I like what you've done with these photos, they're effective landscape shots showing the beauty of the nature. Well done!

Thank you for the comment and the views!

Thank you for the comments. I use a Canon 5D Mk. III and I shot that with the 16-35mm f/4L lens. The annual sunflowers are so much fun to shoot, I hope I never tire of those views. Thanks for the kind words.

On the contrary, a blog that caters only to the professionals wouldn't be of great value to everyday hobbyist photographers. I know plenty of pro photogs and they are not my demographic that I want to reach, I want to reach out to hobbyist photographers looking for helpful information about how to improve their photography.

Certainly I'm happy to give background information on my photography. I have been a professional and semi-professional photographer for the last 12 years. While I specialize in landscape and nature photography, I have shot about 60 wedding and countless family portraits, corporate headshots, event photography, and other gigs. My work has used by Microsoft, HP, and numerous regional publications over the years. My landscape and nature photography was featured in a show at the Colorado State Capitol for 6 months back in 2012. In addition to that, I have taught and led workshops, given presentations on my photography, and judged photo competitions as well.

Hello all,

Part of my goal with my blog and my photography is to help others better understand and develop their photography. I want to start writing more tutorials, reviews, and tips/tricks to help people grow their photography ability, whether they are a hobbyist or a semi-pro. One thing that I want to do is inspire others to develop photography further and I'm blessed to have a lot of contacts within the photography industry.

To do this, I want to do a series of interviews with professional photographers, photo editors, cinematographers, and more. Asking them questions like how did they get their start, what advice would they give for people who want to take their photography to the next level, what are good things to know about working in the photo industry, etc.

My first interview is going to be with a photo editor of a leading regional publication, I'm going to be asking her about best practices for submitting to publications, her background, how one becomes a photo editor, etc.

I have another one lined up with a guy I know who owns a stock photography agency, asking him about what led him to start that, his own photography, how to best "do" the stock photography game, etc.

Would that be helpful?

Thank you for the kind words!

I love me some infrared black and white photography, it's so unqiue and refreshing to look at! Thanks for sharing. My favorite is the Yosemite Church or the last one of the view of San Francisco

Thank you for reading it and for the kind words!

I wrote a blog about things I've learned over the years of doing photography both professionally and semi-professionally and my experience has boiled down to the relationships formed through photography. It's an interesting concept to think about what you'd say to yourself knowing what you know now.

Read the blog here: http://iamryanwright.com/blog/letter-to-myself

Thought I'd go ahead and chime in, it's a big topic and one that I know pretty well.

I have made money with photography, not a ton but a decent amount which has lead me to keep shooting, posting, etc. Most of that money was made through shooting weddings and portraits. I used to scoff at doing weddings and portraits because there are so many that do it "average at best", but then real life came calling and I needed money. I was getting a number of wedding clients after I said yes, I was doing them cheaply because I didn't know what I was doing. That was mistake number 1, I never sat down to write out a plan for weddings. I didn't GO where the weddings were, I didn't market to get more weddings, etc.

All the while my desire and skill with landscape photography was improving and I wanted to focus more on that side of my photography. I have sold a fair number of prints now and I've never sold anywhere near the amount of prints necessary to do photography full time. Now I'm developing a plan for my photography, I'm taking steps to write out how I can improve my business. See, if you want to get really good at photography then study photographers and learn their secrets. If you want to make money with photography, study business and learn its secrets. My focus was in the wrong (or right depending on your viewpoint) area for a number of years.

Having said that, I think now more than ever is actually a great time to make money on photography...if you can distinguish yourself from the others. That's the key nowadays, what is your distinguishing characteristic and who is your audience? Answer those to two questions and you'll be on the right path.

Welcome to the forum Carl, look forward to see more of your work. That sunset looks particularly colorful, thanks for sharing.

It is pretty difficult, I've been trying these for over a decade and still can't nail them down. Read the light. If it's cloudy you can get away without using an ND filter during the day. If it's sunny, you're going to need something to block out light and that's where an ND filter comes in handy. I have a 3x, 6x, and a 10x ND filters and I would say that I use the 3x most often. Just my two cents.

These are some killer slides, loving the great blue skies contrasting with the red rocks. Superb! What kind of film were you using?

Thanks fort comment, you're correct it was overextended in that picture. I believe the tripod was already on its way to falling into the water when that picture was captured. It was set up in a manner that made it definitely unstable, I had my hand on the tripod whenever it wasn't taking a picture. Did you read part 2? Yes, it did weigh heavy on my mind for the rest of the trip but thankfully the rest of the trip was about 12 hours.