The following article is a guest post by Alf Bailey, a photographer from Cheshire, UK. His series, “Diary of a Landscape Photographer,” recounts the scenarios that lead to capturing his stunning landscape photography. More of his work can be found at www.alfbaileyphotography.co.uk; and as always, we welcome your comments below.

After a somewhat wet and windy week, I finally escaped for an evening to visit another nearby landmark Perch Rock New Brighton, on the River Mersey and Wirral peninsular, by now you will be thinking I’m obsessed with lighthouses, and errm well you are quite right, I am. There is something about a lighthouse that is just like a magnet to me, I can’t resist photographing them at every given opportunity. I like everything a lighthouse stands for, the guiding light, the solid structure that will withstand all weather conditions; they all have stories to tell, and seem symbolic monuments of the bravery of countless lifeboat crews that risked and indeed sometimes lost their very lives to the sea. It was a Monday and I was in luck as there weren’t many people about at all. There was a great deal of broken cloud, but I thought to myself “hmmmm that might look good later on as the sun drops” After a walk up and down the beach I took a few shots of the sea defence groynes, but nothing I could do in the current light made them look like anything other than what they were i.e. Ugly brown things! Moving swiftly on to the light house I discovered a rock pool and set up my tripod. Whilst I made adjustments to my gear I became aware of the presence of a couple of young lads, who seemed pre-occupied with looking in rock pools nearby. Hoping they would depart quickly I thought I might be able to help find what they were looking for. I said “Alright lads, looking for anything in particular” they looked at each other then both answered in unison “Crabs” I replied “ooh right ok …well you might find some down there by those groynes, I noticed a lot of rock pools there” Not to be deterred, they then went on to explain that they were interested in starting a marine life project at home with an aquarium and all the filters pumps and paraphernalia that goes with them. As it turned out they were a couple of pleasant lads. Before departing I took a few shots of them and one asked “Will we be famous now”? and I replied ….”It’s very likely ……Standing there with that big pink bucket and your hands on your hips, you should attract some attention” They laughed and moved away at last leaving me to my clouds, rapidly incoming tide and last light of day. The pool in front of the lighthouse was filling with water fast, and I managed to finish the long exposure just in time to avoid wet feet.

Image Name: Incoming

I retreated to the relative safety of the rocks and took a few more shots, the light and cloud was changing by the second, and about 5 minutes after taking this shot, all the rocks were completely submerged.

Image Name: Mersey Tide

Saturday Night and I’m out enjoying myself again, no not partying, or drinking huge quantities of alcohol, not dancing the night away nor chatting to beautiful women. None of those things, I’m out perched on the side of a hill with the wind howling and whistling past my ears, peering into the viewfinder of my camera, and although conditions are not ideal, I wouldn’t swap places with anyone!

The first building placed at Dinas Brân was not the castle which now stands in ruins on top of the hill but an Iron Age Hillfort built around 600 BC, Though the castle, as it is visible today, was probably built around the 1260’s.

As I walked up the steep gradient to the top, I wasn’t difficult to imagine just hard it would have been to attack a place like this. It was hard enough just to walk to the top, but trying to do so with boulders and stones being thrown at you as well as spears and arrows and anything else that would deter would be attackers, was quite a sobering thought.

For some strange reason known only to them, people that visit this site often take the stones from the walls and arrange them on the hillside to form their own names. As I wandered about the site I come to another name arranged in stones on the hillside “Ceri” then later out of curiosity I looked up the name, which originates from a welsh village not far away in Powys, Mid Wales. I don’t know If it was by coincidence or by design, but there were definite connections between the name that had been arranged in stone a few days ago, and the ancient Castle. Ahh well “truth is stranger than fiction” as they say.

I used some of the stones to give a sense of depth and foreground interest to this HDR image

Image Name: Castle Dinas Bran

Should you have any questions regarding this or previous postings, or require any further information regarding the above images, please feel free to contact me through my website www.alfbaileyphotography.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Diary of a Landscape Photographer | Part 1
2. Diary of a Landscape Photographer | Part 2
3. Diary of a Landscape photographer | Part 3

The following article is a guest post by Alf Bailey, a photographer from Cheshire, UK. His series, “Diary of a Landscape Photographer,” recounts the scenarios that lead to capturing his stunning landscape photography. More of his work can be found at www.alfbaileyphotography.co.uk; and as always, we welcome your comments below.

Longleat is a fascinating experience, the combination of the old mansion house and the safari Park is well worth a visit. My wife being a great animal lover, always wanted to go there, and as a birthday treat I organised the visit. As luck would have it, the farmhouse that I randomly chose from a photo on the internet just happened to be about as close to the park as you could get. Clean and tidy with good food and two friendly cats, well what more could we want!

The safari trip was excellent, it was a great atmosphere and looking at rhino’s giraffes and even hippo’s in a very natural looking environment was very pleasing to the eye.

I don’t like the idea of animals in captivity but when I consider the kinds of dangers that exist in their natural habitats, (mostly from mankind invading their space) then I suppose this is going to be the only way some species will survive in the future.

Now for the Gorilla story.

Nico, the Western Lowland Silverback Gorilla is aged 50 years in Human terms, in Gorilla terms this equates to 100 years old. (The oldest on record in captivity lived to be 57 human years old) Nico lives in his own house on a small island on the Longleat estate and enjoys watching TV (The keepers informed us that he has just been upgraded to SKY HD and yes, indeed when we seen his house, we could see the satellite dish outside) Apparently they have to curtail his viewing time, as they don’t want him turning into a couch potato.

The tour guide explained “The only chance you get to see Nico is to take a trip on the boat, this way you might just get a glimpse of him” Now my wife, having watched BBC TV series about Longleat, knew all about this, and the fact that sadly Nico’s life long partner had sadly died some years previously. So she was really looking forward to getting a look at Nico close up. I said to her “You haven’t got much chance off seeing him, he’s probably in bed sleeping off a Banana liqueur session, or watching The Muppet Show or Planet Of The Apes on TV” but she wasn’t deterred and we duly queued up for the boat trip.

On board the boat at last, we passed the Hippo’s (that looked for all the world like small grey islands with eyes), and slowly approached Nico’s island, the pilot cut the engines and we drifted silently towards the island “Shhhh be quiet” said the tour guide, “he’s just behind that bush , you can just see him” everyone peered at the bush, and suddenly it exploded as Nico come charging out, now I have to say, for a creature that is supposed to be 100 years old in real terms, it sure could move fast! The speed and power of this magnificent animal was just magical to witness. After hastily snapping a few blurry shots with my camera, I managed to get one as he sat down and just stared at me with such soulful eyes ………well suffice to say it was a moving moment.

I said to the wife afterwards “Did you see the speed of him? Maybe I should change my diet and start eating more greens and banana’s” to which she muttered something about moving me to an island with Sky TV. Humph!

Not really a Landscape shot I know, but it’s still nature after all.

Just a few word regarding this image, I cheated ….well, manipulated this photograph to some degree. The blurred background was created from the “Filters” menu in photoshop. I created a layer then blurred the whole image using the said tool in the filters menu. I then used the eraser to reveal the sharp image beneath of Nico. The other bit of manipulation was the removal of an unsightly line that was in fact the barrier used to keep Nico on his island, I simply used the clone tool to make this disappear.

Image Name: NICO

Liverpool is one of the few cities that can boast two cathedrals, The Liverpool Anglican cathedral professes to be the largest Christian Cathedral in the world

(Though this title is often contested by The Cathedral of St John The Divine in New York) The foundation stone was laid for the building of the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral in 1904 and the first part of the work (The Lady Chapel) was completed in 1910.

This, “The Lady Chapel” is the oldest part of the building and is indeed my favorite part of this huge building, it’s a brilliant place to visit, the people are so friendly and all you have to do is ask, and they will allow you to wander around freely taking photographs as much as you like. (Outside Service times of course) This HDR is a sample of the great architecture that exists inside. Unfortunately light conditions were such that outside shots looked awful, but that’s one for another visit another day.

Image Name: Cathedral Light

Should you have any questions regarding this or previous postings, or require any further information regarding the above images, please feel free to contact me through my website www.alfbaileyphotography.co.uk

Related posts:

1. Diary of a Landscape photographer | Part 4
2. Diary of a Landscape Photographer | Part 2
3. Diary of a Landscape Photographer | Part 1

The following article is a guest post by Alf Bailey, a photographer from Cheshire, UK. His series, “Diary of a Landscape Photographer,” recounts the scenarios that lead to capturing his stunning landscape photography. More of his work can be found at www.alfbaileyphotography.co.uk; and as always, we welcome your comments below.

We had been experiencing some really nice weather, and I thought I might try a few sunset shots at Talacre beach not too far away. Although sunsets have been photographed every which way you can think of, I still look at every one and marvel at their splendour and feast of colour that nature provides. I set off in good time (so I thought) but it wasn’t long before I ran into my first set of road works and temporary traffic lights, by the time I was stopped for a fourth time by more of the same, I was getting a touch miffed! Growling and hissing at no one in particular I dodged speed camera’s as I raced like someone possessed towards Talacre and a rapidly sinking sun.

Getting out of the car grabbing my gear and racing over the sand dunes, I was just in time to get a few shots before the light was gone. As is often the case, the last photo I took that evening as I walked back to the car, was the one I liked best , the pronounced ripples in the sand gave some nice foreground textures (the little whites bits are shells) and the light show was beautiful. Although I mentioned above that every sunset is potentially beautiful, I always find that a second or third point of interest to compliment it is a good recipe for success, in this case, the rippled sand and the lighthouse.

This venue is perhaps not the most obvious of locations for a landscape photographer, but with little or no wind, some nice reflections and touches of last light colour, maybe I would get something worth looking at. I tried shooting the old dock building that had been converted into very plush block of flats, but the longest lens in my kit bag (a Nikkor 50mm F1.4 prime lens) just wasn’t long enough to get the composition I wanted, so observing the gathering colour in the sky I turned my attention to the other side of the dock, this is where the business end now operates from, and the dockside cranes seemed to be a good focal point. The moon making a guest appearance was a bonus too. This following image may just inspire you to think of a location in your area worthy of a second look.

We had decided to visit Landwynne Island, one of my favourite locations, in order to try some Star Trail experiments, the weather forecast had predicted clear sky’s, the weather was warm, and so we (Myself, Gary & Paul) all set off on Saturday evening to arrive in Anglesey at about 8.20pm, (via a dodgy kebab take away meal en route and accompanied by chronic indigestion) allowing us enough time to get a few shots before dark and still give us enough time to establish good vantage points for our start trail shots.
(Just a word of caution, it is worth noting that when considering nocturnal or late evening ventures out with your expensive camera equipment, it is probably advisable to travel in a group or at least with a companion. I don’t want to alarm anyone unduly, as I travel extensively alone and have never had cause for concern, but even I wouldn’t have lingered at the Birkenhead docks location alone.)
We noticed with dismay a large cloud bank gathering on the horizon as we emerged from the walk along the path through the pine trees onto the beach. Convinced that the cloud would disperse we carried on towards the lighthouse at the far end of the Island. I took a few shots of the ponies that roam free on the island, but none that were spectacular; I then spotted some small yellow wild flowers that I thought would make a good foreground to the lighthouse and composed a shot of that.

After wandering round for a few more hours it became ever more apparent that the weather forecast had got it wrong yet again! The skies were now full of cloud and barely a star could be seen, muttering curses and proclaiming British weather forecasters as the worst liars in the world, we set off back to the car. After travelling back to the first beach we discovered just why Landwynne Island was indeed called an Island, having walked onto it on numerous occasions, it never occurred to me that it would ever be surrounded by water, but at 11.30pm that particular evening we found ourselves cut off from the mainland by about a 30 meter expanse of sea, it just wasn’t our night!

We settled down to chat about past photographic experiences and after another 90 minutes the tide had receded enough for us to attempt to walk through the last of the water, of course my left foot was the one that found the deep hole in the sand and consequently soaked my foot. The strange squidgy noise my left trainer made now echoed as we made way along the path through the pines. Several toads seemed to appear in our torchlight, and they hopped and jumped on the path in front of us, strangely increasing in number as we walked along. Both Gary and Paul suggested it was my squeaky trainer that was attracting them, Hmmm yeah right very funny!

I got home at about 2.00am and decided to download the images I had managed to get, onto my PC. As usual I made a new file in readiness, then placed the flash card in the card reader, and opened the file to browse the images, having looked through them; I removed the flash card, placed it back in the camera, and formatted the card read for my next trip. Then I opened the file I had created to have another look at the images. I blinked in incredulity at the blank file and it hit me all at once like a hammer! I had forgotten to transfer the images from the card to the new file! After some cursing and swearing along with a few self derogatory comments aimed at myself I resigned myself to the fact that the images were lost forever. I spoke to Gary the next day and told him about my gargantuan error. After some rather flippant and unnecessary remarks about my age and mental health state he decided to be helpful and asked “have you tried using that Sandisk Extreme Rescue PRO software that we got free when we bought the memory cards”?

I had forgotten all about it, but replied “No I haven’t but it’s got to be worth a try” Returning home that evening I went through the software download routine and put all the appropriate codes into the right places, then clicked on the memory card and waited while the programme scanned it for lost images. At this point I wasn’t really expecting very much in the way of results. After what seemed like an age, but was in reality about 20 minutes, to my utter astonishment, this programme had found every single image that had been saved on the flash card. What an incredible result!! Ok I have only had the flash card for about 2 months but there were hundreds of images found. If you haven’t found anything worth knowing in the rest of my ramblings, but didn’t know about this bit of software, then you haven’t wasted your time. This little bit of software can be an absolute life saver. I am told it even works on old or partially damaged memory cards where the images have been lost or deleted. A great big Thank You! to Sandisk and not forgetting Gary who actually remembered about the software, well one of us has to have a decent memory! (wouldn’t it be great if we had a slot in the back of our skulls where we could upgrade our own memory, by just putting another card in)

Thank you all for reading the above. If you have any questions thoughts, suggestions or feedback, please feel free to comment or contact me through my web site.

Related posts:

1. Diary of a Landscape Photographer | Part 1
2. Diary of a Landscape photographer | Part 4
3. Diary of a Landscape photographer | Part 3

We’ve all done it before.  We’ve knocked something over, bumped into something, even dropped our thousand dollar lenses.  But what’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done as photographer?  To get the conversation started, I’ll share a hilarious video and then get into my experiences.

Please don’t do this at a wedding! You have to feel bad for the guy; but it’s impossible not to laugh just a little bit.

Not nearly as costly or as embarrassing as the video above, I’ve had a couple of mishaps before as well. The most recent one was during a “formals” session at a wedding. I was trying to get the wedding party to do a fun jumping shot. Not wanting stiff, boring jumps, I decided to demonstrate a ‘leprechaun’ jump, clicking both heels mid air to the side of the body. I bet you can imagine where this is going. Midair, I heard a nice long ….. and very loud ripping sound. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who heard it. The groomsmen were on the ground laughing, as I stood there with a giant rip right down the middle of the crotch. I guess it could have been worse because, unlike the guy in the video, this embarrassing moment only cost me a little bit of pride.

We’d love to hear your experiences and any other comments you might have!

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1. 5 reasons wedding photographers should use Craigslist
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The following article is a guest post by Alf Bailey, a photographer from Cheshire, UK. He will be writing a series of posts entitled “Diary of a Landscape Photographer,” where he will recount the scenarios that lead to capturing his stunning landscape photography. More of his work can be found at www.alfbaileyphotography.co.uk; and as always, we welcome your comments below.

It had been a bright day, warm and sunny so I didn’t expect the wind to be as strong as I walked through the sand dunes spitting out sand, and half closing my eyes against the abrasive onslaught. Gary my partner in crime who accompanies me on most outings screwed his eyes up too and pointed towards the shelter of the trees and sand dunes, indicating the way forward.

I remember Formby and Freshfields as a youngster, there was an abundance of wildlife, Great Crested Newts, and Natterjack toads, and it was and still is, one of the last refuges of the British Red Squirrel. No squirrels about today though, they had more sense than us, and kept themselves out of the wind. The patterns in the sand dunes can make an interesting image, and one thing about the wind in our favour is that it very quickly obliterates any signs of the many footprints of the frequent visitors to the beach.

I wanted to leave the sky blue, but create a warmer looking sand, so I processed the same image twice in Lightroom, once with a cool tint and one with warmer tones. I then opened both images in Photoshop using the arrow tool, I held down the Alt and shift key on my keyboard and then dragged the cooler coloured image over the warm one, and this action forms a layer. The next thing to do is reveal the warm sand by choosing the eraser (setting for eraser 33% Opacity and 18% Flow this helps prevent streaky marks) and using even strokes pass it over the sand part of the image until the warm sand is revealed, but leaving the blue sky intact.

One hour later and the sun had started to head for the horizon, there was a slight haze in the sky now, but it was making the most wonderful patterns and colours in the sky. The wind had also dropped so I abandoned Gary in the sand dunes and headed towards the beach, I was still a bit dubious about risking my D700 in the sandy conditions but as it turned out by the time I reached the water, the wind had dropped altogether. One good bit of advice I can pass on though it to purchase a small brush / blower, these great little inventions takes all the risk away from cleaning your lenses and LCD screens in sandy conditions. Wiping your lens with a cloth in such conditions can prove expensive, as sand has a habit of finding its way into everything. If you do have to use a cloth, make sure you shake it well first.

I took quite a few shots with my Nikon D700 and Nikkor 16 – 35mm and wasn’t keen on changing lenses just in case a stray grain of sand found it’s way into the camera. The image below was looking to me like an Angel Fish. (Another quick note here, windy conditions where particles or moisture are present are not ideal for changing lenses, and should be avoided if possible) After some reflection about the Angel Fish (No pun intended) I decided it was time to head for home before I started seeing Pink Elephants too. The angel fish image required minimal processing, just a slight adjustment to levels and sharpening.

My normal Job entails visiting sites throughout the North West of England and Wales assessing the suitability of Cranes and providing lifting solutions for a million different sites and scenario’s. Sometimes I get lucky with an interesting location and this is when my camera accompanies me.

Powis Castle in Newtown Powys, Mid Wales, is not the best place to try and get a 20 Ton Crane, but there are some lovely gardens and interesting features to the place. So after some time spent solving the crane access problem and business over, I got permission from the Head Gardener to take a few photo’s, and hurriedly set about my task, but as I approached the castle I heard the strangest noise, it was like a cross between a strangled cat and a hyena, the noise grew louder the closer I got to the castle and then I saw the offending creature, it was a peacock, well no wonder they are good looking birds, I thought to myself, it must be gods compensation for their dreadful vocal qualities. : – )

Having established where the noise come from I thought “hmmm peacock, huge feather display, great photo opportunity”. I climbed the castle steps as these thoughts raced through my mind, and I set the camera on its tripod in readiness for the wonderful display I was about to witness. After some minutes it become apparent that Mr peacock wasn’t playing ball, no display, no strutting it’s stuff for the camera, nothing but the occasional bloody curdling yowl that I has heard previously. There must be something that triggers the display, I thought to myself, maybe a bit of competition for attention would work. To this end I stood on one leg and flapped my arms holding my coat open in a vain attempt to look spectacular, the look of utter contempt from the bird and a few smothered giggles from a young couple that had sneaked up the steps behind me was enough to halt my sad attempt to emulate the mating dance of the peacock.

“I’m errrm trying to get it to show it’s feathers” I muttered in explanation to the couple who now smiled and nodded sympathetically as they walked past, the guy then turned and said “have you tried negotiating with it” to more giggles and snorts from his partner. I returned a hollow “ha ha” in return and gave them a scornful glance.

Beaten, humiliated, but still determined to get a shot of the stubborn bird. I bracketed 5 shots 1 EV stop apart. Then I took a few shots of the gardens and grounds before hastily departing from the castle to make my way to another customer that required my services. I later used Photomatix Pro 3 to produce this HDR image, maybe not the classic landscape / nature photo I was hoping for, but I wanted to show the potential of the shot and how sometimes you just don’t get your own way, no matter how hard you try.

Thank you all for reading the above. If you have any questions thoughts, suggestions or feedback, please feel free to comment or contact me through my web site.

Don’t forget to stop by at the end of July or beginning of August when I hope to bring you more news of my photo excursions and hopefully a few decent photo’s too

Related posts:

1. Diary of a Landscape photographer | Part 4
2. Diary of a Landscape Photographer | Part 2
3. Diary of a Landscape photographer | Part 3

There are many voices in my life. Some of these voices come from people in my life, however, I find that the majority of voices in my life come from either something inanimate or from within myself. One of the stronger voices in my life, whom I call “Jimbo,” is the internal voice that is constantly demanding that I be more efficient and productive with my time. He is the voice that makes me drive at odd hours of the day just to avoid the hell that we Los Angeleans call “traffic.” He insists that I work deep into the night, and wake up early just to get a few extra hours of work in each day. Not to mention that he is the reason I am currently in Palos Verdes at 7:30pm.

After finishing up a client meeting in Palos Verdes at around 5pm one summer evening, Jimbo convinced me that I could get a couple extra hours of work in while traffic died down. Agreeing with that sentiment, I found a nice little spot overlooking the Pacific Ocean on Palos Verdes Drive, pulled out my laptop and started hammering away at the keyboard. 7:30pm Rolled around and Jimbo politely let me know that most of the traffic would be gone by now, so it was time to head home. Besides, he added, you can be much more productive at home in front of your desktop.

So, I tucked away my laptop, turned on my GPS and began leisurely driving my way back home. While weaving and winding my way South on Palos Verdes Drive, another voice which took the form of a robotic European female, (yes, I chose the European female accent on my TomTom because it is slightly more pleasing to listen to) my GPS whom I call Holly, requested that I “turn left onto South Western Avenue.” However, unlike my typical lemming-like obedience to Jimbo and Holly, today I decided to defy both of their confident and borderline overbearing guidance and make a U-turn.

You see, while driving I saw something that Jimbo and Holly couldn’t. I saw this amazing cloud formation gathering over the horizon. Being that sunset was only about thirty minutes away, I thought that it might be an appropriate time to stop to enjoy a sunset. Shortly after realizing my “error” Holly began furiously spouting commands, “turn right, make a u-turn, stop idiot!” Ok, maybe the last one was a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, Holly is not a polite person and I would say she is borderline domineering. It would be nice to hear a please, or thank you from her on occasion. Holly’s final sentence, “make a u-turn whe…” was cut short as I proudly turned her off.

One voice down and one to go. As I was driving back up Palos Verdes Drive, Jimbo began his rational plea for why I should be on my way home. Jimbo started his argument by reminding me just how much work I had sitting on my plate and that it was irresponsible of me to not be taking care of it. His argument was quickly refuted though as I realized there was nothing that couldn’t wait an hour or even a day. His second argument was a bit more wily, “If you want to relax, why not go play some games, or catch a movie? Sunsets happen every day, they are nothing special.” His argument seemed rational, but then how often am I up on the cliffs of Palos Verdes just before what I think is going to be an amazing sunset? In my mind I turned Jimbo off in the same manner as his infernal robotic European female companion and then thought to myself, why not go one step further and turn off my phone as well.

The car was silent, my mind was silent and I had disappeared from the world. As I pulled into a little park just off of Palos Verdes Drive, I grabbed my camera and tripod and walked out to the cliff line. I setup my camera, and over the next 20 minutes witnessed one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen.The clouds swirled and took control of the sky, but left an unobstructed window of space on the horizon for the sun to put on his show. In silence, I observed this awe-inspiring event as I took a personal inventory of myself, my life and my spiritual beliefs.

It was at this time that I thought to myself, this last 20 minutes was one of the most poignant moments in my life and it almost never happened. Voices in our life give us guidance, assistance and help us stay motivated and productive. However, if left unchecked these voices can strangle the pleasure out of our lives. We are constantly living in the future thinking about what needs to be done, how we achieve our goals, where we want to be in 5 years, and how great life will be once we get there. You could say that this is normal since we are humans and as humans dreaming is in our nature. However, are we dreaming so much that we have forgotten and completely overlooked the beauty, enjoyment and blessings of the present?

Enjoy the image, you can click here to download the full 1920×1200 sized wallpaper.

Written by,

Pye Jirsa of Lin and Jirsa Wedding Photography, Los Angeles and Orange County Wedding Photographers. Also, authors of Lin and Jirsa Blog

Related posts:

1. Wallpaper Stories – “The Professional Buddhist Monk”
2. Diary of a Landscape Photographer | Part 1
3. Business – Presenting LESS Not More

On a recent business trip to China, I was staying in the small factory town of LiaoBu near DongGuan in the Canton province. At the time I was working with a manufacturer designing several different photography related products. For a solid 5 hours I was couped up in a small conference room trying to create some sort of physical manifestation of the concept I had in my mind. With little luck, I began feeling a bit restless. So, like any photographer, I decided to take up my trusty 5D and go for a little walk despite the less than favorable weather.

Only a week prior to Chinese New Year, the typical crowded bustling streets of LiaoBu were starving for pedestrians as most of the towns inhabitants had already gone home for the holidays. However, to put it in proper perspective I should state that “starving” in terms of LiaoBu is much like the typical business day in Downtown Los Angeles in terms of the amount of pedestrians going about their business. After walking for about ten minutes, I came across a small street fair with several vendors. While some were peddling merchandise, others had setup amusement park-like games.

However, in the middle of it all, was Buddhist Monk sitting on a tattered blanket with all sorts of Buddhist trinkets, figurines and jewelry. The ubrupt shift from being “of the world” to “of the spiritual” was only enhanced as vendors surrounding the monk sold everything from black-market books and magazines to bootleg DVDs and software. I stopped to glance at what the monk was selling and within seconds, a crowd of locals had surrounded the empty monk’s display trying to ascertain what exactly had caught this “foreigner’s” interest.

While I stood there, I realized that more likely than not, this was not in fact a real Buddhist Monk. But, rather a “Professional Buddhist Monk” who made his living dressing and posing as a monk and selling his Buddhist merchandise. After briefly reveling at just how many ways there are to make a living, I quickly dismissed the thought and bought into his authentic display. I then told the man that I would be willing to purchase a bracelet if he would be willing to bless it. After all, good luck is good luck, even when it’s purchased ;)

Enjoy the image, you can click here to download the full 1920×1200 sized wallpaper.

Written by,

Pye Jirsa of Lin and Jirsa Wedding Photography, Los Angeles and Orange County Wedding Photographers. Also, authors of Lin and Jirsa Blog

Related posts:

1. Wallpaper Stories – “Tuning Out the Voices”
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With WPPI around the corner, it seemed like an appropriate time to write up a quick article and ask all of the photographers out there to take a step back from shooting, technique, artistry and anything else for just a moment to talk a little bit about what we call “absolutes.”

Most of us, at some point in time in our careers (regardless of whatever that career may be), will fall into the trap of believing in absolutes. What are absolutes exactly? Absolutes are preconceptions or beliefs that there is only one way of accomplishing a task, regardless of what that task may be.

I don’t know why it happens, nor do I know when it happens, but I know that it does happen, and it happens often. At some point, we start believing that there is only one correct way of vacuuming the floor, reaching our career goals, achieving an A-grade in a class or even driving our cars… well, actually, there really isn’t more than one correct way of driving your car. But, that is neither here nor there, I think you all get my point.

When it comes to photography, we photographers who believe in self expression and creativity fall into this trap just as often if not more than others. Which, in my honest opinion is quite ironic given how we are constantly trying to seek out new methods of self expression.

At WPPI, each of you attendees are going to be virtually bombarded with education. Often times, you will even here things like, “if you aren’t doing (fill in your favorite statement here) then you are not doing it right or you are not a professional.” While there may be some level of truth to certain absolute statements, they always need to be taken with a grain of salt. If you have been doing your thing, and you have been successful at what you are doing, don’t let someone else convince you otherwise.

I remember at a WPPI lecture back in 2008, I heard a speaker in a serious tone state, “If you aren’t shooting with a light meter, you are not a professional photographer.” Immediately, I tuned out the rest of his lecture as I was hung up on that simple, yet completely flawed statement. I mean, how many of us professional photographers are completely comfortable with using our in-camera metering? I think the vast majority of us, including many of the greats such as Dennis Reggie, Joe Buissink, Jessica Claire, Jasmine Star, Mike Colon, and many more don’t walk around with light meters in their hands.

However, this photographer truly believed that his statement was accurate and without flaw. He wasn’t trying to be mean, or sound condescending, he was simply caught up in one of his own absolute preconceptions.

The problem with absolutes and any other strong preconceptions is that we carry around in our minds and they restrict us from learning and growing as photographers. If you go around thinking you need a light meter to properly shoot any scene, then how many potentially great shots would this absolute prevent you from capturing? If you insist on always using natural light only, then you are going to miss out on truly learning lighting and how to create amazing shots from nothing, a la Jerry Ghionis.

Truth is, often times these absolutes and pre-conceptions are typically defensive stances that we take to prevent ourselves from having to step outside of our comfort zones.
Here are some other absolutes or pre-conceptions that I have heard throughout my career as a photographer, and my opinions about them:

1. The only time of day to shoot outdoors is 30 minutes prior to and after sunrise/sunset – Truth, if you live in the same world we do (regardless, please say you do), only 1 hour in a 24 hour day falls within the “golden hour of photography.” Not to mention, if you live in LA during half the year this golden hour is during our golden hour of hellish traffic. So naturally, most of our shots will be outside this one hour window. I love shooting with direct harsh sunlight, and you can learn to love it too. A lot can be done with that type of lighting if done correctly. Each one of the shots below was shot at some other time well outside of the golden hour.

First two shots were taken in open direct sunlight.

Shot in semi-open indoor locations using diffused light from mid-day sun.

2. Using artificial light (flashes, video lights, etc) in a scene isn’t as good as using natural light - Truth, artificial light is not any better or worse than natural light, but rather it is different. Artificial light, when used properly can create amazing effects that you can never achieve otherwise.

2 Flashes used plus sun to achieve a 3 light effect.

2 Flashes with a dragged shutter.

2 Flashes used.

3. If you don’t know how to use off camera lighting, you can’t take great shots - Truth, just because you have and know how to use the crazy lighting setups doesn’t mean you have to! An images subject and statement of emotion is far greater than any composition or technical effect. Look at the 100 most influential photographs of the last century, how many of them were shots with setup lighting and perfect compositions? We love natural light, and we don’t miss an opportunity to use it. Check out some of our natural light shots below:

4. Professional imagery always follows strict composition rules - Truth, some of the best and most interesting images break every rule possible. Check out some of the shots below for some of our examples.

This shot below breaks a lot of rules, by placing a blurred out subject in front of the frame in a dominant position over the actual focused subjects. However, it was intentionally done to create a strong “voyeuristic” sense to this faux candid shot.

90% sky, 10% ground, 100% dramatic.

Cut subject just above the waste, typically a no-no, but it works as it brings focus to the cool back-lit-lighting effects in the top of the frame.

5. You must have a $3,000 professional camera body with $15,000 worth of glass and accessories to shoot professional images – Truth, give me a Rebel, a 50mm and I would feel just fine delivering a professional product to our clients. Does it help having a 5D Mark II+ (or D700+) camera with L lenses, absolutely. But, I will take lighting, composition and technical expertise over hardware any day.

6. Wedding photographers are not “true” photographers – Truth, a truly good wedding photographer needs to be a master of virtually every type of photography. Detail shots, venue shots, head shots, portraits, family portraits, etc; each of these areas of photography has it’s own set of rules and techniques, each of which a wedding photographer must master to truly be great at his/her craft.

7. I am strictly a photojournalist, posing is unnatural - Truth, posing and setting up your shots can create very natural faux journalistic moments. It will all depend on your ability as a photographer to help setup and pose those shots in order to create those journalistic reenactments. Check out some of our posed faux journalistic work below.

8. My work isn’t yet worth $5,000 or $10,000 per wedding – Truth, you are right. Yup, if you think your work isn’t worth $3,000 or $5,000 or $10,000 then it isn’t. Who in their right mind would pay you that much when you don’t believe that you are worth that much yourself? You define your image and you set your value. If there is uniqueness, artistry, quality and value behind your product, people will make the investment, regardless of the price.

9. Wedding photography is an easy part time job with a full time income – Truth, wedding photography is a full time + time + time job with the potential for a full time income only after several years of hard work and dedication. Don’t forget that being a photographer, regardless of what type of photographer, requires you to also handle sales, accounting, management, legal, admin and every other possible area that comes along with being a business owner. Expect 60+ hour work weeks for your first few years while earning far less than you would at a typical job. But, don’t get me wrong, it is rewarding, and there is awesome potential.

10. It takes a gorgeous venue to get gorgeous shots - OK, there is no doubt that having a gorgeous venue will give you gorgeous shots, we all know that. And, I’m not going to post pictures here just in case a client with what we would call a “less than gorgeous” venue happens to stumble across their shot in here. However, let me just say this, there is beauty in every single venue that we have shot. It may not be in the wide angle shot that shows the entire venue along with its pasty taupe walls and drab carpet, but it is there somewhere. I have never been to a single wedding where there hasn’t been beauty in at least the details. Find the angles and the details that bring out the beauty in each location, and your clients will love you for it.

There are so many pitfalls out there, this is just a short list of some of the more common ones that we have heard, or hopped into ourselves. Hopefully you will come away from this article realizing that absolutes can only restrict your potential and growth. When it comes to photography, there are truly an unlimited number of ways to come up with a truly unique and professional product. Find the method that fits you, and allow yourself to grow outside of it when it becomes necessary.

Please share your opinions, beliefs and thoughts about this topic below by commenting.

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Below is a list of 5 wedding photographers that we rely on for inspiration, not only in photography, but also business and in just living life in general. Each of these photographers can be considered as being at the top of the industry being that all of them have been within the Top 10 Photographers by American Photo at some recent point in time. If you don’t have these photographers blogs bookmarked, Twitter profiles followed, and Facebook friend befriended, then you have some work to do!

Ben Chrisman – http://www.benchrismanblog.com/ – We look to Ben’s blog for his unique style of wedding photography matched with his even more unique style of post production. Ben has an amazing ability to find and create unique frames for his subjects that create an intimate voyeuristic quality as well as draw the viewer’s eyes right into the subject of the image. You will find Ben often throwing the typical restrictive rules of photographic composition to the wind as he creates stunningly dramatic images with his creative usage of negative space. We also love Ben’s ability to create dramatic compositions using off camera lighting with a mixture of under exposed backgrounds to enhance the atmospheric lighting in each scene. On the other side of his artistry is his dramatic post production style. Ben’s signature mixture of warm color temperatures and deep blacks creates uniquely intimate and dramatic imagery.

Heather Waraksa – http://www.heatherwaraksablog.com/ – One look at Heather’s blog and you will wonder if her images are frames taken from big time Tinseltown movies. To us, Heather’s style of wedding photography is best described as rogue Hollywood movie producer shaken with a heavy dash of fashion photographer. We love every bit of style this New York photog paints into her imagery. Along with her typical color popping photos, much of her post production style consists of fashion inspired cross and vintage processing techniques.

Jasmine Star – http://www.jasminestarblog.com/ – Jasmine is uniquely open with her life which makes her seem more like a childhood friend that grew up next door, rather than a big time photographer. We love Jasmine and her ability to not only take amazing photographs, but also write inspiring stories and articles. In fact, at times we find ourselves sneaking peeks at her blog for the writing in and of itself! Don’t let her writing fool you though, Jasmine is a uniquely talented photographer who’s style of imagery can be described as being refreshingly candid and natural. We love her ability to truly capture the emotion within each moment. We especially adore Jasmine’s ability to take amazing portraits. Describing Jasmine’s post production style is like talking about fresh produce from your local farmers market, it is natural, clean, fresh and crisp with color.

Jerry Ghionis – http://www.jerryghionisblog.com/ – When I think of Jerry Ghionis, I think of a man with style from head to toe. Jerry’s image from his logo on his website, to his hair style screams fashion. You will often catch Jerry recreating photographic stills inspired from classic Hollywood films. But, what truly makes Jerry – Jerry, is his unique background in fashion photography allows him to create amazing works of art behind the lens. In fact, I think most professional photographers including those on this list would probably agree and give Jerry a sincere nod at his ability to create something from nothing, literally. We are truly inspired at Jerry’s ability to walk into rooms that look as though they were taken straight from the set of a post apocalyptic movie, and yet turn it into a work of sheer beauty. His ability to see something when there truly is nothing is unmatched. While you do need to attend his lectures, workshops or purchase his products to truly witness his creative genius, you can get a peek at his inner monologue through his blog. Jerry’s style of photography is essentially defined by his unique fashion flair that he shows off throughout each and every one of his engagement and couples shoots. His post production style is very natural with just the right balance of contrast and blacks to make images pop.

Del Sol Photography – http://delsolphotography.com/blog/ – We love Del Sol’s natural and candid wedding imagery, but we totally heart their creative abilities when it comes to engagement, trash the dress and couples shoots. I mean seriously, what other togs out there are taking brides under water for shoots!? Not many, that’s for sure. The Del Sol team’s technical skills and creative abilities truly are something to envy. Their style of photography is quite edgy, using a unique mixture of scenes and environments to create truly unique imagery. In addition, these guys are masters of the strobes as off camera lighting plays a large part in their photographic style. Their post production style typically boasts a high contrast look brought out with natural colors from the image.

I hope you enjoyed this article, if so, please share the love and feel free to comment and add additional insight below!

By: Lin and Jirsa Wedding Photography, Los Angeles and Orange County Wedding Photographers. Also, authors of Lin and Jirsa Blog

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Every once in a while, an unmistakably unique style comes along in the wedding photography industry. I stumbled upon the work of Anna Kuperberg from the 2009 PopPhoto’s list of the top wedding photographers. Her unique compositions and dramatic use of shadows gives her work a style of its own.

Here’s Anna Kuperberg’s main site: http://kuperbergweddings.com/
Here’s Anna Kuperberg’s blog: http://www.kuperblog.com/
And here’s an interesting feature she added to her blog that shows her equipment.

My favorite quote from Anna Kuperberg is one found in the Pop Photo article: “The challenge is to find a meaningful photo, perhaps with multiple layers and a subtlety or sophistication that isn’t obviously apparent.” I like this quote because it’s very true that there are so many layers to any scene, and it is our job to find those layers and capture it from behind the lens.

By: Lin and Jirsa Wedding Photography, Los Angeles and Orange County Wedding Photographers

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