Harold Davis's Blog, page 44

Hawk Feather and Dried Sunflower

Hawk Feather and Dried Sunflower (in black and white) and the detail of the Hawk Feather (in color, below) were photographed using low-key HDR on a black velvet cloth.

I used the photographic technique and the post-production process explained in my new book Creative Garden Photography (pages 272-279) and in the Photography on Black webinar recording Phyllis just uploaded to our YouTube channel. 

Hawk Feather and Dried Sunflower © Harold Davis

Hawk Feather © Harold Davis

Master Photographer Panel with Jennifer King and Alan Shapiro on Saturday

Phyllis and I are proud to present Master Photographer Panel with Jennifer King and Alan Shapiro on this coming Saturday (October 10, 2020) via Zoom. The tuition for the event is $19.95, with all proceeds going to the NAACP Empowerment Funds.

Image credit: © Jennifer King

Jennifer King is an internationally acclaimed photographer, writer, teacher and speaker. Click here for her website.

Alan Shapiro’s macro work can be seen throughout the entire hospital set on ABC’s The Good Doctor, in the launch campaigns for the Apple iPhone, filling walls in Bose stores and Ritz Carlton Hotels worldwide, in addition to hanging in numerous private and corporate art collections. His tabletop and food photography can be seen in publications including Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple and Saveur. Click here for his website.

Following the presentations by these great photographers, Harold Davis will moderate a panel discussion open to your questions. Come expecting to be inspired and entertained!

Image credit: © Alan Shapiro

The session will be recorded and posted to YouTube, but please consider enrolling (and paying the tuition) even if you won’t be able to attend the live event. All proceeds will be going to the NAACP Endowment fund, and if you are interested in the panel, it would be great to have you contribute.

Click here for an upcoming benefit Master Panel with Ann Belmont and Bryan Peterson, and here for our schedule of webinars.

The Past Is a Different Country

Phyllis likes to say that the past is a different country. Certainly, in this time in which we cannot travel to other countries, the past and different countries have in common that they are both not visit-able: the past in lieu of a time machine, and other countries until we have a novel coronavirus vaccine. 

Photography is a very temporal activity. Most often, the act of capture occurs within a matter of seconds.

Coming back to the notion of the past being a different country, even if one could go back, or if one returns to the same location, nothing is ever the same.

In that spirit, here are five images from the different countries of the past that I just processed for the first time: two are from a sunrise session above the Klamath Bar on California’s north coast in 2018, and three were photographed in Owens Valley, east of the Sierra, from the autumn of 2017.

Morning Mist © Harold Davis

Klamath Bar © Harold Davis

Autumn Passage © Harold Davis

Cottonwood © Harold Davis

Tufas in Autumn © Harold Davis

Mandalas

I had a little down-time today, and I did something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while: organized most of my Mandala images into a single album on Flickr.

A mandala is a circular geometric pattern that symbolically can represent the entire universe. Sometimes, a mandala is meant to represent wholeness and life itself in relation to the infinite and the world that extends beyond and within minds and bodies.

In Eastern religions, a mandala may represent paradise, deities, sacred spaces, or simply be used as an aid to meditation.

My Mandalas are primarily created using flower petals on a light box, although I sometimes use other materials as well.

Study in Petals on Black © Harold Davis

Sharpness is a Bourgeois Concept

“Sharpness is a Bourgeois Concept,” declared Henri Cartier-Bresson. What did iconic photographer Cartier-Bresson mean, and why is this a humorous remark?

To find our why, consider attending this Saturday’s Photography and Writing: Using Your Words To Become a Better Photographer. 

This three-part webinar will start with a look at the role writing has played in the work of some great photographers from Ansel Adams (of course) to Minor White, and beyond. The second part of the presentation will continue with how I have used the synergy of writing and photography with particular emphasis on my award-winning blog, and conclude with some suggestions about how to integrate the discipline of writing into your photography practice. The idea is to enhance facility and creativity in both disciplines!

Click here for more information, here to register for Photography and Writing, and here for a schedule of our upcoming webinars.

Stairs at La Défense © Harold Davis

I’d also like to call your special attention to the Master Photographer Panel with Jennifer King and Alan Shapiro, scheduled for Saturday October 10, 2020. All proceeds from this webinar will benefit the NAACP Endowment Fund.

Please check out our upcoming webinar schedule. There’s a great deal of variety, with tutorials and fun across a wide domain of topics. Our webinars are a mixture of free, paid, and paid-as-a-benefit with all proceeds going to a good cause.

As always, stay healthy, keep photographing, and be creative!

Sunrise through the Haze

Today the sun rose red through the haze of the air polluted with smoke from the wildfires. Outside, the air has an acrid unpleasant taste on the back of one’s throat, and is possibly dangerous to breath. What a contrast from the normally pleasant atmosphere, often refreshed with the marine layer coming in from the Pacific!

Sunrise through the Haze © Harold Davis

To make this image, I used my Tamron 150-600mm telephoto zoom, a veritable honker of a lens, at 300mm. The other settings were ISO 250, 1/1000 of a second, and f/5.6. I got down on the floor of our dining room, and photographed the rising sun hand held through the curtains on the French doors—closed because of the bad air—leading out to the patio.

Using Your Words To Become a Better Photographer

This coming Saturday we’ll be hosting Photography and Writing: Using Your Words To Become a Better Photographer. 

Ansel Adams once wrote that the most important tool in his camera bag was his pencil and notebook.

In that spirit, this three-part webinar will start will a look at the role writing has played in the work of some great photographers, continue with how I have used the synergy of writing and photography in my more than twenty published photography books, and conclude with some suggestions about how to integrate the discipline of writing into your photography practice.

Click here for more information, here to register for Photography and Writing, and here for a schedule of our upcoming webinars.

Circumflex © Harold Davis

Donation to the Equal Justice Initiative

We’re very pleased and excited to donate $762.80 to Equal Justice Initiative. Special thanks to those who made it possible, including our Prints and Printmaking webinar participants, Moab Paper, Marc Schotland, and our panelists, photographers Scott Barrow and Jim Graham. 

Please consider joining our other benefit webinars, Master Photographer Panel with Jennifer King and Alan Shapiro [Benefits NAACP] on Oct 10, 2020, and Master Photographer Panel with Anne Belmont and Bryan Peterson [Benefits Center for Policing Equity] on Nov 14, 2020.

Click here for a schedule of our upcoming webinars. 

If you missed it, the Prints and Printmaking webinar recording will be posted to my YouTube channel; if you subscribe to the channel you will be notified once it has been posted.

Pale Garden © Harold Davis

Bringing Garden Photography Indoors with Harold Davis [Free Webinar sponsored by Rocky Nook]

What: Bringing Garden Photography Indoors with Harold Davis [Free Webinar sponsored by Rocky Nook]

When: Wednesday September 30, 2020 at 11:00am PT. Duration between one and two hours, including Q&A

Where: On your computer or mobile device from anywhere via Zoom. This is a free webinar, but pre-registration is required. Seating is limited. The registration link is https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NCweUNP2TgaL_WR3-rfB2Q

Details: Harold’s new book from Rocky Nook, Creative Garden Photography: Making great photos of flowers, gardens, landscapes, and the beautiful world around us, starts with photography at large, such as the garden in the world. The second part of the book proceeds to explain techniques for bringing the garden inside and closer up, including photographing flowers on a light box, photographing flowers on black, and macro photography of flowers. In this webinar, Harold will introduce his book at both large and indoors, and discuss some photographic examples of bringing the garden indoors. The webinar will include with several examples of light box and photography on black post-production in Photoshop.

There will be ample time for Q&A.

Who should attend: In this time of social distancing, what could be better to photograph than gardens and flowers? The goal of this webinar is to help photographers stay creative with inspiration and techniques that can be used regardless of the time of year.

Camellia Japonica © Harold Davis

Number of Seats and Tuition: This is a FREE webinar, but pre-registration is required. Seating (on a first come, first served basis) is limited. You must register via Zoom to be enrolled in this webinar! https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NCweUNP2TgaL_WR3-rfB2Q

About Harold Davis: Harold Davis is a bestselling author of many books, including most recently Creative Garden Photography from Rocky Nook. He is the developer of a unique technique for photographing flowers for transparency, a Moab Master, and a Zeiss Ambassador. He is an internationally known photographer and a sought-after workshop leader. His website is www.digitalfieldguide.com.

What does an onion slice have in common with a glass cup?

Red Onion Slice © Harold Davis

Patterns in Glass 3 © Harold Davis