Quiet Light Publishing – Page 3 – Quiet Light Publishing Blog

February 15, 2014February 15, 2014

Winter and The Great Lakes Project

With 88% of all five Great Lakes frozen over it is a historic winter. As part of my Great Lakes Project and a book with the working title The Sweetwater Seas, you just have to shoot as much of the winter scenes you can. Lake Michigan is 77% frozen over with ice, hasn’t happened since 1993/94 winter. As an aside, the book project has become a bit more interesting and I am currently working with a TV Producer and a writer to see if more can be done with this project. It has been very interesting and insightful to get other folks input into one of my book projects rather than working it alone. We have refined the direction of the project and as all projects do you may plan on going one way and end up a totally different direction.

Yesterday I was planning to fly around Chicago and make some late afternoon images of the city with the ice out on Lake Michigan. Yet the day’s overcast didn’t lift as expected by noon, so we waited and waited and I kept in touch with my pilot until I had to make the final decision of go or no go. Because the sky was still a high overcast it would have been just a blown out white sky – not what I was looking for. With great reluctance based on what I could see, what the satellite images said and my gut feelings I made the choice to call it a day and try again soon before it all melts. And of course right after I made the no go call the sky cleared! It would have been one of those days where you were either a hero with a great shot or the goat because it just didn’t work.

Because it was also a full moon evening I went down to Lighthouse Beach once again. With the clouds still on the horizon to the east I knew seeing the moonrise in time to get a shot of it would probably not be in the cards. Yet the beauty of the sky and ice gave me a lot of things to do in a few ways. The 15-20 foot ice cliffs with the thinner ice out beyond in white were beautiful in the evening light.

Changing your expectations of what you planned on at any one time often leads you to unexpected pleasures. Going with the flow of the day can lead to something not planned and yet maybe better than what you had planned – you may never know. I am very happy with what I found on the beach that evening. I am glad I wasn’t so disappointed with not flying that I didn’t come on down to the beach. The clouds kept the moonrise out of sight until it was too dark to get a good photograph so my hope of getting the moon and ice this year has disappeared. Yet other images did present themselves.

Ironically as I pulled into my garage I saw the moon up in the sky – way too late for any photography. For the most part it is always best to shoot the full moon the day before, in this case on the 13^th not the 14^th because it rises about an hour before sunset giving you enough light in the landscape to balance with the exposure for the moon. The last shots I did were over 2 seconds in length, so the moon would actually move in the exposure and make it look oval.

Too see more images use this link: http://www.mackphoto.com/BlogImages/LHB140214

Other Winter Images and Video’s from this year as part of this project can be seen with these links:

http://www.mackphoto.com/BlogImages/LighthouseBeachWinter/

http://www.mackphoto.com/BlogImages/RawlingsPt/

http://www.mackphoto.com/BlogImages/ChicagoWinter/

http://www.mackphoto.com/Creative/video-LakeMichiganWinter.php

Cheers,

Richard

October 7, 2013October 7, 2013

Books Make Great Corporate Gifts

Whether you are in charge of corporate gift giving or just looking for that perfect gift for someone – books make a great corporate gift. In the past many of our books have been given as corporate gifts to clients. Each of our books has won numerous awards in the areas of publishing, printing and of course photography. Each book will be signed by the photographer! We have heard from past companies who have given our books as gifts that their response from their customers has been how much they loved these books and many times the words stunning, beautiful, serene and more were used to describe them.

If you are in charge of finding the perfect Corporate Gift we might just have it for you. We can also provide the entire package for you shipping to each of your customers with gift wrapped books, a card from you included in the package, whatever you require. We’ve done this in the past on an order of over 900 books. But don’t wait much longer it is time to start this process to have them delivered this holiday season!

Just today we had an order for 90 books of The Lewis & Clark Trail American Landscapes, ISBN# 9780975395400. We have also had Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Thirty Years of American Landscapes, ISBN# 9780975395424, and Their Love of Music, ISBN# 9780975395431, been given as gifts or even an award!

In addition we have in the past had our fine art prints and fine art folio’s used as gifts both for individuals and on the corporate gift giving level. Check out our prints in the shop section of Quiet Light Publishing.

You can contact me by email – just use the contact button above. Look forward to hearing from you!

To see more you can go to www.quietlightpublishing.com

Cheers,

Richard Mack

April 14, 2013August 28, 2013

Lake Superior Winter Trip

Snow Detail

As part of the Great Lakes Project which includes our next book Twenty | Ninety-Five: The Great Lakes Landscapes I headed north to photograph Lake Superior in the winter. I was joined on this trip by fellow photographer Jill Buckner.

When you take a trip like this as part of a bigger project you hope you can return with a few usable images. This means you work long hours and concentrate on the idea behind the project to create images and record the landscape with your own vision. Telling the story of the lakes will be a daunting task. Yet the coexistence of man and nature is always a challenge. With 20% of the world’s fresh water and 95% of North America’s right there in the lakes it is imperative we rethink the partnership between man and the lakes. I will try to bring together the art and science of the issues surrounding our lakes via a book, gallery shows and hopefully a partnership with organizations working on the issues of the lakes.

Superior_20130302-2587

We headed to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to begin the trip. We used snow shoes to get to the ice waterfalls and caves, walked on the frozen surface of the lake and spent time with detail images of the snow, ice, the light playing on the trees in the forest and their shadows across the forest floor. There are so many places to turn for great images it was hard to decide where to go next. Often it was based on ease of getting to a location by either snow shoe or cross country skis. The lake here was totally frozen over as far as you could see. The patterns in the ice and snow captured our imaginations.

We drove from Pictured Rocks toward Duluth so we could head north to Canada. Along the way we stopped in Marquette. What caught our attention was the fact that Superior was frozen ice as far as you could see until we were near the power plant in Marquette. There we found the water open in an area near the plant clearly showing how man affects the lakes. This is part of our book, talking about how man has lived along the Great Lakes for tens of thousands of years, using them for transportation, hunting, recreation and fresh water to drink and irrigate with. Yet only in the last hundred years have we had so much effect on the quality of the water. We must take that into consideration when we use the lakes. After all, the time it takes to have a drop of water recycled by being swept out into the Atlantic ranges from 4-5 years in Lake Erie to 191 years for Lake Superior.

Superior_20130302-1990

The coast of Minnesota offered rugged terrain and beautiful places to capture the winter along the lake and its ice and cliffs. We spent a night at Split Rock State Park where we photographed the light house in the evening and morning light and even after a snowstorm on the way home. One night after dinner we walked about 50 yards to the beach we camped by and spent a cold, yet rewarding time, making images of the lake with the vast amount stars above and capturing the Milky Way. Sure we were cold, but in all honesty we didn’t think too much about it as we were excited by the creative process. On the way north the next day we hit several state parks and photographed frozen waterfalls, canyons and details of the ice and lake. Many a time we were taken back by the beauty of the lake in winter. The ice seemed to make the reflection of the clouds stand out more than in summer. One of the things we noticed in Minnesota was how clear and glass like the ice there was. In Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore we noticed the ice in the caves was opaque as it contained particles from the streams and earth walls it had flowed over. A very real view of how the water from our land carries with it a little bit of where it came from. Showing us visually that agricultural chemicals, along with whatever we put into streams will show up in our lakes.

Superior_20130302-2794

In Canada we spent a night at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park which was more of a smooth transition of the forest to the lake. We made our way to the northern most point of the Lake Superior and near Rainbow Falls Provincial Park. We shot in the evening the ice shapes which built up along the shoreline. The thickness and stacking of the ice had us working with different shapes and the blues of the ice to see if we could capture interesting images of the shapes and landscape. At first we heard the ice creaking but realized we were on solid ground still and it was the sound of the water moving underneath the ice.

We headed back down to Minnesota and were blessed with a great snowfall! We had to stop again at some of the same places we’d shot at before and were able to capture many images during the morning light. As I mentioned at the top, on a trip like this you hope to come back with at least some usable images for the project. I think with two photographers and yes one vision, we came back with more than I had hoped for. Here are links to more images.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore: www.mackphoto.com/Buckner+Mack/GreatLakes/PicturedRocks/

Minnesota and Canada: www.mackphoto.com/Buckner+Mack/GreatLakes/Superior/

Remember, you can order prints from either of us just by contacting us. Prints will also be available in the store on Quiet Light Publishing in the near future.

Enjoy,

Richard & Jill

February 1, 2013April 15, 2013

Quiet Light Publishing – A Busy Start to the Year Already!

The Water by Jill Buckner TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS | ONE VISION

SPEX Art+Vision Show, GSMNP Book Reprinted, Updated Websites, New Prints & Folio’s, Workshop Dates

It has been a busy year so far in 2013 with the opening of the SPEX Arts+Vision show with Jill Buckner as part of the TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS | ONE VISONproject (www.twophotographers-onevision.com) encompassing our images from Italy and Morocco. When you have roughly 30 images framed for a gallery show it takes a lot of work to edit and print each one before framing and hanging the show. The show will be at the SPEX on Central Street in Evanston through February. If you are in the area you should stop by and check it out. Quiet Light also released several new Folio’s from the work of Steve Azatto, Jill Buckner and Richard Mack. each one has 10-12 small prints and 3-4 signature pages from their work. Each is signed and numbered and are a great choice for those who like collecting photography!

In addition, my book Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Thirty Years of American Landscapes is now being reprinted as we will soon be out of stock if we don’t! Part of this process is deciding if there should be any changes before you roll the presses. In this case we had to update the signature page with the updated info, change a Photoshop error on one of the images, and update the current Quiet Light Publishing book list to the final page in the book. We also added four of the best book awards, out of the dozen the book won, to the back of the dust jacket. The book went on press yesterday.

We also released the Quiet Light Workshop schedule for 2013 and updated some of those trips. More on all of that later. Check our websites for the updates. And speaking of websites both the Quiet Light Publishing ( www.quietlightpublishing.com ) and Richard Mack Photography (www.mackphoto.com) websites have been updated with new images and projects!

So the year starts off with a bang and next month will be the same as I get back to working on my next book Twenty/Ninety-Five part of the Great Lakes Project (www.quietlightpublishing.com/GLP.php) with a trip to Lake Superior to capture images of the ice and snow. This is a shortened trip from the one I was supposed to make the first three weeks of March. Will feel great to get back to this project! Stay tuned for updates!

Peace,

Richard

December 19, 2012December 19, 2012

Folios Allow An Artist to Share – You to Collect

Folio - The Lewis & Clark Trail, Richard Mack, photographer

As artists we are always looking for ways to show our work to a larger audience, both for the monetary reason and because why you really create art is to share your vision with the world – in addition to the feeling it gives us as we create.

Quiet Light Publishing has released Fine Art Folio’s for each book offered and the work of Jill Buckner and I working as TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS | ONE VISION in Morocco and Italy. Each folio consists of ten to twelve 8 1/2″ x 11″ prints, with a 4 page text signature and is presented in a folder. The image size is roughly 6 1/2″ in width. Each is printed on Epson Hot Press Bright Fine Art Paper using Epson Ultrachrome archival pigment inks to the exacting standards of the photographers. Each folio is signed and numbered by the photographer. Some are presented in both a color and a black & white version. Folio’s are a great value with ten to twelve prints and an artist statement. Each print is suitable for framing.

Small portfolios of work are nothing new. Great photographers have always released prints in small portfolios from Ansel Adams and Walker Evans to Eugene Atget and many others. Often you can buy the entire portfolio or just one print. Because of the price point we have taken you get all 10-12 prints for one low price! A folio is a great way to tell your story about a place or cover an idea you have been exploring. Each photographer chose the best ten to twelve images from a large body of work on each subject to create these intimate Folios. Each body of work then comes from their wish to share these images with you.

To view each one you can go to http://www.quietlightpublishing.com/Folios.php

The Lewis & Clark Trail

Richard Mack, photographer

I spent two and a half years travelling the trail and being in the places the Corps of Discovery were, at the same time of year, in order to give the viewer the feeling of being on the trail with them. This collection of images spans from South Dakota to the Pacific Ocean from my book The Lewis & Clark Trail: American Landscapes. This folio is available in both color and a black & white version.

Richard Mack
2012

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Richard Mack, photographer

I went to the Smoky Mountains when I first took up photography at 18. I spent thirty years honing my craft in this my favorite park. This collection of ten images show the breadth of my work in a set of images from my book Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Thirty Years of American Landscapes.

Richard Mack
2012

Their Love of Music

Stephen Azzato, photographer

Stephen Azzato photographed musicians and asked on question – why do you do what you do? “The beauty of this project for me was being able to sit with a huge range of musicians and explore what drew them to their art”, says Azzato. “I was able to hear it in their voices and record it visually in their images”. In the simple quiet of a green room, without the crowds or bandmates or tour managers, Azzato’s photographs transcend the chaos of the stage and the intensity of the studio to reveal the inner spirit that drives each of his subjects. This set of ten images are from his book Their Love of Music.

Stephen Azzato
2012

Two Photographers | One Vision – Morocco

Jill Buckner and Richard Mack, photographers

We were on assignment in Italy and Morocco in the spring of 2012. What may have started as a mild competition became inspirational and synergistic. We were quite excited about the passion and energy that was unleashed. It is rare for two photographers to work together so seamlessly to create a single, cohesive body of work. In most instances we do not know which one of us shot which images. Therefore we both sign every print.

We had only 4 ½ days to discover the treasures of the country. We photographed in Casablanca, Marrakech, and the countryside in between. We explored new areas of the cities as well as the old souks. We discovered that while photography is most certainly an individual process, under the right conditions it also could be a true partnership.

Jill Buckner
Richard Mack
2012

Two Photographers | One Vision – Tuscany

Jill Buckner and Richard Mack, photographers

As photographers we see the world each in a different way. We see an image in our mind and decide on a lens, the proper perspective, and depth of field, all in order to create the image we have visualized. It is a process unique to each photographer. It is a way of seeing which comes from inside of you. Yet when you find someone who thinks the way you do about the craft of photography, it is an exhilarating experience. Someone who sees the world in a slightly different way but creates images similar to yours. Such was the case with us. During the six months we shot images together prior to our trip, we often could not tell which of us had taken a particular photograph. We delighted in the fact that traveling with another photographer meant you never had to worry about the hours spent shooting at a single location because you knew the other was happy to shoot, or just wait, while you worked on a set of images.

It was with that mindset we set out across Tuscany, Florence, and Venice, two photographers working together to capture the beauty of Italy in one body of work. In Tuscany we shot for a client who wanted specific images for a project as well as general landscape images that captured the feeling of Tuscany. We also had a few glorious days on our own, shooting scenery that moved us. Images that said to us – Italy.

Jill Buckner
Richard Mack
2012

Two Photographers | One Vision – Venice

Jill Buckner and Richard Mack, photographers

Two photographers, one vision. What may have started as a mild competition became inspirational and synergistic. We were quite excited about the creativity and energy that were unleashed. It is seldom two photographers can work together so seamlessly to create a single, cohesive body of work.

The process of capturing an image is unique to each photographer. Yet our images are strikingly similar. It is an exhilarating experience to find someone who feels the way you do about the craft of photography. Someone whose view of the world is slightly different than yours, but who creates similar photographs. Such was the case with us. We were thrilled to be traveling and shooting together, secure in the knowledge that traveling with another photographer meant you never had to worry about taking hours to shoot at a single location because your partner gets it.

Jill Buckner
Richard Mack
2012

The Price is $125.00 with a Special Introductory Price until March 31, 2013 of only $95.00! The

Discount is automatically applied at checkout.

To see the Folios use this link: Folios on QLP

Enjoy,
Richard