journal
I just got back after a week photographing the legendary Don Quixote's giants: the stunning windmills of La Mancha. So many good images, so many good times. This video tries to compress several days, several mornings, several nights, of photography in 22 minutes of footage and images. Hope you enjoy it.
It is tempting to believe that a good subject will make for a good photograph. That all what need is a beautiful tree, a grand vista, or a stunning mountain peak. In this video, I want to argue that this isn’t enough. That we need to pay attention to every inch, every pixel, of our image. Otherwise, we might end up with an image that doesn’t do justice to that amazing subject.
"Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again." - André Gide
A quote I stumbled upon a few days ago, and that resonated with me. Related to my thoughts about originality in photography, and why we should speak our truth regardless of what others have or haven't done in the past.
I travelled all the way to a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean to photograph a small forest. A magical forest.
To be original, you have to stop trying to be original. Don't overthink it.
Sure, don’t chase trends, don’t go to popular locations just because they are popular. But don’t become a contrarian either, someone who avoids them just to be different, because those have also fallen in the trap. They are still comparing themselves to others, attaching a meaning to their work depending on what others do or don’t do.
We should care only about whether we are staying true to ourselves, photographing what means something to us, creating the images we enjoy looking at. If that means going to Yosemite, then so be it.
But don’t limit your photography to those trips, photograph every day no matter where you are and what you are doing, even if it doesn’t seem like there’s anything to photograph. There is, there always is.
Take advantage of that that makes you unique, and make images every single day. In the long term, that is what will make your work original, unique, and true to yourself.
A long exposure in Lake McDonald, Montana. After days of photographing the majestic peaks in Glacier National Park, I ran across this serene scene on a very foggy morning. I immediately knew that was the image of the trip, so I set everything up and took a long exposure to make it even more peaceful. The result is Glacial Tree, the Image of the Month of August.
Remember: there are two sizes to choose from, 6x6 and 8x8 (inches). In both cases, the matt and frame are 12x12 (this means a bigger margin for the 6x6 print).
Shipping is free to the US now. International shipping is a flat rate of $19.95.
A new image will be released every month and offered at a reduced price during that time. After 30 days, it will be sold at full price. They will never be on sale at any time in the future, the rate during the first month will be the lowest, ever.
You can find more information about how I create my images and all the details about pricing on The Art and Craft behind my prints.
I couldn't help but to laugh hard at this meme, because it's so true.
The reason is simple: we go to the grocery store more often than we get out to photograph, probably after work and around sunset time. Thus, more chances for incredible conditions to happen.
Want amazing skies at scenic locations? Then, go there more often, get out.
And if you can't do that, walk to the grocery store and bring your camera with you. You never know what you are going to find.
A lens is falling apart, a close call for the drone... yet another day at the office.
Another foggy morning of photography around town. I'm running out of places, but I still managed to find a few new and cool spots.
Beautiful Cannon Beach, a good example of what the Oregon Coast has to offer. Originally named, Cannon Beach is the Image of the Month of July.
As a not-so-fun fact, I dropped my litte RX100VII in the ocean while making this image - a rogue wave took it forever. Not a bad place to die, though.
Remember: there are two sizes to choose from, 6x6 and 8x8 (inches). In both cases, the matt and frame are 12x12 (this means a bigger margin for the 6x6 print).
Shipping is free to the US now. International shipping is a flat rate of $19.95.
A new image will be released every month and offered at a reduced price during that time. After 30 days, it will be sold at full price. They will never be on sale at any time in the future, the rate during the first month will be the lowest, ever.
You can find more information about how I create my images and all the details about pricing on The Art and Craft behind my prints.
Shooting wide open is a big no-no in some styles of photography, like landscape photography. But it is a huge yes-yes in my photography. Let me tell you why.
"Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings” - Stephen King
As photographers, we need to know if our images make us feel the way we feel because of their composition, light, subject, atmosphere... or if it's our memories of making them that are responsible instead. Because if it's the latter, if it's the context only us have as the makers, as the ones who were there, then no one else is going to feel the same way towards those images.
A few weeks ago, I had a very nice conversation with the folks from Cómete el Film, and this is the result. One of the very few times I got to talk about my work in Spanish, so it was a very welcomed change.
Hace unas semanas, tuve una conversación muy interesante con los chicos de Cómete el Film, y este es el resultado. Una de las pocas veces que he hablado sobre mi trabajo en español, un cambio que agradecí bastante.
I made this image just over a year go in Silver Falls State Park, near Salem, Oregon. I lived in Portland for quite a few years, but never made the trip to this beautiful spot with a camera in hand. Something I fixed last year.
This is my favorite image of that day, and I call it Silver Waterfall. It is also one of my newest additions to the Image of the Month collection.
Remember: there are two sizes to choose from, 6x6 and 8x8 (inches). In both cases, the matt and frame are 12x12 (this means a bigger margin for the 6x6 print).
Shipping is free to the US now. International shipping is a flat rate of $19.95.
A new image will be released every month and offered at a reduced price during that time. After 30 days, it will be sold at full price. They will never be on sale at any time in the future, the rate during the first month will be the lowest, ever.
You can find more information about how I create my images and all the details about pricing on The Art and Craft behind my prints.
...that'd be the Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6.
I never had a super zoom lens before, and I had a lot of doubts about this one before getting it. And now I can't see myself with it. In many ways, it is the replacement of my now dead RX100VII.
I just love the range, image quality, and speed in that small package. It's also relatively affordable, especially for a full-frame lens.
Of course, it comes with some compromises, like strong vignetting (fixable in post for the most part), variable aperture (it goes down to f/3.2 by 32mm, and it reaches f/5.6 at 158mm) and, above all, it lacks stabilization - this could be a problem when shooting at long focal lengths. Personally, it wasn't a deal breaker for me.
Photography (and art, in general) is not a zero-sum game. The goal should never be to try to “steal” a slice of the pie from other photographers, but to help each other to make the pie bigger. The more people know about photography, the more joy they can find in art, the better for every creator out there.
That’s why we owe so much to the photographers that came before us, and to the photographers that are bringing more and more attention to this world nowadays.
Want to stand tall? Don’t wish everyone else were shorter, just take yourself to higher ground.
I've been having a lot of fun with my bike lately. My bike and my camera, that is: almost the perfect marriage. I got to go to places where I'd never go neither by foot nor by car, and as a result, I made some new images. I got sick, though, as the temperature drops like a billion degrees when you ride a bike in cold weather. Totally worth it.
I'm not entirely sure what function these serve, but they looked pretty good. Good enough for an image, I believe.
Galicia, October 2021.
Mobius Arch is the first image I add to the Image of the Month collection in a while. Actually, it is 1 of 8 new images to complete the collection for this year 2021.
I made this image on a cold morning at the Alabama Hills, a spot I had visited many times in the past. It is definitely one of the, if not the most beautiful single view I had seen in the US so far. Sunrises can be truly stunning there.
But this morning, there was no sunrise: the clouds obscured the view of the peaks of the Eastern Sierra. They also created a very nice atmosphere that I tried to capture here, using the Arch to frame some of the mountains in the background.
I knew this was going to be one of my favorite images from that place right away, and I believe now it is my best from there.
Remember: there are two sizes to choose from, 6x6 and 8x8 (inches). In both cases, the matt and frame are 12x12 (this means a bigger margin for the 6x6 print).
Shipping is free to the US now. International shipping is a flat rate of $19.95.
A new image will be released every month and offered at a reduced price during that time. After 30 days, it will be sold at full price. They will never be on sale at any time in the future, the rate during the first month will be the lowest, ever.
You can find more information about how I create my images and all the details about pricing on The Art and Craft behind my prints.
Back home, back to photographing the fog. I only had an hour before having to run some errands, but I was still able to sneak in some photography.
