The Art of Freelancing – By Stephen Masker

It’s been one year and one month since I’ve graduated from college at The University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. As a senior I was working a part-time job at Best Buy in the digital camera department, contributing to the student newspaper, The North Texas Daily, president of the National Press Photographer’s Association student chapter, and when time allowed, joined the photography club for their meetings and events. Despite having a busy senior year, I graduated on time with a Bachelors in both photojournalism and political science.

Over the course of one year and one month, I’ve had my work published in TIME, The Miami Herald, The Washington Times, Getty Images, and ABC News, to name a few. I’ve photographed for large corporations like Frito-Lay and AT&T, and I’ve partnered with White House and National Geographic photographers while working on photo-internships.

Color Isn’t Everything – By Alex Baker (bakerja3@optonline.net)

Back in the Neolithic era when I first became seriously interested in photography there were three choices: color slides, color prints and black and white. Every shot you took was one of those three choices. OK, yes, you could make sepia or other types of prints, but that was still just B&W darkroom technique. Color print film was really mostly for simple snapshots, so that left color transparencies and black and white for the serious enthusiast and pro.

Well, while it really was sad to see Kodachrome pass into the beyond, truthfully, my film cameras are in the attic and I sold my darkroom equipment years ago.  I went digital at the turn of the 21st century and never looked back.

Now, every shot I take is whatever I want it to be as long as my camera technique is good (a different topic).  For me, the really big difference (and advantage) in modern digital photography is the world of possibilities that opens up once you load your files onto your computer.

Over the years, I have tried a variety of digital photography software tools and finally settled on the Adobe twins of Lightroom and Photoshop. In fact, I just upgraded to Lightroom 4.1 and Photoshop CS 6 last week. I also use Topaz B&W Effects and Topaz DeNoise plug-ins in Photoshop.

Four years ago I attended a seminar through Outdoor Photography and the speaker was Frans Lanting.  One thing he spoke of that initially guided me and continues to influence how I approach my work today was to not spread oneself too thinly when it comes to subject matter.  Find something close to home you are drawn to or fond of and work that subject or location consistently until you feel you are producing something good enough to be proud of.

With that in mind, I decided to focus my attention on what brought me the most joy…my love of wildlife close to my home in California. By visiting locations I can access relatively easily on a regular basis, I have been able to focus on learning and improving without a great deal of effort or money.

Photographing and sharing what I see and experience in my home state has now become a major passion and living in such a beautiful part of the world certainly helps. There is so much diversity in the landscape providing an abundance of photographic opportunities.   No matter where you happen to reside however, there is always something to photograph…even in your own backyard.

One of my favorite spots is Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough in Monterey Bay, home to a resident group of sea otters, sea lions and harbor seals, plus a wonderful array of birds including brown pelicans, double-brested cormorants and western grebes to name just a few.

Wildlife is unpredictable, so being prepared is essential. Get to know your subject’s behavior patterns so you are in the right place at the right time. This California sea otter was taken from a pier looking down on to the water. I watched and waited as it periodically dove and resurfaced with my camera at the ready on the area I suspected it would appear by air bubbles rising to the surface. As soon as it did, I was able to fire away a bunch of shots before it disappeared.

Do Your Homework

Preparing for Your Photographic Journey

By Mark Sweeney

Those of us who are not professional photographers dream of turning our hobby and passion into a career.  We romanticize the life of a professional and seldom think of the time, expense and days away from our homes and families that are required in order to be successful on a commercial basis.  So, most of us compact our time capturing images into a few outings, vacations or the occasional get-away each year.  This minimizes our opportunities to obtain that perfect image and makes it a necessity that we get the most out of our trips. To maximize the use of your precious time you need to do some homework before you go.  In this article I’ll cover some of the easy steps you can take to be prepared for that next excursion.  I’ve written this piece with national and state parks in mind but you can apply it to other areas of interest you may have as well.

Fortunately, for today’s photographer there are almost limitless sources of information to prepare for your trip.  Here are a few thoughts on where to go to gather the data that will make your next photographic expedition as efficient and enjoyable as possible.