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During the last book project, I had an idea. I was aware that the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky parked all the newly manufactured Corvettes in a large lot behind the factory
until they were shipped to dealers. I thought that an aerial shot almost straight down would create a great color shot in which the Corvettes would look much like a bunch of M&M’s on the ground.
One early morning I flew up form the Bowling Green airport and made the shot above. It worked and it reinforced the knowledge that sometimes it’s good to try and see things from a different perspective.

I got an interesting email from an acquaintance yesterday asking why I promoted so many other photographers rather than pounding my own chest. He shared that he thought I was a very good photographer, but seldom saw me “promote myself.”

While I very much appreciated the kind words about my photography, I had to think about his question before I answered his email. I know why I don’t go into a lot of self-promotion, but I wasn’t sure how to explain it. It was a good exercise in self evaluation. Let me first say that I don’t think how good you are at any activity, photography, golf, gardening, snow skiing, etc, etc.,
should be judged in any way except how much joy it brings to you and others. If you are a great golfer and love to play, you got your reward. If you grow a garden and you’re thrilled with what you get at harvest time, you got your reward.

reward |riˈwôrd|
noun
a thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement : the holiday was a reward for 40 years’ service with the company | figurative the emotional rewards of being a parent.
• a fair return for good or bad behavior : a slap on the face was his reward for his impudence.

I would like to alter the second part of the definition to say, “a fair return for an effort to excel”.
I think it is fair to hope that if you work very hard at any endeavor and don’t get discouraged when it is not going well, that in the end, you will get the “reward”. Here is the problem with sharing with others what kind of reward you think you should get, it doesn’t really matter to them.
If I work very hard to become a good photographer and I hope to get the reward of joy from the effort, I’m a winner, but if I want the reward of others admiring me, I may be disappointed. Others may not see the world the way I see it, and they may not think what I captured with a camera is not all that special, they are not me. If I’m happy with the photographic results, the process of seeking rewards should end there.

Of course it is very nice when someone says, “I love you images, or that image.” While it is nice, and feels good, it does not fundamentally change me as a person. When I see the work of other photographers and share their work and share about them, it brings me joy to share something that means something to me, but it’s not about me, just about something “I think” is special. It would be not be appropriate for me to be the one to share about how special anything is that I do.

Do I think I’m good at photography, sure, I’ve worked very hard and I think I’ve learned a lot over the last forty years. Does that mean I should shout it from the mountain tops? No need, if someone thinks my work is good, good, if they think it is not very special, that’s fine too, people have the right to think what ever they want to think. Neither evaluation by others changes who I am.

A long time ago in my walk with the Lord, I came to the decision that my life is not about me, but about Him. If I serve Him and are keeping my mind and heart focused on Him, I will not have time to be thinking a great deal about myself. I’m not suggesting that we cannot enjoy our accomplishments, we certainly can, and should. I’m just saying that trying to affect how others think of us is a pretty useless exercise. I want God to love me, and He already does, nothing I can do here will alter His love. I didn’t earn it in the first place, and I can’t elevate it by making a nice
photograph.

the pilgrim

One of the greatest things about my job is the opportunity to meet new photographers and to be inspired by them. Over the last couple of years I’ve introduced you to Richard Small, Jim Begley,
Mark Boris, and many more shooters that inspire me with the not only their work, but also their lives. At Imaging USA a man came to our counter and took out his iPhone and showed me an image that had won the Grand Prize at the gallery showing at that event. I was stunned, I thought to myself, I sure wish I had made that image. That is my personal standard for great work, at least in my eyes, if I truly wish I had made the shot, it is a great image for me. David Jefferey is that kind of a photographer. He only showed me a few images and when I went to his website, below,
I was thrilled with what I saw, but disappointed that there were not more. Not to worry, with the eye and unique approach David has, I’m pretty certain that we will be treated to many more!

http://davidjefferyphotography.com/David_Jeffery/Photos.html#0

While I do not know David very well, in our short meeting I discovered a humble man that loves his craft and works hard to do it well. One thing is for sure, his work knocked my sox off. With his permission I have a few more of his images to share before I wrap this entry up. Enjoy……..

Years ago I did a magazine for an energy company, it was regularly read my a number of well known people, including President Ronald Reagan. I did celebrity interviews in the magazine and over eight years interviewed and photographed more than sixty famous people, including; Red Skelton, Barbara Mandrell, Johnny Unitas, Roger Staubach, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, Don Shula, and many, many others. The thing that always impressed me the most about “some” very famous people was how down to earth they were. They certainly knew that they were highly regarded, but they did not regard themselves so highly. They handled their fame well. So as we see more from David, and his fame among photographers increases, I believe he will handle it well.

I once heard that a man said to someone at a moment of frustration and anger, “Don’t you know who I am?” The other man said, “I’m sorry, I don’t, but would you like to sit down while you figure that out?”

Today’s Prayer: Father, please keep my view of my self in perspective, may I know that my worth is not based on what I have done, but what you did for me. Please cause me to treat others with even more respect, than I would like to receive.

the pilgrim

P.S. Congratulations David, your work is deserving of such high praise. Now let that praise inspire you to work even harder on your craft, the joy is in the journey, not the destination.

Wednesday Weigh in: down three more pounds. Start 239 – Today 233.

*Tech data provided: HDR Images mages processed in Photomatix Pro. Some are pans.

You can’t trust me, I’m just as likely to do this on Tuesday as Friday….. A little explanation, I have an early call for the show in San Antonio tomorrow and then it’s straight to the airport to fly back to Knoxville and then the drive home. I wanted to get this filed before all the mad dashing starts.
Imaging USA is the show I’m working for Nikon and a large number of people have been asking about resolution and sharpness at the booth and I thought maybe this might be something everyone wonders about. The image above is, I think, a good example of a crisp, sharp image. So how do we get sharpness? Let’s examine some factors that contribute to sharpness.

Camera movement: Sharpness is impossible if the camera moves enough to smear the image, simple as that. The answer is to keep the camera completely still during the exposure. The only way to absolutely guarantee that, is affixing the camera to something solid. 99% of the time that would be a tripod. If a tripod is solid (prone not to transfer vibrations, { wood and carbon fiber are the best material for tripod construction }, and is set up in a very stable way and is not influenced by any vibrations from within the environment in which it is placed. Further at the very moment of exposure a cable release (preferably) an electronic one must be fires so as not introduce any shake during the firing of the camera. Environmental circumstances like wind can also introduce unwanted movement. To make things even more complicated the longer the focal length of the lens, the narrower the angle of view and the more movement affects the final image.
For instance if you are shooting with a 24mm lens and there is the slightest of movement during exposure is will only be 1/12 as damaging as the same movement with a 300mm lens! 300 divided by 24 equals 12.5. Vibration Reduction or Image Stabilization may help a great deal, but will not replace the value and effectiveness of a tripod.

Speed of the Shutter: If the shutter takes 1/2 second to open and close, softness due to camera movement is 10 times more likely than a shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second. So it seems apparent that all things being equal, the faster the shutter speed the better your chances of avoiding unsharpness due to movement.

Quality of the lens: The sharper the lens, the higher the detail, the more detail the more apparent sharpness. That’s why extremely high quality lenses matter. I’ve always advised “serious” photographers that it is better to own three exceptional lenses than ten that are so-so. Fact that hurts, quality costs, if it’s too cheap to believe, don’t believe it. Pro lenses are designed for Pros, they are made better, designed more carefully, and are tack sharp out of the box, and more importantly, are much more likely to stay that way after years of hard use. ED elements, and Aspheric elements are not cheap, but they are often necessary to make lenses perform the way you expect them too. Coatings matter too, and usually only the best Pro grade lenses will get such high tech coatings such as Nikon’s Nano coatings.

Direction of the light: Light that strikes the subject from the side will create shadows that reveal texture and enhance the appearance of sharpness.

The resolution of the camera: If everything else is equal, a 24 mega pixel 35mm size sensor camera will make images that look sharper than a 12 mega pixel 35mm size sensor camera. However 16 mega pixels on a DX size sensor (smaller sensor) may have more apparent sharpness than even the 24 mega pixels camera, this is called “pixel resolution”, how tightly the pixels are packed on the sensor.

Technique: Good technique is all the things we have discussed above. If you have a high resolution camera, outfitted with a superb, clean, lens, mounted on a solid tripod, properly set up, and fired by a vibrationless electronic release in calm air on ground that is rock solid. Further if the lens is properly focused on the exact part of the subject you desire to be sharp in the final image,
the image should be sharp, unless the subject moves at the moment of exposure fast enough to cause blur.

Have said all of that, it seems a miracle if we ever get a sharp image! However, the more we pay attention to those things above the better the chances that we can consistently make sharp images.
The image at the top? Sit down. Shot hand held, with a Nikon D70 (6 mega pixel) camera. Hey even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while. Below I’ve offered some evidence that the above suggestions work.

Enjoy and God bless,

the pilgrim

Good technique, sharp lenses, a solid tripod = sharpness. It’s worth it………..

God bless,

the pilgrim

I find this life trying and difficult sometimes, but when I remember that I’m walking with Him the waters become calm. We’ve all heard the story from scripture about the disciples being out on the sea when a giant storm arises, they are afraid for their very lives. In terror they awaken Jesus and ask Him what to do, He rises from His sleep and tells the waves to calm, and they did! Just think about that for a moment, a raging sea, is there anything more dangerous or more uncontrollable? Who but the Son of God could do such a thing.

When your life seems to be folding in on you and there seems like no way out, remember that Jesus calmed the seas. This is not just a great story from the Bible, it’s an example for us to remember when we see no solution to our problems, that Jesus has provided that solution. Think of this, Jesus is the Son of the Living God, and He was here when the world began, we are talking about the creator of the Universe, and He came to earth and lived as a human, was falsely accused, tried, and convicted of crimes He never committed, and then nailed to a cross. The Son of God, who was so powerful He could have defeated every enemy with the raising of one hand, didn’t. He submitted to everything that was done to Him for you and I. He accepted the the punishment for everything we have ever done, and He did it all for us. When He died on the cross, he paid the debt for all of our sins.

He then rose from the dead and declared us innocent and forgiven. The peace and stillness that comes from knowing Him, can calm any storm that comes into our lives.

Thank you Father for the forgiveness I don’t deserve, but most graciously, and thankfully accept!!!!!

the pilgrim

*Photo Note: Boat on pond, Maine, D3, 70-300 AFS VR lens. Original image in color, converted to B&W with Nik Silver Efex Pro.