Check out this amazing new video by Vincent LaForet “waiting for the swell” click here

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore…dream…discover…” Mark Twain

Scoble on PhotoShow, originally uploaded by marc silber.

Yesterday we met up with Robert Scoble to shoot an upcoming episode of PhotoShow. Robert popularized “PhotoWalking” and had me as a guest a year ago which is what got me started on the “magical mystery tour” of producing PhotoShow. Now that we are rolling with our season about to be launched I thorough it would be a good idea to invite Robert to be my guest. Stay tuned…

Surfer at Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz (looks like Batman took up surfing)

Nice Wave see more

Thomas Hawk, originally uploaded by marc silber.

We are having a real cold spell for us thin skinned Californians — in the 40s and then add the wind chill factor–yes it was cold. And Yes, you have picture of a photographer dedicated to getting his shot! This was an iPhone shot–NOT with my Nikon, not bad in the fading light.

Thomas talks about how he gets his shots and then showed us by wading into the icy Pacific, now that’s dedication! This is going to be a cool show, wait until you see Thomas’ shots of the Golden Gate Bridge! You’ll love seeing this episode in January.

Africa Tree in Lake , originally uploaded by marc silber.

Going through my Africa shots again, ran across this one that hadn’t put up before. It’s a lesson to look over your shots to catch all of them that capture your emotions from the time you shot them: I remember this shot and seeing it at the time as a BW. An example of “visualization.”

Moon Over Sand Hill Road (Silicon Valley), originally uploaded by marc silber.

Only had my iPhone returning from a long hike in Woodside, and there was the moon! Couldn’t miss it. Rising over Sand Hill Road where the VCs are.

Ansel Adams’ License Plate, originally uploaded by marc silber.

I visited with Matthew Adams (Ansle’s grandson who runs the Ansel Adams gallery) today, talking about a cool collaboration for 2009.

Matthew told me the story of buying Ansel’s Cadillac some time ago so he could get his plates. I’ve meant to snap a shot but somehow always forgot. I asked him today, he replied “go for it!”

So what does Zone V mean? click here. 

Are you Zone V?

Sunset, Hermanus South Africa, originally uploaded by marc silber.

This was almost my last shot, ever! I was so intent on catching this shot, that I started to cross the small highway, instinctively looking first to my right to see if any cars coming–but this being South Africa, drivers were on the other side, as I started to step out –woosh along came a car going very fast that pushed me back. (This was how Winston Churchill was seriously injured by a car while crossing Fifth Avenue in New York in 1931.)

As you see, this shot has deeper meaning for me. I’m very glad it wasn’t Marc Silber’s last shot!

First off, what the heck is an “environmental portrait”? Sounds like you have to go out and capture someone standing next to a Redwood tree. While this could be the case, it could also be that they’re holding a chain saw.

Ansel Adams said, an environmental portrait “reaches farther into the personality of the individual portrayed, associating him with elements suggestive of his inner qualities.”

Here’s an example of a few with jazz great Chic Corea.

When I’m asked to take portraits I like to find a setting that brings out the personality of the subject. This definitely doesn’t mean hiding behind their desk. I look for places where they are comfortable or that put them at ease. But you may want to turn that on its head like Annie Leibovitz often does and throw in a severe contrast to bring out their personality, or throw in the unexpected like her shot of Demi Moore (I took this at her show in SF last spring.)

Here’s a strong example of an environmental portrait I took many years ago in Mexico. Fausto was one of the locals working on the project I was on building a medical dispensary deep in the Sierra Madre mountains, days travel by foot and jeep above Mazatlan.

Here’s what I suggest:

1.    Find a place that you think is a good match or even a contrast to shoot your subject.
2.    Take shots, but talk with them, engage them. Take their attention off of the camera.
3.    Don’t sit or stand in one place, move around and have them move around. You never know what magic might occur with changed light or a changed angle.
4.    Take lots of shots.
5.    Be inventive and try different spaces, angles, moods.
6.    Look over your shots as you go so you can see if you’re getting what you want. Know when you have it and wrap it up. Don’t drag it out.

How’s that? Let me know how it goes.

Good shooting.

I wrote this last year at about this time, so I thought I’d put it our again for 2010!

Hey, like everything in life, if you don’t set your photography goals, they’re not likely to just happen on by and knock on your door.

Let me ask you, when was the last time you thought about your goals as a photographer? Lots of us keep going out and shooting the same pictures over and over—you know the ones I’m talking about.  Nice shot the first few times you got it, but after a few hundred, even you’re tired of seeing it!  How does that happen? You get good at a certain type of photography and keep on going out and finding that shot again.

This is a signal that it’s time to tune up your skills, or turn your shooting on its head and do something totally different. An assignment I always give students at my workshops is to go out and get shots that you normally wouldn’t—get out of your comfort zone.

This takes us back to the subject of your goals. Don’t wait until the new-year to set your goals. Start now, ask yourself questions about your photography:

1. What area would you like to improve?

2. Are there types of shots you’d like to get (nudes, travel, artificial light, etc?)

3.   What are your plans to study other’s work? (Museums, books, blogs, etc.)

Then just put this all together and set yourself a goal. Oh, one more thing I bet each of us needs to do: Take more shots. Unless you’re out there shooting daily, you’re not taking enough shots.

Do me a favor after you’ve done the exercise above, leave me a note and let me know what you came up with AND send me some of your shots!

Good Shooting!