Author Archives: Michael

Year in Review: 2010

2010 was a year of contrasts for me when it came to travel. I started off with a quick stop in Dubai on my way to Thailand. Dubai is absolutely incredible. The amount of construction going on is mind-numbing — dozens of new skyscrapers going up simultaneously, each trying to outdo the others in terms of whimsical and ground-breaking design. And of course, no trip to Dubai these days would be complete without a stop at the current world’s tallest building, seen above through a bus window as I was on my way to the indoor snow skiing slopes. That’s right. Indoor snow skiing slopes. Dubai was a trip.

But the trip wasn’t over by a long shot. Next came Thailand.



Thailand is one of those places that sticks with you. The longer it’s been since I was there, the more I seem to think about it. I have a feeling I’ll be back.

Next, a quick trip to Jamaica:

The highlight of which may have been this night visit to the bioluminescent bay. Organisms in the water cause it to glow when the water is disturbed — as it was here when a couple of people from my boat took a swim:

Tough to shoot, but a fun experience.

There were several US trips that I won’t take the time to list here, and a Fall drive up the North Shore of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, Canada.


On the heels of that trip, I was off to Germany:

Crossing the bridge in that first shot, I actually set foot in Austria, too.

2010 was a great year for me in terms of travel. I enjoyed each and every place I visited and would eagerly return to any of them. 2011 is already shaping up to be another busy one, however. I have one more year to serve as the Chair of the Freelance Council of the Society of American Travel Writers and already have a fair number of SATW meetings on my calendar including one in San Diego this week. Fiji and New Zealand are also on the agenda for 2011 and I’m sure there will be some surprises as well. Stay tuned…

Escaping Winter

When you start seeing things like this out your front window, it’s time to start thinking about heading for warmer climates — which is exactly what I’ll be doing for the next few days. Actually, I like the snow. If it’s going to be cold, it might as well be snowy. It’s much more attractive than a landscape of leaf-less trees and dead grass and it actually feels warmer when there’s a blanket of snow on the ground. Or the beauty takes your mind off the cold. Whatever… it works for me. But, my plans were made months ago and I must head for San Diego for a few days. Such is life. I’m working on a year-in-review post for 2010 but I don’t know that I’ll have it ready before I need to head for the airport. I’ll post from the road if I can, but if it doesn’t happen, I’ll be back soon.

Careful on that ice!

Kansas City Plaza holiday lights

The Country Club Plaza lights are a holiday tradition in Kansas City. They’re lit on Thanksgiving and stay on until New Years. It’s been a while since I’ve photographed them so I wanted to make sure to do it this year. The thing is… I wanted a day that wasn’t cloudy (low clouds turn brownish when they reflect the lights) and wasn’t too cold. Oh, and I obviously had to be in town.

As Christmas was rapidly approaching, the weather was not cooperating. Clouds, cold temps AND high winds were pretty much the daily norm. It was beginning to look like it might not happen this year. The week following Christmas wasn’t much better until yesterday. We actually hit 70 degrees and there were only scattered clouds. It was windy, but the wind began to die down around 3:00 and I decided to go for it. I called by friend and fellow photograper, Bhaskar, who has recently moved to KC and we arranged to meet on the plaza.

I arrived less than half an hour before sunset. Bhaskar had already scouted around a bit and I found him along Brush Creek where we began our 45 minutes or so of frantic shooting. I like to catch that cobalt blue sky that happens right after sunset and before it goes solid black. Those few minutes go by fast when you’re trying to cover a several block area of a landmark 1920s shopping area. The creek was still frozen from the previous cold days and it was killing the reflections so we headed to the streets and eventually the tops of two different parking garages. The light began to die while we were on the first garage and was pretty much gone for good when we arrived at the second one:

My last shoot of 2010 but the weather was so amazingly cooperative! This morning I woke to the sound of sleet hitting the roof and windows. Not just light sleet, but a regular downpour. Lightning and thunder soon followed and by the time the sun came up, my front window was iced over like this:

I’m thankful for that one summer-like evening but it looks like we’re solidly back in winter again.

Context

In my last post I talked a little about how the things that you leave out of an image can change the impression given to the viewer. Here’s an example of going the opposite direction. I first made the shot of the RSA office tower in Mobile, AL, that appears on the left. It’s a clean shot. Simple. Nothing extra. But there is no context. The building could be anywhere from Mobile to Moose Jaw. I took a few steps to the side and took the right-hand shot, framed by some palm fronds. Now the viewer has a little extra information. Climate. You’re somewhere warm and tropical and more of your senses are engaged.

I’m not saying either of these is a great shot — I’m just trying to give an example of how including one extra element can sometimes provide a lot more information to those viewing your photos. While I agree that it’s generally best to edit a scene as much as possible and include only those critical elements in your frame, don’t go too far and eliminate something that can add a little context.

Changing perspective

Reality and truth are concepts often discussed when it comes to photography these days. With the rise of Photoshop, people question what’s real — or perhaps they don’t question it enough. When I’m shooting for editorial use, I try to be “truthful” and show the “reality” of the place I’m photographing, but that doesn’t mean that some interpretation doesn’t creep into the images. In fact, it’s often my intention to boil an image down to focus on one single concept rather than to convey an entire, complicated reality.

There are often many truths and many ways of expressing them. Take these shots of downtown Mobile, Alabama. The one above gives the impression that the city is historic and shares much of the character that one thinks of when one thinks of New Orleans – brick buildings and ornate cast iron balconies. I would say that this is true of Mobile and it’s an accurate representation.

Then there’s this shot taken of the same block but from a higher vantage point. The same brick building can be seen in the lower foreground but this time it is minimized by the office towers looming above. Now Mobile appears to be a progressive city, a growing urban center.

Taken just a few blocks away, this photo shows yet another side of Mobile — one of a city that is struggling. Empty storefronts are emphasized by the camera viewpoint being moved back inside a shop entrance with vacant display windows. The vibrant shopping area that actually flanks this particular shop is hidden from view, giving the impression that this is a neighborhood in decline.

None of these images have been manipulated in Photoshop to give a false impression. The three sides of this city are conveyed simply by camera position and the choices made in composition. Is one shot more real than the others? I feel that they all represent my reaction to the city I was exploring. They do, however, contain my own personal point of view and reactions. Put a dozen photographers in Mobile for a day and you’ll have a dozen different perspectives. Maybe a dozen different truths?

Steel here

No, I haven’t dropped off of the face of the planet. I’ve just been a little closer to the planet’s equator. It seemed like a good idea to take assignments that would land us along the Gulf Coast of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi this time of year. Truth be told, we seem to have taken the cold with us. All last week we were wishing we’d packed gloves as we “braved” temperatures 20 degrees and more below the South’s usuals for December. Oh, well. The food was good. And we came back with plenty of stories.

More later, but I’ll start off by sharing this image from the Vulcan Center in Birmingham, Alabama. An homage to the city’s steel heritage.

Rainy day options

I talked a little bit yesterday about how to best handle less than ideal weather situations. My day in Passau was white-skied and a tad dreary. I actually like that kind of weather and think some great shots can be made when there’s a little more “atmosphere” than usual. Unfortunately, from a business sense, my likes are trumped by what sells. I’ll still shoot for myself and make the shots available to publishers, but they’ll typically take those dramatic sunsets or clear blue skies over this:

That’s the Passau I saw last month. Beautiful city, actually. And I had a great time wandering its streets finding incredible vantage point after more incredible vantage point. But… reality sets in and you need to make some photos that will sell, too. Heading inside is one option as seen by the church interior at the top of this post. The softened light from the overcast skies didn’t give those dramatic shafts of light that you might sometimes see streaming through the windows but — with an interior as bright and white as this one — you don’t really need them. The soft light did a great job of modeling all of the ornate features and did so with lower contrast than direct sun would have.

Passau also has a great glass museum. We’re talking about a rambling, multi-story maze of room after room of extraordinary glass. You can seriously get lost in there, but you won’t mind much because there’s good stuff around every corner. The lighting doesn’t look too sympathetic to photography at first. There are all different color temperatures from pink to blue to green. Happily, the auto white balance on my Nikon was able to clean that right up without a second thought from me. I just popped on the 60mm Micro lens and went crazy. Most of the glass was behind glass, but limiting depth of field and blocking the background with my own body allowed me to deal with most reflections. Some of these shots will make nice cutouts (like the one on the right) for those guidebooks that want a little detail shot to break up a long block of copy.

All in all, not bad for a rainy day’s work.

Produce in Passau

Nearing the end of my trip to Germany last month, I found myself in the town of Passau on a less than perfect day. It was cold and grey and overcast. The light was nice and soft, however, and you just had to pick your subjects appropriately. This produce stand, for instance. The colors were so saturated and the lack of direct sunlight kept the contrast from being too great.

I also found the light to be nice for some of the tight alleyways where I could shoot and not show any sky. Again, the contrast of direct sun would have made these areas very difficult to capture but the clouds helped keep that contrast down. The town is also famous for its glass museum which was another comfy place to shoot on a chilly day. The lesson is: make the most of your situation. There’s always some way to make the weather work to your advantage.