Road Trips in America

So as I was going through my Twitter feed I saw a tweet from NatGeoTravel which had a link to an article showing 50 of America's best Road Trips. I was instantly interested by this, a friend of mine having talked about several and showed me a video a man had done of his hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. After following the link I was shown a variety of smaller sections that split these Road Trips based off of what I would want from the trip or what I would be doing.

Some examples of a few of the Road Trip sections are Must do Drives of 2015, Gourmet Road Trips, Urban Excursions and others. The list that got my attention is the one titled 'Off the Beaten Path'. The Trips listed here are 'Crossing Chattahoochee', 'The Borderlands of Texas', 'Authentic Old West', 'Forgotten Florida', 'Ghost towns of Colorado', 'The Orazarks, Arkansas', 'Dalton Highway, Alaska'.

The Dalton Highway in Alaska looks particularly interesting, mainly because I would love to go to Alaska anyway, and this would be a great opportunity to venture through the country, enjoying the landscape and taking some great pictures along the way. There is something exciting about planning a trip and just spending your time out in the wilderness rather than spending time in towns or in resorts. There are hotels and places to stay on the way so there would be places for people to go if they don't want to camp outside in a tent or a van.

Here is a link to the lists of Road Trips: http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/americas-best-road-trips

Anyway that is all for tonight, I have some photos that I have been working on that I will be sharing so be on the lookout for that. See ya!

- Kamilia

Dramatic Nature Photos Illuminate the Quiet Mystery of the Woods: Article

I just wanted to quickly share this interesting article I stumbled upon today. It shows a series of photos taken photographer Lee Acaster. He usually works as a graphics designer but is becoming more well known through his photos of densely wooded areas near his home. Here are a few examples of his work:

Throughout the article he answers some questions about his work and what he achieves. I honestly found this very interesting to read and was rather surprised to find that a lot of his work was taken in local areas that I have been to before. He has made his pictures look very surreal and enigmatic. I always do enjoy finding a new photographer who has an interesting style, particularly people who do work that is quite different from my own! I am not very good when it comes to nature shots so I never really know how to approach this, finding people who are able to do something I can't is very inspirational! I highly recommend you check out his work as well, I shall provide the links below:

Article: http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/lee-acaster-forest-photography

Lee Acaster: http://www.leeacaster.com/#!/index

Anyway that is all for now so I shall be off, See ya!

- Kamilia

Article: A Defense of the Prices a Photographer Charges for Portraits

This article I read a few days ago and I must say I really appreciate everything this article says. The writer, Chris Gampat from The Phoblographer, discusses the reasoning behind why he won't give people a discount purely for being close to a person he knows, the example he gives is the friend of his mother. He goes into detail all the work that goes into a portrait shoot, and all the minute steps that need to be taken in order to take a really good portrait shot. The work that is involved before the photos are even taken are so important and absolutely necessary. I feel it is always a bit upsetting when people just expect you to take a picture and that is all it really takes. You need to plan the shoot, come up with a location, theme, poses, plan for how many will be there, learn what the picture is for, find out about the person so they feel comfortable and so much more. That is all just before the photo is even taken.

I must say that Chris Gampat has hit the nail on the head with his article and I truly am happy that there are people writing about this and addressing the issue, because at the end of the day, this can cause a problem, if you refuse to give the person a discount they can very easily bad mouth you and affect your clientele. However, if you accept their price then you will be losing money in the long run as the time spent with this person can be spent on someone willing to pay the full price. They may also pass on the word and you may have a increase in people asking for a reduced price.
Phoblographer are a great site and I urge you all to check out their site and read the article I am discussing. I shall provide the links below:

The article: http://www.thephoblographer.com/2015/06/08/a-defense-of-the-prices-a-photographer-charges-for-portraits/#.VXwmPc7wOnh

Phoblographer: http://www.thephoblographer.com

Anyway that is all for now so I shall be off. See ya!

- Kamilia