http://www.natureinfocusworkshops.com/

Nature In Focus Photography Workshops, Huntsville, AL (2026)

09/08/2026

Standing Out.

Sometimes compositions are just easy. You walk up to a scene and it just tells you where to stand. Other times you have to work at it a little. In this case it was a little bit of both. I saw the waterlily standing above the lilypads, but the first angle that presented itself had a discolored yellow pad behind the flower. So simply changing the angle of my view eliminated the distraction. I haven't given a life's lesson in a while, but when I saw this I thought about frustrations in life and how instead of just accepting those distractions, simply changing your perspective can make things more calm and pleasing. For me it is little things like driving in traffic. Instead of getting frustrated with heavy highway traffic I can take a backroad that may take a little longer, but it is more calming to my nerves. If I see something on the internet that gets by blood boiling, scroll past it. Everything can be avoided or changed by simply changing your outlook. For this image I used my Tamron 50-400mm lens on a Sony a7RIVa, at 342mm, Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/6th of a second, ISO 100, Kase Circular Polarizer, Leofoto tripod.

09/07/2026

Soft light.

I love photographing waterlily, as should be evident in my recent posts. I enjoy an overcast day the most, but will go on a sunny day if I prioritize the shady areas. At Gibbs Gardens the pond closest to the entrance tends to get light first as the trees keep light from hitting the ponds until it rises up above them. By the time I get to the pond where this flower is at, it can be as much as an hour or so. Mottled light is okay, just the harsh sun can make it too contrasty. I love this particular spot as I have captured some of my favorite images of this small spot. It looks completely different in direct light. I love the soft feel of the lilypads and the flower. The pinks and greens just soothe my soul and I could work this area for a while, and well, usually do each visit. For this image I used my Tamron 50-400mm lens on a Sony a7RIVa, at 342mm, Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/6th of a second, ISO 100, Kase Circular Polarizer, Leofoto tripod.

09/06/2026

Elements vs objects.

I may have a weirdly wired brain, but often when I am outdoors, especially when I am making images, I don't see flowers and lilypads, but I see curves and visual stepping stones. Once I see those patterns and elements, I see the flowers and lilypads. As our little group walked around Gibbs Gardens the other day I immediately saw the curve of the lilypads and how it formed a leading line to the flower. I called the group over pointed out what I saw and then tried to demonstrate how I would make an image of the scene. Since digital film is cheap, I experiment with focal lengths, angle of views and more. When I was there a tighter composition appealed to me, but once I started processing a wider composition grabbed me, plus including the reflection helped visually tie it together for me. I wasn't wild at first about having the other dead leaves in the image, but as I looked more and more at them, they added some nice contrast for me. I am so easily distracted by shapes, patterns light and shadow, it is a wonder I can walk from one place to the next in a reasonable timeframe. It is so fun to do walk with others who see things like I do, but differently, I love hearing what and why people see things. I wish more people would do the same though, slow down, experience what is around you. Who knows you might relax. For this image I used my Tamron 50-400mm lens on a Sony a7RIVa, at 195mm, Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/6th of a second, ISO 100, Kase Circular Polarizer, Leofoto tripod.

09/05/2026

Even vs Odd numbers of elements.

In the world of art, especially photography, we hear how odd numbers often create or compliment compositions better than even numbers. Why? Even numbers too often make an image symmetrical and balanced with a division in the middle of the image. So how do you change that perception and go against the "rules"? Simply change your angle of view, by taking a step to the right I took advantage of the natural spacing between the 3 flowers and the single flower creating a visual imbalance, or making symmetrical an asymmetrical composition. Your eye naturally puts more weight or emphasis on the left but can't ignore the one on the right. This thought process slows down the process for me and forces me to study a scene. When there is so much beauty in front of you it is easy to ignore the details, slowing down to study all the elements simply enhances not only what you see, but what you share with others. Details is where the true beauty is always found. For this image I used my Tamron 50-400mm lens on a Sony a7RIVa, at 400mm, Manual Mode, f9, shutter speed of 1/25th of a second, ISO 100, Kase Circular Polarizer, Leofoto tripod.

09/04/2026

Let the light shine.

I'm usually not a fan of photographing subjects like the waterlily at Gibbs Gardens on a bright sunny day as the lighting is really tough to work with, but Wednesday it worked to my advantage a few times. There was one area that the light peeked through the trees and lit up one yellow flower in an area. It was perfect for the effect I was I was hoping to capture. I am a moody kind of guy, even emotional at times and mood plays a huge part of my compositions, remember when you point the camera in one direction it captures what is seen from the other side of it. This image made me feel that I would normally have bypassed this contrasty light but instead it highlighted one flower and placed the focus it. Back in the 90s there was a song "Shine" by Collective Soul that immediately came to mind when I made the image. The opening lyrics are
"Give me a word and give me a sign
Show me where to look, but tell me, what will I find?
Will I find?"
I used to listen to that song often. For this image I used my Tamron 50-400mm lens on a Sony a7RIVa, at 287mm, Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/6t0h of a second, ISO 100, Kase Circular Polarizer, Leofoto tripod.

09/03/2026

A waterlily meetup.

Several years ago Cecil Holmes and I decided to form a joint venture of doing workshops and to form a group that we charged a minimal fee, $40 but you would get $100 off any workshop, and the purpose of the group was to form a community where people could post images on social media without worrying about keyboard warriors trying to belittle them. We offer this Premium Group a special part of our website where they could also have access to instructional and informational videos, give monthly assignments with a critique at the end of the month, and we have wanted to do meet ups where we picked a location, our members could show up and have fun and ask all the questions they would like and hopefully walk away a more inspired photographer. Finally yesterday I was able to do the first meetup at Gibbs Gardens. It was a weekday, so I only had a few folks able to join me, but it was really fun and the waterlily were incredible. Now that I have more time on my hands I am wanting to do more of these like we envisioned years ago. Some local locations I'm toying with are Old Car City, some waterfalls in N. Georgia, sunset from Ft. Mountain State Park. I'm hoping to plan a few in other locations, not local to me, that would allow others to join us. So this image jumped out at me yesterday initially because of the pink and greens, but studying in the frame more I started being pulled into the emerging lily pad that was a nice darker color with highlighted edges. The details under the water did it for me as it complimented the flower itself to give the image balance. I was just drawn into this image and I think I did several different compositions before settling on this one because of the placement of the elements. For this image I used my Tamron 50-400mm lens on a Sony a7RIVa, at 342mm, Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/6th of a second, ISO 1000, Kase Circular Polarizer, Leofoto tripod.

09/02/2026

Blue.

I shared an image yesterday of some detail inside an ice cave, so today I thought I would share an image of probably one of, if not the bluest cave we ever visited. We have been lucky that we have been able to access the caves very early, often hiking out in the dark. This gives you the opportunity to beat the crowds and spend a little more time not waiting for folks to move on. This was a cave we visited in 2025. My favorite thing about this cave was the area in front of the rocks to the left was water and made for an incredible reflection. The longer exposure of 15 seconds really helped to pull out details in the shadows. The obvious composition here was to have the cave lead you to the opening at the end. Exploring the ice caves is very exhilarating and I could spend hours checking out the details of the walls. I still remember the first time we visited an ice cave our guide suggested filling our water bottles with melting glacier. It was incredible! Seeing, photographing, and even tasting an ice cave is an awesome experience. You can still join me in March 2027 for this experience! For this image I used my Tamron 17-50mm Di III VXD lens on a Sony a1 at 17mm, Manual Exposure mode, f11, shutter speed of 15 seconds, ISO 800, Leofoto tripod, f-stop Gear Guru 4 AIR backpack.

09/01/2026

Bably Blue.

I have been creating new images but haven't had a lot of time to process as life has been dominating my time. I have been going through images from Iceland over the years and got into some of the ice caves. The most fascinating part is often the detail in the ice itself. The overall beauty of a cave is incredible on its own, but when you slow down and study the details, that is where you find the true beauty. Light working its way through the glacier and then the textures in the ice creates incredible image opportunities. We still have a few spots left for our March 2027 Iceland Workshop, very limited in number, only 6 participants with Thor and myself. Register between now and the end of September to receive $500 off. For this image I used my Tamron 28-75mm G2 lens on a Sony a1, Manual Mode, f11, shutter speed of 1/8th of a second, at 75mm, ISO 100, Leofoto tripod, fStop Gear Kashmir backpack.

08/31/2026

Zero Gravity.

Most of you know we do some dog sitting. I enjoy it as it is my way to have a dog, but not have a dog. I will eventually get a dog, or should I say welcome a dog into my life full time when it finds me. When we got Lily it wasn't really planned and there were tons of options, but I knew from the minute I saw her, she and I would spend the rest of our days together. Sadly those days rarely match up and one of us leaves before the other. I'm convinced when dogs come to stay with us Lily has a hand or paw in it. There is almost always one that claims me as their person as Lily did. I think it is her asking when I will be ready to let one come and choose me again. I think the right dog finds you, or you find each other when it is meant to be. You can have a lot of joy, and a lot of hardships, but when the right dog enters your life you know it. It was meant to be. I love doing images of the dogs when they come to stay with us, and capturing them happy and playing allows us to put at ease their families that their little furry ones are safe and happy. The white faced chestnut colored dog is Carrie, and she claims me as her person when she is here. If I am sitting still she is at my feet or by my side and of course demanding a chest or belly rub. It is then that I believe Lily is visiting me, because that is where Lily always was and what she was doing. When you share your life with a dog, you learn about unconditional love, not validation, and you learn about forgiveness and understanding, and never being judged, except when you break the treat in half, then you deserve to be judged. You learn about acceptance. Be careful though looking into those eyes, you will learn about how deeply one can love and be loved. For this image I used my Tamron 35-150mm lens at 150mm on a Nikon Z8, Manual mode, f2.8, shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, ISO 1600, handheld.

08/30/2026

Patience.

I have been really busy lately and haven't been able to photograph much recently, even though I still get the camera out every day and do an image to stay sharp. It just means that the images I'm doing aren't what I wanted to post. I wanted to post an image from this past March during our workshop in Iceland, and by the way we still have a few spots left for March 2027, currently $500 off if you register before the end of September. Any how, let's talk about this image and what would seem like a simple point and capture image, it actually took a lot of work. I was using my Insta360 Ace Pro 2 for some still images and we stopped for a rainbow initially but the horses added a new opportunity. There were more horses but I isolated these 5 as the odd numbers tend to work better in composition as it breaks up the symmetry and helps with the visual flow. So I could adjust my position left and right, but I was standing at a fence so couldn't get closer. Patience played a part when I had to wait until that perfect horse that was different and it stands out walked from behind the darker horse on the left. So often in photography being patient and keeping a goal in mind helps to capture the image you envision. For this image I used the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 with the Explorer grip, in RAW format, and processed in Lightroom. They are actually very handy camera to have with you as the quality is really good!

Nature In Focus Photography Workshops

09/08/2026

09/07/2026

09/06/2026

09/05/2026

09/04/2026

09/03/2026

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