There are so many more opportunities to see so much more photography today, given the astonishing number new electronic ways to share photographs and to find the photographs of others. Through blogs, Flickr, the many photo web sites and discussion forums, photographer’s web sites, email, you name it, we all experience a flood of visual media. While not all of it is great stuff, quite a lot of it is interesting and the sheer variety is astonishing. I don’t know how much time you spend intentionally looking at photographs, but I suspect that I may look at over 100 per day. (I’m not counting the images that we are exposed to by don’t actually give attention to – add those to the mix and the total would be much, much higher.)
I am fortunate to count among my friends some of the top photographic instructors in the world. I list their workshops on my Workshops page, and from time to time feature something new that they’re doing.
Charles Cramer is one of America’s most famous landscape photographers and teachers. For years he and Bill Atkinson have been teaching printing workshops together, but now Bill has decided to retire from these and so Charlie is striking out on his own.
You can find out more about this new series of printing workshops here.
I’m also fortunate to know Charlie. Everything Reichmann says is true, and I can vouch for Charlie’s teaching skills, having been the grateful recipient of some individual time with him in his studio. I’ve also been through his booklet on digital post-processing – it distills more useful and practical information into a small text than anything else I’ve seen, and I regularly consult it.
If you are looking to learn from an outstanding photographer, master printmaker, and fine teacher I highly recommend Charlie’s workshops.
As a college faculty member I have the good fortune to have some significant time away from the classroom during the holidays. I’ve been spending the past few weeks doing a lot of printing. So far I’ve printed about 50 photographs that previously existed only as images on the screen. Yes, there is a difference!
In fact, I write this as another four prints slowly work their way through the printer. I planned to drive a good distance to do some shooting today, but it looks like I’ll have to pick a closer location – since I’ve still got a half hour or so of printing time to go and it is already nearly 2:30.
Two surfers near the edge of the winter surf in central California near San Francisco. Black and white.
As I write this description a half dozen years after making the photograph it is the day of another Mavericks surf competition, and I remember distinctly the day I made the photograph and the experience of making it. The location is somewhat typical of the California Coast Highway, along with the road alternates between ascending along the edges of high coastal mountains and dropping down to small beaches where creeks and rivers enter the sea. This beach is one of those latter locations, in this case one I frequently visit when I photograph along the coast south of San Francisco.
My favorite time of year along this coast is the winter, and for a diversity of reasons. Contrary to the expectations of non-Californians, summer is not the most beautiful time on the coast. In summer the coast is frequently socked in by fog, and the clear days are so clear that there may be no clouds – a lovely thought for all but perhaps the photographers, who often wants more “interesting” conditions. In the winter the ocean can become a powerful force, with winds whipping the tops of huge waves as storms near and far stir things up. While the summer coast can seem benign, the winter coast can present us with scenes of tremendous, awe-inspiring power. But it can also be quiet and moody as it was on this day. Yes, the surf was running high (which is why the Mavericks surf competition was going on a few miles north of this spot on the day I made the photograph), but winter clouds muted the colors, the sounds of birds and water were everywhere. These two surfers walked quietly along the beach, seeming a part of this beautiful scene. (Revised description written January 24, 2014)
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
