Practiced by many African cultures, scarifying the skin is akin to making a tattoo, but involves scratching, etching, burning / branding, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification. And after asking many who have done it,...

UNDERSTANDING FLASH I received this question three times in past two days so time to answer it again. How does a photographer combine a flash exposure for subject in ‘shade’ and also set a correct exposure for the bright blue sky? Rule 1) ALWAYS...

Motion fascinates me, particularly motion and it’s role in photography. Photographers, when presented with motion opportunities have the option of FREEZING that motion into a stark, sharply defined subject to allow the viewer an exacting detail of that captured motion i.e. an Eagle’s talons,...

The Greek Mean, the Rule of Thirds, the Golden Section, all described what is essentially the division of a piece of photographic film, the digital sensor or a painters canvas into ‘thirds’, a suggestion that the frame be divided by a bottom third and...

Lalibella, Ethiopia, famed for its ‘rock churches’ literally carved out of the rocky hillsides by “forty-thousand laborers by day, and thousands of angels by night” creating Seven rock churches, connected by narrow passageways, uneven stairs and archways, some of which are too narrow, too...

Eight years in the making, veering off onto the roads less traveled, the backroads of Provence, France, hundreds of miles of backroads, most of which I have traveled, at times alone, at other times with students, with my daughters, or with models, and on...

He has 20/20 vision, but he ‘suffers’ from a melanin gene mutation called Waardenberg Syndrome which affects the pigment in developing eye color, a condition that affects on average, 1 in 40,000 births, a condition that renders a stark cyan color. His name is...

When was the last time you photographed the wind? During my Key West Workshop, Nancy Allen, a student and willing model, posed for my other students and myself, a she looked out of one of the many openings in the walls at Ft. Zachery,...

It can be a WONDER-FULL WORLD in which we live.  Nikon D850, 24-120mm, F/[email protected]/200 100 ISO Daylight/Sunny WB Nikkor 24-120mm @72mm F/[email protected]/160 320 ISO Mark Favorite

Filtered dappled light, often created by surrounding trees, often appearing when “the sun is too high in the sky” and of course when the sun is too high in the sky, the inference is ‘lousy, bad light’. Obviously, I disagree. This little girl and...

This is a face of a really really really nice man. And when you meet the face of a really really really nice man you feel compelled to do a really really really simple frame filling composition against the calming background colors of soft...

It was all new to me, the Yukon Territories and I had no idea where this particular road would take me, other then up, up higher into the woods. I measured the risk to be extremely low, and both figuratively and literally, the potential...

Fortuitous: to come upon something visually wonderful and having the right equipment to get the shot and then doubly fortuitous to discover later that one of the young man’s shirts is also red/white striped. Absolutely LOVE Varanasi, especially now that they have hired several...

A bit of nostalgia here, a wall mounted gum ball machine, mounted outside, to the wall of a grocery store, in a small village in what was the country, DDR, or better known as East Germany, which I entered shortly after the fall of...

My daughter Chloë, under a small ‘waterfall’ at the hotel pool in Cancun. A front lit ‘portrait’ with the exposure emphasis on shutter speed, not aperture, because my primary interest was to freeze the water, so with 200 ISO, and my shutter speed set...

While setting up my camera and lens to shoot these three windmills from the bridge that crosses this particular dike in Rustenburg, Holland, I heard an unexpected and loud splash behind me, a splash that would soon be making its presence known in front...

We ‘write’ stories and one of the most often over-looked ‘writing instruments’ that every photographer has at their disposal is choices in shutter speed. On this day, in Mandalay, Myanmar I came upon an area in a local vegetable market where onions seemed to...

It was during a somber visit to a Somalian refuge camp that I enjoyed a brief, light-hearted moment when I came upon an unusually large and tall camel, a camel so tall that I easily stood underneath its long vertically extended neck and while...

This is another recent scan of a 35mm slide, shot in the year 90 or 1991, in West Friesland, Holland. It was about 30 minutes before sunrise; the moon was on its way to setting in the west. I have shot these same three...

This is truly a “one of a kind” photo and it has earned this distinction NOT because of anything I did, but first, a very brief history; the image was taken in 2006, on 35mm film, Kodak E100VS, and a few months ago, I...

An early Saturday morning, my students and myself cane upon a long narrow ‘fountain’, made of black marble, upon which a reflection from a nearby, front-lit building, a bit of blue sky, and it was then I remarked to one if the students, “We...

I return to Ethiopia’s Omo Valley in two weeks, returning to continue my personal project of photographing members of the Karo, Hamar, Arbore, Surmi and Mursi tribes. For the most part, I am choosing to photograph these portraits against a black background, with a...

The similarities between these two images are uncanny, a landscape in Holland, a people-scape in Las Vegas, both images are all about line, shape and color. See the noun, shoot the adjective! Both images, Nikon D810, Nikkor 14-24mm, Daylight WB Mark Favorite

Taungthaman Lake, just a few minutes from downtown Mandalay, Myanmar, you arrive at 4:30am, a few dogs are barking, a distant splash on the water is heard, you turn your head to the right, and you see the first of several lone fishermen in...

As I’ve said on several occasions, I am NOT a wildlife photographer, but IF I see ‘wildlife’, sure, I’ll probably get off a shot or two, but on this day, a day of heavy overcast and occasional rain showers, I spotted a lone eagle...

Season Greetings and Happy Holidays to all of you that do! Thank you SO MUCH for all of your follows, likes, comments, critiques and DM’s. Safe travels, keep the faith and you keep shooting! Winter scene photographed during last light of sunset, northern French...

Macro photography tells us to ALWAYS be parallel to your subject and always use F/16-F/32 to record exacting sharpness, but don’t forget that anytime you hear ALWAYS, consider doing the opposite. Shooting this spider web at a perpendicular angle and with a relatively large...

A landfill, garbage, not food, but industrial ‘garbage’, broken tiles, cement blocks, wire mesh, worn pipes, rotted wood, empty paint buckets, defective ladders and shards of broken glass, both large and small, yet here amongst the ‘garbage’ a daisy blooms, in stark contrast to...

“Where’s the bicyclist? Where’s the jogger? Doesn’t ANYONE take morning walks around here? And where is the farmer normally seen behind the wheel of his 1960 CV Citroen?!?!?!???” The frustration was real as were the questions I was asking myself after setting up this...

I discovered early in my photographic career that I was not cut out to be a wildlife photographer. I didn’t have the patience that is so often necessary to get the perfect wildlife shot, yet while shooting in San Francisco recently, it occurred to...

I am not a fan of cold weather but I cannot argue with the MANY photo opportunities that only cold weather can create, including freezing rain! So, put on the warm clothes, gloves and pocket warmers and you keep shooting! Mark Favorite

Alone, just me, no other photographers, the only witness on this morning, sunrise, 5:23am, West Friesland, Holland north of Rustenberg, one of many small villages next to the long dike, where also a scattering of windmills bear witness to a time gone by! Some...

How does one honor the utter stillness of the forest, the peaceful silence, rarely interrupted, yet a welcomed interruption by the cheerful melody of a nearby white-crowned sparrow? The forest floor has become quite the canvas; short grasses and moss mounds, patches of lichen...

The famous town of Oia, on the island of Santorini, Greece, you’ve been there, you’ve ‘fought’ the crowds, you now claim that half square meter of real estate as your ‘spot’, and finally, as the sun dips towards, the horizon and then below the...

Sunday morning church services in Lalibellla, Ethiopia, a morning photo shoot starting with a 4am alarm. Arriving at one of the seven rock churches, literally carved out of the rocky terrain, the morning begins to unfold. It’s now 5:15am, too early for natural light,...

“Fifteen seconds MAX!” That’s really all the time you’ll need to create those welcomed dramatic exposures when rush hour traffic coincides with the light of dusk or dawn. ( short video clip of Boston traffic). Any longer exposures i.e. twenty, thirty seconds is over-kill as...

The awakening to another amazing day in Ethiopia and am so mindful of what a truly fortunate man I am and how extremely grateful I feel for such a blessed life, a life that began in earnest almost immediately, when my oldest brother placed...

Mesmerized? Hypnotized? Spellbound? Captivated? Dazzled? Transfixed? Enchanted? Gripped? Moved? Charmed?...it was her ashen face, literally, ashes, from a spent fire, combined with her gaze, a gaze that shot out from the surrounds of a thick black cloth that provided some degree of warmth on...

Several minutes prior to shooting this frame, a frame of two brothers and the one brothers wife, the young girl in red, the young red ‘jumper’ had entered this lavender painted farmhouse, through the window to ‘hide’ from my camera, fearful of seeing the ‘ghost’...

Some houses in this small Ethiopian village, about sixty miles south of the capital, Addis Ababa, were painted in very bright colors, pink, cyan or in the case of this house, lime green, while other houses in the village went unpainted. I was quick...

We all have our favorite images. Some of my favorite images were taken by other photographers while a few favorite images were taken by myself and todays post, an image taken by myself is one of my favorites. I lived in France for nine...

He is a seamstress, 24/7...They say in business location is everything...his shop is right next door to the used clothing market...smart man! And of course he has that once empty wall behind him, so why not sell it as advertising space to none other...

Wandering the streets of New York, wondering what I might find, excited, anxious, hopeful, wandering, wondering no more...sidelight, light and shadow and of course color, meter for highlight, Sunny 16, shadows go dark, my mood, bright! Nikon D810, Nikkor [email protected], F/[email protected]/200, 400 ISO Daylight...

A quick shot, and the quick backstory; Natt and I were in a mansion in Delhi, a mansion that I had found on AirBnB, a mansion with art on most every wall, some of the art was ‘haunting’... “Damn...come quick, we got some great...

Welcome to the information age, where questions find answers and answers lead to more questions, NO shortage of information available to us all, accessible in print or electronically...choose wisely. Nikon D500, Nikkor 18-300, F/11, 1/125 3200 ISO, NewYork, 34th/8thAve Subway Station Mark Favorite

Of the many many images I captured during my three days in Varanasi last March, the images I captured of the constant activity along the banks of the Ganges River, (while seated/standing in my hired row boat), remain my favorites, this image of course...

They are called barn doors, the lightweight metal pieces that are attached to my 10”x4” Bi-Color LED light, and with my exposure set for the brighter light that is being emitted by my LED, a narrow slit of light that is passing through the...

I recently added another IPhone Max XS to my workflow and when setting it up, ‘the Cloud’ loaded a number of videos I thought I had lost, including a short video I shot 18 months ago at a textile factory in Mandalay, Myanmar, a...

Ahhh, snap, look what I just came across in my Provence folder Summer 2019!  Since international travel has been halted, just for fun let’s pretend it’s already July 13th, 2021 in Provence, France, atop the Valensole Plain and yep, this is one of many...

No one likes to hear the sound of a bird hitting a window since it almost always means the bird is dead, the result of a broken neck, which was the case when an female house finch flew into living room window of a...

Immediately upon seeing the glowing red escalator inside the EmQuartier Mall in Bangkok, my plans for that afternoon changed-shoot NOW, shop later and after riding the escalator to the top floor, where the Cinema’s are found, I chose a somewhat straight down point of...

After a relatively short climb, the wide path quickly opens up into a small terrace and after counting nine cats, your first thought might be that you have stumbled upon a shelter for cats, when in fact these nine cats are waiting, with certainty,...

East of the Rockies, from mid-summer to fall, photographers play cat and mouse with the beautiful Monarch butterflies, butterflies whose unmistakeable orange wings and their black veining are bring a ‘smile’ to both backyard gardens and wild meadows everywhere, but by late October, seeming...

Green is youthful, hopeful, promising, new beginnings, healthy, vitality, symbolic of fertility...and of course the symbol of spring ...Wishful thinking is arguably healthy 😉 Mark Favorite

Happy Monday...that’s it! I’m in a great mood, but in no mood to write...another one of those Dutch landscapes from last April. No one wonder the Dutch Masters felt compelled to put paint to canvas! Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-120mm F/[email protected]/200 200 ISO DAYLIGHT WB...

I’m throwing caution to the wind, ALL WEEKEND! I will share my results on Monday, if notable...however you choose to spend your weekend, may a portion of it add to your legacy...you keep shooting! Mark Favorite

A million years ago, there was an explosion, actually an eruption, a volcanic eruption, spewing lava and rocks of all sizes onto the desolate valley floor. Then just two years ago, one of these rocks, a small rock, a hand throwing size rock, a...

IF this photograph were to be used as an advertisement, do you feel it would be best used for a men’s cologne or a women’s perfume? I have often lectured on the power of line, the symbolism of line, as well as lectured and...

The calm, the quiet, of the horizontal lines, interrupted, briefly, by the brisk upright vertical line of a man, a man seeming to walk with purpose, a man on a mission, gone in three seconds, but his time inside this frame, frozen, 1/400 sec.,...

I first met this young woman from the Karo tribe of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley last year, while camping for several days in her village. It was the first of two days that I had photographed her at midday, under a large Acacia tree, whose...

When I accepted just how hard life can be, with all of it’s expected and unexpected ups and downs, life got a little easier, and along the way, I’ve learned to take time out, if only for a few minutes, to just stop and...

I wanted to re-visit the WB settings/questions I often hear in my photography workshops. The option to change/choose the WB, at ant given moment is probably my second most liked feature of shooting digitally. (Changing ISO, from one shot to the next if I...

Mandalay, Myanmar, a textile factory where bundles of thick white cotton threads are dyed in vivid and various rainbow colors then hung out to dry on long bamboo poles, rows and rows of long bamboo poles, bamboo poles ‘dripping’ with color, bamboo poles whose...

A chance meeting of like colors on the streets of Chandni Chowk, Delhi...right place, right time. Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-120mm F/[email protected]/320, 1250 ISO, Daylight/Sunny WB Mark Favorite

Okay, so let’s just cut to the chase and address the elephant in the room; “yes this is a ‘corny’ portrait!” and now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the compositional power of all that corn, corn that is...

We had a great time in my recent Chicago workshop, and although it felt at times bitterly cold, Crown Fountain was running at full strength and there was no shortage of subjects, albeit not in summer attire, where one could create splendid compositions of...

When a leaf falls from a tree branch and onto the hood of a mini-van, (photo below) does it make a sound? Hmmmmh...you tell me. Nikon D810, Nikkor [email protected], F/1[email protected]/60 sec. 200 ISO, Daylight/Sunny WB Mark Favorite

It’s almost every week, somewhere in the world, that I’m either out with a group of photographers or I happen to be in the area where a group of photographers are hanging out, so it makes sense that should have a fairly good collection...

If contrast is your thing, then here is the perfect ‘storm’; remember the last time you photographed a sunset/sunrise and anything or anyone in front of the sunrise/sunset was rendered a silhouette? The reason for that was simple; the background (the sunset/sunrise) was far...

My intent was simple enough; compose a composition of LINES, lines in this case that would be comprised of vertical trees that lined a narrow country lane in West Friesland Holland, vertical lines against the solid blue color of the northern sky, a blue...

Further proof that color is everywhere, ... and when composing this portrait at a Hindu Temple in Jaipur, India, I chose a point of view that would allow me to incorporate the bright orange/yellow blanket into the background, (blanket can be seen hanging in...

Just dreaming about my Boston Photo Workshop with fabulous fall weather and the stunning colors! Here is an image that will surprise many, IF only because it was made with my Nikkor 18-300mm at 300mm, and at the WIDEST OPEN aperture of F/6.3 when...

When two worlds collide...an amazing evening, to photograph a full moon rising on Inle Lake, Myanmar, but where was the fisherman...None to be found, but then, the next morning, I see him, his right leg, wrapped around the lone oar, gliding across the still...

A low point of view, camera/lens on tripod, an image of Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse, Nova Scotia, an image that consists of 74 single images, each a 30-second exposure of the night sky and lighthouse and then I combined them with just one 30-second exposure...

Several weeks ago, I was struck with the realization that beginning with the cover photo of the original first edition of my book Understanding Exposure, and to present day, pigeon’s seem to show up often, in some cases the pigeons are an integral part...

‘Panning’ the streets, at a 1/15 second in the area of the always colorful and beautifully chaotic Times Square New York. You keep shooting! Mark Favorite

Make it a point to carry both a black piece of fabric and a colored piece of fabric with you and when the need arises, and your backgrounds are quickly transformed into studio like seamless backgrounds. Any concerns about the additional weight of several...

This FIRST image is a 9-shot IN CAMERA multiple exposure. The SECOND image is a single exposure of the colorful scene you see here AND finally, a 16 second video, showing you how its done. IF you have a Canon 6-D, or 7-D mark...

Let’s keep it short and just cut to the chase and address the importance of and willingness to consider a change in point of view, such as what does a group of backlit silhouetted tourists walking along the Venice Boardwalk look like when the...

Upgraded to a first class window seat, new Airbus A340, super clean window and my trusty Nikon D500 with its even trustier, 18-300mm, flying into Seattle, towards sunset, having just made the turn towards the south, looking out west as we fly over the...

If you remember the 60’s you weren’t there, so it is with a degree of caution, that I volunteer a fog like memory from 1967 of reading The Illiad and the Odyssey, having a fascination with the seductive powers of the singing ‘Sirens’, and...

No trip to Bhutan is complete unless it includes a visit to the world’s largest sitting bronze Buddha, AND if you are lucky enough to be there during or shortly after a rain shower you will now want to set the camera directly onto...

It was at Seal Rock, along Oregon’s, where way off in the distance, at the top left of this image where I left behind a great deal of frustration, the frustration of imperfect timing, the frustration of watching large ocean surf exploding against those...

It wasn’t until this particular afternoon in Old Dubai where I was reminded once again just how powerful the color orange is and I say reminded, because the color orange is really not that commonly seen, outside of flowers and sunsets, and for those...

A funny play on words, the Nikon acronym, CH, which means “Continuous High”, a reference to the rapid firing frame rate of Nikon’s camera’s when CH is selected, a selection I have found to be seldom used by many of my workshop students initially,...

I feel extremely grateful to all of you who follow me here. Your comments, criticisms and overall support is greatly appreciated! Today, I wanted to share some anticipated news with all of you which is that I have just finished writing the final paragraph...

In the town of Oia, on the west end of the island of Santorini, Greece, it is quite common to witness photographers and the newlywed couples that hired them, being photographed in celebration of their wedding day and on one such morning, I came...

Expect the unexpected! In celebration of Cats on People’s Heads Photography Day, I present this portrait of a brightly dressed woman and her kitten, photographed in open shade against one of the countless colorfully painted walls inside the ‘old city’ of Harar, Ethiopia! If...

Hey it’s International Show the Color Red Photography Day, (and yes I just made that up), but none the less, three cheers for the color RED and while you’re at it, say “Hi” to Michele! If you’ve taken classes at my on-line school, you’ve...

If patience is a virtue, then street photography is the place to become virtuous! In all my years of shooting, nothing comes close to having your patience challenged more than the act of street photography...similar to shooting wildlife on the plains of Africa, where...

What should your exposure be? Your exposure should not only be correct but it should be the most creatively correct exposure too! Every scene offers up a multitude of correct exposures i.e. a front-lit scene with 100 ISO, can be correctly exposed at F/[email protected]/100,...

The Nikkor 50mm F1.4, was the only lens that I could afford at the time, the only lens that I had during those first 7 months of what was the start of my photographic learning, 35+ years ago and as difficult as it may...

Inlee Lake, Myanmar...a chance to get a front row seat of ‘the fishermen water ballet’, a surprisingly easy photo shoot! You will need to hire a ‘long boat/driver’ who will then pick you up at your lakeside hotel, and within minutes, you are soon...

How do you create ‘that look’ when shooting portraits? Perhaps an example that may feel a bit too extreme for some, but certainly one that has proven effective for me, over and over, is to suggest to the person you are shooting that they...

We were having one of those “best places for photos” discussions and if you know me, my answer is always the same, “bloom where you are planted”, but then the conversation got specific, as in “best places for sunrises and sunsets, and I surprised...

Venice, Italy, living the dream and it’s great to be back! A slow shutter speed of a 1/30 sec. coincided with the unexpected emergence of the flapping wings of three seagulls as they flew towards the setting sun, thus the blur and while the...

It’s no secret I love color, so it should come as no surprise that I plan my entire year around India’s Holi Festival or what I affectionately call, India’s Festival of Colors on Steroids, and despite the festival lasting but one day, the colors...

From the bar at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, situated atop the tallest hill in Muscat, Oman, the view of the ocean below is truly impressive, especially nearing sunset and as luck would have it, a lone male figure appeared on the beach below, a...

Most of us have come across the old car or perhaps it was an old truck, abandoned years ago, under what is now an even larger oak tree...and what was it about that old vehicle that fueled your passion for image making; the fading...

Summer of 2018, this really was my FIRST rodeo, and as is often the case when shooting sports, including rodeos, the normal train of thought is to emphasize those fast, fleeting moments, to freeze the action at its peak, (Image#2/#3) allowing the viewer to...

I believe it was 1975, give or take a year, when I was in downtown Portland, Oregon venturing WAY OUT of my ‘shoot only nature’ comfort zone, attempting my first ever full day of street photography and as this day progressed, I could feel...

Would you like to know a really simple idea that just might help in sharpening up your vision? This weekend, consider looking for and then creating compositions that are first and foremost all about the ADJECTIVE and not the noun! Here are two examples!...

Years ago I discovered dew drops are like a fish-eye lens in that they record the scene BEHIND them. And it was a few years later that I hit upon the idea where I could use a glass top lamp table, that has not...

A summer without sunflowers just wouldn’t be summer and I hate the reminder but the calendar says another great ‘summer to remember’ is coming to a close, but damn, where did the time go?...Thanks so much to all of my fellow photographers for your...

Can I offer just one invaluable tip that all of the frustrated wide-angle lens shooters could use? You bet and here it is: “Embrace the FACT that your wide-angle lens can focus remarkably close, as close as 9” in some cases, which should be...

LEARN MORE If you are like most photographers, you can remember the photo that changed you forever a single moment captured in time that captivated you and spawned the inception of your photography journey. It's where your desire to create images that might be...

Arguably, the people of India as well as the landscapes and cityscapes, are the most colorful in the world, and some days, some mornings, some very brief morning minutes, no, make that brief seconds on this morning, you cross paths with one colorful individual,...

Ahhhhh, the power of red! An otherwise monochromatic ‘sentence’ ends with an exclamation point, a red exclamation point no less! When setting your camera’s meter reading for snow scene’s, make sure you end up at a one stop over-exposure, (+1) as this will always...

Could not tell you what all the celebration was about, but I was certainly elated to come upon this couple appearing to be dancing in celebration of..?...on a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Saone River in the city of Lyon France. Because my meter...

In much the same way the sculpture gazes at the rock before them, with chisel and hammer at the ready, the gifted and extremely talented make-up artist/model ‘Natt’, finds herself staring in the mirror, staring not at a blank canvas, but rather at the...

Like most artists with a camera, chances are quite good that you are looking for answers, inspiration, ideas and motivation in your continued pursuit of photographic excellence. Consider getting involved in the You Keep Shooting Photo Community. I wanted to share with you, at...

Selective focus is a technique and a photography term that gets thrown around a lot, but often times without mentioning the all important need to USE MANUAL FOCUS! With each Spring, you will have numerous chances to practice the art of selective focus, but...

Here are five more images from last April’s Holland workshop and I realized earlier this week, “better late than never”, so let me just add that all were shot with my Nikon D500 and my Nikkor 18-300mm, obviously at various focal lengths, AND perhaps...

When I lived in Chicago, one of my favorite locations for photographing people was Millennium Park. On those hot August days of stifling humidity, Crown Fountain, with its two impressive sculptures of granite and glass block, was a great place where both young and...

It’s so easy to become lost at Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi’s 400year old market, yet it seems every time I’ve been lost, I find some great treasure and this was certainly true on this late afternoon. My eye’s first caught site of the tiled...

During the Provence workshop, we were shooting near the northern French Alps, about one hour SE of Grenoble, a wheat field here, a lone tree there, a small country road where Michele is seen running away from the threat of the big storm with all...

You can do this! In the world of macro/closeup photography, there is this ‘optical law’ that states, “any out of focus spot of light in your overall composition will be rendered as an out focus circular shape, and the closer you focus on a...

Here are several ‘who cares’ portraits taken on this overcast day, and I say “who cares what aperture I use here because the subject will be standing very near a cyan colored wall thus making any concerns about depth of field mute!” And when...

It was in one of the neighborhoods in Jaipur, India where I, with camera in hand, had met several young boys who volunteered their white doves as potential ‘props’. Although I did in fact take up their offer, placing one of the doves in...

It’s another take from the Montreal Convention Center, one of the most colorful locations I have ever come across. In fact, just on color alone, Burano, Italy and the Montreal Convention center are both tied for first, IF I was forced to vote, “most...

Just when you think you’ve seen all there is to see among the lavender fields of Provence France...using drones is becoming more and more restrictive, which is WHY, I rent those bucket trucks, those utility vehicle looking bucket trucks with the bucket at the...

When you feel you have come upon a good portrait subject and assuming the logistics are worked out, i.e. lens choice, aperture choice, background, point of view, you will, in all likelihood, just before you shoot, feel compelled to say something along the lines...

When one looks for opportunities to shoot ‘motion-filled’ subjects, waterfalls, ocean surf and city traffic at dusk often come to mind, but the reality is, motion is everywhere, including the spray of sparks falling from the ceiling as the welder attaches numerous metal plates....

The colors of Ethiopia, in a single frame, a composition of a cheerful and beautiful young girl within the surrounds of some equally cheerful and beautiful light. A lucky morning in the normally sleepy town of Turmi, Ethiopia. Nikon D500, Nikkor 18-300mm at 65mm,...

I’ve been known to go just about anywhere, but my preference is to go somewhere. Somewhere and I share a great history. Somewhere leaves the door open to chance. Last August I was somewhere when, once again, chance showed up at my door. Nikon...

As artists, we are aware of our inner voice that is constantly prodding us to do more, to push past the self-imposed boundaries, boundaries that keep us ‘safe’ yet behind a stifling fence. If we are intent on reaching the as yet undiscovered ‘creative...

While getting dressed today, for work or play, consider wearing AND sharing your WARMEST piece of ‘clothing’- your smile. These two smiles belong to two young girls from the Karo Tribe in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley. You keep smiling and you keep shooting! Nikon D500,...

We are passionate, we are driven, we move with a sub-conscious abandon, under a self-casted spell, relentlessly pursuing the perfect image, which as most of have learned and accepted by now, is a pursuit with an unquenchable thirst. It is why we scout a...

I have photographed my share of forests and some felt almost perfect, but not until last week, near Inle Lake, Myanmar did I feel I had finally reached ‘perfection!’ This is a managed forest of trees that will be eventually harvested for pulp/paper, but...

Another day in Old Harar, Ethiopia...one of my top five favorite locations in this, our very colorful world.  Pointing at me, “You keep shooting!” said the little girl. Nikon D500, Nikkor 18-300mm, using a ‘who cares’ aperture since there are no depth of field...

She is a little girl from the Dorze tribe of SE Ethiopia’s Omo Valley and upon seeing her ‘hiding’, yet peeking from around the corner of the very small 8x10 cement walled house that she shared with her Mom, Dad and three sisters and...

Rarely will anyone argue with the overall consensus that “mid-day light is the worst!”, yet as further proof that ‘rules’ can in fact stifle a shooting opportunity, a MID-DAY shooting opportunity I might add. She was one of a handful of the unsung hero’s...

Atop the small incline, grows a very big tree, a tree that provides some welcomed shade when temperatures top out at 98 degrees plus each afternoon, but overnight, the temperature drops to a cool 68 degrees, and by sunrise, there are few Hamar tribes...

As I recall, the car was still rolling to a stop when I opened the passenger rear door, leaping out and running back up the lone country road, anxious to introduce myself to the farmer and his young water buffalo whom we had driven...

PART I: How important can a background be, particularly when shooting portraits on the street? It can every bit as important as the seamless or muslim textured backgrounds used in portrait studio’s around the world. The role this background plays in the overall composition...

Late afternoon, racing down a gravel road in NW Tuscany, Italy, a single refrain of the song, “...over the hill and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go...” is stuck in my head like a needle on a record.  One of my students...

It was the wall of sewing machines that got my attention, as if they were a collection of trophies, yet I soon learned that these Singar sewing machines were in different stages of repair. The man who was responsible for their repair is seen...

My idea was simple enough; to record colorful images of moving cars at shutter speeds nearing a 1/4 second, as I shot down onto street below from my 45th floor balcony of the Stamford Swiss Hotel in Singapore. (Second image.) The resulting implied motion...

The 200-year old Ubien Bridge, built from teak, stretches across the southern end of Tangthman Lake in Mandalay, Myanmar, allowing one to have an elevated view of the lake and the activity below. From roughly twenty-feet above the lake, the early morning calm on...

Are you aware of just how vitally important your index finger can be in the creative process of image making? To be clear, I am not talking about the role your index finger plays in the firing of the shutter release button. No, I’m...

Two things regarding this image are working in my favor. It’s 1:30pm, but it’s a day of heavy overcast, so the normal harsh light of mid-day has been softened considerably allowing me to keep shooting and two, my subject has cataracts, thus rendering his...

What is your ‘wait time’ between capturing one truly compelling image until the next; one hour, one day, one week, one month?  If you are experiencing giant gaps between the loud gasps from your audience, you are probably a photographer who TAKES pictures versus...

We camped, for two nights with one of the Hamar Tribes near Turmi, Ethiopia, and it was the first evening, while scouting locations, that I saw this large ‘lookout tower’ like rock monolith and with its west facing view it was a quick no-brainer...

When shooting on the streets, sometimes my subject is ‘confined’ to a given area and then the challenge can become even greater to find a clean background, and when all else fails, I have been known, with the help of an assistant or two,...

We had just come up the steps at a metro station near ‘little India’ in Paris, when I caught site of some really old style windows made of glass and wire mesh (see 2nd photo) an abstract opportunity had presented itself to combine a...

Frieda, a 77-year old widow, born on this very farm southwest of Hamburg, Germany, raising pigs, cows and chickens “for as long as I can remember.” With the help of her 58 year old daughter, (also widowed) and her only grandchild, 23-year old Bettina,...

An easy compositional tip applied to portraits... On the streets of Delhi, many colorful fabrics are on display outside the shops that sell them, displays that mimic hanging curtains. And lucky for me that one row of these hanging fabrics were basking in filtered...

Driving south of The Dalles, Oregon, near Dufur, it was a late afternoon in early July when my eyes caught sight of him in his field. He was checking his wheat, the taste and feel, to determine how soon the harvest would begin. As...

My eyes caught site of a lone pigeon flying above this vivid magenta painted wall and it was his brief shadow, that caught my attention as it raced up the side of the wall.  Along with another pigeon, it sat perched atop the wall...

Photography has taught me many things, not the least of which are the seasonal changes that take place near and north of the 45th parallel.  The value of re-visiting these same locations, is two-fold; one is the obvious photo opportunity to shoot the same...

Somedays, I wake up, and I am eventually greeted with a sense that on this day, I am lacking any ability to ‘see’ and if it persists long enough, self-doubt will begin to whisper, and that is when I will immediately drop everything and head...

So there she sits, on a blue step of a stairway in the Old City, ‘The Blue City’, Jodhpur, and as I prepare to shoot, a pigeon, flying overhead in this narrow alleyway, startles her, she looks up, and at that moment, I realized,...

Imagine taking gum wrappers and other small pieces of paper, folding each into a 1 1/2” square, folding in such a way that each additional folded square inter-locks with the previous one and then ending up with more than 150 individual 7-foot strands...what do...

You’ve found the clean background, and with camera at the ready, give the child a balloon, and you keep shooting! Nikon D500, Nikkor 18-300mm, F/[email protected]/800 sec. 100 ISO WB   Mark Favorite

Happy, jovial, giddy, lucky, fortuitous, blissful, delighted and joyful are words that all of us have at one time or another used to describe our good mood or the good mood of others, but the only word that I feel that could best describe...

Her ‘business’ was not much wider then a single kitchen cupboard and when she opens her doors, she sits cross legged, atop a soft red pillow and serves up a small glass of fresh cold water; not tea, not coffee, not snacks, no food...

This is an image of the world’s largest sitting Buddha, Thimphu, Bhutan. Simple stuff here: camera and 10-24mm Nikkor are sitting on rock floor, at a spot where a reflection is seen in the few darker slabs of rock that are staggered throughout this...

How do you bring much needed water to your rice fields in and around Inle Lake, Myanmar? You make narrow channels from the lake to your farm, and while walking slowly in the narrow and shallow channels of water that lie between the elevated...

As I came around the back side of one particular house on the edge of Inle Lake with it’s explosion of purple water lilies, in the country of Myanmar, my eyes caught site of her, a woman who I assumed lived in the house,...

Over the years I have witnessed both men and women at work, in what are arguably, ‘brutal and/or hostile’ working conditions, yet it is in these very conditions where I have often found ‘beautiful’ portrait opportunities. I came upon this young Ethiopian man, a...

The Yamuna river runs right through the city of Agra, India, a city most notable for being the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, The Taj Mahal. Unlike the famous Ganges River, which runs through the most holiest of India’s...

Panic has not set in yet, despite your confidence at being ‘lost’ in NE Myanmar, near the Thailand border. You have no GPS, but you still have one hour of daylight left and you at least know you must drive north to reach your...

Although it was brief, the afternoon rain shower left behind a puddle large enough to capture the reflection of the twin spired church across the street, and with the help of a willing student, Lexi, in my Savannah Workshop, my students and I had...

  Before we say goodbye to summer... Just how elaborate is the set-up to create a shot of ‘refreshing lemonade’? Surprisingly, it’s not elaborate at all! You will need: 1) Natural light 2) A drinking glass filled with sparkling/mineral water 3) A lemon slice...

I am often asked what separates an ordinary photograph from an extraordinary photograph. Most 'ordinary' photographs have one thing in common; most were shot at EYE-LEVEL! Most extraordinary photographs became extraordinary because the photographer CHOSE to change his/her point of view and in the...

When does a used bar of orange soap reach a level of critical significance in the world of photographic image making? My students and myself were unexpectedly presented with a chance to shoot great light of a simple bar of orange soap, atop a...

In your efforts to expand your photographic vision of understanding exposure, don’t forget that you will need to start limiting your vision as well! Let me explain. It is estimated that the ‘dynamic range’ of the human eye’s ability to see light and dark...