Words & Images

I can’t believe how much time has past since my last entry. Mid August, I visited some friends in California, among them one along the coast. We went out for a whale watching tour. Here are some images. There was some sun just along the beach, otherwise, it was solid overcast. Never the less, we had a great time. It is special to see the humpback and blue whales. They are such majestic animals. Although I never saw a blue whale at full length, the fact that in choppy waters, there was a completly flat surface where they went on a dive gave me an incling of their size.

Here are some images from the tour.

Last week, I participated in a workshop taught by Eddie Soloway at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. It was an incredibly intense week with early starts (get up at 3am to be at a location for sunrise) and late nights. On the last evening, we got to see images from all 6 workshops that were going on that week and I was highly impressed with the quality of the images.

Out of all the possibilities, I chose to train myself in using only manual metering. I have to say, it will probably pay off very quickly since I need to do so much less editing in front of the computer. Then, there are all those ideas of how to take images, that I feel will take me a while to integrate. My plan of action is to go out and work with one of them , the next time with another. So over time, I hope to eventually have them all in my ‘tool box’.

Here are some images from the week.

I have been working more with the multiple exposures in camera. The 2 images with the daisies intrigued me and the reaction of people to them was very positive. So I took many more images and am learning how the placement of the flowers in Nature impacts the final image. I tried to figure out a way where I could keep the central flower in focus, i.e. not have any camera movement there. I have not yet been able to do that. I may need a fancier ballhead for my tripod to accomplish this.

Here are a few images. Seems like I am working on a series of in camera madalas.

Let me know what you think. I am looking forward to hearing your comments.

As I said in my last blog, I am learning multiple exposures. This is not that easy and I am beginning to think that the 2 great shots were the proverbial beginner’s luck. There is so much that plays into it. If I want just the stippled effect that many exposures over each other give, the number is not playing that big a role, I just need 5 or more.

The images with the flowers are interesting. I rotated the camera while taking the images. I can see why a tripod is important for those kind of shots. It is difficult to hand-hold and keep the same flower exactly in the same place. I will have to figure out how to do this, since I have only about 25 seconds between shots, otherwise the camera turns off the multiple exposure setting.

I figured I try it also without me moving the camera on something that is moving. The effect is interesting. I am posting 2 images for comparison: one a multiple exposure, the other a long exposure.

Please let me know what you think about the images. Is something like this appealing to you? I’ll keep on shooting.

There is a reason to my absence for the past few weeks. I have been busy learning about Social Media (Facebook and LinkedIn) I had attended a short introductory workshop with the intention to find out about ways I could get the word out about my book, “Essence:contemplations in image and word”.

BE careful what you ask for . Since my daughter is in an MBA program, much more information on marketing came my way. As I am working through all of that, there is obviously the question of how to implement all of the answers to the questions I am now asking. “Who are your clients?” seems a straightforward question. The answer that came intuitively – people, who decorate a (space in a) home – showed me not only how unfocused my inventory is, but also how many more possibilities I have to sell my images. The impact of just this one answer is big:

• change the galleries on my web site
• get a second site that serves as a stock image site
• get on Flickr
• begin to “work” LinkedIn, i.e participate in the discussions and build relationships.

Then, I just got the new releases of Photoshop and Lightroom. Now I need to figure out which new features in CS5 will serve my way of working with images and learn them. I am much more familiar with Lightroom, so the upgrade will not take too much time to figure out.

Between all the Art Fairs, it feels sometimes overwhelming, yet I am enjoying it. Now, that enjoyment may not be so much the case with having to thoroughly keyword and caption all the images I plan on pulling up on Flickr. There have been times when I was not consistent with keywords and there are hardly any captions. I look at it that it is better to start now than in another year when there will be even more images.

As you can see, my days are full and exciting. I will post some images to keep you appraised of my progress. I invite your comments and ideas.

Since for the next 2 – 3 month I can not get into an area where i had been photographing, I was faced with the question what to do instead. I decided to experiment and therefore learn more about multiple exposures and images where one moves the camera during the shot. Many factors play into getting a great photo using these techniques and I want to have a feel for it instead of just getting lucky every once in a while. As I progress, I will post some some images so you can see my journey.

I invite your comments and ideas. After upgrading the software, I made sure the settings are such that you can post a question and pull up an image to go along with it.

Have fun shooting!

It is heartwarming to receive such great feedback on my book Essence: contemplations in image and word. It is not just the comments I have been getting by e-mail, but also the fact that one person ordered another copy after getting the first one. I wanted to share some of the images that are in the book, which pairs 33 beautiful photographs with thought provoking poems. Each image / poem couplet extends an invitation to go deeper within oneself, to meditate on either or both. Together, they connect the inner wisdom and beauty of a person with the wisdom and beauty in Nature.

The collaboration with Stewart S. Warren, a local poet, was such a delight. In the final stages, time flew working in a combination of focus and laughter. Each one’s creativity was fed by the playful expression of ideas.

When visiting my family in Germany, I got ‘caught in the ash’. A week later, I finally made it out. It was an adventure as I had not brought my calendar with me. I had to remember all the appointments I had made and cancel them, to ask a friend to pick up packages I had ordered with my original arrival date at home in mind. And then there was all the work waiting for me to get ready for a show. Good thing was that I had my laptop with me and at least could make the final selection of the images there and begin the process of deciding on the different sizes for images. Now the show is hung and I can breath a sigh of relief. If you want to see the images, go to my gallery El Rito Creek in Winter

Triple D Game Farm works together with a local rescue center. This provides some income for it. The raptors we got to shoot are all birds that can no longer be released into the wild. Therefore they become ambassadors.

Here are some images from the 2 horse round-up sessions I particiapted in. The first one sounded great: 50 horses coming by in waves. Only it did not quite happen that way. The horses came mostly in groups that were large or in a line. In addition, it was heavy overcast with low clouds. This made for difficult shooting; either one backed off to get the large group in or I was dealing with cut off heads or butts. Due to the really heavy, waterlogged snow, the horses began to sweat and clouds of steam came off of them or one could see their breath in the cold air.

The second shoot was with a small group which made it much easier. Some just loved to run. The fog was hanging in the trees with the sun coming through at times. The wranglers were great, willing to pose in all the ways some of the participants envisioned. I was wondering what they were thinking

After much prodding from friends, I finally joined Facebook. You can find me under Stoeffl Photography. I am still learning to navigate around. I do have some images pulled up and plan on announcing show receptions as well as poetry readings and book signings.

The book “Essence: contemplations in image and word” is finally done. It is a collaboration with a local poet. By April 24th, I will have copies available. You can find more information about it on my web site.