Featured Professional: Michael Fatali

Today I feature the work of photographer Michael Fatali. Mr. Fatali is a Rockville, UT based photographer who concentrates most of his work in the desert southwest. He spent most of his youth in Arizona, where he became intimately familiar with the desert. His full bio is here.


















Canyon Voices

I am a big fan of Mr. Fatali's work. He is another photographer whose work is best seen in person, which you can accomplish by visiting his galleries in Henderson, NV or Springdale, UT. Springdale is where I first saw his work, when his gallery was still in the same building as the Pizza and Noodle company. I wandered over while waiting for a table in the restaurant and was quite impressed. I became more so when I learned that his photos are captured and printed without using any color modification at all--no filters, no post process saturation, nothing. He shoots with a view camera and makes some pretty impressive prints. A poster sized print of the image below (of the sacred datura and Great White Throne) is on display in the lobby of a Springdale hotel, which is the first thing you see when you walk in.


















Angels Before the Throne

If you are ever in Zions National Park or Springdale--and I recommend to everybody to visit Zions at least once in your life; it is the Yosemite of the Southwest--then check out his gallery. I don't think that he is in the Pizza and Noodle building any longer, but he shouldn't be hard to find. He also gives instruction and guides field trips.


















Go With God's Speed

Website: www.fatali.com

All images ©Michael Fatali; used with permission.

Ah, the memories...

It has been a long time since I posted last. I have been out of town and busy with a project, which prevented me from posting as I would have liked. My apologies, gentle readers.

I am going to keep today's post short, but I wanted to take the time to lament the decline of film. I am no purist who insists that photos need to be taken on film only and developed and printed by hand without using any enhancing techniques like dodging and burning. I shoot digital and love it. But, this past weekend I was doing research on old film cameras and thought back to my days of shooting Velvia 50, trying to find a processor who could do E-6 quickly (or at all, for that matter), then sitting in my college library for hours using their Coolscan to scan my images one by one. Very rarely has viewing a digital capture been as exciting to me as was looking at new slides under a loupe at the lab. Those images were always very detailed and saturated and the wait for them made them that much more exciting.

Obviously digital has incredible advantages, not the least of which is being able to correct your images in the field thanks to the viewscreen and historgram. Memory cards are less cumbersome than the equivalent amount of rolls of film, and digital image quality at this point most certainly matches, and possibly exceeds, that of 35mm.

But, film was pretty great. I feel bad for kids who will grow up only taking pictures on digital autofocus cameras. I hope that film sticks around for a while yet.

Featured Professional: Marc Adamus

Seasons Gone By, Glacier National Park, Montana

Marc Adamus is this week's feature professional photographer. I am a newcomer to Marc's work, having first seen his site about a year ago. He is an Oregon based photographer and has published photos in many different places. His bio is available here.



















No Way Out, Escalante Wilderness, Utah
















Going to the Sun, Glacier National Park, Montana


I'm impressed by the composition of his photos. These aren't postcard shots, but compelling photographs. I'm familiar with some of the places that he has shot and am glad that he didn't just stand in line to take photos from the same spot as everybody else. He has some really original photos of places that tend to get over shot.

website: www.marcadamus.com















Amazing Paradise, Zion National Park, Utah

All images ©Marc Adamus; used with permission.

Sharpness

Readers of this blog (all three of you) may have noticed in my Featured Professional posts I have mentioned sharpness as being a defining characteristic of outstanding photographs. In fact, I think of sharpness as being one of the most key aspects of any good nature photograph. Obviously there will be many photos that for artistic purposes won’t be sharp in all areas of the photo. But, it is important, I think, that the subject of the photo, whatever it is, be tack sharp. In the case of landscape photos, this will include the majority of the photograph.

I personally have trouble with this, and perhaps that is why I feel strongly about it. Since becoming serious about photography several years ago I have made taking sharp photos one of my goals. Over time my photos have improved as I have purchased a newer and more stable tripod, started using a cable release and mirror lockup, and keeping my aperture closer to f/8 or f/11. I am sure there are other little things I can be doing to get sharper photos as well. I have, however, yet to see the results I would like. I have come to the conclusion that I need better glass. The lenses I am using are not the cheapest, but not the nicest either. Once I graduate I hope to invest in some more expensive glass, maybe even a few primes. Hopefully that will solve my problem.

In my search to improve my photography, I came across some articles that are helpful, and have linked to them here. The first is about hyperfocal distance and the second lists various tips and ideas to maximize sharpness. I have also added one more that briefly discusses hyperfocal distance within a larger discussion of depth of field. It is from the excellent website www.luminous-landscape.com and is worth reading.

Featured Professional: David C. Schultz

Moose in Abion Basin, Wasatch Mountains, UT

This week’s featured professional photographer is David C. Schultz. David is a Park City, Utah based photographer with a background in fashion photography. He changed gears in the 80s and started shooting landscape and wildlife and has since traveled to Patagonia, Antarctica, Alaska and other amazing places to pursue his craft. His full bio is available here.












Antarctica, Iceberg, Deception Island

I’ve visited David’s gallery in Park City, and quite honestly, you won’t get the full impact of his photos unless you visit and see his prints. His website showcases some great shots, but his photos are best seen large. His prints are very sharp for their size, making it hard to believe they weren’t shot medium format.












Mt. Timpanogos, Wasatch Mountains, Utah

When I visited his gallery several years ago he had a business card holder on a desk with his business cards in it, each one with one of four of his images on the reverse. I fished around in the stack until I got all four and then took them home and taped them above my desk to keep me inspired as I worked. I have since lost them, but still remember how much his images influenced my shooting at that time.

Take a look at his website when you get a chance. And if you are in the area for skiing or for Sundance, drop by his gallery.

David's website: www.westlight.net

All images ©David C. Schultz; used with permission.

Photography Books

As I mentioned in my post about Thomas Mangelsen, I enjoy looking at other photographers' work. No two people see the world the same way, so it is fascinating to see how other photographers view the world through their respective photographs.

However, I don’t like to purchase other people's photographs. As much as I like to look at them, I dislike buying other people’s photos because I am more interested in taking great photos and printing them myself. The one exception I make in my no-buy-photo rule is photography books. For a few bucks you can get anywhere from a few to several dozen of a photographers best shots, and frequently get good tips or the photographer’s thoughts that go with them. I have purchased many photo books and have a list of many more that I would like. Buying these over sized coffee table books drives my wife crazy, but I can’t get enough of them. So, today, I would like to make a list of what I think are some of the best photography books around.

Best Photo Books (in no particular order)

1. Looking for the Summer, Jim Brandenburg: This is Brandenburg’s follow up to the very successful Chased by the Light. Both books have amazing photos, but in my opinion, Looking for the Summer slightly edges out its older brother. It was, I believe (someone correct me if I’m wrong) the first photography book to be shot entirely in digital and displays some of Brandenburg’s sharpest photos. Great shots of northern Minnesota and the Lake Superior area.










2. Yosemite and the Range of Light, Ansel Adams: A classic book by arguably the greatest landscape photographer ever. Some of his best images were taken in Yosemite and the High Sierra and are included in this book. Another great recent book of Adam’s photos is Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs.














3. Big Sky: Wild West Panorama, Tim Fitzharris: A book of exclusively panoramic photographs, taken in the western US. This book shows off some of the amazing views the west has to offer. The photos are tack sharp and excellently done, made possible by Fitzharris’ stitching together of several portrait orientation medium format shots for each individual photo.










4. Rock Stars, text and photos by Heinz Zak: This is a book for rock climbers. It features Zak’s pioneering climbing photos along with short bios of the world’s most influential sport climbers (as opposed to mountaineers, alpine climbers, trad climbers, etc.). For anyone who was an active climber during the rise of sport climbing in the 1980s and early 1990s, this book is a must have. Sadly, I think it is out of print and hard to come by. Get it if you can.


















5. Intimate Landscapes, Eliot Porter: Porter was a student of Ansel Adams and a pioneer of landscape photography. He has several good photo books, but this is my favorite. Also check out The Place No One Knew for photos of Glen Canyon before it was flooded and buried under Lake Powell.














6. Galen Rowell: A Retrospective, Galen Rowell: A collection of the best photos from Rowell’s substantial collection. His untimely death was a terrible loss and felt keenly by those who took up photography based on seeing his photos or reading his articles.













These last few are not photo books exclusively. In each, the photos accompany a original text.

7. Walden, text by Henry David Thoreau, photos by Scot Miller: Thoreau’s classic work put together with Miller’s inspired photographs. After looking at Miller's photographs you get a good idea of what inspired ol’ Hank to take to the woods.












8. Slickrock, text by Edward Abbey and Phil Hyde, photos by Phil Hyde: This book has my vote for best photo/book combination out there. Abbey was a preeminent writer of conservation issues (while at Stanford he studied under the greatest western writer ever) and Slickrock is one of his great works. Not as entertaining as Desert Solitaire, but still impressive. Hyde’s photos are works of art. They look a bit dated in today’s super saturated digital world, but they are good stuff. For a former westerner such as myself, it is hard to look at these photos and not get homesick. Slickrock has been out of print for 20+ years and is hard to find. If you can get your hands on a copy, buy it!


















9. The Yosemite, text by John Muir, photos by Galen Rowell: I can’t say enough about this book, so I will say only a little. An incredible text by the father of conservationism, and some of the best photos ever taken by the man who inspired thousands (I have no source for this claim, but it sounds right. Who is going to argue with me?) to take up landscape photography.














What are some other must have photo books?

Another Photoshop Tutorial

Since my PS skills are elementary at best, I spend a fair amount of time online reading up on it and taking tutorials. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are a lot of great sites that teach about all aspects of PS.

One great tutorial site is Psdtuts+. They feature PS tutorials in areas such as designing, drawing, photo effects, text effect, etc.The tutorials are geared more towards the PS user as graphic artist, but are still loaded with useful information. Thanks to a couple of their tutorials I have a much better understanding of layering in PS than I did previously.

So, set aside a few hours and take a couple of these tutorials. You’ll be glad you did.

New Olympus Rangefinder

Check out this snappy new Olympus rangefinder. It has a little history behind it and looks like it will be a pretty neat camera. I am impressed with the features they are able to cram into these tiny cameras. I am a big fan of the Canon G10 and have heard good things about the Lumix and Leica rangefinders. The Olympus looks to be another great camera for the Cartier-Bresson types among us.

Featured Professional: Thomas Mangelsen

One thing I have learned as a full time student in a graduate program is that to perform well, you need to know your material. In photography that means reading books and magazines, taking classes, and, obviously, shooting a lot. One way of studying photography that I enjoy is looking at other photographers images. They not only give me ideas where to shoot and how to compose an image, but also inspire me. Seeing a stunning image reminds me why I love photography and motivates me to work hard to improve so that I can capture images of equal beauty.













Guardian of Knight Inlet

Each week I will feature a professional photographer whose work I find inspiring. They may be well known or they may be hardly known at all. My hope is to show what is possible; to show how photography is being done by the very best and inspire us to reach for those heights.

The first featured professional is Thomas Mangelsen. Mangelsen is an Omaha, Nebraska based wildlife and nature photographer who has been published in magazines such as National Geographic, Smithsonian, and others. He has publishes several books and has galleries in nine states.














Clearing Skies, Elk

Manglesen has an incredible body of work, covering several continents and many years. You can check his photos out at www.mangelsen.com and www.mangelsenstock.com. Take some time to look the photos over. You'll be impressed. His full bio is here.

I was first exposed to his work when a friend gave me an old photo catalogue. I spent hours thumbing through it, looking at each image and imagining myself being in Alaska, shooting grizzly bears and caribou. The catalogue is pretty dog eared now, but I still have it and pull it out occasionally to look at. Great photos never get old.









Teton Memories-The Moulton Barn

All images ©Thomas Mangelsen; used with permission.