Inspiration is what gives us the energy, or the spirit to create. Fortunately, I seldom lack the energy to create, just put a camera in my hand and I’m off to the races. I really enjoy the process of creating.  Lets dig a little deeper into inspiration. By inspiration you may really be asking what’s behind my creativity. Being inspired is the energy to do. Creativity is part of the act of crafting, or making the photographs. Seeing light and feeling the energy from the sun for example inspires me. I get inspired when I’m just being. I have found, over the years, that my inspiration happens when I’m paying very little attention, or more specifically, when I’m more or less ignoring what’s going in the world, and only narrowly paying attention to what’s right in front of my face. This means that whether I’m creating for myself, or for a client, I’m engaged in the subject matter, whether It’s a human with a backpack on or a land form, I focus on the subject and my desire to capture it in my own way.

Inspiration is organic. Finding photographic inspiration is about being real, knowing who you are, and photographing things that make you feel. Self Portrait, Tony Bynum on top of a butte, Bitter Creek Wilderness Study Area, Montana. Nikon d700, 24070, 2.8 a-fs, f18, 1/125th © Tony Bynum, All rights reserved.

For example, watch a child sometime. They are good examples of how I think I find inspiration. Most children are naturally inspired because everything is new. They dont know enough to know that people are watching them. They don’t pay much attention to the bigger world – in fact they don’t even know it exists yet, they pay attention to what’s right in front of their face. Over the years, as my interest in photography has grown, I’ve found myself focusing more on what makes me feel, good or bad, and in turn focus that energy into creating images.

Interestingly enough, for inspiration, I almost never look at what other people create – sounds strange right? In fact, I stay away from it as much as possible (I do not recommend this approach, it’s exactly opposite what most art educators will tell you to do) but it works for me. I find that my freedom, and knowing who I really am helps inspire me to create unique, authentic, one of a kind photographs. It’s all about the moment for me. It’s about being able to let go of the rules of life, the hassles and the speed, and let my creativity take over. We live in a world with so many rules that often we have to work hard to allow ourselves – our minds really –  to be free . . .  My freedom comes from being outside and letting go of whatever is causing me to conform. I don’t what to know what other people photograph, I don’t really care, as selfish as that sounds, it’s really true. Photography is personal for me, it’s not about creating things for other people – even though some pay me to do just that, I have to be allowed to put my own creativity into the project. My inspiration is what lives in me. I care about adventure, nature, wildlife, real people, hunting, fishing, birds, and freedom. I use my camera as a tool to capture those things that make me feel. . .  The feelings are sometimes good, and sometimes not so good, but the key is to use that energy in a positive way to create and be inspired. It’s therapy really, it’s just my own organic therapy I guess. I always try to let myself feel, then I turn those feelings into the inspiration.

In a typical day of photography, I seldom ask myself questions. I almost always just gravitate. I gravitate to the location whether by walking, driving, flying, or boating, and I move into position to take the photograph. Inside my head is a heads-up display, just like what you image from watching Maverick trying to get a lock-on Goose in the movie Top Gun, except without the noise and extra data flashing by. When I step into the “right” location the composition just “locks-on.”  I don’t look at the foreground much, and I don’t measure, or make a funny box with my fingers and hold it up to the scene or anything like that, I just move around until the scene, “locks-on,” then I make the exposure. I don’t think I’ve ever had “shooters-block,” similar to writers block. I’m inspired by what’s in front of me, by the sun, by pain, sorrow, joy and laughter. I’m inspired by my own energy and by life itself. What could be more inspiring than being alive? I’m grateful for that.

If you have a follow up question or comment, please feel free to post again – that goes for anyone that’s made it this far! And don’t forget to find Tony Bynum Photography on facebook where I often post current photos. Thank you, and good luck!

Tony Bynum

Please take a look at what Kurt has to say.  Follow the link to find his entire article,

Oil Exploration Creeping Up To Glacier National Park’s Border

An oil drilling rig erected just outside Star School, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation is set up to drill 10,000 feet down in search of the, said to be, oil rich Bakken Shale formation. Glacier National Park - Cut Bank Creek Drainage - is in the Background. Divide Mountain is frame right. © Tony Bynum, all rights reserved.

Resources for learning photography include books, the web, gear, and the passion to put it all together. Image shot with D4, Nikon 50mm 1.8 G @ iso 800 F1.8, processed in LR 4.0. the OOF is all lens. © tony bynum, all rights reserved.

Mac, thank you for your question, and for the generous compliment. So, the question, “How did you learn photography.”  The answer, I just did. Thank you, next question. Not really. In truth, it was that simple but it took a lot of time and discovery. Very early in my photography career, I read a quote that I think has done more for my learning than any other. It’s a quote by Eliot Porter, an American photographer best known for his colorful landscapes, “The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can’t be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.” 

Learning photography, in the modern era, means first understanding that photography is a system. It includes everything around us including the camera, lens, computer, printing, philosophy, and knowledge about the subjects that interest you. My learning has all been organic. By that I mean I shoot what inspires me, more on that in the next post.  As you know, I’m not a classically trained photographer – or artist either for that matter. No one in my circles ever was a photographer, although my mother does have a passion for art and can draw. So, because I’ve never had any formal training (which is really strange these days because who even knows what that means anymore with all the access to media and teaching aids on the internet).  I just worked hard and tried to use all the tools available to me, including reading a few books, which I’ll list for you at the bottom of this post, paying attention to the world around me, and always asking, “Why.” So, if I’m not classically trained, which I think a classically train photographer could probably tell by looking at my work, how did I learn it?

A reflection in a lake. Trees, mountains, sky and texture. I always photograph things that move me, or make me feel something, even if it has no demand. Photography is about exploring and learning. Photography allows me to discover things about myself, which leads to growth and more learning. © tony bynum, All rights reserved.

It’s kind of a chicken and an egg thing but in this case I think I had the chicken first. Once you pick up a camera, no matter what you already know about anything, expressing yourself is relative to the view you see though the lens. In other words, NO matter what you know, you still have to deliver a concept or a story though the medium. My medium is the digital single lens reflex camera. So, the more you know about cameras and lenses, and now digital data, the better photographer you should be able to become – in theory. Learning photography, for me, meant learning about the things that interested me. I followed my passion for wildlife, land, people, nature, hunting, fishing, ranching, rodeo, cowboying, adventure, and in general, the world I live in. I learned photography while I was learning about life . . .  I just pay attention, close attention to light, and I learned to observe space - everything has a context, or exists within spacial limits. You have to learn to understand that concept if you want to tell stories with your imagery.

The camera came early, but not in a significant way. I got serious with a camera about 15 years ago . . .  I did go to college (see my recent post about going to college), but only by accident. I mean, I never really had a plan to go, I just lucked into a college, and that it not been for my high school counselor, it would never have known I existed. I wound up going to college where I knew my priority was still could be fishing, hunting, cows, tractors, sagebrush, dry air, and big, open spaces! Once there, my interest in the world exploded. However, I disliked the traditional class setting. I worked harder, I feel, for both my grades and my rent than almost everyone around me. I held three or more jobs to pay my way. After receiving an undergraduate degree in Geography and Land Studies, with a minor in Environmental Studies, I stuck with working cattle, riding horses, building fences, chasing fish, elk and deer, hanging out with cool people, and driving tractors. Not long after that I was offered a full scholarship to graduate school – which I took with one week’s notice – and wound up with straight “A’s” graduating with a masters in science wherein I studied federal and state watershed, wildlife, and habitat restoration policy. Are you still with me? I hope so, and I hope you’re getting a better picture of how I learned photography.

sunset and clouds - in this image of colorful backlit clouds, I tilted the camera off axis. I always photograph things that interest me, no matter if they have sales potential or not. It does take more time to do this, but it is what helps me learn both about myself and about photography. © tony bynum, all rights reserved.

At every step I took photographs of what interested me. Along the way I learned about light, cameras’s and well, action! Later, after working and traveling to all but two states in the Union, while working in WA D.C., (the irony is that I live about three blocks from National Geographic for about a year and walk by it everyday on my way to work – I stopped in one time to look at Sir Edmond Hillary’s old gear used to climb Everest, but I never though about talking to them about photography – missed the boat on that one). About a year before I left the inner circle of Washington, D.C., I started creating photographs everyday. I photographed the things that made me anxious; tall buildings, narrow streets, trash, power poles with countless cables and boxes, patterns in concrete as though whoever designed them was trying to give the inter-city some natural texture. I photographed things that made me feel something, and I did it a lot! I think, though the process of learning photography, I’ve been able to show myself what the world around me really looks like. I think I learned that photography is about discovery and more than that, it’s about discovering one’s self. As if, though my own photographs, I could see my life and even edit the story. As it turned out, I was learning about who I had become.

Finally, after growing tired of the straight lines, hard black and gray pavement, the smell of the city and the speed at which it operated, I had to make a change. I think I was to far from the people, and to close to a place where the only dirt settled on windshields of cars and gathered in the cracks and crevices of the streets.  Rivers were present in gutters after a hard rain, and there were no fish in them. I needed to get back to the West – so I left. Learning though life’s experience, and pushing that learning though a medium - the camera – which is all about passion and need, taught me photography.  There were a few other tools I used along the way.

Books and other things I liked and that taught me something useful about photography.

1. John Shaw’s book, “Nature Photography” – John is a master, and great at explaining complicated details.

2. A book titled, “Light, Science and Magic,” by Hunter and Fuqua – buy the new digital version. I think I learned more about photography (or about light, and photography is all about seeing and capturing light) from this book than any other.

3.  I joined a photography group when I lived in Bethesda, MD where I learned a lot in the short time I was there about composition and cropping. Having your photos critiqued, or watching as other’s have their photographs critiqued is horribly valuable!

4. I’ve listened to a few great photographers, on the few times that I was around any, and learned a lot of truth’s from their stories. What I picked up from them was that there is no easy road. Photography, like anything you do well, takes practice, nerve, and execution. Inspiration (I’ll cover this in more detail in a future post) comes from the heart. One shot wonders happen occasionally, but to stay relevant you must produce and execute. You also much find your style and continue to create relevant work . . . I’m not done learning photography, I don’t think I will ever be done learning photography.

I hope this helps.  The next time I delve into this subject I’ll explain what’s going on in my head (the best I can) when I create photographs that matter . . .

It’s weird, but it’s real, relevant, and right!

Tony

The 16.2 MP full frame FX D4 is Nikon’s new “flagship” camera. It’s targeted toward the action, adventure, sports photographer including commercial outdoor photographer, nature and wildlife photographer, and journalist. It’s a tough rugged camera made for using hard all the time.  This is not a toy and not a camera I would recommend for anyone not using it to make money (there are cheaper alternatives) – unless of course you like the newest toys and can afford to spend a small fortune on a fun new gadget.  For me, the D4 will be used for wildlife, some nature, people, and outdoor commercial, and journalistic photography.  It will be my main outdoor photography camera from here on out.

I create images outside where temperatures range from -40F to 100 degrees. I often work in extreme conditions that include wind, driving rain and snow!  It is imperative that I have a camera that can operate under extreme conditions. I also shoot indoors, some and often don’t have the time to properly light the area, so the low light ISO and focusing improvements will be helpful. The low light focus will also come in handy if I add a tele-converter and drop down to f8. So far, in all of my experience as an adventurer, wildlife and outdoor commercial photographer, I’ve never had a Nikon camera fail me in the field do to factory defects. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of problems and have a budget line item for repairs, but it’s never been due to harsh weather or bad field conditions that I’ve had to send in a camera body. Nikon cameras are, in a word, tough!

Here’s a single frame, shot @ iso 1600, unprocessed, straight from the camera, followed by a one-to-one or 100% enlargement of the eye, again no post processing (of course some processing is done by the computer and certainly the camera has to turn light into digital data and then into an image, so some processing occurs, but no “extra” processing was involved in these images, they were shot in NEF – Nikon’s raw format, and exported from Lightroom 4.

This is a "grab shot" I captured on the fly so to speak. Window light, nikon 50mm f1.8, D4, ISO 1600, 1/1600 @ f1.8, white balance 4900 - basically daylight color). NO POST processing. Exported from LR 4.0, with sharpen for screen set to low (to help reduce the compression artifacting and blurring associated with creating jpg's. Notice how creamy the oof areas are and there's almost NO noise.

This is a one-to-one or 100% enlargement of the right eye. Do you see any grain? Me either. And the skin tones are good considering I used sunny WB, and no post processing.

My first impressions, “the D4 is a new benchmark.” For a “test” shot, I purposefully shot the D4 indoors at iso 1600 with a 50mm 1.8 lens just to get an idea of what this new flagship dslr from nikon could do under those types of conditions. Often when shooting wildlife and people, we are nearly the margins of available light, so that’s where hi ISO and low light focusing come in handy. I snapped a few shots, loaded them on to my computer via Lightroom 4. I was very impressed with the files. They were clean and crisp right out of the camera – I’d say better than the D3s, and D700, Nikon’s two famous low light cameras that initially raised the low light shooting bar 5 years ago. Wouldn’t you think you should be able to notice a difference between a camera that’s been out for 5 years and one that just hit the streets? I would.

The auto focus seems snappier, and faster than previous cameras. The body is noticeably lighter!  Whoohooo . . .  I’m not sure how much lighter, but I can tell, just by holding it, that’s it’s lighter. How about if I just bullet point a few more things from hear on out. . .

Cool things:  

* the buffer will handle 100+ raw images and 200 jpg’s . . .  and shoot at 10 and 11 fps.

* 1080p video and a ton of other optional video settings (guys like Cory Ritch have been cranking out videos, here’s one)

* multi crop mode selections – FX – full frame, 4/5, DX – or 1.5x, and 1.2x or 30×20

* metering is unreal, I cant fool this thing . . . (I shoot manual all the time, so I’m going to explore the metering a bit more)

* modified shutter release angle to make it less stressful to shoot all day long, it’s for real, and it works;

* shipped with a 16 MB xqd card and reader – some say this was a bad move, I’m think it’s great when companies step out and push the limits in order to make their product the best in the world!

* new batterie – said to meet the higher demands of video – sad thing is it wont last as long, only 2000 plus shots . . .

* buttons light-up when it’s dark out

* you run the camera with an ipad – cool but not sure when I’m going to do that . . .

* auto focus works down to pitch black – almost bit it’s unreal how well the camera can focus in low light!

* great video options

* 400,000 click shutter – that’s 100,000 k more than the D3!

* compatible with the ipad and iphone – you can run this thing with the ipad!

* manuals are online and downloadable to your ipad or iphone – way cool!

Weird things: 

* Cant use the older enel4 series batteries – have to buy a back up battery, they are $200 if you can find one (which I just did, it will be here monday).

* Extra xqd card not available yet.

* No built in Wifi yet – why my phone can do it, but not my is dumb, come on nikon. (in fairness you can spend another $900 and get the gadget that will make the camera wireless).

Final Thoughts – why I need a D4

Overall, this is a great new camera.  I purchased it to replace other cameras that are at the end of their lives. . .   The reality is, they may last a bit longer, but why chance it if I’m going to have to replace them within the year anyhow, and why wait till they break – as you know, they will always break right when you need them to work!  I also wanted superrior video performance and this is the first pro level dslr that integrates both 1080p, and a fully weathered pro body into one camera. The D4 is not much of a revolutionary camera like the D3 was when it came out. The D4 is the workhorse with a some great new improvements most of which are really just evolution’s, not new species. But when you already created a completely new dimension in cameras with the D3 improving on perfection is still improving! For me, this is a must have camera. Your mileage may vary!

There are a number of much more indepth reviews on the internet (you can google, nikon D4 review, here’s one I like from Brian Tobey, and another from digital camera info) done by people who review stuff cuz that’s what they do. In this piece I tried to give you a snap shot of what I like about the camera and why, I choose to get one shipped before they were available to the rest of the consumer market.

Lets connect on facebook and twitter.

Cheers,

Tony

I usually camp-out and photograph from sun up to sun down. I’m away from home for a few days at a time, but I love it. This time of year, the days are getting longer but it’s still early enough in the year to experience below freezing temps in the mornings, snow on some days, and lots of wind. Layering is a must as some daytime temps can reach the 50′s.

This year the bird numbers are down. I think most of the white geese are moving through but not staying. The weather has been mild here so I suspect there’s open water up north, how far up north, I’m not sure, because I know that Alaska got hammered this winter. Check out my friend Dan Bailey’s posts, he’s an alaska based oudoor adventure photographer who can teach you a lot.  Moving back to Glacier Country, and the Rocky Mountain Front, I’m going to share a photograph and video of snow geese with you.

In preparation to make a video like this, you have to know a little about bird behavior, and I know just enough to get me in trouble, and that’s what I found.  I knew the birds would fly into the wind, they always take off into the wind – but I never imagined that the entire flock would move over me.  You’ll watch as over 100,000 and as many as 150,000 snow geese lift off and fly right over my head (starting at about minute 1:15).  Watch as the geese just keep coming and coming and coming. What’s also unique about this video, is that these geese are leaving for good, this was their final lift off  as they moved farther north from Montana. I have to tell you that this video was shot last spring, the numbers did not get this large this year. . .   The video is below this still image of a flock of snow geese rising off the water, and heading out to feed. The snow capped peeks of the Rocky Mountain Front are visible in the background.

A flock of snow geese lift off and head out to feed. Snow capped peeks of the rocky mountain front are visible in the distance. Nikon d300, Nikon 500 f/4 af-s VR. © Tony Bynum all rights reserved.

Video – Red Blanket Drill Site

Red Blanket Well

Red Blanket Well. Drill rig west of Browning, near Star School. Glacier National Park in the background, divide mountain far right. February 2012. © Tony Bynum, All Rights Reserved

Red Blanket well, west of Browning, Montana

Cloudy skies on the Blackfeet Reservation. Red Blanket oil well west of Browning, Montana. Glacier National Park background. February 2012 © Tony Bynum, All Rights Reserved

Rocky Mountain Front well, west of Bynum, Montana

Oil drilling tower actively drilling a new well west of Bynum, Montana, along the Rocky Mountain Front. Taken with a long telephoto lens. The compression and mirage drastically degraded the image. March 2012 © Tony Bynum, All Rights Reserved

For a complete description of the larger project please visit, “Blackfeet oil project description.”  To view an interactive map of the oil drilling visit, “oil drilling map Rocky Mountain Front, Blackfeet Indian Reservation.”