Catching up on some links and thoughts I’ve been meaning to post during the past few days:
I see that Andy Frazer posted a piece about a book of photographs from ‘The Presidio’ by Charity Vargas and that Tim Baskerville has posted a longer piece on the same topic at his blog.
(Related to the above, I got the first notice yesterday of another night photography adventure at Mare Island Naval Shipyard scheduled for this Saturday… which included a deadline for participants to submit their application that had passed a week ago. I’m rather disappointed about that, as MI is one of my favorite locations for night photography, I’ve photographed there on several occasions with The Nocturnes, and I’ve been looking forward to going back soon. I’m hopeful that someone will reply to my email and let me know that I can still join them…)
Jim M. Goldstein posted a brief story about and links to photos of a sea otter doing something you don’t see every day and he has posted a new podcast of an interview with Aaron Johnson, the creator of the “What the Duck” photography comic.
One notion about “the right way to learn photography” that comes up a lot… and drives me crazy… is the claim that beginners should start with a single prime and stick to it if they want to understand composition and other important issues. The Readers Digest version of my thinking on this is that it was fine advice a few decades ago, but it is now obsolete. In any case, one of the arguments is that those who use zoom lenses instead of a prime are “lazy” and that they should “zoom with their feet.” I’ve been meaning to put together some photographs to go with a post illustrating the problems with this old-fashioned notion. I made the photos a week or so ago, and I hope to finalize this post before long.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.
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