I'm a photographer who lives in Ely Minnesota. I'm mostly a nature photographer, specializing in landscapes but dabble in wildlife and flowers when the occasion arises. I make frequent trips to the Boundary Waters of Northern, MN, including winter and backpacking trips as well as the more traditional canoe trips.

Photographic Background

My Dad was a Field Engineer with Allis Chalmers. His job used to take him away from home, sometimes for months at a time. He always carried a 35mm camera with him and usually brought back wonderful slides of places he visited on the weekends. And then, there were the slides from the few vacations we'd spend together. Looking back, I'm not sure how much the rest of the family enjoyed those slideshows. They are among the fondest of my childhood memories though. They definitely planted a seed or two.

I got my first camera -- a Kodak Instamatic 126 -- while I was in my mid-teens. While in the Air Force, a few years later, I bought my first 35mm -- a Yashica Rangefinder. One of the first with auto exposure! I soon graduated to an SLR (also Yashica). And, subscribed to various photography magazines, bought books, and practiced, practiced, practiced.

Over the years, photography ran hot and cold with me. I joined some clubs along the way, some of which held critique sessions which really helped me improve. My family wasn't really very interested in my photography so, when the clubs died, I had no one to show my work to and the interest died. Then, along came the internet. I started sharing my Boundary Waters photos on a canoeing related bulletin board. I had an audience... my interest was restored.

In 1998 (when I still had a day job) I was showing some of my photos to a neighbor. She really liked what I had and encouraged me to start selling. And so, I turned semi-pro.

I bought my first digital -- an Olympus P&S -- in 2003. That was followed by my Nikon D70 in the spring of 2004. Now, I'm 100% digital.

My work has been published in Canoe & Kayak, Canoeroots, Boundary Waters Journal, and even Sports Illustrated magazines as well as several canoe club and other publications. Some of my photos appear in the latest of Cliff Jacobson's outdoor how-to books. A couple of my photos will also be published on the covers of the forthcoming revision of the most popular Boundary Waters Guidebooks (a 2 volume set -- usually referred to as the "Beymer Books").

Photographic Philosophy

Photography is partly artistic, partly technical. Unfortunately, it seems that most people tend to get caught up on the technical aspect (especially in this digital age) -- what camera, lens, accessories do you use; what f-stop and shutter speed, how did you determine the exposure; what postprocessing did you do; HDR; crackle, solarization, etc. etc. etc. I prefer to pay attention to the artistic side first. Composition is first and foremost to me. Then, once I've arrived at that composition, I'll pay attention to the technical details. Yes, the two are interwoven... depth of field, for instance, is a technical aspect that can make or break a composition. Selecting the right element to focus on is also important. But, composition -- rule of thirds, leading lines, natural framing, etc. -- should come first. The technical choices should be made to complement the composition -- not the other way around.

For most of my work, I'm interested in portraying a scene, or subject, as naturally as I can. Yes, I "photoshop" (I actually don't use Photoshop itself but a variety of other software in its place). But, the photo editing I do is mostly used to overcome the limitations inherent in photography. Most photos only require a little contrast adjustment, maybe a tad of saturation, and then sharpening after resizine. I only use HDR when necessary -- when the dynamic range of the scene far exceeds the range the camera can handle. In my opinion, all the various "treatments" available using photo editing software should be used like spices are for cooking. Just as too much spice can ruin a good meal, so to, too much "photoshopping" can ruin a good image. Also, as certain spices are chosen for different dishes, certain treatments should be chosen for different images. Of course, just as with spices and cooking, image treatments are subject to individual tastes. Along those lines, I should note -- even though I'm American, my mother and wife are both from England. Therefore, I've grown up with a British pallet... and the Brits aren't particularly known for spicy dishes ;-)

Equipment

I'm currently using Nikon D200 and D70 camera bodies with a variety of glass.

Links

Visit my website to view lots more of my images. Also, check out my new BLOG.

Photo Rights

All my images are Copyrighted, All Rights Reserved. If you wish to use them in any manner, please contact me for permission via Flickr Mail or my e-mail photog at lhrimages.com.

Other Stuff

States I've visited or traveled through (some obvious gaps that need to be corrected):

create your own visited states map

or check out these Google Hacks.

Countries I've visited (I have a long ways to go!)

create your own visited countries map

or vertaling Duits Nederlands