What Sells?

Last time we got a call from a publisher, they were looking for photographs of "pretty places" for a National Park's calendar. This time, we got a call from National Park's Magazine. They were looking for images to illustrate an upcoming article on investments in water management in Everglades National Park. Here is the photo they selected:


The day we took this shot, we rose early, put on our water shoes, and followed Paul (naturalist, incredible photographer, and friend) into the Everglades. He warned us of sharp limestone beneath the surface of the water - and of Alligators, Cottonmouths, and Burmese Pythons... and he went barefoot.

We spent more than an hour wandering around in this area as the sun came up over the Mangroves, took a bunch of shots, and headed to breakfast. But it isn't the efforts behind the photo that sell it. It's not the hike, the lens, the camera system, or the dangerous animals that threaten to nibble on your toes out there. ;)

In this case it's the location - the heart of a park that is struggling to deal with problems ranging from water management to infestation by invasive species (remember the Pythons we mentioned?) to threatened and endangered species. The light helps - it's a pretty sunrise, and the well-controlled highlights and shadows make it pleasant to look at. But in the end, it's a portrait of this troubled and beautiful location... and that helps the publishers tell their story.

Photo of the Day

Photoburst has chosen Sunrise Over St. Mary as Photo of the Day. The photo was taken at Glacier National Park in Montana - on of my favorite parks. We scouted the park the day before and chose several locations as possibilities. In the morning, we chose this location based on cloud patterns and the direction of the sunrise. The sun would rise behind us, but with a clear horizon in the East, we expected to see some color in the clouds. We waited for a quite a while along the shore of St. Mary Lake, and in the end, we got more than we'd hoped for.

You can leave comments on the my photograph or others on Photoburst by clicking on the "description and comments" link below the photo. There are some truly beautiful images, so take some time to look if you can.

Excellent lighting - and missed opportunities...

Here's another shot from our trip to Olympic. The lighting was just beautiful that morning. The skies over the Olympic Peninsula Region were expected to be clear. Clear is all well and good if you are having a nice picnic, or spending the day sunbathing. But photographers want clouds. Not heavy, overcast gray of course... we want big, beautiful, puffy clouds that make the sky interesting. And that morning - we were getting none of it. But - we though we might be able to find some mist hanging over the lakes, and you can see that we did find it. When the sun rose, it lit the mist and mountain behind with soft, warm light. The right place at the right time. That's what it's about.

But the day before yesterday, we found ourselves in the wrong place at the right time. The sky went absolutely nuts, but we were driving down a major highway - surrounded by construction on all sides... no lake or mountain or beautiful landscape anywhere nearby. We had planned to get a couple of local shots, since the sky was so beautiful. Unfortunately, it wasn't beautiful over the pond, or over the park, or over the ledges... It was beautiful over I-271 at Route 8. And so - we came home with nothing to show for our efforts.

Yesterday we did our short run - about 5 miles. I think I swallowed more bugs than usual. They were everywhere - I'm considering getting a mask to run in - or one of these great hats bee-keepers wear. :)