| | Finding that little extra element |
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Lots of people who visit my Woodstock, VT, gallery comment how wonderful it must be to live here and have an unlimited supply of beauty to photograph. They are are right, kinda. The scenery in and around Woodstock is great, rolling hills, beautiful farms, many covered bridges and the white of winter are great photo subjects. But it doesn't take long for it to all look the same. I think that happens everywhere. I can have only so many red barns in snow hanging on the gallery walls.
The problem is that I need to always make a better image than I've ever done before and I put a lot of pressure on myself to raise the bar higher and higher. That means I need to look at the same barns in a different way or a different light. Many times I go out and come home and tell my wife Robin that the beauty after a snowfall was stunning but I didn't make any pictures. I keep a log of places to visit and I do a lot of driving to find new places but sometimes I just need to take the beauty in and enjoy the moment rather than get frustrated because I didn't see a great photo.
You might notice I said I didn't see a great photo. That doesn't mean it wasn't there, I just didn't see it. I'm a big believer that there are great images always around us, we need to see them. I had driven past the farm above several times over the years and didn't get the camera out of the car. One this morning earlier this month the light and snow stopped me. I got out and walked up and down the road thinking that the scene was really nice but it lacked that extra element that makes a photo special. Then I saw the blue truck. It was just what I needed, that little something to bring the scene together. Without it my eye was wandering all over the scene, but once I saw the truck it gave me a place to focus my attention. Then it was a matter of working the composition to bring out the best of everything. |
| | I have a new website I'm excited to finally launch a new website! It runs much faster than the old one and makes finding, selecting and purchasing photos and workshops much easier.
I've eliminated much of the clicking you had to do before to find photos. Photos are categorized into logical collections, so if you are interested in photos from Vermont, you simply click on Loren's Photos in the menu and then Vermont. The same if you are looking for photos from Around the World or animals.
In some Galleries there are multiple pages of photos. If you want to see all that gallery's photos on one page, click on View All at the top of the gallery. Or you can click View Slideshow and sit back and watch the photos scroll past.
Blogging is always a challenge, there never seems to be enough time. So I've decided to call my blog a Journal and hopefully I'll not wait so long for bigger items and use it more as a journal of things I photograph each week as well as my larger trips or workshops. Unfortunately many of my old blog posts aren't getting moved over to the new website. Keep checking back to see the new Journal entries.
I still have some tweaking to do, like I don't have my instructional videos on the new site yet. If you have bookmarked any of my pages, they will no longer work. That's one of the hazards of completely changing the website. |
| | I'm selling tripods again One of the most frequent gear questions I get is about tripods. I hate seeing photographers at workshops using a cheap, flimsy tripod because I know when they get home they are going to be disappointed because the tripod didn't keep their camera steady and they'll have blurry photos.
I'm a SIRUI dealer and I'm selling only gear that I use or highly recommend. Since I'm selling gear mainly as a service to photographers, I'm selling everything at the lowest allowed advertised price, so even B&H can't beat my price.
If you know you need a new tripod but don't know which one, check out my Tripod Buying Guide or contact me and I'll help make sure you get what you need, and no, you don't need to buy it from me. When in Vermont, you can see a nice selection at my gallery Focus - A Vermont Gallery.
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Iceland is waiting for us August is coming fast and I'm looking forward to another trip to Iceland. The island is special any time of year but the green of summer is so wonderful. And it is when the puffins come ashore and show off all their cuteness! I know a spot where they land and you can shoot them with a 400mm lens, like above. I still have a couple of openings for the August 12-18 workshop. We'll photograph lots of massive waterfalls, black sand beaches, ice diamonds, glaciers, lagoons, Icelandic horses and, of course, puffins. Plus a lot more. I hope you can join me, you can get more info at https://lorenphotos.com/product/iceland-summer-photography-workshop/ |
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| | Get updated on Loren's newest workshops and seminars You can now get a notice when Loren adds a new workshop, seminar or tour to his website. Click here and go down to Workshop Notifications
Visit my gallery When you are in Vermont visit Focus Gallery at 1 The Green, Woodstock, VT.
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