Place in Landscape Photography

Landscape photography describes place. Where do you live? What do you see? 

One favorite blog that shows a front seat view to the idea of place, is Willson Cummer's curated NewLandscapePhotography.com (NLP). From urban to barren environments to variegated forrest life, NLP provides a look at planet Earth from every perspective.

Take the time to look at the photography featured on NLP and at the previous entries listed on right. Each post includes links to the featured photographer, making the site a great resource for this genre. Let the landscape be your guide as a photographic approach to your 'place.'

If you are in Connecticut and want to meet up for a landscape assignment let me know. I'm interested in Bridgeport, CT but will require shooting in a group. Thank you!

Contact info: margaretwaage@hotmail.com

Identity Crisis Put To Rest

The idea of persona is intriguing. Every actor is familiar with putting on a face, and writers too, try characters on all the time. As a photographer, I've always felt inside looking out. It's a function of being behind a camera. Maybe it's the observer in me that makes me feel watchful rather than social.

Whatever psychology is at play, the task of creating a secondary voice for the Interactive Writing course was difficult. I wonder if the struggle came as a result of not identifying with my true voice, while having to create something that represented me. To be an authority on oneself is to say to the world, "I exist, and I'm important."

It takes confidence to be that voice. It takes a passion to be yourself. To like who you are without the approval of audience is the first step, but invariably to do anything outward and 'in the world,' is at once impacted by the approval of others. And so it goes.

The writing class is completed and alternate blogs and persona were created. Marginexpert is me, after all. It's what my Dad nicknamed me because I wrote neatly, within the lines. I've been peering over those lines since. Looking outward, looking at life. What do I see? Pain and beauty, loss and love. 

The experience of identifying with you, readers of these words, or you, someone I've met to photograph because something in your life called out, "Look at me." I like when that happens and the opportunity I have to discover you and your happening. That experience of learning who you are teaches me who I am. 

With the web, comes many identities. Many sites bare imprints of roads travelled. One site, soon to be overhauled is where I've been: margaretwaage.com. There are others too, Google can attest to that. Who are you and what have you learned along the way? Drop me a line via Twitter: @mwaage. Or if you prefer to browse, stop by my Facebook page and tell me where your photos live. I'd love to see!

AlterEgo = Behance = IMWaage.com = SeeTheIdea.biz = Photoshelter = LinkedIn 

Six Sites To Boost Creativity

Self assignments are the gift you give yourself. If it feels too much like work, well, um, it is. How can you expect to get paid for being creative by just sitting there? The trick to being successful in anything is to ‘just do it!’ Nike really capitalized on this sentiment, in their very successful media campaign and it’s easy to see why.

Actions beget more actions and by setting your sites on producing better work, the results will begin to speak for themselves. My strategy for churning up creativity is to look at what’s being produced today. Never has this been easier… no purchase required. Check out these best sites to fan creative fires and get you excited about your craft:

Behance – is a treasure trove of top notch works being done in various creative fields including illustration, industrial design, motion graphics, photography, flash animation, cartooning, advertising, film, fashion styling, architecture, storyboarding, textile design and many more. Searchable by field and location Behance compels the muse in you.  Curated galleries as well as ‘Served Sites,’ hold industry specific collections. Exploring all the genres on Behance is recommended to see winning images used in advertising, fashion and photojournalism works. Users can sign on to upload works and as the portfolio grows, Pro accounts are available for more features. As a member commenting on works is welcome and this helps to build a social media network among the best professionals in their respective fields.

500px is a photographer’s candy shop.The images on this site are exceptionally outstanding. The website design is done in a grid fashion allowing immediate views of the latest uploads and membership is free for basic accounts.

CNN Photos.blog and Lens.blogs.NYTimes are two sites worth looking at everyday. These images are hard to look at sometimes because they’re not pretty pictures. The role of documentary photography informs the viewer of ugly truths, often of war, disease and catastrophic events, but when done well convey a universal truth – all human beings hurt the same way. For those interested in reportage, these sites are necessary not only for their graphic content, but for the information they convey.

Two invaluable sites for tutorials and industry news are PetaPixel and FStoppers. Equipment reviews, and emerging talents are shown in blog format and gives reasons to think about the photographic process and purpose. Enjoy exploring!

Let it FLO: Strategy For Social Media Campaign

Before Facebook the vocabulary for smart marketing existed in the realm of advertising. That was then, this is now. Television ad campaigns are augmented by social media (Youtube, web presence, Facebook, etc) and the lines between the two are beginning to blur.

Flo, played by actress Stephanie Courtney, is the star of Progressive Insurance television commercials for the past five years. The fictional character appears in more than 50 commercials. Flo has become so popular on Facebook she has her own page titled, 'Flo the Progressive Girl,' and as of August 2, 2013, has 5,260,724 likes and 47,221 people 'talking about' the page.

Needless to say the campaign is wildly popular, if for no other reason  than you either love Flo, or you don't. Such is the case in my household. I don't 'love' Flo, but I am amused by the ongoing roles she takes on. My husband thinks she is stupid and I wonder if we were to shop for insurance,  would this campaign's notoriety actually deter him from even considering Progressive Insurance products?

I like Flo's demeanor. She is calm and collective even when crisis seemingly are taking place in her showroom. She is in fact causing the disruption in  many cases. She doesn't press a button in time for a Michael Buffer, a secondary actor, who calls out in wrestling fashion, "Let's get ready to  bundle" holding the vocal note until Flo presumably should take the signal and end the call.

Flo succeeds in connecting to the audience. She portrays an 'everyday' worker who brings personality to her customer service role. All potential creatives want what Flo has - identity. Flo has succeeded in putting a face onto a product, Progressive Insurance.

If what I wrote or an image I made had the same effect on an audience as Flo has on hers, I'd feel I'd succeeded in making a point employing a good social media strategy. I post what I write, I share what I shoot on all platforms - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Vimeo, YouTube. Why? To risk more of myself with each post, to share what's relevant to me because it matters to me, and I think it matters to you too. I enjoy the conversation and doing work that I love is reason enough to produce it. A social media strategy that works towards building a presence within an active community, be it photography or fellow digerati, is one I'd relish undertaking. That effort places me squarely where I want to be - in the moment, one click and thought at a time.

Pictures Speak Louder Than Words with 41-Megapixel Phone

The Windows Phone has my ear and is making a play for my eyes. My two-year Verizon contract is nearly up and until today, I thought I'd trade in my Android for a new IPhone. This week's announcement of the 41-megapixel Nokia Lumia 1020 with Windows Phone 8 is giving me a reason to do comparisons.

It's no secret smart phones are for much more than talking. The Nokia is targeting the mobile photography community with its Nokia Pro Camera app that delivers shutter speed controls of 1/16000 to 4 seconds combined with 'touch enabled and graphical interfaces.'

Windows Phone employs 'Live Apps' through pinning directly onto the Start screen. Users can customize tile sizes for apps and set levels of importance. Live Apps allow for real-time updates from favorites like Groupon, sports scores, up to the minute flight info, news headlines, tweets and Facebook posts.

Over 100 free apps come with the phone. A picture locater app called das Image, might be fun to photo explore. A lost phone app, audio books, various calculators, music mixer apps and too many to list here make this phone a showcase for its computing capabilities.

See the following reviews and decide if you too might be ready for a switch away from Android and IPhone. The Nokia Lumia 1020 retails for $300 with a 2-year AT&T contract.

Brier Dudley | The Seattle Times

Alexandra Chang | Wired

Jessica Dolcourt | CNET

5 Best Mobile Apps For Android Photography

Photographers are in the catbird seat. Camera technology is much more affordable than ever before. Even if you can’t spring for a Hassleblad or Leica, both considered to be the Cadillac status of camera gear, you most likely can afford the camera that lives inside your cell phone.

For the purpose of examining what a smaller budget can buy, mobile devices offer decent quality. Using an IPhone or Android camera phone is advantageous: it takes up very little room and the varied app market is readily available. With a quick download at a modest cost, and in many instances free, apps are ready to use instantly. Add the apps to the cost of a mobile phone (anywhere from $200 -$400) and you can easily enjoy becoming a fully equipped mobile device shooter. Compare that system to a full version of Adobe Photoshop ($489) or even its pedestrian equivalent, Adobe Elements, ($62), and the cost of a camera (from $200 to $7000), it’s plain to see the savings add up. Apps take considerably less time to learn and the phone comes in handy too!

Five awesome apps for mobile Android phones are:

Snapseed: Free! Ten adjustments tools: align, crop, grunge layers, contrast, saturation and vintage effects that can be cumulatively applied.

Instagram: Free! Comes with 20 filters, square format, selective blur.

EyeEm: Free! Rectangular shape format similar to 35mm, adjustment colors, grunge effects, and cropping tool.

RetroCamera: $2.99 Lomography, Polaroid, Pinhole camera, 35 mm film edges and light leaks effects.

Vignette: $2.60 Has numerous settings such as Holga and Diana styles, Instant camera, retro, film grain, pastel colors, light leaks, colored filters, soft-focus, monochrome, b&w, filter intensity, self-timer, time lapse and customizable filters settings.

All of the above apps have share capability. Since all the editing is done in the device, users can quickly share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or app specific galleries. 

EyeEm for example, has periodic meet-ups within certain cities. You can create your own meet ups and start a photo live event. Part of the fun of photography is sharing works, and the affordability factor is consumer favorable. Here’s to making art – and being snap hAPPy!

New Kid On The App Block

Instagram isn't the only kid on the app block. I recently started using the EyeEm app and what I like best about it is the use of the rectangular frame. It reminds me of 35 mm, albeit a bit longer and narrower.

I am still in awe over the quality of images the Android takes. The ease of use factor is phenomenal. Combine that with being able to tweak on the run is what makes apps so appealing. EyeEm has similar filters that Instagram has such as vintage, b&w, and a set of processed color filters that range from a cyanotype effect to a faded light effect. In addition to color shifting, EyeEm has a grunge effect which gives the image an antique feel.

The danger to using too many creative filters is the image then becomes more about the process than about the content. Many critics might argue phone photography isn't as serious as that coming from a camera. I think capturing a scene with a mobile device doesn't have any less intent than that of one made from a camera.

Photography isn't inherently serious or not. It's a technical process whereby the tool is the one you happen to have. Yes, indeed the fancier the lens the better the image quality, but where visual reference is concerned today's mobile phone devices do a decent enough job when the user familiarize themselves with the feature of that device.

Ben Lowry, a pro photojournalist, uses apps to accentuate images. Lowry employs mobile photography for documenting life in Sarajevo and uses the Clara filter from the EyeEm app. Lowry states the Clara filter is "Best for shooting outdoors in sunny conditions."

Using apps with digital photography is analogous to knowing the difference between film ratings of ASA 100 to ASA 800. The app is a setting of sorts just as the film speed must be appropriate for each specific light scenario. Photography is all about technique even when the technique is that of additional editing to the original source file.

The following images were taken on a Motorola Android paired with the EyeEm app: