Tim Grey’s Blog

I have the luxury of “setting my own hours”, since I’m self-employed, but as you can probably imagine that often means I put in far more hours than I would if I had a “real job”. Of course, sometimes I struggle with a decision about working versus taking some time off for fun.

Today I had to struggle with just such a challenge. This weekend I depart for Santa Fe to teach another great workshop (and as I write this it isn’t too late to join me there!), so I have plenty of work to catch up on before I leave. At the same time, I have season tickets to the Seattle Mariners, and today there was a not-so-often day game scheduled. So I had to decide between just getting work done and enjoying a day at the ballpark.

I opted for both.

I realize I looked like a bit of a fool as the security personnel at the entrance checked my back, noticed my laptop, and said it looked like I planned to do some “computing” during the game. And I look like an even bigger fool sitting in my seat with my laptop out, working on an article. I’m secretly hoping everyone thinks I’m a sports writer covering the story, but I know they realize if that were the case I’d be up in the press box.

Still, it is worth the potential humiliation. I’m able to get a change of scenery from my normal home office, and I’m able to enjoy a tasty (though probably very unhealthy) hot dog with all the fixin’s while getting some work done.

Who knows, perhaps I can even catch up on email while watching the Seattle Mariners claim victory in today’s game. With the Mariners leading 2-0 as I write this, I’m counting on them to win. But I don’t think I’ll be caught up on email anytime soon.

Oh, and the only thing this really has to do with photography is that the image documenting my little geek-at-the-ballpark experience was captured with my phone and then sent to myself via email so I could post this blog via my laptop. Amazing what we can do nowadays!

We all know that weather predictions can be—shall we say—a little less than accurate. In fact, I’m sure we’ve all heard (or made) jokes about how inaccurate weather predictions seem to be, with many theories about the arbitrary ways meteorologists must go about predicting the weather.

I’m wrapped up with the third full day of photography as part of a workshop in the Palouse region of eastern Washington, and we’ve been tracking the weather obsessively using various applications on our iPhones.

This morning we were supposed to wake up to partly cloudy skies, but instead I arose to brilliant sun with not a cloud in the sky. That turned out perfectly, because it offered great conditions to photograph a crop duster spraying the wheat fields near Pullman, Washington.

The rest of the day was predicted to be sunny as well, which we were excited about because that was ideal for the view from the top of Steptoe Butte. But when we drove away from the restaurant after a nice dinner in Colfax, Washington, we were disappointed to see clouds forming to the west.

As I mentioned, we were obsessively checking the weather with various applications on our iPhones, and the hour-by-hour forecast was getting updated every hour, with the forecast changing wildly each hour. We have seen this a few times during the workshop here, so I’m not sure if the Palouse is a region where it is particularly difficult to forecast the weather, or if this is just one of those weeks where the weather is especially unpredictable.

As it turned out, the real weather in the morning was much better than we anticipated based on our photographic plans, but the afternoon was much worse than forecast. Naturally we made the best of the conditions that were given to us, and turned out some photos we were all very happy with in the process.

Sunshine can be so exhilarating after a few days of overcast, rain, watching the sky, and obsessing over weather forecasts to see when you’ll get some better weather for photography. Last night the forecast called for a lot of cloud cover this morning, but when I woke up and looked out my hotel room window, I was thrilled to see bright sun with some scattered clouds. It was proof that patience really does pay off.

Of course, the excitement over the sunshine and great clouds also meant I got a little over-enthusiastic with the shutter. I captured 1,004 images today, which is double the total I took during the three previous days here in the Palouse combined. Today’s photography was great fun, but it does mean I have my work cut out for me in terms of filtering the images down to my favorites.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the sudden great weather here was that it gave me an opportunity to experiment a lot more with different perspectives and a variety of lenses for each scene we photographed. There was very little waiting for clouds to pass and lots of great light, so between helping students on the workshop I would move around and try a number of variations for each subject. It turned out to be a great exercise in composition. The only problem is, now I have a very high percentage of images I really like, so I’m having a difficult time deciding which are my true favorites. I guess that’s a good problem to have!

Part of any photo excursion is dealing with environmental conditions as they change. The Palouse region of eastern Washington state is known as an arid region, getting an average of just under 20 inches of rain each year. That compares to an average of about 37 inches per year for Seattle. And yet, we’re getting some rain here in the Palouse on the first full day of a photography workshop I’m leading along with photographer Wolfgang Kaehler.

So, with overcast skies we loaded up to head out to the “Art Barn” in Uniontown, Washington. Part of the draw is a wheel fence that was built around the property over the course of 30 years. With flat lighting we decided this was a good option to warm up our photography for the week. The hope was that by afternoon things would clear up. They didn’t.

We worked the area for several hours, capturing many images in the cold and damp weather. Certainly not the conditions I would have asked for, but when you do photography outdoors you often have to work with what you’re given. Since we’re here for a full week we can return to specific locations when the conditions are ideal, but while we’re waiting for the weather to improve we’ll still find opportunities to make images.

Of course, we also spent the afternoon doing image critiques and talking about image storage and backup, since the conditions had only deteriorated and photography didn’t seem like a good priority at the time. But in many cases I find you can be surprised at the great images you can get when you thought perhaps it wasn’t even worth taking your camera out of the bag.

I love photographing while scouting for great locations much more than going somewhere I already know will be good. There’s so much more adventure when you don’t know what to expect, and I love the joy of discovering great subjects and locations that are new to me.

I’m in the Palouse region of eastern Washington state along with professional photographer Wolfgang Kaehler, just getting started teaching a photography workshop. We arrived yesterday, and on the way here scouted out some of the locations we planned to take the students to during the workshop.

In this case Wolfgang was already quite familiar with the area, and knew some areas that were expected to be good. But nature has a way of being unpredictable, and crop rotation by the local farmers only contributes to the unpredictability.

Of particular interest was locating some canola fields for their vibrant yellow flowers. But of course most of the fields were wheat. But it was a great adventure driving along the many country roads (many of them only gravel or dirt) and looking for great fields, great barns, and great vantage points. We were lucky enough to have some great clouds to make things more interesting. We stopped many times to capture some images while scouting.

It’s very easy to get so caught up exploring and looking for great scenes that you neglect to keep track of where you are, what you’re seeing, and which places you want to visit again (and what time of day you think will be optimal for those locations). Fortunately, Wolfgang was well-prepared. We kept track of where we were and where we were headed on a map. Ideal locations were marked, including whether they were best in the morning or late afternoon. So now we have a great list of locations to share with the students, and should get some excellent photography this week. It’s all about proper planning…

I was sitting on my couch reading, trying to ignore the uncomfortable heat. It was about 9pm, the sun had just set, and the sky was turning an incredible pink, but somehow I wasn’t inspired to go outside. I think the head had stifled me and convinced me that staying in one place was the best way to cool down.

Suddenly, the trees started screaming out, announcing the arrival of a front through the intense motion of their branches. I went outside, and was overwhelmed by the sound of the wind, the pelting of debris from the trees, and the dramatic drop in temperature. I settled into the hammock to enjoy the quick onset of a break from the heat, when I realized what a fool I was to not have my camera with me. I rushed inside, grabbed my camera, and started wandering around the backyard looking for interesting subjects.

The light was fading quickly, so there really wasn’t much to photograph. But it didn’t matter. I was enjoying the experience both in terms of the sudden excitement in terms of weather and the sense of chasing a subject photographically. The trees and just about everything else around was suddenly blurry on account of the motion caused by the wind. The temperature plummeted quickly by nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit in the span of less than five minutes. The heat wave was over, not overnight, not over hours, but over minutes.

While this most certainly didn’t need to be a photographic experience, it became one. And while the photos I obtained certainly weren’t great or even all that useful, the act of taking pictures while nature was having a mood swing made the experience all that much more enjoyable.

As a photographer, I’m sure you’ve experienced this. You’re in an unfamiliar place, perhaps photographing or just attending an event, and you meet another photographer. There’s an immediate bond and connection. The conversation flows freely. There’s a sense of camaraderie.

I’ve had an experience like this on many occasions. In several cases the connection involved the readers of my (free) Digital Darkroom Questions (DDQ) email newsletter.

At this point I probably shouldn’t be surprised at the great response I receive from DDQ readers, but I am. Surprised and impressed.

I recently mentioned in a DDQ email that I would be cycling 100 miles as part of the Tour de Cure 2009 fundraiser event for the American Diabetes Association. My goal was to raise $1,000 as part of my efforts. Less than one week later, I’ve already reached 96% of my goal, thanks in large part to DDQ readers, who are all fellow photographers.

So, thank you to all have contributed to this cause and supported me in my (long!) bike ride coming up very soon (on May 16th in the Seattle area). And thank you to photographers everywhere who have helped build a great family of photography around the world.

I got an email the other day letting me know about a change in the terms of service for the Kodak Gallery. The bottom line: no more free photo storage if you don’t spend money.

Of course, there’s no shortage of websites that allow you to store your photos at no charge. They have become popular for sharing photos with friends, family, clients, and others. And they’re generally free. The service makes up for this by encouraging you to purchase prints or other products featuring your photos, and in some cases through online advertising.

So, I had to wonder if this was the beginning of the end of free online photo storage. I seriously doubt it. It is a common opinion in the industry that Kodak’s best days seem to be behind them. I suspect the Kodak Gallery has been losing money, and this is a last-ditch effort to make it profitable. I suspect its days may be numbered.

In fairness to Kodak, the requirements to maintain storage for your photos is pretty low. If you have less than 2 gigabytes of photos stored with the service, you only have to spend $4.99 on prints each year. If you have more than 2 gigabytes of photos, you need to spend $19.99 per year. But when there are so many alternatives out there, I have to wonder if this might spur an exodus to other sites that offer similar storage and photo printing options without the requirement to spend a particular amount of money each year.

I can’t even fathom going on any trip — even a business trip — without a camera. In some extreme cases I’ll just take my point-and-shoot digital camera along with me, but whenever possible (which is most trips) I’ll bring my digital SLR along as well.

A tripod, however, can be a whole different matter. On some trips, especially when they are short and on smaller planes, it can be a challenge to travel with a tripod. It often puts me over the limit for carry-on items and I worry about getting caught by an especially strict flight attendant. On full flights (which are more common these days with airlines cutting capacity) I also worry about damage to my carbon fiber tripod caused by bags that are crammed tightly into the overhead bins.

Such was the case on my current trip to Arcata, California, to teach a weekend Photoshop workshop at Humboldt State University. On balance it didn’t seem to make sense for me to bring it along, especially since the itinerary for the trip wasn’t going to allow much time for photography.

In the little free time I did have, my friend (and professor at Humboldt) Mark Larson took me to check out the redwoods as well as the small fishing town of Trinidad. On the pier at Trinidad I noticed the late light had caused the water to go inky black, and the rocks were creating some great textures in the crashing waves. A long exposure seemed in order, but without a tripod it seemed futile.

Naturally there was a railing on the pier, and with a plate always attached to my camera I had a pretty good structure for stabilizing the camera. Still, with exposures ranging from 1/15th of a second up to 2 seconds, my odds weren’t very good.

Fortunately things worked out, and I managed to get a few shots I was happy with despite not using a tripod. It is always a compromise to be out capturing photographs without having a tripod available, but this time it worked out fine. Sometimes it is riskier than others, but I think I’m going to make an effort in the future to bring a tripod along on these trips more frequently. In many cases it is simply far too difficult to get great images without a tripod, and even if I end up using it, I do like having the peace of mind of knowing it is there if I do need it.

It is interesting to me how often I find myself taking a photograph of something interesting without having any idea what it really is. This makes it all the more exciting when I discover at a later date exactly what I had been photographing in the first place.

I had this experience a few years ago when I was in Italy for a couple weeks. While walking near the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, I stumbled upon an iron railing that had a large collection of padlocks attached to it. They were interlocked to form a cluster of quite a lot of padlocks. I wondered if perhaps they were left by people who didn’t want to carry a lock around all the time but needed it to lock up a bike or scooter, but that didn’t make any sense since there were no chains with these locks.

I later learned that these locks had been placed on the railing as a custom of love. The locks are intended to be a symbol of the commitment of two lovers, and it seems to have become quite a bit of a worldwide phenomenon. I had no idea this was the case when I took the photograph of the locks, but it certainly made the photo more meaningful once I knew the origins of the interesting “sculpture”.

More recently I have been using a photo of prayer sticks I captured in a cemetery in Tokyo, Japan, as part of my various workshops. Each time I’ve asked the students if anyone could read Japanese or knew someone who could, but to no avail.

Finally, I found someone (thanks, Gary!) who was able to get them translated. It turns out these sticks contained a Buddhist slogan and a wish for blessings upon the deceased. The experience I had during the time this photograph was taken was quite incredible, and now having a better understanding of the customs surrounding these objects makes what had already become one of my favorite photos all the more meaningful.

We often hear the advice (and good advice it is) to truly understand your subject when photographing. Sometimes, however, you discover subjects you didn’t anticipate. When you finally are able to learn more about the subject that inspired you to capture a photograph, the images become all the more meaningful.