This past weekend I drove from my home in Central New York, eight hours to a hotel in Livonia, MI. My mission was to learn all I could from a man whose success as a macro photographer I admired. I left home before sunrise on Friday morning and drove steadily until mid-afternoon because Mike Moats was going to be conducting his Macro Boot camp at that hotel.

A basket of feathers

I expected to learn some tricks (some people might call them techniques) that would help me take macro or close-up photos better – more like Mike’s. The bottom line is, I came away with some nice macro/close-up images, captured under conditions most photographers would swear were not appropriate for my objective.

Mike had attracted 40 photographers of varying skill levels to his boot camp. Some barely understood how their cameras worked. Others were skilled, award winning and published. Stacy Neidzwiecki, for example arrived with several awards under her belt and two new books, only recently released. Jackie Curts works at the Zoo in Indianapolis and uses every opportunity to practice her craft.Her business card reads, “portraits of pets, children, and families” and “nature photography.” Her images were proof that practice works.

A Withering Tulip

Others were equally capable while some needed help identifying the controls on their cameras.

Yet, all were wide-eyed at five o’clock Friday afternoon as we settled in for Mike’s evening presentation. I’d bet that I wasn’t alone among the more experienced photographers at the boot camp, who felt the talk about f-stops, depth of field, various lenses, etc. a bit more basic that we needed. I know the thought crossed my mind that evening and again a couple times on Saturday. But, it was a mixed group and several questions from others attested to the rightness of Mike’s inclusion of this “basic” information in his presentation. After all, he did bill the session as a “boot camp.”

Now, I remember boot camp when I went in the service more years go than I care to admit. And while much of what we were taught was new, much was also quite familiar. Together, however, it gave us a good grounding for the challenges we’d face after boot camp. I think the content of Mike’s boot camp will do the same thing.

Peacock feathers

The headline of this post says that Mike’s boot camp surprised me. It did, because what I learned wasn’t what I expected to learn. I was expecting that Mike would share some unique tricks-of-the-trade, those magical techniques only the “pros” know. He didn’t, in the commonly expected meaning. In an important way, however, he did.

To someone who works hard at his or her photography, what Mike shared was much more valuable than a trick or two. He shared his passion and his approach to his art. As a macro photographer, Mike makes his living selling images for publication, trucking countless images to art shows for sale to the public, writing books, and conducting workshops.

At the boot camp, no question was turned away, no matter how basic, how relevant, or in some cases, how much he might have thought the question was too much about he makes his living with his camera. But while Mike quickly and easily answered each question he communicated several points so present, so obvious and so valuable they might have been accepted without a second thought by the eager ears in his audience.

You couldn’t come away from the boot camp without being impressed by Mike’s “keep it simple” approach. It’s a back-to-basics message. Picture a room, perhaps 30′ x 40′. Lighting was typical of a hotel meeting room, some florescent lights down the middle and some incandescent lighting on the sides. Lighting was surely adequate for a wedding reception (there was one going on outside our doors) or for a business conference. Most photographers, however, would immediately think the lighting was grossly inadequate for good photography.

Now put 40 photographers, 40 tripods, camera bags and what have you in this poorly lit room and tell me you expect interesting photography to be produced. If your name is not Mike Moats, I think you’d be telling me a fib. Or, you just completed Mike’s workshop and the images in your camera impress you . . . despite these conditions.

It is out of all this that the surprise surfaced for me. It’s something every competent photographer knows. Good images don’t result because of your lighting, your new lens, your state-of-the-art digital camera, but because of your passion and your love of the craft.

Of course Mike shared some important competencies (like controlling depth of field), some artistic realities (like understanding your composition) and some new”ish” technology (the Lensbaby). The most important thing he sent me home with, however, was the renewed recognition that every photographer has his or her own vision and perspective to help define the images we capture. If we follow that vision with less of our attention on the tools and gadgets and more concentration on our passion, we’ll bring home more photographs we can be justly proud of.

So, from one photographer to another . . . Mike, you’ve managed to fan an ember in me and I’m burning with passion for my photography again. Thanks.

Those readers who are members of The North American Nature Photographers Association’s (NANPA) and readers of its magazine, Currents, will find the spring edition exceptional – great articles from esoteric as well as technological perspectives. I particularly enjoyed the articles on Putting on a Photo Presentation and the one on Depth of Field. While neither was totally new information, each was unusually effective at giving me information I can, and will, use.

It's not a national swamp, but a marsh only ten minutes from the house yielded this image.

I also enjoyed the Swamps  & Serenity piece, an article about photographing in Atchafalaya Basin Swamp in Louisiana. It provided motivation to once again look to the marshlands in our area for subject matter for my cameras. Sure, they are not the Atchafalaya, but many of the same qualities will be present.

Unfortunately, if your are not a member of NANPA, you won’t be able to benefit from these article . . . one more reason to join one of the finest photography organizations available to us.

I often head north!

I was reading my favorite photo magazine this morning, the April 2010 edition of Outdoor Photographer. The focus was on National Parks, which leaves some of us who live where true national parks are non-existent, almost aching for the opportunity to head west…or at least south. Some of the biggest names in outdoor photography, Jack Dykinga, Dewitt Jones, David Muench, Rob Sheppard and others all boast iconic images from equally iconic national parks – Great Smokey Mountain NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Sequoia NP, Big Cypress National Preserve, to mention a few.

What photographer wouldn’t love to spend a week or longer in each park. Without an assignment to fund such a trip most of us are limited to the occasional vacation, when Mom or the kids are likely to have something other than our photography on the agenda.

Each of us, however, also lives close enough to state or local parks, even state or national forests, that offer some great opportunities to take home iconic images of our own. From my home in Central New York I’m only a couple hours from the largest state part in the lower 48 states. The Adirondack State Park in the northern reaches of New York State is larger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks combined.

My foggy horizon, without going to the Great Smokey Mountain NP

So every time I turn to one of my favorite magazines, the articles and images serve as motivation to get out into the local outdoors. Less than five miles from my front door, while shooting from the side of a farm country road, I brought home the Valley Fog image here. It’s not all that different from Rob Sheppard’s Great Smokey Mountain NP images in the recent edition of  Outdoor Photographer and I didn’t have to travel anywhere.

Then, while enjoying David Muench’s Sequoia NP image, I couldn’t help but recall my may trips to the Adirondacks and one of my favorite places to plant my tripod, Forked Lake (often pronounced “fork -ed” with a bit of emphasis on the “ed” being pronounced like the man’s name).  It’s in the eastern Adirondacks and only about three hours from home. Personally, I think it often has sunsets that rival, even best, those of the great western horizons.

My reflected horizon, without traveling to Sequoia NP

While I’d be the first to grab the opportunity to head west to a Utah, Arizona, Texas, California or Tennessee National Park, and I’m often feeling a tinge of envy when I view the National Park images in the photo magazines, I also know that on any evening or weekend, I have much to be thankful for close to home even though I don’t have a National Park nearby.

Now don’t anybody think for a moment that I wouldn’t jump at an invitation to shoot at an iconic location for Outdoor Photographer.

Last week, I wrote with pride about having two images selected to show in the State of the Art Gallery’s  21st Annual Juried Photography show, in Ithaca, NY. Photographers entering the contest were limited to entering two images. So, obviously I was pleased with having both of mine selected. On Friday evening a reception was held to kick-off the month long show. Besides the exhibition of the selected photographs (the show actually opened two days earlier) the night’s draw was the announcement of images that were recognized as “winners” by the gallery.

Photos selected for the show were juried by gallery members. Winners from among those selected were chosen by an art teacher at Ithaca College, who selected five pieces for recognition. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch his name or we could thank him here. At the outset of the awards announcement it was also noted that throughout the month, visitors would be encouraged to vote for their favorite work. This, in response to people questioning the judges’ selections in prior years.

I guess we should not expect everyone to agree with the judge(s) in any contest, especially one that is a subjective as a photography contest. It’s difficult under any circumstances. However, when you have a show like this one, with photos that range from grand landscapes, to abstracts, to portraits and more, the judge’s decision becomes even more challenging.

I have to wonder what people are thinking, especially any contest entrant who might complain about which images were recognized. I’d bet that virtually everyone in attendance (and there was barely room to walk in the packed gallery) selected his or her favorite within minutes of arriving. There was work designed to make a political statement, a photo created with a pinhole camera, a brilliantly colorful abstract (one of the winners), photos printed on metallic paper, on canvas, framed, unframed and gallery wrapped. I really loved some and wondered about others. But, as the saying goes “one man’s meat is another man’s poison.” No where is this adage more apt than when the subject is considered art.

I think, when we photographers enter contests of any type we ought to take time to understand our audience first. Now, that’s not all that different than the way those of us who sell our work proceed every time we select a final destination for any of our images. Unless specifically requested, we wouldn’t send landscape images to the National Wildlife Federation for possible use in its calendar. We wouldn’t deliver photographs of Alaska to a gift store that specialized in work depicting the Finger Lakes region. Who would suggest macro flower images for an industrial trade magazine? We always need to consider our audience and an art gallery contest is no exception.

I am one of the photographers who did not take time to know his audience at the State of the Art Gallery. Only two days before the entry deadline, a friend has encourage me to enter the contest and I barely had time to prepare two images. What I selected were both images that had been favorites at other venues last year.

When I arrived at the gallery on Friday evening, within minutes I told my wife there was “no way I’d be one of the winners.” That was in part because of what I saw on the walls that evening. Most images presented were much larger than mine. When it comes to photography, big is often better. That said, I think all the winners were smaller than mine, so there goes my credibility in this case.  Few images were landscapes. Many were a genre I couldn’t even describe. A few, in my opinion, were either accidental or outright poor quality. One of the “winning” images fit the former category . . . again, in my opinion, though obviously not in the judge’s.

But, all the images had one thing in common. They expressed something for, or about, their creators. How well they did that job is part of what a contest of this type is about, I think.

Next time, for this show or any other, I’ll be doing some homework first. I’d bet many other photographers will do likewise. If that’s all we take away from this year’s State of the Art Gallery photography show, we win.

I’m starting off the morning right. Just received two e-mails. One requesting some photos I’d taken for another client and the other, from the North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA), letting me know that one of my photos had been selected for the NANPA daily showcase. This is the photo they put in the showcase. It’s only in the showcase for a day, I think. You can see others at http://www.nanpa.org/daily_sampler.php.

Reflections on a Moose River pond.