Richard Mack – Page 12 – Quiet Light Publishing Blog

January 1, 2010

A New Year Brings New Potential

With the beginning of the New Year we always seem to take stock of where we have been and where we want to go. I’ve decided on a few new projects for the coming year. Working on two books during the year, both of which are in the planning stage, so I am a bit reticent to discuss them as I flush them out but I intend to figure out exactly how to approach each one in the next few weeks. One is idea is on the five Great Lakes, which hold 20% of all of the worlds fresh water supply. Think about that, all the rivers, streams, creeks, pond, lakes and we here in the Midwest live within reach of a continuous body of water with 20% of all the fresh water. How will we protect it and use it in the future? The other project is on the overseas National Cemeteries. This book is really in the research phase so I am not sure it will come to fruition yet.

This is also the time to make lists of places you’d like to see this year. I’ve got a list going, which seems to change daily, but it’s good to be flexible right? So here is my list of places I’d like to go this year, in no particular order.

Everglades National Park (in January – just a few weeks away!)
Southern Patagonia
France
Circle Each of the Great Lakes
New Orleans for Jazz Fest

Now there are many other places I would like to get back to, some I already know I will with the Quiet Light Workshops in Zion National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Love to get back to Alaska, Yosemite and even Yellowstone in winter. But there is only so much time each year so I’ll try to get to as many places as possible and be ready to change it up at a moments notice. But planning always makes a better trip so here is to the start of a great year! Hope your plans include getting outdoors and seeing the wonderful world we live in, learning new things and enjoying this life!

Happy New Year!

Richard Mack

October 8, 2009October 8, 2009

An Hour on Clingmans Dome

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being in Great Smoky Mountains National Park to do two book signing events at Sugarlands and Cades Cove Visitor Centers. It is always fun to be down there and meet folks coming into the park and get reactions to the book first hand. I have some great notes from a few of those who have taken the book home and written me about how much they love the book. I am always humbled by their notes. This past weekend I also ended up giving some advice on where to go to shoot the sunset in the park to three gentlemen who had come for the weekend to shoot some images. I mentioned that on this night they could go up to Clingmans Dome and get two very different shots, one of the full moon rising in the east and then turn to the west and photograph the ridges of mountains in the sunset. I confessed I was going to try and head someplace else to shoot the full moon rising, since I had shot it from Clingmans Dome before – and I showed them the pages in the book. But I confessed if it didn’t work I might see them up there.

Well, as it turns out, the location I thought might work looked a bit to far to the southeast and ridges blocked where the moon was going to come up at 81º in the east. So I eventually headed up to Clingmans Dome and ran into these gents and we all ended up shooting together, along with the dozens of others up there that cold, cold evening. I was too late for the moon rise, but got there to shoot the end of the sunset. It is always fun to see how you can have 4-5 folks within feet of each other and we all get different results and see the shots differently. It was also fun to give them some advice on the techniques I use to achieve some of the my images and how late into the darkness I end up shooting, usually being the last to leave an area in total darkness.

All three it turns out have studio’s down south but don’t do nature photography. I got a nice note back from one of them who is the photographer for the woman’s roller derby team in Atlanta – who knew they still had roller derby? He’s got some nice shots of them. Ironically, none of them bought the book – what’s up with that? – but we all had a great time anyway! In his note he said they all decided to come back often to shoot in the park, so maybe the next time I’m there over Halloween weekend I’ll run into them again.

To see more from this hour of shooting on Clingmans Dome use this link: Clingmans Dome Sunset

Cheers!

Richard

September 14, 2009

The Book Release Party!

Saturday night was the official book release party sponsored by Quiet Light Publishing and Renew Management at Studio Flo in Evanston. Everyone had a great time and it was great to see everyone who came to celebrate the release of my new book Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Thirty Years of American Landscapes.

The food, wine and beer flowed freely as people enjoyed the prints on display and I signed books. Here are shots taken by Rich Nickel, the designer of the book. Thank Rich for taking these. At one point it was so crowded both floors of the space were packed.

To see more images use this link: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/QLPParty/

I also want to thank our sponsor, Renew Management for donating the space for this event. They have supported the arts in Evanston for decades. If you are looking for live/work lofts these are the coolest – check them out! www.evanstonlofts.com

Thanks to all who came!

Richard

September 9, 2009September 9, 2009

Book Release Party This Saturday!

The big Book Release Party is getting close – this Saturday at Studio Flo in Evanston! Looking forward to meeting people and signing books. If you’d like to see the press release use the links below and if you need to see the invitation again for the address there is a link for that to! Everyone is welcome – see you Saturday!

Press Release

Book Release Party Invitation

Cheers,

Richard

August 4, 2009

Aerobatics and Publishing

I took a few days off from publishing and marketing the new book last week to go up to the Oshkosh AirVenture 2009 in Wisconsin. It was great to get away from all that is happening here. The weather was great, there were new friends to be made and all in all it was a great time. The largest commercial aircraft was at the show – The Airbus A380 double deck airliner. The new Virgin Atlantic VMS Eve, the aircraft designed to deliver the first commercial spaceship to orbit. The spaceship will be suspended between the two fuselages of VMS Eve as it fly’s to altitude before releasing the spaceship to ascend into orbit.

I spent time on detail images of many aircraft, some worked, some did not, but that is photography! The air show and flights of planes like the A380, VMS Eve and the big C5M made for great images. I hope I have captured the air dances which the aerobatic pilot’s performed over the skies of Wisconsin. The weather was perfect, giving us all wonderful clouds to work with as our backdrop. You had to anticipate the pilot’s moves to frame the planes against the clouds. With speeds in excess of 200 miles an hour thinking fast and a steady hand made for a great time creating images of the show.

Now it also makes me think about how being an aerobatic pilot is a lot like anything else, but especially publishing, and photography. You have to have a plan. The pilot knows his or her routine backwards and forwards. You can see them walk through it on the ground, their arms and hands doing the maneuvers as they walk the pattern out. They must also anticipate everything, from wind adjustments to variations in the place they actually end a maneuver to get back to show center. Nothing is left to chance. It must be the same way in publishing. Lead times are critical for book stores, event and media planning must be done months ahead, in order for you to have that same dance the pilots have in the sky. Only planning out ahead will give you your goal, whether publishing a book, making a photograph, or dancing in the sky.

To see more images use this link: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/Oshkosh/

Enjoy!

Richard Mack