with branches draped in lichen and the forest floor carpeted with moss and ferns. This kind of scene looks great in the diffuse light of a foggy day – just be sure to use a polarizing filter to reduce glare on wet foliage, enhancing the green colors of the scene.
Subject Matter. Rocky coasts, crashing surf, small working harbors, and lighthouses are the most popular subject matter to photograph on the Maine Coast. Remember to shoot both the big picture and the intimate details – wildflowers, lobster buoys, lichens, skiffs, etc. The possibilities are endless. Wildlife is a tougher subject to capture. Acadia is not like western parks, where there are meadows regularly filled with cooperative wildlife. Your best bet to shoot wildlife is on one of the puffin tours out of Cutler and Jonesport, Maine which will get you out to Machias Seal Island where you can photograph Atlantic Puffins, Arctic Terns, and Razorbill Auks from a blind. Another option is a boat tour out of Bar Harbor, where you'll have the chance to photography harbor seals and possibly bald eagles and ospreys.
Favorite Locations. Almost any road off the beaten path will take you to beautiful scenery on the Maine Coast.
Here are some of my favorite spots to shoot in the Acadia region:
Classic coast: Great Head and Ocean Drive in Acadia, Great Wass Island near Jonesport, Isle au Haut.
Working Harbors: Stonington, Southwest Harbor, Castine, Bass Harbor
Mountain Summits: Cadillac Mountain, The Beehive
Woodlands: Sieur de Monts, Great Cranberry Island, Isle au Haut
Lighthouses: Bass Harbor Head Light, West Quoddy Head Light
Hazards. The Maine Coast is rarely dangerous, but you should keep a few things in mind during a visit there. Tides are large in most of Maine (from 10 to 20 feet,) and rocks exposed at lower tides can be very slippery, so slippery that it is almost impossible not to fall. The most common injuries in Acadia are falls on and from rock ledges. In big surf, stay well away from the edge of these ledges. Rogue waves sweep people away several times per decade in Acadia, most recently last summer. Other than avoiding falls, just be prepared for wet weather as well as biting insects in summer. Also be prepared to protect your camera gear. If you use your tripod in salt water, be sure to rinse it in fresh water afterwards. In wet conditions, you will want to stow your camera or protect it with some kind of covering, whether cheap plastic bags, or gear specific protection like the Vortex Media SLR Storm Jacket or one of the coverings made by LensCoat. If you go out on the water in a kayak, store your gear in a dry bag, or consider purchasing a lower-cost underwater housing by Ewa Marine if you plan to shoot while paddling (or have really good gear insurance!)
With his wife Marcy, Jerry Monkman has written and photographed three books about Acadia, most recently "A Photographer's Guide to Acadia National Park," available here.
Jerry is also leading two workshops in Acadia in 2010, one in June and one in October. More information can be found here.
I Ain’t Gonna Work On Maggie’s Farm No More
Thursday, November 11th, 2010Sunrise at Dorr Point in Maine's Acadia National Park.
October 1st marked nine years since I quit working on Maggie’s Farm. In my case, “Maggie’s Farm” was a cubicle at a large insurance company that was just the last of several identical cubicles I worked in over the course of eleven years as a software engineer. I never liked this job, though it made me a decent income and the stress was relatively low. I realize that software engineer wouldn’t make many lists detailing the crappiest jobs in the world – in fact, most would consider it a pretty cushy gig – but I was never satisfied. I yearned to spend more time outside, and I felt there must be a way to channel my creative energy for something more important and beneficial to my mental health and the world in general. I spent the last five years of this “career” begging for as much time off as possible to get out and make pictures, and I’m fortunate to have had managers and colleagues who supported my crazy photo obsession. After 9/11, and with a new baby at home, it became obvious to me that it was time to quit the job that made me good money, but left me unhappy, and I took the plunge as a freelance photographer.
If you’re one of those people who feels stuck in a job, but you have loftier aspirations, all I can say is “Go For It!” It will change your life. Don’t just take my word for it either. I was inspired to write this post after reading “Five Ways Photography Changed My Life” by Moab, Utah based adventure and nature photographer Bret Edge. All of what Bret says in his post is applicable to me, and probably most other photographers as well. I really encourage you to read it.
Though I’ll admit to occasionally missing that steady paycheck, I can honestly say I have never once regretted my decision. Of course my life is more fun as I get to spend 100 days or so a year out shooting in beautiful places. This is what I expected and dreamed of often (usually as I dozed off, head down on my keyboard in the cubicle,) but it is the unexpected consequences of my decision that have really improved the quality of my life.
So following Bret’s lead, here are five unintended benefits of quitting the farm and striking out on my own:
1) Effecting change. All along, I had planned to offer my imagery to conservation organizations to use in their publicity, fund-raising, etc., but I had no idea when I started out that photography had such power to inspire others to change their lives or help change the world. I have been blessed to work on over 100 commissioned conservation photo projects in the last ten years. All but three of those projects have resulted in the successful conservation of open space here in New England, and my clients tell me that quality photos do make a difference when it comes to inspiring government officials and the general public to protect these places. As a software engineer, I may have dreamed of the freedom of a photo career, but I never realized how much positive influence the photos I make would have.
2) Becoming More Comfortable Around People. I wasn’t exactly a hermit before becoming a photographer, but I do have a quiet personality. This of course played into my wanting to be a nature photographer, where I could enjoy long days alone, or with my wife, out in wilderness just creating art. What I discovered though is that to be a successful photographer means spending a fair amount of time around people, giving slide shows, showing portfolios, networking, attending gallery openings. As I started shooting more adventure imagery, I even started just approaching strangers on the trail, in coffee shops, bike shops, etc., and asking if I could photograph them. This might sound painful to the shy, aspiring nature photographer, but it has become one of the parts of the job I actually look forward to. Some of my most memorable experiences as a photographer have come from the reactions I get at presentations or the conversations I have with complete strangers on the trail. Some of these people have even become life long friends.
3) Mountain Biking and Sea Kayaking. O.K., chances are good I would have gotten into these sports even if I had never picked up a camera, but the truth is I only started doing both of these activities after Marcy and I were asked to write “Discover Acadia National Park” back in 1998. We were avid hikers and backpackers, loved Acadia, and proposed a photo guide of the park to AMC Books in 1997. They didn’t bite on that book idea, but later proposed we write the Discover book, which is a multi-sport guide (hiking, biking, and paddling.) I honestly don’t remember if we let on that we only participated in one of the three sports the guide would cover (probably not,) but this opportunity out of the blue really inspired us to explore wilderness in different ways. This was pure serendipity. These days, I can’t imagine a summer going by without a dozen days or so spent dipping my paddles into the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine.
4) Teaching. Workshop leader was not on my radar either when I started my photo career. I had never trained as a teacher nor did I think it would be something I’d enjoy, but serendipity struck again when the Appalachian Mountain Club asked me to fill in for an instructor that had to cancel one of his workshops in the White Mountains in 2002. I was nervous beyond belief, but soon realized I had some clue what I was talking about and that people actually seemed to understand what I was teaching. Now I find myself truly looking forward to the five or six workshops I lead every year. It is deeply satisfying to watch my students practice what I teach, and I get almost giddy when I see one of them have one of those “ah ha” moments when it all starts to click for him/her. I have even been asked to teach photography at my kids’ school, but teaching 17 8 year-olds is way scarier than 8 or 10 adults!
5) My kids think I’m cool. O.K., they’re only seven and nine, so maybe this opinion will be different five years from now (or maybe five months from now in the case of my nine-year old, who yesterday uttered, “Daddy, don’t talk to me in that tone of voice.”) But you know what, my kids do appreciate the work I do. They take pride in the fact that I work to protect the environment, and it really bolsters their own self-esteem when I have them come along to work on a project with me – they are already astute at holding a reflector and finding little critters worth photographing. I feel like my photography career is a major and positive influence in my relationship with them, and our experiences in the field are the building blocks for their own interesting and successful lives. And that is worth its weight in gold and something I could not have purchased no matter how many hours I billed for cranking out computer code.
These are just a few of the reasons that my life changed for the better because of photography. I can’t imagine a career that feels more “right” than being out shooting in the natural world. I realize how lucky I am to have realized that this is the right job for me, let alone having been fortunate enough to make it a reality, but I really believe that anyone who is given the time to explore his or her passion will find success in one way or another.
Until next time..
Find out more about Jerry at his website, and follow him on Twitter at @jerrymonkman
Tags: inspiration, jerry monkman, Nature Photography, photography, photography business
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