Focal Points Magazine May/June 2024

Focal Points

Chair Programs

Treasurer Membership

Editor Communications Meetup

Instagram Outings Outings

SCCC Leadership

Joe Doherty

Susan Manley

Ed Ogawa

Joan Schipper

Joe Doherty

Velda Ruddock

Ed Ogawa

Joan Schipper

Joan Schipper

Alison Boyle

joedohertyphotography@gmail.com

SSNManley@yahoo.com

Ed5ogawa@angeles.sierraclub.org

JoanSchipper@ix.netcom.com

joedohertyphotography@gmail.com

vruddock.sccc@gmail.com

Ed5ogawa@angeles.sierraclub.org

JoanSchipper@ix.netcom.com

JoanSchipper@ix.netcom.com

AlisoniBoyle@icloud.com

Focal Points Magazine is a publication of the Sierra Club Camera Committee, Angeles Chapter. The Camera Committee is an activity group within the Angeles Chapter, which we support through the medium of photography. Our membership is not just from Southern California but is increasingly international.

Our goal is to show the natural beauty of our world, as well as areas of conservation concerns and social justice. We do this through sharing and promoting our photography and by helping and inspiring our members through presentations, demonstration, discussion, and outings.

We have members across the United States and overseas. For information about membership and/or to contribute to the magazine, please contact the editors or the membership chair listed above. Membership dues are $15 per year, and checks (payable to SCCC) can be mailed to: SCCC-Joan Schipper, 6100 Cashio Street, Los Angeles, CA 90035, or Venmo @CashioStreet, and be sure to include your name and contact info so Joan can reach you.

The magazine is published every other month. A call for submissions will be made one-month in advance via email, although submissions and proposals are welcome at any time. Member photographs should be resized to 3300 pixels, at a high export quality. They should also be jpg, in the sRGB color space.

Cover articles and features should be between 1000-2500 words, with 4-10 accompanying photographs. Reviews of shows, workshops, books, etc., should be between 500-1500 words.

Copyright: All photographs and writings in this magazine are owned by the photographers and writers who created them. They hold the copyrights and control all rights of reproduction and use. If you desire to license one, or to have a print made, contact the editor at joedohertyphotography@gmail.com, who will pass on your request, or see the author’s contact information in the Contributors section at the back of this issue.

https://angeles.sierraclub.org/camera_committee

https://www.instagram.com/sccameracommittee/

Fisanotti

Cover Photo: A dragonfly on a lotus flower at Chicago Botanic Garden by Velda

Velda Ruddock at work in the Chicago Botanic Garden, photo by Joe Doherty

Ruddock

Ruddock

It’s been a busy few months.

We (Velda and I) went to South Pasadena to finish our CPR/First Aid training, which is the next step towards becoming outing leaders. We took the Sierra Club training during lockdown via Zoom, but never got around to the CPR part. Now that is done and we can move forward with a provisional trip and eventually (September?) create more opportunities for SCCC members to meet in person. We look forward to seeing you out there.

We also were offered (and accepted) the opportunity to take over a gallery in Oakhurst during the month of June. Between the two of us we will hang about 40 photographs on the walls of The Gallery at Oakhurst Spirits. Our exhibition is part of the Oakhurst Art & Wine Hop, which will take place on June 20 from 5-8 pm. As I write this we are still printing, framing, and labeling our work.

I mention this because I still feel the void left by the closing of G2 Gallery. That was a space dedicated to exhibiting the kind of photography we publish in this magazine. While there is an important photography

community in Los Angeles, and a list of exhibitions that might be of interest to our members is often included in the newsletter, that’s not replacement for a place where we meet and discuss/enjoy each others’ work.

Lockdown was both a blessing and a curse. It eliminated the geographic constraints on our speaker series, and we now hear from photographers around the world. That’s the kind of variety that wasn’t possible in either West LA or Culver City. We also have a vibrant online members’ show twice a year, with the next one on June 13.

On the other hand, we don’t enjoy the preand post-meeting discussions that made the SCCC a more interesting group. And actual print-sharing, one of the more interesting aspects of the in-person members’ shows, is absent. I’d like to find some way to keep the online presentations every other month, and occasionally get together in-person during the off-months.

We’re going to do our part to make that possible, at least a little bit, by scheduling some more outings.

– Joe Doherty

Members’ Online Show

June

13 @ 7pm

Cactus blooming along the Colorado River near Nankoweap, Grand Canyon NP

Our next Members’ Show will be on Thursday, June 13 at 7pm.

Register with Zoom to join the show at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ tZMlfu6uqT0vG9T9aKPAH7H1xIT5AN-RwYUr

Upload your files to this Dropbox folder before the meeting starts. https://www.dropbox.com/request/2Egt1w1wZBrRQ7mocqyw

Photographing in Botanical Gardens

An avid flower photographer explores the benefits of preparation, patience, and keeping your eyes open when visiting a botanical garden.

Text and Images by Velda Ruddock

I have a passion for photographing flowers. I’m probably best known for my studio flower portraits using a light table or a black velvet background. My light source might be natural light or from light stands and a light table. On the road I might set up a light tent on a table, creating a mobile studio.

Flowers are my subject of choice outside of the studio too, on a neighborhood walk or hike, or even out of the car window when we are on our way to our next adventure. One of my favorite locations is the botanical garden. Living in Los Angeles I’ve belonged to the Huntington, the Los Angeles County Arboretum, and

the South Coast Botanic Garden. I am still a member of the Descanso Gardens.

Last August I spent more than a week at the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG or “Garden”), as a participant of an Out of Chicago conference. This required more thought and preparation than eagerly getting into my car with my gear. I thought I might share some of my process with you in this article.

About the conference

There were over fifty enthusiastic photographers and world-class, often legendary, instructors all with the focus of capturing beautiful images in the Garden

at this conference. Every day we arrived when it opened, returned to the hotel for lunch and lessons, and went back to the Garden when the light started getting soft, finally leaving when we felt “spent.”

There are over 2.5 million plants in the CBG, situated on nine islands, four natural habitats, and 28 display gardens –something for everybody and a lot for all of us! Our instructors were as enthusiastic as the attendees. Water plant expert Anne Belmont showed us how to shoot water lilies and lotus flowers in the Heritage Garden. We worked with Krista McCuish in the sensory gardens to gain a better sense of photographing texture. Charles Needle photographs the most exquisite gardens in much of the world. He helped us better see the magic of the wide view as

we shot in the English Walled Garden. And I learned as much as I could from Alan Shapiro, whose studio work always takes my breath away. Other talented instructors worked with us as well. Lessons might be on techniques, such as shooting infrared, in-camera multiple exposure, ICM, or using a LensBaby. In the classroom instructors showed us how they used Lightroom and Photoshop.

Preparing for my visit

Preparing for the conference was daunting. I planned to arrive a couple of days before the conference to acclimate and wander the gardens but I needed a game plan. My background is research so that is my go to. I researched the instructors; I checked the attendee list to

see who I knew; but mostly I researched the Garden.

Researching the Garden

I started with a virtual stroll through the official Garden website (https://www. chicagobotanic.org/). Like other botanical garden websites, it provided its history, information about their various gardens, a list of what was in bloom in August, and what other programs and events they offer. That was impressive. The Garden offers classes to members, like many gardens do. Unlike the others it has a science institute and a robust agricultural school. That meant the range and variety of plants promised to be intimidating. I downloadable map see where I might find the best and most beautiful flowers.

Out of Chicago had taken care of permits and entrance times for us, however I discovered CBG offered reciprocal admissions privileges because of our Descanso Garden membership. My husband used that during our stay.

spaces such as conservatories or butterfly tents.

I looked at the Garden’s photography policies. Here, like most other gardens you need a permit if you plan to photograph events, or take any staged photographs, or use any equipment in addition to a camera and tripod. Even a tripod won’t be permitted in the enclosed

In addition to studying the CBG website, I read visitor reviews, and looked visitor images to get a sense of the Garden. A bonus was finding a splendid free video, Photographing the Chicago Botanic Garden with Anne Belmont [https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_uVvkbBYC8]!

Etiquette

Etiquette seems like an irrelevant topic for photographers until we remember the horror stories we’ve heard about others (not us, of course) tromping through and posing in wildflowers and garden bed settings. I was reminded of some guidelines:

�� Stay on the path or mowed lawn areas, keep your tripod out of the plant beds, and make sure the pathway is accessible to others. Walking through restricted areas to shoot a specific flower, is not only arrogant; it can endanger you, the plants, or others.

�� Don’t change the “scene.” Using clamps and clothespins to gently move material temporarily to the side is probably okay. Adding backgrounds and using diffusers probably isn’t.

�� CBG, does scientific research aimed at

understanding, protecting and improving plant life. Moving an identification stake can take the horticulturalist hours to research where a stray marker belongs.

What to take

I always want to take too much when we travel. We were going to stay in a hotel so I justified taking “just-in-case-equipment.”

�� Last year my go-to camera was a Nikon 750. I put another camera body in the justin-case stack.

�� I took all the lenses I thought I might use. I used all of them. The two different macro lenses (a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5, and a Tamron 90mm f/2.8) were a must. My Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 telephoto lens was great. It provided surprisingly good closeups. If I could only bring one lens it would have been what I call my streetsweeper

– my Nikkor 28:300 f/3.5-5.6 zoom. This is an incredibly versatile lens for me, even though it isn’t as sharp as the others. The lens I used least was my wide angle (Tamron 1735mm f/2.8-4 di OSD).

�� I brought lens hoods for all the lenses, as well as polarizers.

�� My tripod is essential. I also brought a beanbag for those times the camera had to be really low.

�� I seldom used the graduated filters I brought, relying on Lightroom later.

�� I’ve used a 2-second delay in lieu of a remote for years. A manual remote would have been smarter.

�� I had a diffuser/reflector and a little handheld light with me but seldom used it. I

know, other people find them essential.

�� The small foldout stool stayed at the hotel.

Although I brought all I could think of I didn’t want to carry a lot in the field. I kept the heavier gear in a rolling bag and a lightweight hand-padded backpack for when I just wanted to carry one extra lens, wipes, and little stuff. I also brought a vest with many, many pockets. I loved that vest, although I needed to assign specific pockets for lens caps, filters, scarves and pins to keep the hair out of my eyes. I did not look like glamorous, but I was comfortable.

When you are in the garden

Settings, lenses, and light

Everyone always wants to know what settings to use. The answer is, it depends. Yes, I know that sounds smug. Sorry.

Generally, a starting point is to use the manual mode with an aperture of around f/11 and a low ISO of 100. But is that what you want? You want a soft background? Take your aperture down to 2.8. You want to show movement (intentional or by nature)? Bring down your speed to 1/15th second or slower.

There are multiple opinions about white balance with some insisting on Auto while others swear by Daylight or even Shade or Cloudy. If you process your own work, use the RAW picture format. Even with an iPhone you can shoot in RAW, which

will produce DNGs with more information than the default setting.

I like to challenge myself with my lenses. I try them all. During the conference I would put on a different lens for different field periods and see what I could get.

We tried to shoot early in the morning or late in the day. The light was better then and there were fewer people. Although it’s not always possible I try to avoid shooting in direct sunlight. On those bright days look for flowers in the shade. Some people advise to shoot with the sun behind you. This could eliminate some harsh shadows or burnt-out highlights but it might also make your flowers look “flat.” Experiment. For instance, backlit flowers can be darned compelling.

Composition

Simplify. This was a big lesson for me. I always wanted to show so much…the flowers…the other flowers…the setting…the structures around the flowers. That makes looking at the photo, well, confusing. What was important in the shot? Make it easy for the viewer to see what you want them to see.

I want to make the flowers I photographed special. So, I start by shooting single flowers, close up, even in a botanical garden. It is shooting in my comfort zone.

I eventually pull back the focus. There is more cool stuff in the garden than flowers. It may be companion flowers, or a wall, or a bench. Sometime the background is important but it doesn’t need to be in

focus. That’s easy to fix with a shallower depth of field.

Not all photographers remember to get low, even on the ground, to get the more dynamic shot. It doesn’t matter if you don’t look elegant as you get up! That’s what I remind myself anyway.

Water, bugs and other interests

I have friends who look for or add dew drops to their flowers and their images look great. I also have friends who capture spider webs, bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other critters with their flowers. Those images look great too, although I think those are critter images and the flowers are supporting characters. Water features are a different matter. They are a background setting or the stage lights of the garden. The same goes for other structures, like statues and pergolas.

Review the image before hitting the trigger

Cameras and computers have improved to the point where it doesn’t matter how many frames you shoot. A friend just came back from a few weeks in Africa with over 40,000 frames to now review. Of course, she shoots wildlife so there is a reason for that. Still, I don’t envy her weeding process.

Photographing botanicals is not like that. I have the ability to review my images before I take them. That allows me to waste less digital space and capture a stronger image. I use live view when I photograph. It allows me to monitor the area around the flower, check the corners and placement of the object, lose surprising sticks, branches, utility lines,

bugs, buildings, people’s heads, and odd reflections and shadows.

Worse (or better) it can reveal a dull composition. When that happens, move the camera and place my subject is a slightly different spot. Or show more. Or show less.

Think about how I want the viewer’s eyes to travel through the image. People tend to look from left to right, and up to down. Through our composition and use of light we can make the eye circle back or explode up or wander through the center of the image.

Be open for the unexpected

Sometimes, in a botanical garden, you will see something unexpected; something you had never thought of or noticed before.

For me, two things come to mind during my time at the Chicago gardens.

The first was the beauty of the vegetables. The horticulturalists spend a lot of time experimenting in their vegetable garden, and indeed there are even vegetable plants in many of the gardens. What a delight!

The other thing I noticed, or re-noticed to be honest, was the amazing color not only of the flowers but of the foliage. One of the instructors flashed an electrifying diva image of a coleus during an image review. I had shot something similar, but you know, “it was just a coleus.” After I saw Allen Shapiro’s diva shot, I paid more attention to all the plants.

Actually, there was a third important thing I noticed, and that was the care the gardeners took with the plants AND the

visitors. The beds were weeded, the soil cultivated, the vines tied, the fountains and pools cleaned, and the flowers deadheaded or replaced as needed. Even the discards looked great! It was really apparent they, and their tools, were part of the garden.

Identification

I like to know what I photograph, so I photograph the marker of the plant to make identifying the plant later easier. It took me a long time to learn this lesson. I use my iPhone, which I think of as a memory aid as well as a sketch pad.

Beauty fatigue

I’ve learned the hard way to take time to rest my eyes. The Chicago Botanic Garden is huge. At 385 acres it is the fourth largest botanic garden in the U.S.

But after a few intense days I was struggling to see anything “special.”

So, I looked around and noticed the benches placed in amazing spots and realized they were meant for visitors to sit and observe. I found the CBG library and spent a couple of hours just browsing the shelves and making notes. I took the time to photograph the serenity of the Garden’s

renowned bonsai collection, something that had seemed so static to me the first day.

After the shoot

Admin…keyword, keyword, keyword

I downloaded images into Lightroom at the hotel each time we got back from the field. We were going to have image reviews and I needed images! I was afraid that if I didn’t work on them immediately,

the trip would only become a pleasant memory. I knew that my selections, and certainly the processing might be different later. I also knew I would be grateful for the first and second pass work and all the keywording immediately.

I have well over 150-thousand images in my Lightroom catalog and more in earlier catalogs. The more experience I get, the better I am at doing the “boring work.” This is because I’ve suffered the consequenses when my past self didn’t put in the work or did it sloppily.

Before I started working on even a single image I was diligent basic keywording. All the images were tagged with “Chicago Botanic Garden,” and with “Out of Chicago Conference” making them easy to find later. I also tagged which themed

garden I had taken the image in…sometimes. I was good about labeling the flowers in general terms, e.g., “Dahlia,” but I seldom got to keywording the exact plant. I used the excuse I would get back to it later. Today the plant details still are not there.

Processing

We all process our own way and that evolves along with our experience. When I first started using Lightroom I turned many of the sliders up to 11. RAW files have such low contrast and color that the image is nothing like what we saw, let alone felt. I also went through a period of wanting everything exactly accurate, also an impossibility, at least for me.

Today I process with an eye toward beauty and accuracy, what in portraiture would

be that sweet spot between how we actually look and how we would like to look. Not fake, but “considerate.”

Sometimes I do that with selective soft contrast, sometimes with a more flattering color, almost always with eliminating booboos and stray stuff I couldn’t fix while in the field. I try to make my flowers pristine, eliminating ants and boo-boos in post.

Snapshots, collections, and more metadata

The article could stop here but there’s more I consider important. I post some of my winners on Facebook and Instagram, and in the past year I’ve started entering contests and exhibits.

As a result, we may need to frame a 12x18 (1.5 aspect) image, print a 4.5x6.5 (1.44 aspect) for a 5x7 greeting card and use that image as an 8.5x11 (1.29 aspect) in a calendar. As a result, I will take a “Snapshot” of it in Lightroom and label it by date and aspect. Others may do this in virtual copies or labeled TIF files.

I’ve set up Collection folders by subject heading on Lightroom for my “winners.” I also have a Collection folder for each contest and submission, even for each of the member contributions for Focal Points Magazine.

Finally, if I have given an image an official title I will be sure to add that to title field in Lightroom. That helps eliminate problems such as, “Which Dancer #1 did so-and-so order?”

That might all sound like a lot of work, but believe me, it saves work later!

Conclusion

I asked myself when I came home if I was sick of photographing flowers. I wasn’t. Working with other flower enthusiasts and outstanding instructors increased my own passion…and my circle of flower-nerd friends.

Moreover, I find I am shooting a little differently. That is a wonderful benefit of participating in workshops and conferences. I see a little differently. I process a little differently. And the stories I tell with my images are evolving.

Trip Report

Hunting the Milky Way on Broken Top

Text and Images by

Charlie Hyman

What does it take to get compelling landscape images? It seems that the easiest way is to go to iconic locations, but, then, everyone has already done that. Sometimes it takes going WAY outside your comfort zone to seek out landscapes and images that are different from what everyone else is getting. One of my photography mentors said, to get great shots, “find out where everyone is going—and then go somewhere else”. That’s what I did to capture the Milky Way above Broken Top in the Oregon Cascades.

I’m not sure what prompted me to say yes to an invitation by my cousin’s super-fit 34-yearold photographer son (Dan Mitler) to join him on a backpacking trip to Broken Top, but I’m glad I did. It turned out to be one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done, but also one of my most amazing photography experiences of all time.

Broken Top Mountain lies just southeast of South Sister, about twenty miles west of Bend. Since camping is not allowed within ¼ mile of the peak, most people day-hike to

Broken Top with Milky Way.

the base of the mountain. There are several trails to get there: one from Todd Lake, Green Lake, and another from Three Creek Lake. We opted to start from Three Creek Lake trailhead, about a five-mile strenuous uphill hike. We found out later that the trailhead

with a shorter hike opened up the day after we were already there.

Our plan was to meet at Sparks Lake in the shadow of Mt. Bachelor and drive the 18-mile road to the trailhead. We planned to hike in after midnight on the first day of our permit so we would be legal in the wilderness and not in violation of our allowed time there. We didn’t rendezvous until about 11pm, so with adventure in mind, we started up the road in two vehicles to the trailhead. It was so rugged that it took us more than three hours to get to the trailhead, arriving at 3am. Rather than attempt to start our hike at that ungodly hour, we set up camp in the lake’s campground and prepared for our ascent in

Dan Mitler and Charlie Hyman at the trailhead, full of optimism

Our very windy first camp

the daylight of the next morning with backpacks heavy with camping and camera gear.

The first part of the trail winds through beautiful pine forests with occasional views of the lake below. After about two hours of hiking, we finally broke out of the trees and crossed spectacular rocky landscape and scree slopes to start the real ascent to the ridge above the No Name Lake at the base of the mountain, giving us stunning views of the Cascades on the way. It was pretty demoralizing with our lead-weight backpacks to encounter spry day-hikers with little more than a water bottle and light jacket to weigh them down. After about five long hours of arduous hiking and scrambling over rocks and snow fields (where we found trickles of runoff for our water supply), we found a flat spot to set up camp overlooking the mountain, outside of the no-camping zone. We ate a nutritious freeze-dried meal and settled in for

the night, enjoying the 30+ mile winds that threatened to tear down our tents.

The next morning, we hauled our aching bodies up the ridge towards No Name Lake. I stayed on the ridge while Dan dropped into the bowl below the mountain to scout locations for Milky Way shots. The Milky Way would rise around 2am on the next night right between the two peaks of Broken Top, and our goal was to capture that moment. While I was on the ridge, I was treated to a spectacular golden sunrise that lit up the mountain and gave me the opportunity to get some incredible shots before returning to our base camp.

The wind persisted for most of the day, so in my infinite wisdom, I suggested that we move our camp about 200 yards on the other side of the ridge where it seemed to be a little calmer. I packed up my tent and set it up in a location that seemed protected, and went back to tell Dan of the new location. When I

Broken Top Mountain at sunrise. No Name Lake below.

returned to my tent, however, it wasn’t there! The wind had picked it up and, thanks to the grace of the mountain photography gods, trapped it against a bush on the edge of the cliff, ready to tumble into the abyss below with my sleeping bag. Fortunately, I was able to rescue it and we set our tents up in a different, more protected area. Later that day, we watched massive thunder and lightning storms ignite fires to the east, and worried that smoke would ruin our photography plans. Fortunately, the fires were far enough away not to be an issue.

awake and immediately put on my boots, ready for our adventure.

The Milky Way alignment day was upon us. It was about a one-hour or more to the trail leading down to No Name Lake in the bowl below the mountain. We set our alarms for 1:15am. Being on natural steroids from being in such an amazing location, I bolted

With our headlamps showing the way, we stumbled and crawled up the ridge to the trail that leads down to the lake, careful not to tumble down on either side of the narrow ridge overlooking the mountain. We were the only ones there, hardly a surprise, but most certainly welcome. For about an hour or two, we both explored compositions and tried out ideas that would show the magnificence of

Charlie’s tent, saved by a bush.

Stunning view of many of the Cascade Mountains from the trail.

the lake and mountain under the Milky Way before reluctantly conceding that we’d done all we could at that location.

Astrophotography is often a matter of trialand-error, and this was no exception. The wind was still howling at about 30 miles per hour while we were down at the lake, so to get reasonable exposures, I had to set my camera on my tripod close to the ground and hope for the best while putting all my weight on it for the 30-sec f/2.8 exposure. My camera was set to ISO 6400, which resulted in a fair amount of detail (and noise).

Processing in Lightroom and Photoshop eliminated much of the noise produced by such an underexposed image. All my exposures are single images.

My camera gear: Canon 5D mkIV body and Samyang 14mm, Canon 24-105mm, and Canon 70-200mm lenses along with an ultralight Gitzo Series I Traveler tripod. The vast majority of my photos were taken with the

24-105mm and 14mm lenses, but I did get a few keepers with the 70-200mm lens. I would probably leave the 70-200mm lens at home next time, but I’m happy that I had it with me anyway.

Our hike out was so much easier than the hike up the mountain, and when we returned to our cars, we were exhausted but incredibly satisfied. What an experience it had been. Dan went on to explore the Oregon Coast, and I headed into Sisters where I indulged in the pleasures of a fast-food milkshake and French fries.

Not every photography excursion results in incredible results, but I’m happy to say that this one did. I will forever remember this adventure and cherish the opportunity to be in one of the most beautiful places on earth at precisely the right time. I am grateful to Dan for putting up with someone twice his age on a wild adventure. Would I do it again? You bet!

Dark Sky Photography in Utah

Text and Images

by John Fisanotti

Last October I drove to Utah to observe and photograph the annular eclipse. Being at a dark location during the new moon phase would mean I’d also have an opportunity to do some night sky photography. Here are the results.

The Big Dipper at evening twilight in Bears Ears National Monument. The light in the rocks was from other campers overnighting in the area.

Shot with a 14mm lens, this early morning view from my eclipse campsite in Bears Ears National Monument, takes in a wide swath of sky, featuring the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Double Cluster and the Big and Little Dippers. In a few hours, after sunrise, I would be watching and photographing the eclipse.

Opposite page: Annular eclipse sequence from south east Utah, in Bears Ears National Monument. The images were taken at 10-minute intervals. I searched for a location north west of a rock formation so that the formation would appear, below where the sun and moon would cross in the sky. This view of Battleship Rock in Valley of the Gods was in exactly the right position. The sun images were shot with an appropriate solar filter, the landscape shot was taken after the conclusion of the eclipse. The camera was locked down on a tripod for the full duration.

Sagittarius and the center of the Milky Way over Monument Valley. Sagittarius and the Milky Way are a familiar sight in Northern Hemisphere summer evenings. After having dinner at Gouldings, I drove out Highway 163 to this location I remembered from a visit a few years before. The light in the foreground was from a passing car.

Opposite page: I returned in the early morning, and at this hour, I knew I would instead have constellations commonly visible in Northern Hemisphere winter evenings visible over the same rocks. Orion, Canis Major, Lepus and Monoceros are seen above the rocks just as dawn begins, where, just hours earlier I shot Sagittarius.

Make a Book, Part One

Text and Images by

Joe Doherty

These days we seldom print our photographs, let alone compile them into books. They exist digitally, shared on social media or in group chats, and seen on phones or stationary computer screens. Compiling images into a physical volume, curated, annotated, and bound, is a rarity. This is kind of odd, however, as it has never been easier to publish a book. The cost and trouble involved is less of a burden than even five years ago.

Making a book is nothing new. I imagine that most of us have family scrapbooks -- either our own or from prior generations. These could be family histories, compiled over time to document life. They could be event books, dedicated to some travel adventure or occasion. Sometimes the books contain pressed flowers or other objects that were lovingly collected between blank pages. The main point is that in each of these cases, someone thought the contents of these books was worth saving as a collection, and to potentially share with others.

In this column and the next one I will delve into the whys and hows of self-publishing a book of your own photographs. Whether you decide to print only one copy to give as a gift or a hundred copies to sell at an art fair, the basic steps are the same. I do not address commercial publication, with ISBN numbers and the like, or hand-bound books.

This first column addresses some of the issues of curation and editing. What type of book is this? Who do you want to open it? What size and format do you want it to be? What

photographs will be included? How will you organize them? In the next issue I will address the more technical aspects of software, layouts, and printing.

As with anything, practice makes perfect. It’s very likely that you will find major faults with your early books, and minor faults with every book thereafter. But after a while you will be able to compile a set of photographs and make a quick layout, and then have it printed for less than the cost of a good meal.

Purpose of the Book

Photography is a communication art, and how we present our work will communicate to the viewer what we think is important. This begins with deciding what the book is about. I can think of seven types of books that I’ve made or enjoyed.

• A personal gift to a loved one

• A story or reportage

• A memorial

• A yearbook or event

• A promotion of your work

• A retrospective of your work

• An educational primer

These are not exclusive categories. A book could be both reportage and retrospective, and a story book could be about an event. And while I emphasize your work, it can also be a collection of multiple artists.

Book Format

Several considerations come into play depending on the type of book. The first is the

Two books designed for different purposes. On the left is a book that commemorates a week spent with old friends. It is 12x12 inches, includes many photographs on each page, and is designed to be shared. On the right is a small book (5x8 inches) of photographs that were shared on social media at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is only one photo per double-page spread.

size and shape, and the options are typically rectangular or square, and small/medium/ large. Rectangular is either a magazine format (vertical) or a digest format (horizontal). Sizes vary a lot. The smallest I have produced is a digest of 5x8 inches, and the largest is a 12x12 inches square book.

One way to decide which format to produce is to imagine that you have created a book of photographs, handed it to a recipient, and they’ve opened it. Are they standing and flipping through it with both hands? Are they sitting down with it in their lap? Is it on a tabletop? Does it get more than a quick glance? Do you imagine it residing on a coffee table or on a shelf?

Audience

This is where you have to consider your audience. If the book is a promotional piece intended for art consultants, editors, gallerists, etc., put yourself in their place when considering how much attention they can

bring to it. This affects the number of pages, the size of the pages, how long the viewer will engage with each photo, and where it will ultimately reside. This isn’t an opus, it’s a first impression, and if you’ve made a good first impression, you’ll get an email or phone call to see more of your work.

If the book commemorates an event, you might expect it to be shared immediately with friends or family looking over each other’s shoulders. It should be large enough for people to clearly see the photographs at the same time, with enough photos/pages to capture the event, and be robust enough to withstand being picked up and viewed multiple times. As I said, imagine your recipients.

Content and Collections

Once you’ve made a preliminary decision about the size and shape of the book, what photographs are you going to include? My rule of thumb is to begin with twice as many as you can possibly use. In Adobe Lightroom I

begin every book project by making a Collection for candidate photographs. I make this the Target Collection, so that while I am browsing my catalog I can easily include photographs with a touch of the “B” key or by clicking the little circle in the thumbnail. Collections have the advantage of allowing me to sort in Custom Order to move thumbnails around easily.

Why, you might ask, am I thinking about the size and shape of the book before selecting the photographs? It’s a practical reason. I know my catalog well enough to believe I can populate any book, but sometimes the book dictates what sort of photographs I should include. For

example, a 5x8 digest lends itself to a single image per page, with that image being horizontal. Thus if I imagine the reader at the beginning, it aids me in selecting the photographs to include. Keep in mind, however, that until the book is completed all of these things can be changed.

Process and Principles

While my initial selections into the collection are generous, my final selections are ruthless. Everyone’s process is personal, but I think there are some common principles. First, opposing pages should harmonize. Something about the pages -- subject, color, design, contrast, etc. -- should make the combination

Two layouts from my book, “Where’s Velda?” Images on opposing pages should harmonize.

of images stronger that any single image. It could be two lines that converge from opposite pages, or a subtle joke about vantage points. If the pages do not harmonize, think hard about whether they belong together.

A second principle is that when two images are similar, the one that helps the book should be included. If the book is a collection of your best work the choice might be obvious, otherwise the purpose of the collection takes precedence. When it comes to making a book, you are the editor. It’s your job to make choices that benefit the publication, not choices that benefit the artist. This is especially true when the layout includes more than one image per page. A dissonant photograph is like an out-of-context joke.

A third principle is that the number of photographs should correspond to the type of book, the strength of your photographs, and your imagined audience. It is better to leave an audience wanting more. Another way to think about it is that every turn of the page should result in surprise or delight. Also keep in mind that an event book should include at least one photograph of each person. I may not remember how many images of me make it into a book, but I will remember if I appear in none of them.

Organization

Which brings us to organization. I have seen books organized by time, by subject, by type of photograph, by person, by style, etc. Literally anything that occurs to you can be an organizing principle. I have begun projects with an organization in mind, and at other times the organization came to me as I sifted through my images. In some cases I intermingle the organizational principles throughout the book.

At this point you have selected some

photographs, you have an idea of how you want to combine them in spreads, and possibly even have an organizational schema. Now it’s time to go to work in Collections. With “sort” set to Custom Order, begin moving the thumbnails around. Is there an obvious cover shot? Do you have multiple photos of a particular type of tree, or a specific view, or a time of year? Cluster these together. Are these vacation photos? Start pruning away the nearduplicates to keep the ones necessary to the book.

In the process of sorting and organizing you might find that there are holes in your initial selection, subjects or vistas or people who are not represented. Fortunately you can go back into your catalog and search for images that fill these holes. At the same time you might find that the image needed to fill the hole doesn’t exist, and you need to go shoot it.

Text

During this process you should be asking yourself about text. How much do you need? Will it be necessary to include explanatory text or a caption with each photograph, or can the images stand on their own? How much introductory text does the book need? What is the title of the book? How much identifying information do you want to include with each book (name and phone number, email, website, etc.), and where do you want it to appear? Do you have a favored typeface, or will you be looking for one suitable to the project? All of these are decisions that need to be made and revisited throughout the project, right down to the color and density of the type.

Now you’re ready to begin the nuts-and-bolts of publishing a book: software, layout, printing (or ebook publishing). I will discuss those in the next issue.

Rebecca Wilks

Larry Miller

Above: Scarlett Pimpernel, Malibu Creek SP. Below: Tulip and Foxglove, Descanso Gardens.

Coral Seas Passion Flower, Palos Verdes Estates

Opposite

Bearded Iris, Malibu Creek SP

Catalina Mariposa Lily, Topanga SP

page: Red Pincushion Protea, Santa Monica

John Clement

Beverly Houwing

Opposite page: The Shawnee shipwreck beached at the edge of the sand dunes. The ship ran aground under mysterious circumstances in 1976 on the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. Photographed in the early morning as the fog lifted and then again at sunset.

The Eduard Bohlen shipwreck that ran aground on September 5th, 1909. The 310-footlong cargo ship now lies partially buried beneath the sand. Strangely, the ship appears to be stranded within the middle of the desert. In the years after it sank, the desert began encroaching upon the shoreline. It’s now more than 1,000 feet away from the water.

Dark skies over Spitzkoppe. Namibia is one of the best locations for night photography.

Red sand beaches along the Skeleton Coast of Namibia created from large veins of garnet off shore that get crushed into sand and deposited along the shore.

Joe Doherty

John Clement

John Clement began his career in photography in the early 70’s after graduating from Central Washington University with a double major in Geology and Geography. Since then he has earned a Masters of Photography from the Professional Photographers of America. He has received over 65 regional, national and international awards for his pictorial and commercial work. His photographs grace the walls of many businesses in the Northwest and has been published in numerous calendars and coffee table books.

Clement has provided photographs for Country Music Magazine and Northwest Travel Magazine. He has supplied murals for the Seattle Seahawks Stadium and images for The Carousel of Dreams in Kennewick, WA.

Current projects include 17 – 4x8 foot glass panels featuring his landscapes in Eastern Washington for the Pasco Airport Remodel. Last year he finished a major project for the Othello Medical Clinic where almost 200 images were used to decorate the facilities.

www.johnclementgallery.com

John Clement Photography (Face Book)Allied Arts Gallery in Richland, WA.

Joe Doherty

Joe grew up in Los Angeles and developed his first roll of film in 1972. He has been a visual communicator ever since.

He spent his teens and twenties working in photography, most of it behind a camera as a freelance editorial shooter.

Joe switched careers when his son was born, earning a PhD in Political Science from UCLA. This led to an opportunity to run a research center at UCLA Law.

After retiring from UCLA in 2016, Joe did some consulting, but now he and his wife, Velda Ruddock, spend much of their time in the field, across the West, capturing the landscape. www.joedohertyphotography.com

John Fisanotti

John was a photography major in his first three years of college. He has used 35mm, 2-1/4 medium format and 4x5 view cameras. He worked briefly in a commercial photo laboratory. In 1980, John pivoted from photography and

began his 32-year career in public service. He worked for Redevelopment Agencies at four different Southern California cities.

After retiring from public service in 2012, John continued his photographic interests. He concentrates on outdoors, landscape, travel and astronomical images. Since 2018, he expanded his repertoire to include architectural and real estate photography.

John lives in La Crescenta and can be contacted at either: jfisanotti@sbcglobal.net or fisanottifotos@gmail.com

http://www.johnfisanottiphotography.com

http://www.architecturalphotosbyfisanotti.com

Beverly Houwing

Beverly loves traveling and photography, which has taken her to 80 countries and every continent. Most often she visits Africa as she loves spending time in remote wilderness locations where there is lots of wildlife and unique landscapes.

Her images have been featured in numerous Africa Geographic articles, as well as in Smithsonian and the Annenberg Space for Photography exhibits. Her photographs have also been used for promoting conservation by many non-profit organizations, including National Wildlife Federation, National Parks Conservation Association, Crane Trust, National Audubon Society and Department of the Interior.

Beverly is an Adobe Certified Instructor, so when she’s not out on a photography adventure she conducts training on their software programs and does freelance graphic design and production work.

Charlie Hyman

Charlie was born in South Africa and emigrated to the U.S. at age 14. He lives in the Portland, Oregon area, and travels frequently to destinations in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and California with his wife, Karen, in their camper. They have also made trips to Vietnam, Malaysia, Mongolia, Scotland, Hawaii, and the Caribbean.

Photography has been in Charlie’s DNA since age 7, when he experimented with a box camera and his dad’s twin-lens reflex. He got his first SLR, a Nikkormat, while in college, and used it extensively for the next twenty years shooting mostly transparencies and B&W. He learned

darkroom skills and was the lead photographer for his college yearbook. Charlie’s photography got a boost in 2008 when he got his first DSLR. Since then he has taken several workshops from wellknown landscape photographers that influenced his approach to photography.

Although his primary interest is landscapes, he enjoys urban, astro, animal, travel, and abstract photography. Charlie taught photography at the high school level for four years and has had several successful shows in the Portland area. He has sold many of his prints, the largest of which was a mural that measured 8x21 feet

Larry Miller

Larry used his first SLR camera in 1985 to document hikes in the local mountains. In fact, his first Sierra Club Camera Committee outing was a wildflower photo shoot in the Santa Monica Mountains led by Steve Cohen in 1991. Since then the SCCC has introduced him to many other scenic destinations, including the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, the Gorman Hills, and Saddleback Butte State Park. Larry’s own photography trips gradually expanded in scope over the years to include most of the western National Parks and National Monuments, with the Colorado Plateau becoming a personal favorite.

Photography took a backseat to Miller’s career during the 32+ years that he worked as a radar systems engineer at Hughes Aircraft/Raytheon Company. Since retiring in 2013, he has been able to devote more time to developing his photographic skills. Experiencing and sharing the beauty of nature continues to be Larry’s primary motivation.

lemiller49@gmail.com

Velda Ruddock

Creativity has always been important to Velda. She received her first Brownie camera for her twelfth birthday and can’t remember a time she’s been without a camera close at hand. Velda studied social sciences and art, and later earned a Masters degree in Information and Library Science degree from San Jose State University. All of her jobs allowed her to be creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative. For the last 22 years of her research career she was Director of Intelligence for a global advertising and marketing agency. TBWA\Chiat\Day helped

clients such as Apple, Nissan, Pepsi, Gatorade, Energizer, and many more, and she was considered a leader in her field.

During their time off, she and her husband, Joe Doherty, would travel, photographing family, events and locations. However, in 2011 they traveled to the Eastern Sierra for the fall colors, and although they didn’t realize it at the time, when the sun came up over Lake Sabrina, it was the start of them changing their careers.

By 2016 Velda and Joe had both left their “day jobs,” and started traveling and shooting nature –big and small – extensively. Their four-wheeldrive popup camper allows them to go to areas a regular car can’t go and they were – and are –always looking for their next adventure.

www.veldaruddock.com

VeldaRuddockPhotography@gmail.com

Rebecca Wilks

Photography has always been some kind of magic for Rebecca, from the alchemy of the darkroom in her teens… to the revelation of her first digital camera (a Sony Mavica, whose maximum file size was about 70KB)… to the new possibilities that come from her “tall tripod” (drone.)

Many years later, the camera still leads Rebecca to unique viewpoints and a meditative way to interact with nature, people, color, and emotion. The magic remains.

The natural world is Rebecca’s favorite subject, but she loves to experiment and to do cultural and portrait photography when she travels. Rebecca volunteers with Through Each Other’s Eyes, a nonprofit which creates cultural exchanges through photography, and enjoys working with other favorite nonprofits, including her local Meals on Wheels program and Cooperative for Education, supporting literacy in Guatemala.

Rebecca’s work has been published in Arizona Highways Magazine, calendars, and books, as well as Budget Travel, Cowboys and Indians, Rotarian Magazines, and even Popular Woodworking.

She’s an MD, retired from the practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Medical Acupuncture. She lives in the mountains of central Arizona with my husband and Gypsy, the Wonder Dog.

© Velda Ruddock

The Parting Shot

Waterfall at Chicago Botanic Garden