The 2013 Colorado Photography Festival

Steel Marker. Guanella Pass, Colorado, 2013

Last weekend I attended The Colorado Photography Festival in Denver. Workshops such as this one, along with the accompanying hands-on, field trips are a great way to improve one’s photography.

The speakers and workshop leaders included Dan Ballard, Grant Collier, Glenn Randall, Russ Burden, Mark S Johnson, Stephen
G Weaver, Andy Cook, David Kingham, Mary Lynne Ashley, and Rob Palmer. Even though the primary orientation of most of these master photographers (but not all!) was landscape and nature, there were many, many principles discussed that applied to all genres of “painting with light.” I attended the Saturday lectures, then a field workshop to 11,669-foot Guanella Pass led by Stephen Weaver.

Each of the speakers, and the Sunday, high-altitude, outdoor experience with Steve Weaver, contributed significantly to the stretching of more than a few neurons and synapses in my developing photographer’s cranial cortex vortex. I highly recommend a workshop to jump-start or renew your enthusiasm for your photography–it’ll likely do more good than simply purchasing that new lens you were contemplating at the local camera shop!

By way of example, here is some wonderful basic advice from Dan Ballard that is well worth summarizing and repeating:

1) Shoot what inspires you! The viewer can see immediately if you were inspired or not when you made the image. It is your passion for the things that inspire you that will motivate you to make good photographs.

2) It is all about the light! A huge Russ Burden mantra, as well. Keep going back until you get the right light. (I would add that–with the right light–even a toilet bowl can look spectactular.)

3) Simplicity! Keep to simple compositions and don’t clutter your image. Do a little “border patrol” and background inspection to make sure there are no distracting elements in your picture.

4) Move the viewer through the scene! Create movement with leading lines, curves, layers and so on. Obviously, avoid including lines that could lead the viewer out of the scene.

5) Have a solid, interesting subject! Keep your eyes open for a great subject…”If you can’t describe your image in three words, it is a failed image.”

6) Weather is important! Clouds, fog, storms, rain, lightning, snow–they can all make an otherwise middling image into a great one.

7) Learn to see the world as the camera sees it! The camera does not see as the human eye sees and you need to “see” this difference as you look out upon the world. Also, you should be visualizing the final product/print as you gaze thoughtfully and blissfully upon the wonderful scene at hand. (Ansel Adams’ “previsualization”.)

Oh, and on note #2–the part about keep coming back: Keep that one in mind when I talk about our Guanella Pass workshop with Stephen Weaver, although in our case it was more a matter of waiting for the right light. Stay tuned for “the rest of the story!”