This point came to mind when I came across these four videos on Jim Goldstein’s blog.  These are four-part series of videos from the 1983 BBC Program “Master Photographers.”   I recommend watching all four, though to my mind the second video is the most interesting.

Ponder these quotes the next time you think that digital manipulation is killing photography:

“None of my images are realistic in terms of values…  it’s intentional manipulation” (at :50).

“The negative is the composer’s score, all the information is there. The print is the performance, so you interpret the score at various aesthetic emotional levels, but never far enough away dividing the original concept.” (at 4:00)

Notably, Adams was excited about the potential for the potential to reinterpret images using the computer:

“The thing that excites me is that in not too many years we’re going to have a entirely new medium of expression with the electronic image. I’ve seen what can happen to a print reproduced by the  laser scanner and how that is enhanced and that is just the beginning.    … and I know the potential is there and I know its going to be wonderful.  Well in that sense the negatives for these photographs as an example will take the place of a fresh kabal they are….personal or some early composer will then be reinterpreted through a fresh medium and I think that is marvelous.” (at 7:00).

Thanks to Jim Goldstein for point out these great videos and transcribing the quotes reproduced above.

SUPERHUMAN snapper Greg du Toit was so determined to photograph wild lions drinking he sat SUBMERGED in their watering hole — for THREE months.

These incredible pictures show that Greg’s blood, sweat and tears approach to his work — three hours per day for seven days a week in the water — was worth the wait.

But it came at a huge price for the photographer who was diagnosed with horrific tropical diseases Bilharzia, Malaria and several parasites, which he soaked up through the dirty water in the drinking hole.

To top things off, du Toit was at serious risk of being eaten by the lions he was photographing.  On the other hand, his images are fantastic.  Check out the slideshow in the linked article.  Even better are the photos on du Toit’s website.   The African Anomaly gallery is particularly good.  Worth a look

Potentially related posts:

1. Another Crazy Wildlife Photographer

I promise to get back to posting my own work soon.

Potentially related posts:

1. More Blurs, and Other Powerful Work by Alain Briot
2. More Landscape Blurs

Potentially related posts:

1. Remarkable Leopard Seal Video
2. Hilarious Nikon D3x Video

(Note: I have chosen to respect Groves’ copyright by refraining from posting his images here.)

This is a remarkable video of National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen’s encounter with a leopard seal in Antarctica. Needless to say, Nicklen was a tad more bold with the seal than I would have been! Nickeln’s photography isn’t bad either. I think I’m going to purchase a copy of his book, Polar Obsession.

Potentially related posts:

1. Vancouver Time-lapse Video
2. Hilarious Nikon D3x Video

© Dennis Dooley

I spend last weekend in San Francisco with my wife.  During my trip, I was fortunate to run across Dennis Dooley’s booth at an outdoor arts fair.  Dooley has made a living for the past twenty years by selling prints at fairs and as a licensed San Francisco street artist, and claims to have the oldest active street artist license in the city.  Dooley has a wonderful eye for composition, and his street photography fantastic. Check out his galleries and pay particular attention to his Urban B&W and Urban Color portfolios.

I purchased a print of the image above as a sort of fine art photography souvenir, and used all my willpower to not to purchase a half-dozen other images.  Dooley has some other striking images (images, frankly, that are stronger than the one I purchased) but don’t fit with the aesthetic of my house. Here’s one of my favorites

© Dennis Dooley

Rather than link to Dooley’s other great images, I recommend that you click through to his site and enjoy for yourself.

Potentially related posts:

1. Alcatraz

A few months ago I was killing some time between the sweet morning and evening light browsing the Monte Vista Crane Festival. (The festival is really a big fair/craft show/small town event — both charming and odd at the same time).   I stumbled across “Between Light and Shadow” by John Weller as I was leafing through books at the Great Sand Dunes National Park table. It stopped me in my tracks.

I can sum up this book by saying that it is easily the best book of outdoor photography that I’ve seen in the last five years. (And I’ve read, and purchased, many such photography in that time).  Weller’s book has three virtues that set it apart from most of the outdoor photography books in my collection.   First, he has a unique style. Rather than employing the contrasty and highly saturated only-in-sweet-light style that dominates landscape and wildlife photography, his photos are under-saturated, low contrast, even a little dark.  He doesn’t rely on the “sweet light” but uses all sorts of different lighting — including, in particular, storm lighting — to great effect.   Second, he  lived in the dunes for several months over the space of a year.  This manifests itself both in the quality of the images (you don’t get very many images this good on a week-long trip) and more importantly on Waller’s eye for the place. Finally unlike the prose in many photography books, Weller’s prose is engaging and well written.

If you like landscape photography even a little, and you don’t have this book in your library, you’re missing out.

Potentially related posts:

1. Great Sand Dunes After Snow Storm
2. William Neil’s stunning “Impresions of Light” (and my feeble attempts at imitiation)
3. Light

(Not that I’m a critic.  I really like a couple of Alan’s images, including the first one).

Potentially related posts:

1. More Blurs, and Other Powerful Work by Alain Briot
2. Forest Blurs
3. Two Bosque Blurs