Like most photographers, I plan my photo shoots whenever it suits me or whenever I must, like an assignment. The rest of the time that big camera bag is tucked away.

I have heard over and over during my career, that successful photographers always have a camera with them and I sure remember many times I wished I had my camera with me. The thought of always having my dslr with me did not sit well in my mind as I did not always want a camera slung over my shoulder except during a photo outing.

A intentional photographic foray, with the gear, is a conscious effort to go hunt for visual prey.  For me it is intensive effort to dig deep and go far with my imagination and imagery. I leave everything behind and immerse myself in a world where I tune out most thoughts and focus specifically on what is around me. This is why I, and probably you, shoot.  It’s like another magical world.

I am not always able to put in that effort during normal days/weeks due to ‘life’. Eventually I reach a point where I obsess over my need to ‘go shoot’ and so I do. But in-between those shoots when I am out and about without my gear, in the outdoors or wherever,  I have that smartphone to satisfy the need to create even one image.

Not that my smartphone is anywhere close to being a replacement for my dslr,  but I can shoot when I see a worthy subject no matter where I am. In fact, I am a ‘happy snappin’ addict now. I am thrilled with the simplicity of just snappin’ without all the setup of my gear and the change to find and capture is just as exciting as it is with my dslr in the field.

mx_los_algadones_IMG_3580

So this photo is one such image captured when we walked across into Mexico a few months ago. These colorful chairs in an outdoor cafe made a great design with a mix of colors and it has the impact I like in my photos.  I zoomed with the iPhone and then processed it with the Mix app.

I submitted it to my stock agencies smartphone image library as well but it was rejected due to no photo release. Hmmm? 🙂

The colors of Mexico always amaze me as they are pretty much everywhere. Saturday we walked into Los Algadones, MX for the Gringos Go Home celebration. I should mention: that is not what it sounds like.

Yuma, AZ is the highest rated Snowbird destination during the North American winters and Los Algadones is right across the border from Winterhaven, CA, a few minutes from Yuma. So you can see the importance of Snowbirds to Los Algadones and their economy.

They local community is so appreciative of winter visitors they put on the Gringos Go Home party on Saturday where there was festive music, free beer, and free food. It was great!

Like other locations in Mexico, Los Algadones is quite colorful and perfect for my obsession with iPhone ‘Happy Snappin.’ As I wandered the streets I was not disappointed. That led me to this wall tucked in between street vendors.

handprints_mx

I love these types discoveries and the photos I create of them. The vendor next to this mentioned that the wall was 30 years old and hand prints had been added over the years by school children. It is a great story, but the wall says it all to me.

This file is from my iPhone and I then used Adobe Photoshop Mix (the app) to add contrast (make the whites whiter and darks darker) and added some saturation and slight sharpening.
Viva Mexico!

Join my mail list, get my ebook, or take an online photography class. Just click the links on the right side.

I have thing for photographing through windows of old west ghost towns and taking pictures through the old glass. I get my lens as close as I can to the glass without risking damage, then shade the lens as best I can to remove external reflections , and bracket exposures like crazy.

Here is the barbershop in Randsburg, CA shot a few weeks ago. You can see some of the outside reflections around the left side and that is due to my hands not blocking all the glare. I shot a two image pano: left and right side as vertical images, then let Photoshop stitch them. Next I went into Photomatix and gave it a medium HDR grunge look. Then opened in Topaz B&W Effects and used the filter: Flavescent which added the yellowed newspaper look I wanted. I finished with another layer using the Blueprint effect and set that to 30% opacity to add a dark edginess.

ca_randsburg_MG_6394-7_pano_tonemapped-

When I like what I created, I abandon it for the next image. 

Join my mail list, get my ebook, or see my online photo courses, all here on this page.

 

I am so excited! After months and months my new course is ready: How to Be a Professional Outdoor & Nature Photographer

This course covers what to shoot, where to shoot, how to market, how to organize your business, how to price and negotiate sales of your images, stock photo agents, photography assignments, and much, much more. 

biz nat bannerCheck it our here.

And it is on sale right now at $79, that’s $100 OFF. Use coupon code GO79

Roatan Honduras: So by mid-week we were slowing down due primarily to an abundance of Caribbean Rum and the weather was turning rather stormy. It didn’t matter because when it rains or pours and it is 82 degrees, well so what?

West End Beach

We fell for Cindy and her small curbside cafe and that great ‘Caribe’ accent she had; “Ya Know Mon?”

Day 4 and 5 were wonderful as well chilled a little and hung closer to home. We mixed through West End Village and met many wonderful people, locals and from abroad.

This is a great place where you fit right in with most everybody speaking English. They are happy you are here and frequent their business while others will give a tour around neighborhoods without  expecting anything in return.

The highlight of the day was clearly these laughing birds. Not sure if they are parrots or a different tropical bird, but this was fun in Roatan Honduras

As we settled in to figuring out this beautiful island we immediately met many people from  the US and England and Canada. The woman yesterday was from Chicago and has been here 33 years. The young couple in Sundowners (the most famous bar in the Caribbean we heard) were from Washington State. It goes on and on.

West End, Roatan

We were thrilled to visit Eldens Mercado for groceries and find everything we are used to in Safeway at home. See more pictures…

On a recent fishing trip to the Florida Keys, we hustled through Miami International Airport and I walked past this cool stained (colored) glass  and had to grab this shot.

Let’s face it, smart phone cameras are very cool and allow the opportunity to never miss a shot.