nature photography – Quiet Light Publishing Blog

February 7, 2015February 7, 2015

Quiet Light Workshops 2015 Schedule Announced

We are pleased to announce the Quiet Light Workshop schedule for 2015 with three workshops, two in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and one in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along Lake Superior!

Quiet Light Workshops offer Photography Workshops focused on nature & landscapes, travel and trips to some of the best places in the world. Geared to the amateur and advanced amateur photographer looking for the chance to learn from experts in the field. Our photo workshops are designed to take you to some of the best landscapes in the world. During each workshop you will have ample time both in the field and in the classroom to hone your skills with your camera and in the digital world of photography today. Learn tips on Photoshop and converting your images into great looking prints, workflow management, color balances and color calibration to get consistent results in your work.

These are hands-on, in the field workshops with Richard. You will be in surroundings that get your creative juices flowing and will serve as a wonderful photographic classroom. At the end of the day, images will be reviewed and discussed as a group. Techniques will be shared and Richard will work with each of you to improve upon what you’ve shot. The take-away from this workshop will be a better knowledge of how to make your equipment work to the best of its ability, a new understanding of composition, lighting, filters, etc. and a plethora of tips to make your images get the “wow” response.

Do you have a place you’d like to see one of our workshops in? Let us know!

Workshop Schedule

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Spring Wildflowers
April 23-26, 2015

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Michigan
September 10-13, 2015

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Fall Colors
October 22-25, 2015

For information about each of these workshops just click on the links. Each workshop is limited to twelve members so sign up fast! Check out more at Quiet Light Workshops!

Look forward to seeing you!

Richard

December 13, 2014

Great Gifts Found at Quiet Light Publishing!

Need to get some late shopping done? Well how about ordering a signed copy of one of our books – great gifts! You can choose from my first book The Lewis & Clark Trail American Landscapes which chronicles the journey of the Corps of Discovery like you were with them. The images were done at the same time of year the expedition past by these places and words for the journals of Merriweather Lewis and William Clark alongside many of the images describing what you are seeing.

http://shop.quietlightpublishing.com/the-lewis-clark-american-landscapes/

You can also purchase my second book Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Thirty Years of American Landscapes which looks at parts of our most visited National Park from a perspective those in the park have said is the best they have seen.

http://shop.quietlightpublishing.com/great-smoky-mountains-national-park-thirty-years-of-american-landscapes-by-richard-mack/

And Stephen Azzato’s book Their Love of Music. With over 100 musician portraits done in the quiet of the green rooms before a show and asked one simple question, “Why do you love music?”. Their answers accompany their portraits in this award winning book!

http://shop.quietlightpublishing.com/their-love-of-music-by-stephen-azzato/

Each book can also be purchased with another one of our offerings for a special price! Prints, Note Cards and Folio’s of small fine art prints are also available! Fine Art Prints from many National Parks, the Great Lakes Project, The Lewis & Clark Trail, Portugal, France, Italy and Argentina!

Quiet Light Publishing online shop: http://shop.quietlightpublishing.com/

Happy Holiday’s!

Richard

April 13, 2014April 13, 2014

The Sweetwater Seas – Niagara Falls

As part of Quiet Light Publishing’s next project, The Sweetwater Seas, this past March I went to Niagara Falls to shoot the frozen falls before the weather changed. This winter has been historic with the Great Lakes nearly frozen over, the second with the most ice coverage at 92% since we have been keeping records. A great winter for photography on the lakes. As part of The Sweetwater Seas book and television series it was wonderful to have the weather we did! The link below shows you a film I made from some of the video clips I did of the frozen falls. Working with filmmaker George Elder we spent 4 days on the road shooting Lake Erie, Ontario and Huron for the film and book. On the drive to Niagara Falls we stopped along Lake Erie to shoot some industry along the lake as well as in Cleveland. While at Niagara Falls we had a light overcast which was great to shoot in as there was a slight shadow area in the ice formations but not as harsh as with blue skies. The next day we had a blizzard with 10″ of snow – perfect! On the way back we stopped at the confluence of the Niagara River with Lake Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Point Edward, Ontario and Detroit for an evening shot of downtown. A quick but rewarding trip!

The Sweetwater Seas is part of the Great Lakes Project which aims to look at the fact that man has changed the lakes environment only within the last 150 years. With it being 20% of the worlds fresh water and 95% of North America’s fresh water we must look at the ways it has been changed, and also how we have restored areas, to ensure we have fresh water for future generations. The project will also cover how magnificent the lakes really are and look at how we enjoy them. To view the video use the link below.

Winter at Niagara Falls on YouTube

The winter gave us a great opportunity to get footage and still images for the project. I hope you enjoy them.

You can see more still images using the link: Winter Niagara Falls Still Images

Cheers,

Richard

You can also keep in touch on FaceBook

January 26, 2012December 19, 2012

A New Project – The Great Lakes Project

This year I am really focused on a new project and book on all five Great Lakes, currently titled Twenty/Ninety-Five, The Great Lakes Landscapes. This book will focus on the fact that 20% of the world’s fresh water and 95% of North America’s fresh water are held in these five bodies of water. Think about that. Twenty percent of all the fresh water in the world. Include all the lakes, ponds, streams, rivers and snow and 20% of the water sits in these lakes. And currently there are 42 million people who live along these lakes. Indeed mankind has lived on these lakes for thousands of years yet it is only in the last few centuries that mans impact has been felt in such great ways. I want to look at that impact and how we can insure that our children will have the same benefit of these lakes and natural areas. The book will look at the statistics on the lakes and focus on both the natural and wild areas in the lakes watershed and on some of the cities and industries which lie along the lakes, including how we use the lakes for recreation and commerce. I intend to blog along the way on this project. And since the first trip is upon me next month it is time to start. I hope you’ll join me on this voyage and follow my blog as I examine these great lakes of ours. Like most who live along the lakes for most of their lives I have not been to most of the 10,000 miles of shoreline. I will enjoy opening up my eyes to new places. I hope folks will share their thoughts of their favorite places on the lakes as we go along as well and I invite everyone to leave comments on posts they enjoy or with places they love. This is also an evolving project, one not limited to a book, but to the possibilities of an e-book with video, gallery shows of images and art installations, writings from those working to save the lakes and research the ecology of the lakes. Now a lot of folks who know me know I’ve been working on this off and on for the last few years, but now it is time to really get serious about it and concentrate on this project. So the adventure begins…

The other day a friend asked me, “So what did you do today?” My answer was complete with all the tasks we undertake during a day and also included my work on my next big project of photographing the Great Lakes. As I explained I was preparing for a trip around Lake Superior in late February she was surprised at how much planning I was doing. Yet to make sure you come back with images you can use and not just nice snapshots from your trip you need to plan. And planning takes time and energy.

I look first to the stars. Will the moon be full during my trip? If I want to have a chance at a full moon shot where do I think I want to be when it happens? Do I need to change my dates for the trip to get a better chance for being in the right place at the right time? What is my goal for this particular trip? Then looking at maps, books on the area, online websites you begin to make a determination for where you want to go. In this case it is even more challenging because I have not been to the Canadian side of Lake Superior and do not know what access I might have in the winter. Searching blogs and online sites gives me some idea. Certainly there will be a lot of serendipity involved in a trip of this kind, from the weather and the light, to the ice flows themselves and my access to the lake. All I can do is prepare myself the best way possible and know the maps and my own game plan. Will it change mid trip? Probably, but with proper planning I can know why and where to turn next. And then serendipity can play with me and I will be ready to capture those intimate moments because I had a game plan in the first place.

The trip is scheduled to start the weekend of February 25^th. So for now you can see some of the shots I have done in the past on the Great Lakes using this link to a portfolio of images on my website. http://www.mackphoto.com/Creative/l-lakes.html (sorry this is in Flash so those with iPads or iPhones won’t see it until they use another way)

I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts on this project!

Peace,

Richard

February 4, 2011

The Chicago Blizzard of 2011 – Images of Lake Michigan

Many people think a blizzard is something to be avoided, not me! I loved the idea of Chicago being pounded by snow – but then again I had some ulterior motives. I had just been asked by an advertising agency if I had any winter shots in a snowstorm. I’ve also been working on my Great Lakes book project so this would make some great material for that I assumed. I prepared the cameras, got out layers of clothes and geared up for the elements.

I ventured out in the afternoon on Tuesday as the storm was in full swing. I went first to my favorite place nearby – Lighthouse beach here in Evanston, but found nothing striking my fancy this time. I wandered up to Gilson Park, which has sand dunes and trees bordering the beach. I thought these would make good foreground for Lake Michigan lying beyond. Except you couldn’t see the lake most of the time! As the storm cranked up it had sustained winds of 50 MPH with gusts over 70 MPH. This meant that in addition to the snow hitting you full on as it blew horizontally along, the wind was so strong it was picking up water drops from the surface of the lake, freezing them and blowing them into you like sharp little razors. It hurt to be out there!

Now we all know that to see the snowflakes, you need a dark background to show them off, after all white on white doesn’t work. Even when I placed tree trunks in the foreground, or the grasses, it was hard to pickup the snow in the air. I tried both slow exposures and fast ones (at 1/250 second). A little luck, but the best results to me were the blowing snow which appear as clouds of fog coming off the tops of the dunes and those when the lake closes in almost all the way.

Not your typical Chicago Blizzard shots of stranded cars – but a look at what the lake has to offer on such an exciting day!

To see more images from this shoot use this link: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/LakeMichiganWinterStorm/index.html

And to see some shots from past years you can check these out:

Winter 2010: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/LakeMichiganWinter/index.html

Winter 2008: http://www.mackphoto.com/blog/LighthouseBeachWinter/index.htm

Cheers,

Richard Mack