|
|
|
|
| | Lately I've had a major fascination with street art, especially the well done murals appearing on the side of buildings. I don't know if it started with the death of a friend's son who was an artist in Miami and his buddies created a large mural in Somerville, NJ, to honor him or if I just started noticing them more lately. Earlier this year I did a lot of research for street art in New York City and found a hot bed of murals in Queens. Of course street art is spread throughout the city but this quiet Queens neighborhood is perfect place for the artists to show their work. There are many buildings one or two stories tall with lots of windowless walls and owners have commissioned or at least tolerated the artists. The work is dazzling.
In June I went to Valparaiso, Chile, which has to have more street art per building that any other city in the world. I talked about it in my last newsletter and it still dazzles me when I look at some of my photos from there. I just got back back from Iceland and of course I had to seek out street art in Reykjavik. Again, the artists are creating intricate pieces of work all over town. I'm amazed at the detail they can get with spray paint and a few brush strokes, like the bakery above.
Photographing the art can be tricky. I don't want to just make a snapshot of somebody else's work, I want to bring something more to the scene. I like to get people in my photos of street art, especially when they are reacting to the art but also to show the size.
I've had a couple of people tell me they don't like photographing other art because they think it is kind of stealing someone else's work. I don't see it that way at all, to me I'm honoring the artists by showing their work to more people. Street art isn't meant to make the artist famous, it is there to be shared on a grand scale. I'm running another trip into New York to photograph street art on Oct. 27, I'm really looking forward to it. |
| | Iceland just keeps on giving
|
|  |
Iceland is a special place, a photographer's dream location. The landscape is so varied from massive waterfalls to glaciers to the black sand beaches. It is tough to beat. I just returned last week from my fifth trip there in the last 16 months and I was still awed by what I saw. The treeless landscape is my ideal minimalist look and the contrast of scenery is stunning. The waterfalls capture my imagination like nothing else, my favorite place in Iceland is a lush, green valley that leads to a pristine waterfalls. You have to climb a little ladder over a fence and then walk back about 1/2 a mile along a serene flowing stream. The path gets rather rough in places which, along with the secluded location, helps keep the crowds away. For most of the time my group was there alone, the only sound being the falling water. You can get the behind the waterfalls and look out through the valley out to the verdant landscape and see only nature. While walking to the falls there are a couple of places where you just have to stop and admire the beauty. I could spend days there, just being. I'll be back next year in February and August. You can read more about my Icelandic trip by clicking here. |
| | Seeing the night in Vermont Vermont holds a special place in my life, I am so lucky to have a house in Woodstock, VT, and be able to enjoy the peace and solitude that Vermont provides. Since I spend most of my time in New Jersey, seeing the stars at night isn't too easy. Light pollution means that now one-third of humanity can't see the Milky Way and that number is much higher in the U.S., especially on the coasts. Earlier this month I hosted a couple of night photography workshops in Vermont and it is so fun to watch people's reaction when they see the Milky Way for the first time. People think it is a cloud the first time they look at it but as their eyes adjust to the darkness they realize it is stars. And our cameras see much more than our eyes. Seeing millions of stars and realizing that they are each like our sun is very humbling. You can see more photos from Vermont at night by clicking here. |
| |
Fall Foliage Labor Day Sale! This is something new for me, running a sale that sounds like something a car dealership would do. But I have a few openings left for my annual Vermont Fall Foliage Workshop Oct. 7-11 that is usually sold out by now. So I'm offering a special deal of $300 off the full registration price of the workshop. You can sign up for only $950 through Monday, Sept. 1. I can tell you there is nothing like the beauty of Vermont in the fall and I have spent years scouring the backroads to find great photography locations. Hurry, hurry, hurry, this deal won't last long! Did that sound enough like a Labor Day Sale? You can get more info and register at https://lorenphotos.com/mevents/vermont-fall-foliage-photography-workshop-2019/ |
| | Maine on my mindI'm leading a weekend workshop to photograph about 10 of Maine's lighthouses Sept. 27-29. It will be a fun, action packed weekend along Maine's coast. Next year I'll slow down the pace, at least a little, during my spring workshop in Maine's Acadia National Park. In the spring we'll light up Bass Harbor Lighthouse at night, which always makes for an exciting photo. We aren't going that far north during next month's tour but we'll illuminate a couple of other lighthouses. During both workshops I provide transportation in my 12-passenger Sprinter van and we'll see lots of beauty. I still have openings for both workshops although they are filling fast. I hope you can join me in Maine.
|
| |
| | Personal coaching
If you want to improve your photography, learn more about your camera, get a better handle on Lightroom or Photoshop, or need help with your photo business, then I can help you with one-on-one mentoring that is customized to fit your needs. Read more..
Visit the gallery Stop by and see me and my work
2493 Lamington Rd, Bedminster, NJ 07921 |
|
|
|
|
|
| You must follow the rules of composition or you’ll be banned from photography. I’ve run into many people who believe that, but I’m sure not one of them. I hear too many people say a photo doesn't work because it doesn't follow the rules. I ask them if they like the photo and they usually say “Yes, but it doesn’t follow the rules.”
The key to rules is to know them and use them when they work and discard them when they don't. That sounds a bit careless but it where creativity comes from. When you look at a photo, especially one that many others like, look and see what compositional rules they follow and what ones they break. That is how we learn, critically examine photos, whether you or someone else made it, and see what is working and what isn't. A great exercise for a rainy afternoon is to look at 20 photos and write a list of what works for each image. Soon you'll be able to do that as you are composing in the field.
|
| |
|
|
