Scott Bourne, interviewed by Jason Anderson on the latest Learning Digital Photography podcast, had some attention-grabbing comments. He quoted someone else saying some 99% of camera lenses are better than 98% of the photographers who use them. Humbling! He told Jason that when he did portrait and fashion photography he shot with long lenses, 400 and 500 mm babies! He said photographs in fashion magazines like Vogue are taken with long lenses for richer detail. Use side lights for maximum texture in landscapes but direct frontal light (light behind your shoulder) for shooting nature and birds. He started his photography career in the 1970s when his father who worked for an Indianapolis/Bloomington paper got him a pass to shoot pictures at the Indy 500. After doing motor racing photography, he did the usual wedding and portrait, fashion and product photography before he was lured into nature and finally avian photography. Shooting with a Canon for 17 years, he switched to Nikon D7s that focus more quickly and have less noise at high ISOs.
His one comment that floored: he is a businessman, not an artist. He spends 80% of his time selling his photographs (and now videos), only 20% on actually doing photography. I'm not there at all.
The podcast host, Jason, writes in his photography website that he has been shooting pictures for three years. His portraits are ordinary but his landscapes are very good. Like me he wants to shift from doing IT to making his photography his bread-and-butter. He is married, apparently with children.
I shot the photo above on my walk up the Monon Trail to 116th Street this evening. The sun came out after a rainy morning and a cloudy afternoon and the light was great. I had not walked on the Monon since I walked there with the Banthias in early August. I fall into other routines and forget how pleasant it is walking on the trail in the late afternoon when the air is cooler and the light perfect for taking pictures.
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