Subscribe by email
Subscribe by RSS feed
Charge Your Batteries.
August 23rd, 2010
This is not Hawaii. Just a random beach. But, oh – the batteries that once got recharged here! I love the beach.
Aloha! I read this this morning over coffee,
“The batteries that keep my cameras working might as well die in the darkness of my camera bag if my personal batteries are not constantly recharged by the direct encounters with the natural world that first gave me the burning desire to interpret that experience in photographs.”
Galen Rowell, The Inner Game of Outdoor Photography.
I have nothing to add, except that this is a book well worth reading.
It’s Monday and I am now roughing it at the Hyatt Regency in Maui in preparation for the Maui Photo Festival. I’m hoping to do some actual relaxing and not planning to do much photography but I may find my personal batteries charge faster than I expect, in which case I’ll drop you a postcard and let you know how things are going. Otherwise, you can find me on the beach with Galen Rowell and something cold and wet to drink.
I notice, David, that you are the supreme master of conjuring up a supurb photo from scenes on cloudy, dull days! As someone who has little control over the timing of trips or length of stay in a location, one thing I’d really appreciate is an ebook on how to make the best of bad weather: turning dull day scenes in appealing photos. Could this be a possibility for the future?
I don’t mean the technicalities of keeping gear dry; I mean the ‘vision’ skills to make good photos in less than ideal situations!
Galen was a phenomenal photographer, a skill perhaps only matched by his ability to write about it in a way that makes you believe that you, too, can be great if only you will give your all. All his books are excellent reading. Maybe it’s time for me to check another one out of the library…
I finished reading Inner Game for the first time about a month ago. Packed full of little gems. It is certainly a book to reread.
Have Fun!
Don’t miss Mount Haleakala while there, it is an awesome place to see sunrise; there are also tours where you can bike down the mountain after sunrise
Good to hear – My copy arrived in the mail last week.
Glad to see your working hard. Roughing it at the Hyatt Regency in Maui must be very strenuous. I’m not even sure how you could handle staying in such a depressing place.
I’m sure you’d much rather be here. I’m in a warehouse that looks straight out of a scene from the Godfather. Dirty windows, bare cindercreet walls, dirt covered concrete floor with peeling gray paint. No, I’m not getting my legs re-aligned for missing a payment on my gambling debts. I’m at work! Keep fighting the good fight and I’ll keep living the good life vicariously through your exploits
.
P.S. I second the idea for an e-book on how to take pictures in available, rather than ideal, lighting conditions.
Galan’s photography and perspective is a thread that reaches through us all, and many a pro who knew him. I’d consider him the Ansel Adams for our generation.
I have found a great inspiration in a retrospective work published in 2006. Not to detract from the theme that Dave is making, but I posted up a review of the book recently…
http://fritzimages.com/blog/2010/08/12/galen-rowell/
thanks Galan and Dave and us….to be continued..after we charge our internal batteries….
I want to 2nd this statement:
P.S. I second the idea for an e-book on how to take pictures in available, rather than ideal, lighting conditions.
I would love such a book.
Enjoy the r+r David. Thanks for the quote from Gallen’s book. It is one of my favorites. What a great mind and a great eye! Sadly missed.
Looking forward to your next postcard!
[...] morning as I was reading through a couple of blog posts online I came across this quote on David duChemin’s blog, “The batteries that keep my cameras working might as well die in the darkness of my camera bag [...]
Great book by Rowell. Being from Hawaii, I know you’ll have a great time on Maui. See if you can get there sometime during the Winter when the humpback whales come back. Do not take the bike ride down Mt.Haleakala! It’s not a easy at it seems.
I’m just now digging through Galen’s Mountain Light as we type. Pretty new to his writing, but what an amazing teacher and advocate for using film, and now pixels, to tell a story.
Great quote, lovely image.
Beautiful photo David.
That is a great book, have read it a few times, thanks for the reminder, need to read it again
David, I think our planets are aligned. Just yesterday I decided to return to Galen’s The Inner Game of Outdoor Photography. Great minds and all that…
Well! Aren’t we all blessed to be equipped with the rechargeable type
I’d like to respond to the very first guy who commented on this post (David) – in post processing you can make from very dull clouds the ones you see in this final photograph. Of course that you can do it better if you shoot raw. Recently I wrote a tutorial on how I do it in Lightroom (pretty detailed one), and the result is somewhat like in the image above. You are welcome to check it out:
http://www.photopathway.com/photography/greg-photo-experience/enhancing-photographs-in-lightroom/
and please note the comments about the halo.
thanks for the link, Greg, but no fancy footwork to make these clouds. Just my usual development, a little fill to brighten the midtones. Lots of noise now, but sometimes a snapshot’s just a snapshot