An Explosion of Color

The shot above is a shot from above so to speak.  A few weeks ago Denise and I spent a week in the Finger Lakes area of New York.  The color was quite nice in a couple of areas and in many others areas the trees were early in the process of turning colors.

The image was taken from a Phantom 3 quadcopter.  I have noticed that other photographers either love the idea of these photography platforms or hate them.  I totally understand the love portion of this equation.  But the hate portion I don't understand.  Like all things in life there will always be people who are reckless or careless.  I can only speak for myself, but I always check for flight restrictions before flying and always try to fly in a safe and responsible manner.

To me, aerial photography is another venue to express and exercise creativity.  I look forward to seeing where this technology will go next!    

West Virginia Wrap Up

West Virginia Wrap Up

A couple weeks ago we finished our West Virginia Fall Color Tour.  This makes the 3rd year in a row we have had the pleasure of sharing one of our favorite fall color locations with our clients!  As usual West Virginia did not disappoint.  This year the mid-Atlantic was being blasted by heavy rains and some of our clients were questioning if we should cancel.   Our research suggested that West Virginia would be on the outer limits of this storm and we felt this could possibly make for some great photography.  As a practice we try not to shy away from bad weather.  While the safety of our clients is always upmost in our mind, we also want them to go home with epic images!

This fall we were treated to beautiful color, nicely flowing waterfalls, great clouds, and even a nice rainbow over Blackwater Canyon.

We are skipping fall color in West Virginia next year in favor of Fall Color in the Finger Lakes Region of New York.   But our Meetup is planning on doing what is fast becoming our annual camping and star party trip to Spruce Knob and hopefully we will find time to perhaps put a waterfall weekend on the calendar next spring.   If you want to keep up with all things Road Runner, please join our Meetup or our Mailing List(signup on the right side of this page link).  

Quality vs. Quantity

I'm going to start with a question.  What is more important, quality of work or quantity of work?  What I mean by this is what if you took a week long trip and only got one portfolio quality image?  Would the trip be a failure or a success?  The answer to this question of course depends of your point of view.

Sitting on this side of the computer I have a front row seat to the internet just like you.  Now you can look at websites like 500px and generally you will see examples of stunning work from a variety of photographers.  Or if you go over to Flickr you might see someone post dozens or even hundreds of pictures from a particular trip or event.  There is no right answer to this question, its like many things in life, a matter of opinion.

As I finish my 2nd decade as a photographer, with a 20 year break between decades,  I find that I value quality.  In my mind this is the only possible choice.  When you go to a gallery or art show you see a few pieces from a particular artist at best.  Artists have always been forced to be selective when it comes to showing their work. But with the advent of the internet and nearly unlimited online storage, it takes us back to the days of sitting in front of a slide projector as your neighbor shows you 200 shots from their vacation.  Did you fall asleep before the show was over?  You have to be older than 40 to appreciate comparison.

It's not my intent to be critical of others in this space but let's think a minute.  If you post 100 pictures from a particular place or event, how many people will loose interest before looking at all of your images?  Or how many will judge your ability as a photographer not by your best image, but by your worst?  The fact is we all take lousy images.  I could show you thousands, but then you would not be inclined to return to my blog.   I think it helps if you can develop the ability to be your toughest critic.  That does not mean that you should not show your images and have pride in your work.  You should!  I think the art of photography is a journey and not a destination.  Personally I hope to be a better photographer as time progresses.  Part of that process is being critical of my work and introperspective on how I can strive to improve.

In regard to the blog image above.  It was the only worthy image from a full a day of shooting motion abstracts.   The rest were just not that good.  But my happiness with the one image far overpowers any possible disappointment with the hundreds I had taken that day that no one else will ever see.

Wild Wonderful Abstracts

Fall is in full swing in West Virginia and our tour starts tonight.  This week I have been scouting the back roads for hidden gems and found a little known waterfall that I hope we will be able to share with our group.

The image above is one of my motion abstracts.  It was taken on the road to Dolly Sods a couple of days ago.

I will be presenting a program on abstract photography at the following camera clubs this fall.  I hope that if any of the dates and locations are convenient you will come out and see the presentation.


October 20th -  Reston Camera Club
November 12th - McLean Camera Club
November 13th - Charlotte Camera Club

Fall Color

During the last 2 weeks of October I did a lot of local shooting. By local, I mean here in Virginia. My first visit to Shenandoah National Park was quite a surprise. It had snowed at the higher elevations. I returned to Shenandoah a couple of days later and had to admit I was disappointed. The color at the higher elevations in the center of the park was less than I had hoped for. My day job sent me to Charlottesville the 3rd week in October for training so every night after class I would head out to either Shenandoah or the Blue Ridge Parkway. I would usually have an hour or so to shoot. The color got much better the further south I traveled. The following weekend I got in some additional time in Nelson County and the lower elevations of Shenandoah. Overall it was not a bad fall here in Virginia.

Click here for a galley.

Meadowlark Photo Expo

For the 2nd year I have been fortunate enough to be juried into the Meadowlark Photo Expo. This year 4 of my prints were accepted out of a possible 6. I’m told that there were about 1000 entries vying for 200 spots. The amount of talent in this area is tremendous and doing so well against so much talent is quite an accomplishment. This year I only chose from pictures that were taken during 2008 and considering how much time I spent shooting old cars and prisons it made my work in selecting the entries a little difficult. However, with the help of friends Karen, Sara, and Alan we narrowed down 20 or so possible images to 6.

I’ll be at Meadowlark both days next weekend. If you live in the DC area please come and see the Expo.

By the way, the photo above was one of the 2 entries that did not make the cut. The competition was tough!!