I recently came upon this article titled "The "Nice Shot" Comment Myth" over on the DIYPhotography.net website which I thought was important enough to share with all of you. I highly suggest that you give it a good read and also take in the comments which are posted on the article itself. It's a very interesting read and one which I find relates directly to DA. I know that many times this is a topic of conversation and one which I have always thought about. I fully agree with the author however in that every comment is a meaningful one and I get his gist of what he is saying and has to say. 

I wanted to invite you all to read a article I recently penned over on my photoblog titled "The Long Road-An Editorial" [link]
I think a great many of you will be able to relate to this, big time.
It is interesting to see "outside the box" if you will when it comes to photography and it is also interesting to have your eyes opened up to things as well.
I would encourage you all to leave a comment if you would like and tell me your thoughts. You can subscribe to my photoblog as well.
Just remember, it isn't about favs, it isn't page views, it's about YOU in your artistic journey as it relates to photography.
Never give up and never stop shooting.
---John

Quick shout out to for redesigning my photoblog. Again, thank you.

A heads up. I see DA is promoting a new contest titled ""A Calendar of Tales" [link] and I am here to tell you that there is no way you should even consider entering this by any means.
Shame on you DA for not explaining the terms of this contest in your journal entry that everyone on the site sees....it ain't right.
While this contest sounds all good it is anything BUT.
Want to lose your copyright? How about allowing derivative works being made from your submitted art?
This is, by it's very definition, nothing but a "rights grab" and only a "rights grab".

Looking through the submission guidelines for the contest which are found here on the bottom of the submission page in a tiny link [link] (scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to "terms and conditions" and click) you see this;


LICENSING OF SUBMISSIONS/GRANT OF RIGHTS: By participating in this Promotion, and to the extent allowed by law, participants (i) grant a worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive, sub-licensable (including the right to sublicense to further third parties), unconditional, fully paid-up and transferable license to use his/her first name, last name and create derivative works of all Submissions (whether acceptable or not, regardless of the form they take, and including, without limitation, any and all copyrights, trademarks, contract and licensing rights, moral rights or "droit moral" and other intellectual property and proprietary rights in Submissions) to RIM, (ii) agree that RIM may license and assign all such rights to Ambassador and others (collectively "Licensees"), (iii) grant RIM and Licensees the absolute right and permission to edit, modify, cut, rearrange, add to, delete from, reproduce, encode, store, transmit, produce, publish, rent, lease, distribute (directly or indirectly through multiple tiers), post, broadcast, publicly perform or display, adapt, exhibit and/or otherwise use or reuse or exploit (without limitation as to when or to the number of times used) and use the content of and elements embodied in the Submissions and the Submissions themselves in perpetuity (except in France, for the duration of rights) in any and all media including but not limited to digital and electronic media, television, cinema, computer, DVD, CD, Competition Site(s), print, audio and audiovisual media (whether now existing or hereafter devised), in any language, throughout the world, and in any manner, for trade, advertising, promotional, commercial, or any other purposes without further review, notice, approval, consideration or compensation to participant or any third party, (iv) shall execute and deliver documents, at RIM's expense, requested by RIM or as may be necessary to vest in RIM the rights and waivers provided herein, (v) agree that email may satisfy any writing requirement that may apply to the assignment, conveyance, transfer, license, or waiver of any of the aforementioned rights, (vi) waive and release RIM from any and all claims that participants may now or hereafter have in any jurisdiction based on "moral rights" or "droit moral" or unfair competition with respect to RIM's exploitation of Submissions without further compensation to participants of any kind, (vii) agree not to instigate, support, maintain, or authorize any action, claim, or lawsuit against RIM or Licensees, or any other person, on the grounds that any use of any Submission, or any derivative works, infringe or violate any of participants' rights therein, and (viii) agree that RIM and Licensees shall have the right and permission to use the name, photograph, twitter handle (if applicable), testimonial or other likeness or personal exposition of a participant (and/or any edited portion thereof) for promotional, advertising and/or publicity purposes in any media, now or hereafter known throughout the world in perpetuity, without compensation or notice to, or further consent of, any participant to the extent permitted by law. Participants also agree that RIM may have access to, may have created, or may in the future create designs, ideas and concepts that may have familiarities or similarities to his/her Submission, and that he/she will not be entitled to any compensation or right to negotiate with the RIM because of these familiarities or similarities.

Shame on you DA for even promoting a contest which completely takes advantage of artists....that ain't right!!!!!! As a website you have a duty to uphold to your members and to not sucker punch them with stuff like this.....sigh....this disgusts me.

Now you know.

Stay the hell away.

So, I was just kind of looking around here this AM and noticed that many of the people I used to follow have left DA, many of the groups I used to belong to are inactive and sit dormant. I figured at some point this would probably happen and it just sort of hit me this AM how much it has happened. many it seems have moved to G+, facebook, 500px and flickr (flickr, who by the way, gave everybody a free 3 month premium membership for Christmas) I have been spending some time over on flickr lately and I forgot just how valuable that site is and how good it really is. Groups there are simply amazing and the wealth of knowledge and info is amazing within the forums of the groups (something which members of DA have been asking for since day 1 and still, no forums inside groups here ) Check out the Adobe Lightroom group as an example [link]  call me crazy but I get excited by that sort of thing.

I started to wonder though who was still alive around here and thought that many of you who comment on my images, I genuinely don't know. Many of you I have never seen before and I suppose in some ways that is my own doing these days as I am not all that active on here 9compared to the days when I would spend upwards of 8+ hours on here....insane huh? What was I thinking 5 years ago???) but wanted to know "who" you were. So let's hear it, who's who!
---John

Just a heads up.
I was recently interviewed for 'Project Educate' here on DA and that interview with me titled 'Why I Do Art' is now posted and can be read here [link]
In it I talk about photography, why I do what I do and what it means to me personally. I answered such questions as 'What is it about photography that still keeps you going with it too this day?' and 'What advice would you give to other aspiring photographers who may be feeling discouraged by a lack of feedback for their own work?' among others.

Go check it out!
---John

Thought that I would write something real fast and give you guys an idea for the next time you are out shooting!

Now, with that being said and out of the way, I have a little photo tip for you all and hopefully this will throw some ideas into your head. one of the things which I love to do is use a very long lens to study the landscape. Think 300mm and longer here. Of course this requires a tripod to really get a sharp shot and usually fstops at around f16. This though opens up a whole new world to you and your images. In a sense it is similar to photographing macro images in that you start to see things, details, which you never would notice in the first place. A whole world of textures, patterns, light, color and intimate details starts to open up to you. These are what I call "compression landscapes". they are simply a blast to take and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the world which starts to open to you.  It's pretty amazing! below I have gone ahead and shared a few pieces where I have used this technique.

I hope this helps some of you out and makes you think outside the box some.
I leave you all with a random thought this Sunday morning.

"Judge Not, Least Ye Be Judged Yourself" So the next time you decide to weigh into something you know nothing about, please try not to look as beautiful as a dog who has their ass shaved and is walking backwards. Just sayin'.  Some really need to see a psychologist. Oh wait....
John

"I am not interested in showing my work to photographers any more, but to people outside the photo-clique. My pictures are not escapes from reality, but a contemplation of reality, so that I can experience life in a deeper way." - Bruce Davidson - 1968 [cited in: Creative Camera April 1970, p. 104]

That is my sort of thinking!
---John

Today over on photoblog I examined why you should never give up on your photography in spite of the criticism you might receive telling you that you should just give up or stop photography all together. No matter what people say to you about your work, never ever give up. I invite you all to read it, I know there are some of you right now reading my journal who feel this very way.
Link --- [link]

John

I stumbled upon this tutorial yesterday and thought that some of you may be interested in this. I haven't tried this myself but it does look rather interesting. The only ND filters I own are two ND8's though I have wanted a ND400 for awhile now and probably will get one shortly. I am rather impressed with the end results of this tutorial and considering how much something like a Lee Big Stopper filter costs, it would seem that this is a viable alternative. In a way the workflow is similar to a HDR workflow involving several images but that is about where that comparison ends.  I am VERY curious though and will have to try this out for myself in the days to come.

Link here [link]

Speaking of long exposures and filters, I have another one for you all as well. Not so much a tutorial but rather a little chart which shows exposure times and shutter speed times when using a 10 stop filter (Lee Big Stopper or B&W 110) This makes things pretty easy instead of having to do the math in your head.

Link here [link]

---John

Kind of. Not really though. 

Fall is finally starting to wind down some and for this photographer it has been my most successful Autumn to date. Over 20,000 images taken and finally a little downtime. I have been going like a madman for over a month now. I spent most of my time in the northern and central Colorado Rockies, held a photo meetup over 2 weekends in Rocky Mountain National Park and shot up there for almost 2 weeks straight. Traversed in rural areas of Park, Summit, Gilpin, Teller, Boulder, Larimer and Clear Creek counties seeking out unseen and undiscovered photo subject matter and am now just starting to wrap up photographing our state parks.  It my friends has been super productive year! To say I will be busy all winter processing is probably an understatement lol So that explains why I haven't been around here much at all or any other site really at all. I have been however posting my work on my facebook photography page and in time I will be uploading it here as well. 

One of the things I can't stand is seeing people suffer and I mean suffer. It is even harder when that person is so utterly close to you. Many of you know my x girlfriend =ibjennyjenny and right now I want to take a moment and ask you all to read her journal please [link] It is a scary thing when you are watching your whole world completely crumble and fall apart and feel so utterly helpless to do anything about it. From not knowing where your next meal will come from to having the heat and electricity turned off in your house. It is even worse when you are a parent to a young child and don't know how you are going to feed her or even be able to get her to school because you can't the gas in your car to take her there. (there are no buses where Jen lives as she is in the rural country mountains in California)

If you all can take the time and read her journal, I would appreciate it. She would appreciate it. her daughter would appreciate it.

Thank you everybody, a lot.
---John

Where to begin....

You know what someone should do?
Create a running list of groups which are nothing short of assholes.
I recently has the "pleasure" of running into 2 such groups ran by the same person which were "animal based" groups, who apparently thinks that they are all that when it comes to wildlife photography. Yeah...because you take a few snapshots of a badly composed Bald Eagle in a zoo along with poorly lit photos of your cat, you suddenly think you are the be all and and all when it comes to photographing animals in the wild. Needless to say they got schooled.

This is one of the biggest problems with DA, you have kids running around here thinking that they are "all that" in a group environment. Pissing people off constantly. Most don't even know how to use the correct Fstop or things like EV compensation when shooting and probably shoot in "Running man mode" when taking a picture. It is pretty sad really, that these people are in the position in which they feel like they are some sort of authority and yet do not know a dang thing.

I am really tempted to name these 2 groups so the rest of you don't have to deal with the idiocy which they are. However I am above that and if you want to know, simply ask and I will note you their names so you can avoid them. Meanwhile I will sit around and daydream how I wish groups on DA were like flickr.
---John

You know, it really is kind of funny. I am sitting here and kind of giggling about a few things. I remember it wasn't so long ago, a few years back, when I was talk trash about facebook with how much it basically stunk like the inside of a barn. Want to know something, I am going to let you in on a little secret. I have more penetration of the general public on facebook with my photography page  than anywhere else on the entire internet, including my personal website. True story. Notice the keyword there? "General public". This allows for my work to be seen by a much wider audience than what you would find than say here on DA. here on DA it isn't so much the general public who comments and sees my work but rather fellow artists. Make sense? Still with me? I also think that on facebook I am starting to build an audience for my wildlife photography which I have always found is rather lacking here on DA. Interesting. 

It took me awhile to write this because quite frankly I just haven't really had in me, tough stuff.

I have stuff and a whole lot of it to share. Hold tight! It was submitted to the APN group here on DA. In it, I examine some things from my photography from the past and compare it to the here and now. I examine how I have changed and how my technique has changed and how I have learned from my mistakes behind the camera. If you can, check it out. It may help some of you who are just starting out. 

"Big wheels keep on turnin', proud Mary keeps on rollin!"
Just wanted to share with you all that I am going to be interviewed about my photography for Digital Camera World Magazine [link]
They have gone ahead and contacted me requesting an interview and several of my photographs. Pretty neat! I am dang well excited!

In other news;

I am meeting with TCF Bank today to discuss "when, where, exact locations, etc etc" as far as my hangings go in their Denver area branch offices.

Got a query from a design agency requesting a very old shot of mine taken back in like 2005 who wants to blow it up to 90 feet for a commercial advertising store display. It was taken on my old Minolta 5D. That is one heck of a blow up, I am not even sure it will work...maybe through the use of Genuine Fractals or something....?

Lastly, I think in the coming days I may be doing the hardest thing I have ever had to do for Klaus. Many of you know him, many of you don't, but he is my best friend in the entire world, my German Shepherd and right now he is very very sick. We shall see, I just know that I am very worried.

---John