Tim Grey’s Blog

I’m happy to announce that Craig Ingram of Craig Ingram Nature Photography in Australia (www.craigingramphoto.com.au) has won my most recent photo contest. For this particular contest the only requirement was that the photo submitted be a portrait of a person.Craig specializes in nature and adventure sports photography, and this particular image was captured with a Nikon D3 using a 24-70mm lens and two SB900 flashes.As you can see, Craig’s image is a unique portrait of a rock climber captured from an interesting perspective, and with a great lighting effect.As the winner of this photo contest, Craig wins a free copy of the Easy Release application for iPhone from ApplicationGap (www.applicationgap.com) in my recent photo contest. This application allows you to quickly and easily collect contact information and a model release signature directly on your iPhone.I received a tremendous response for this photo contest, and plan to offer many more moving forward. Stay tuned to my Ask Tim Grey eNewsletter (www.timgrey.com/asktimgrey/) for details of upcoming contests.

I hear from a lot of photographers who get frustrated with the relatively high incidence of nozzle clogging on most photo inkjet printers that use pigmented inks. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous when I decided to fire up my Epson Stylus Photo R2400 printer, which I haven’t used for printing in several years. Literally.I’m happy to report the experience went exceedingly well.I actually considered getting rid of the printer, on the assumption that after sitting unused for so long the nozzles would be so clogged that I wouldn’t be able to bring the printer back to life.  But I decided to give it a shot, if for no other reason than to see if it was possible.I ordered a complete set of new inks, in part because the existing inks would have most certainly settled to the point of being problematic and in part because I figured fresh inks would be more likely to help clear the clog (there anti-coagulants in the inks for this purpose).When the inks arrived yesterday afternoon I loaded them up into the printer, and ran a nozzle cleaning. The nozzle check print wasn’t exactly pretty, though several of the inks showed no clogs at all, which was a surprise.I ran the nozzle cleaning several times, printing the nozzle check print after each cleaning cycle to check the progress. After several cycles only the cyan ink showed there were still any clogs, so as I always recommend in this circumstance I let the printer sit overnight.This morning I ran the nozzle cleaning again, printed the nozzle check print, and was delighted (and surprised) to see the pattern looked perfect.I immediately opened one of my new favorite photos, and went through my standard “output workflow” to prepare it for printing. I sent it to the previously-in-mothballs printer, and a beautiful print emerged. A printer that had literally not been turned on for several years was back in action, producing great prints again.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of digital when it comes to photography. I embraced digital from the start, and spend a huge amount of my time working with digital tools and helping many photographers learn to do the same. But there is a darker side to digital. I think it is stealing memories… I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. My mom has been gradually working on cleaning out boxes of memories, distributing them to me and my three sisters so we can enjoy them. And of course when family members and friends go to visit the big photographer in the sky, there are many photographs and mementos left behind. That’s happened far too many times recently, but it has stirred up many great memories, mostly thanks to old photographs.In the world of digital photography, I’m afraid this ability to revisit memories might be getting lost more often than it should be. Don’t get me wrong, I fully realize people are taking far more pictures than ever before, so you could argue even more memories are being preserved.But my concern isn’t about the rate of capture, but rather about the ones that got away. So often I witness people deleting digital photos either on the camera or on the computer because the picture didn’t turn out very well. I completely understand this perspective, but it does cause me some concern at least when it comes to my own memories. And this doesn’t even contemplate the images that are lost because of media failure, discarding a computer that was thought not to contain any important data, or other causes of lost digital images.Back in the days of film photography, when you got your film developed you generally ended up with a paper envelope filled with 4×6 prints and a set of negatives. You’d go through them all, perhaps put the favorites in a photo album or frame, and the rest would go in a shoe box in the closet.Many years later, someone would take down that shoe box, dust it off, and explore. Let’s not kid ourselves. There would be a lot of very bad photos in that box. But sometimes those are my favorites. Photos that in the digital world might have been deleted because they were out of focus or the person was making a funny face or whatever often represent the only photo of a particular (and important) memory.So, as much as I might worry about my hard drives filling up, I’m more worried about losing photographs that represent important memories, so I tend not to delete very many photographs. Perhaps as my library of images grows I’ll start to re-think this decision, but for now I’ve decided that the memories are more important than hard drive space or a bit of an organizational dilemma.I’d be curious to hear your thoughts, and what you do to help ensure photographs of important memories are never lost.

This weekend marked the first day of spring (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere anyway), which I think is truly a reason to celebrate as a photographer!It wasn’t all that long ago that the winter weather was hampering the efforts of many photographers to get out and take incredible images. Not that you can’t produce amazing images during wintertime (last year in Yosemite I produced some of my favorite images), but spring and fall in my mind are the ideal time to be out capturing photographs.The change up here in the Pacific Northwest seems to have happened especially quickly. Just over a week ago I posted an image on my Blipfoto journal (reproduced below) that called out the dreary weather I was facing while cycling, though I still found the scene interesting enough to photograph (albeit with my iPhone since that’s the only camera I had with me). But now the signs of spring are all around us. Granted, today there was a bit of heavy rain here in the Seattle area, but even that rain felt very much like spring (a highly unstable weather pattern) and not very much at all like winter. To underscore this, the cherry blossom trees that at least unofficially signal the arrival of spring are already starting to lose their flower petals. So spring is in full swing! So, now the question is what you’re going to be doing photographically to “ring in spring”. With the tradition of “spring cleaning” this is a great time to dust off the cobwebs from your camera gear, as well as your mind, and get inspired to get out and capture new and incredible photographic images.I’d like to hear what you’re going to do to kick off some great photography this spring. And the person who has (in my opinion) the best idea will win a free copy of one of my video tutorial DVDs. Simply post a comment to this blog entry with your idea by March 28th, and I’ll announce a winner on March 29th.

Earlier this month I captured what I consider to easily be the best bird photograph I’ve ever taken. I was co-leading a field photography workshop in southwest Florida with Canon Explorer of Light photographer Arthur Morris, visiting some of the best places to view and photograph birds around Fort Myers, Florida. One morning the group headed to Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, and I came away with a photo of an egret backlit by early morning light that I am very, very happy with.“Darling Egret” by Tim Grey. Canon EOS 5D MkII, 500mm lens, 1/1600th of a second at f/5.6, 250 ISOOf course, as with most photos, there’s more to the story than just being in the right place at the right time with the right equipment and the right frame of mind. In fact, I captured almost 400 photos from the same spot, without moving the tripod, in order to come away with this photo. And in fact, this isn’t really the photo I was after.We had arrived at Ding Darling before sunrise, and in fact had to wait in the parking lot for the gate to open. After parking at our selected location and getting setup, we spread out and paced along the shore, trying to decide what the best opportunities would be that morning. Before too long, some of the group (including me) gathered near a “corner” of the pool, with a group of birds (mostly egrets, but also some ibis and a couple of brown pelicans) gathered in the shade of the red mangrove trees on shore.Soon there was a palpable tension among the birds, and they started getting quite active. One by one, they started flitting across the surface of the water, striking for fish along the way. A feeding frenzy had begun. I’m not sure what attracted me more to the photographic possibilities here: the challenge or the prize. Frankly, I’m not sure I had a particular “prize photo” in mind. Mostly I was fascinated by the behavior of the birds, and focusing all of my energy on actually capturing an image of high technical quality. This was a particular challenge because the birds were moving quite quickly, transitioning from areas of dark to bright and with different sun angles, I was trying to pan to keep the birds in the frame with a 500mm lens, and I was trying to make sure I was acquiring focus on the moving birds.Needless to say, I came away with a lot of throw-aways.Every now and then I would get even more excited, as a pair of egrets would fly almost in formation as they both tried to feed at the same time. At times it seemed the birds were performing ballet on the surface of the water. It was an incredible sight to see, and I made an effort to try to appreciate and enjoy the moment even while I was incredibly focused on capturing some good images. Getting the bird in the right position in the frame was a particular challenge, as they moved fast and my reactions weren’t always as quick as I would have liked. But the dance before me was quite incredible. One of the key considerations in successful bird photography (and a variety of other types of photography for that matter) is to observe the behavior of your subject. Of course, in this case the behavior seemed almost entirely chaotic, as the birds moved all about in an effort to catch the fish that had obviously congregated (to their peril) in this small area of the water.But I also noticed that after their feeding runs, the egrets would more often than not exit the area heading to my left, flying right in front of me. The sun was now peeking over the horizon and casting some interesting light, so I tried to remind myself to maintain my focus on a given bird until it exited the area, rather than panning to find another bird ready to feed as soon as the bird I was photographing had caught a fish or given up. As the light grew warmer and I started focusing more of my attention on the birds as they exited the area of the feeding frenzy, I captured a pair of images and instantly (before the images had been written to my CompactFlash card) knew I had something. I immediately hit “play” to review the images on the LCD, and was happy with what I saw.In a rare moment, when I finally got back to the hotel later that day and downloaded my images, I was even happier with what I saw on my computer than I had been with the image that appeared on the camera’s LCD display. A few minor tweaks, and I had an image I was very proud of. 

There’s something to be said for taking automation to extremes, and I had the opportunity to get a close look at some very cool automation that is put to effective use while spending some time in Manhattan over the holidays.

During my visit, I accepted and invitation from B&H Photo to visit their facility and get a “behind the scenes” look at their operations. Of course, as a photographer and certified “gadget geek” just visiting a store that sells just about every digital camera, lens, tripod, and accessory you could possibly want is pretty cool. On top of that they have incredible audio and video products. And the place is huge (and clean, and organized).

But what really impressed me from a technology standpoint wasn’t anything they were selling at B&H, but rather how they go about moving product from the warehouse to the customer. You see, while B&H is huge, they sell so many products you couldn’t possibly fit inventory for all those products in the same space. So there are display items for customers to review, and when they want to make a purchase the product gets delivered via a network of automated rollers. It is incredible to watch, as bins roll around overhead, take rides in little elevators, and make their way (quite quickly) to the customer. When you’re ready to pay, those products get delivered to the checkout area so they’ll be waiting for you when you go to pay. Amazing.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that this visit was going to inspire my latest DVD. I was so impressed with the efficient use of automation at B&H’s store, that I started thinking a lot about how automation can be helpful in a variety of situations. That thinking led me to decide to create a video tutorial DVD that covers the various automation tools in Photoshop. The result is “Photoshop Hands-On: Automation”, which is in production this week and will begin shipping this weekend.

So, thanks B&H Photo for a great tour of an impressive facility, and thanks for the inspiration too!

For the last few days I’ve been speaking at the FOTOfusion event in West Palm Beach, Florida. To take advantage of the great weather in sunny Florida, I rented a road bike while I was here, and went cycling for a couple hours each day. Unfortunately, during one of those rides I lost the little bag that contained my hotel room key, my driver’s license, both of my debit cards, and about $60 in cash. Oh, boy. I knew this was going to be interesting.

Getting a replacement key to my hotel room was easy. The incredible staff at the Hyatt Place Hotel in West Palm Beach had already proven to be very friendly and helpful, and I had enough interactions with them over the prior few days that they knew who I was. I was off to a good start.

Fortunately my bank had a branch just a block away from the hotel, so I headed over to see about getting a temporary debit card (having already called to report the cards lost). The staff at the bank was very helpful, but their computer systems and odd cross-state rules made things difficult. I spent over an hour and a half at the bank, answering a series of questions to prove I was who I said I was, watching them struggle with their internal systems, only to ultimately find out they couldn’t issue a replacement card on the spot. Fortunately, after considerable effort, I was able to get enough cash to cover my needs for my remaining time in West Palm Beach.

There was now just one more hurdle to overcome: getting onto my flight without any form of legitimate identification.

I arrived at the airport four hours before my flight, anticipating the worst and wanting to ensure I had plenty of time to deal with whatever challenges awaited me. I went to the airline check-in counter to check my bag, and let the airline representative know I lost my wallet and didn’t have any identification. She asked if I had a voter’s registration card (does anyone actually carry that around with them?), a library card (I get all my books through Amazon, opting for the Kindle version I can read on my iPhone whenever possible), or anything. Nope. Nothing. Except for a photo of my passport on my laptop. She asked to see that, and checked my bag for me.

She told me it would be up to TSA whether they’d let me through security. I had already done my homework, and so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. But naturally I was still a bit nervous at this point.

Next stop, security screening. Fortunately, I happened to time things perfectly, and there was no line at all. I went to the first TSA officer who was there to check ID, provided my boarding pass, and told her I didn’t have identification because I had lost my wallet. She called a supervisor, who sent me to another officer for a special check to confirm I was who I said I was. He again asked if I had anything else, such as a social security card, library card, voter’s registration card, or anything. Not a darn thing.

So, I had to fill out a form with my vital information, and the officer, who was exceedingly polite and understanding, made a phone call for my screening. It took a total of about five minutes, with him asking me for a previous address, any professional licenses or certification, and a variety of other questions about my background that would help establish that I either really was me, or had done a phenomenal job memorizing all the details of my life. Before too long he told me I was all set, and could go through security. Well, “extra” security, of course.

I had, naturally, experienced “secondary” security on plenty of occasions in the past, so I knew what to expect here. My bag and various other possessions were swabbed to check for explosive residue, everything got a good once-over, and I got patted down (though the officer patting me down didn’t venture too far into the territory used by the “underwear bomber” in the attempted Christmas Day attack, which while perhaps a little uncomfortable would have at least made me feel they were actually being thorough).

All told, the extra questioning and screening took no more than ten minutes compared to what I would normally experience. It was frankly no big deal, and I was impressed overall with the way things were handled by TSA (especially Daniel, thank you very much).

So, what could have easily turned into a big nightmare was actually no big deal. Much better than my recent experience at Newark Liberty International Airport due to the security scare there. Of course, I’m writing this from Palm Beach International Airport, having gotten through security, but I’m not on the flight to Atlanta yet, and then I still have a connecting flight to Seattle. So there’s still potential for things to go horribly wrong, but so far it has been smooth sailing. Surprisingly smooth sailing based on my prior experience with TSA.

It has almost become cliché to talk about how digital has changed the photography industry. Some of those changes have been very good (such as the control photographers are able to exercise over their images), and some of those changes have been bad (such as the significantly more time photographers need to spend in order to manage their growing library of images).

As we (for the most part) embrace digital photography and cast aside film, there has also been a very significant impact on the cottage industry that had grown for many years to support photographers. While we used to drop off rolls of film at a photo lab and perhaps chat about our recent excursion over a cup of coffee to the person behind the counter, now we sit (often alone) at our computers, processing our images and producing our own prints.

The result has been a huge decline in the amount of film processed each year, and as a result a precipitous decline in the potential revenue for film processing by the many small labs found in cities and towns large and small. Some labs saw the writing on the wall and quickly started offering digital services. Some of those, and many others, couldn’t generate enough revenue and started going out of business.

Obviously such a change is a bad thing for the folks whose livelihood depended on those labs. On a broader scale I think of it more as simply a change rather than something inherently “bad”.  But it is a change that stared me in the face this holiday season as I visited various malls and shopping centers to do some shopping. In many cases I simply recognized a business as occupying the same space where a photo lab had previously operated. In other cases the sign had been removed but left clear evidence of a photo lab that had been shuttered, such as the photo shown here.

I don’t miss film. Not one bit. So in a way I don’t miss the photo labs that went along with film. But I do feel bad for those who had their livelihood harmed by the changes that have taken place in the industry. Hopefully they all found jobs somewhere else in the industry or doing something else they love. Even good changes can leave challenges in their wake. But I do think that overall the advent of digital photography has been a good thing for photographers. Not entirely, but mostly. I just wonder what sort of upheaval the next big change in photography might bring. Predictions?

I used to refer to the “in-seat sigh of relief” when flying. The idea was that getting to the airport could be stressful, actually getting into the terminal could be stressful, checking in can be stressful, checking your bags can be stressful, going through security can be stressful, waiting to board your flight can be stressful, and getting on the plane can be stressful. In other words, there’s a lot of stress involved in air travel today. I actually used to look forward to each and every moment spent on an airplane. I even got my private pilot’s license (”certificate”, actually, to those on the “inside”) so I could spend even more time in the air. But I digress…

With all the stress of air travel today, and with as many miles I spend in the air to go on photo shoots, speak at events, run workshops, and more, I’ve had my share of challenges. But I could always (well, mostly) count on the sense of relief I would feel when I finally settled into my seat and could just relax until reaching my destination.

I had just such a sigh of relief last Sunday after I boarded Continental flight 1881 at Newark Liberty International Airport, headed home to Seattle. It was bitterly cold on the east coast (at least to this California native, with apologies to those in the midwest), and strong winds had moved in, promising a bumpy flight. Those winds also led to flight delays, with the delay for my own flight being estimated at about 45 minutes. But at least I was in my seat, with my seatbelt fastened and carry-on bags stowed, ready to head home. In fact, I was so relieved and relaxed (and tired) that I soon fell asleep. Then I was awakened by the pilot’s announcement, only to face the “adventure” I described in my previous blog post.

Today it was time for “Newark, Take Two”. Despite the security lockdown I had endured a few days earlier, the fact that the airline couldn’t get me onto another flight until over three days later, and the particularly troublesome fact that my luggage had gone on to Seattle without me, the time leading up to the flight was stress-free. The morning went smoothly, the drive to the airport went smoothly, security went smoothly, everything was going smoothly. OK, I’ll admit, breakfast at the airport didn’t go all that smoothly, but I’ve learned to expect poor service at Newark airport…

But when I sat in my seat I felt a little uneasy. Instead of the “in-seat sigh of relief” I felt a bit of anxiety. What fiasco might cause a delay this time around?

I tensed up when the pilot made a PA announcement just after everyone was on board and the door was closed. But he was just letting us know that a few more bags needed to be loaded, and then we’d be on our way. Sure, I thought, I’ll believe it when I see it. But we did push back from the gate, relatively on time.

Then another PA announcement from the pilot. We were number fourteen in line to takeoff, so it would be about 45 minutes before we could takeoff. I just wanted to get into the air so I would know I really was on my way home this time.

Fortunately, this time we really did take off, and we landed safely in Seattle. So the second take was a success. I even got reunited with my luggage after over three days of separation.

All is (more or less) right with the world again. But I’m not really looking forward to my next flight out of town in less than two weeks, though I’m very much looking forward to speaking at FOTOfusion. I’ll hope to see some of you there, and that none of us has any adventures getting there!

As I write this I’m sitting in the back seat of the car that picked me up at the airport. As I slid into the back seat, I realized the “in-seat sigh of relief” still existed, it had just changed from the seat on the plane to the seat in a car at my destination…

I had decided a six month hiatus was far too long, and that with the New Year I would start writing regularly on my blog again. I had no idea I would start with such a newsworthy story to write about…

It had been a long day already and I had gone for a run earlier in the day, so I was pretty exhausted and looking forward to sleeping for most of the flight home to Seattle. I had settled into my seat on Continental Airlines Flight 1881 at Newark Liberty International Airport, and soon was asleep. All was right with the world…

I awoke to a PA announcement from the pilot. We were still on the ground. He was saying something about getting off the plane, going through security, it would take two hours. I was still waking up so it didn’t make a lot of sense. But people started getting up and gathering their carry-on baggage.

I asked passengers around me what was going on, and they clarified that there had been a “situation” and we would need to get off the plane, exit the secure area of the terminal, and then be re-screened by security. Oh boy. I already knew what an “efficient” process that could be, and under these circumstances surely it was going to be much worse. Our captain was clearly a certified optimist if he thought we would be back in our seats in two hours.

When I say “we” would have to be screened I don’t just mean me and the people around me on the plane. I don’t just mean everyone on the plane. I mean everyone on every airplane and in every corner of the secured area at Terminal C at Newark. Everyone. That’s a lot of planes and a lot of people. You might call it a mob scene.

After getting off the plane and heading toward the exit, there was a crowd like I had never seen at any airport. And this time the crowd was trying to exit the terminal, not enter it. This was insanity.

We started to hear rumors that someone had walked into the secure area through the exit of the security screening area, and that the TSA personnel lost track of him and didn’t know where he was. Other than the PA announcement from the pilot, there were no further announcements. Ever.

After exiting the secure area, it suddenly looked like a Red Cross shelter during a natural disaster. People were everywhere, nobody knew where to go, and nobody knew exactly what was going on.

Finally working through the mob, I sat on the edge of the baggage claim carousel and tried to settle in for a very long wait. People were already lined up to go back through security, but there was no movement. Security personnel had even blocked access to most of the escalators, so you couldn’t move easily between the several floors of the terminal.

Still not a single announcement about the situation from anyone. I got all my information about what was going on by getting online and checking the major news websites. The lockdown at Terminal C was the top story on all the major networks.

I kept checking the status of my flight on my iPhone. I had an incredibly difficult time placing phone calls (simply too many people trying to make calls at the same time, I’m sure), but was able to get a data connection. The estimated departure time for my flight kept getting moved out, half an hour at a time. It was as if the airline was perpetually suggesting we would be leaving in an hour, except their clock apparently wasn’t moving. That magic hour never passed.

Of course, I’m an information junkie, so I kept checking the status. And then I saw a word I really didn’t want to see: canceled.

There had still be absolutely no announcements, so I figured most people on the flight didn’t know it had been canceled yet, and I rushed to find an airline agent who could get me on another flight so I could get home to teach the first night of the class I was to teach at the University of Washington Extension. A woman at the International counter told me I had to go to the Domestic counter, but that my flight was indeed canceled and it would be at least a couple days before I could get a flight home.

I went to stand in line at the Domestic counter, and everyone in line was equally frustrated and appalled at the situation. When I got my turn with an agent, he said I could be put on standby for a later flight that night, but that I would never get on it. He said the next flight he could get me on was Thursday morning. This was on Sunday night. I couldn’t get another flight home for over three days. I asked if there were any other airports I could go to so I could get an earlier flight home. Nothing.

I asked about my bags. He told me to go downstairs to the Baggage Service counter and they could pull my bags for me. He made it sound so simple…

At the Baggage Service counter I was told my bags would go on the next available flight to Seattle. I told the woman I wasn’t able to get on a flight until Thursday. She said, “No problem, they’ll be waiting for you there when you arrive.” I explained that I really needed my stuff, but she said there were tens of thousands of bags affected by this situation, and they weren’t retrieving bags for anyone. I told her I thought it wasn’t legal for my bags to be on a flight without me, and she told me it wasn’t legal for a passenger to do that, but it was legal for the airline to do that.

I did get a toiletry kit from the airline, but no change of clothes. And they wouldn’t provide any ground transportation, hotel, spending money, money for clothes, or any other benefits. She explained that since this situation was not the fault of the airline, they were under no obligation to do anything about it. So I was on my own…

I had arrived at the airport shortly after 4pm for a 6pm flight (which had been delayed due to strong winds). I boarded the flight at close to 7pm, had to get off the plane at around 8pm, found out my flight had been canceled at about 10pm, and didn’t actually leave the airport until 1am.

I can’t say this whole situation has done anything to improve my already less-than-favorable opinion of TSA, airport security, airline personnel, or airline customer service. I can say it reinforces my opinions about why the airlines consistently have such a difficult time earning a profit, despite all those fees they pile onto the cost of your ticket.

To add insult to injury, when I checked in for my flight at the airport, the nice little computer told me the flight was overbooked and if I agreed to take a later flight they would give me a $300 voucher. If only I had known…