DECEMBER 2011RUSSELLGRAVES.COM

N E W S L E T T E R

Another Year

In looking back, take the time to

look forward

It is odd that we are already in the first week of December with just a few days left until Christmas and ultimately, the end of the year.

It seems like yesterday that I was looking back at some of my favorite images of 2010. Now it’s time to go through 2011’s images and see what catches my eye.

While I am looking back, let me say that I appreciate how much support I’ve received from friends, family, and clients over the past year. That support fuels my creativity and without kind and committed people around me, I could never do what I do. So if you are reading this, you fit into that category and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Looking forward, 2012 promises to be a good one. Right now, it’s on my radar to launch several new ancillary projects. While the details are still being forged, look for a new website for russellgraves.com, some new iPad content, a new blog that takes the best photography instruction from the web and focuses it in a way never before seen, perhaps some forum resources , new v ideos , some television, and a multimedia do-it-

yourself project that promises to be huge.

Again, some of these are close to launch while some are still being hammered out but hopefully, most will be rolled out over the next few months. I’ll keep you informed.

In the meantime, I hope you and you family have a blessed Christmas season and a wonderful and joyous New Year’s holiday.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

russell@russellgraves.com

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PHOTO TIP

Flight photography is easy to master. What I do is try to focus on the bird

when it is far out using the center focusing mark on my camera. I then track

the bird as it gets closer and when it comes into range, I simple fire the

shutter.

Canon 1D Mark III camera, Canon 500mm f4 lens, 1/2000 sec. @ f8, ISO

400

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Featured Column The Last Picture Show

I love Texas movies. Not just movies about Texas but movies that were made and filmed in Texas.

The reason? It gives me an excuse to explore.

I know it may sound strange but one of the things I like to do is watch a movie, try to identify the locations, and then see them in person while I am in that particular area. It’s an interesting hobby but it helps enrich my traveling experience throughout the Lone Star State.

For a variety of reasons, I love all kinds of Texas movies. For grittiness and suspense, No Country for Old Men is one that comes to mind.

The story of

Lewellen Moss and the moral choices he made is intriguing to me and the fact that I’ve been to the wide open high desert spaces of Presidio County where many of the scenes were filmed makes the movie watch even more richly. Giant, the seminal big oil, big cattle, and big hat movie of the 1950’s was also filmed in the same county while James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson lodged in the Paisano Hotel in downtown Marfa. The hotel, incidentally, is still going strong and pays homage to its brush with Hollywood over 50 years ago.

Across the state, for at least the time being, you can still see the prison where Goldie Hawn’s character broke William Atherton’s character from prison and continued across southeast Texas in a low speed police chase in Hawn’s breakout movie The Sugarland Express. Up in North Texas, the Royal Theater

still stands on the north side of the

Archer County courthouse square and was central in the classic Peter Bogdanovich film about youthful angst in small town Texas. The Last Picture Show is a coming of age story starring Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottom, Ben Johnson, and Cybill Shepherd and was nominated for ten academy awards. Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman both won awards in the supporting actor/actress category.

While some movies weren’t filmed entirely in Texas, parts of them were and keen watchers can still pick up places which are familiar. In parts of the film 8 seconds you can notice familiar scenery like the giant redrock fin that towers high over Highway 207 in Tule Canyon just north of Silverton, Texas. The most recent place I found was the old Rio Theater that’s in downtown Big Spring. Keen movie watchers may recall that the Rio is the theater that Joe Buck walks past just before gets on the bus and heads to New

York City in the 1970’s film, Midnight Cowboy.

The films I mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. Several historic and contemporary films took place in Texas with locations that are waiting for exploration. Smithville for Hope Floats and The Tree of Life, Bracketville for just about every Alamo film made, and several others wait on my to discover.

There’s a big list of films but then again, it’s a big state.

From the syndicated newspaper column, “Russell Graves Outdoors”

Water(Fowl) World

Birds that float make for

impressive photo subjects

Drive by any lake or pond in the winter and you are bound to see ducks floating lazily on the water.

While they look docile in their appearance, ducks are dynamic. Their beautiful coloration, animated and complicated flight maneuvers, and their ease of locating them consistently makes them a great photo subject.

I find my ducks and geese on both private and public waters. Armed

with a telephoto lens, I can’t wait until winter comes around and the ducks and geese start filtering down from the North.

THE SKINNY:

VARIOUS CANON

CAMERAS WITH A

500MM LENS

Want to get started in Photography?

It doesn’t have to be a daunting process Here’s a universal truth: getting started in photography is about as hard as practicing photography. With the internet, you’d think it would be easy to get reviews and compare equipment specs but take it from me: for every good review you are liable to get a bad review. Therefore, the information is all over the place, intellectually. In all, learning photography isn’t so much about finding information. Instead it’s more about wading through the resources to find good information.

PHOTO

INSTRUCTION

The Megapixel Myth The term megapixel often gets batted around in camera discussions. A megapixel is the measure of a camera’s resolution and should be a measure of the quality of images it produces. In the early days of digital photography, megapixels did matter since their was a big gap in the technology between cameras. Naturally a one megapixel camera produced an image of considerably less quality than a camera with higher megapixels. However, as photographic technology improves, megapixels don’t matter so much anymore. In

fact, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between an image shot with my first digital camera (a 6.1 megapixel Canon 10D) and my latest camera (a 21 megapixel Canon 5D Mark II). Sure, modern color densities are deeper and other camera functions improve but the simple truth is, for most casual camera users, megapixels simply do not matter. A modern camera is capable of shooting quality images.

Think Before Buying In my seminars, I often tell people that they need to think about what kind of photography in which

they’d like to engage and buy equipment accordingly. If your aim is portrait photography, that demands one set of gear, wildlife photography calls for a different set up, and so on. Therefore, when buying your camera gear, keep the intended use of the gear in mind. If you are on a budget, you can’t buy all the gear you want at one time. Therefore, decide up front how you’ll use your new equipment. Your wallet will be glad you took the time to deliberate.

An Inexpensive, Yet Versatile Package I love taking pictures of everything. Therefore, I have a big arsenal of gear that’s

“HOWEVER, AS PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNOLOGY IMPROVES, MEGAPIXELS DON’T MATTER SO MUCH ANYMORE...”

been amassed over several years and there’s some overlap in my equipment. If you are just starting out, however, you don’t need a big box of gear. In fact, a camera and a couple of lenses will go pretty far in your quest for good images. These days you can find great on-line deals on camera kits from reputable retailers like B&H Photo or Adorama. Dozens of time I’ve been privileged to dispense advice to new camera owners via e-mail and I always tell them the same thing: if you have about $1,000 to spend, you can buy a great all-around camera kit by purchasing an entry level digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR), a 28-105 zoom lens, and a 100

- 300mm zoom lens. This set-up provides some wide angle versatility for landscape photography, mid-range zoom for portraits, and telephoto for shooting pictures of wildlife.

Making the Most of Your Gear Beginning photographers get way to focused on gear. People often obsessing about certain lenses or camera bodies on forums and erroneously think that a single piece of gear will solve their photographic problems. While gear is important, it is not as important as people think. A talented photographer can shoot great images with any camera from the most

sophisticated DSLR to a basic camera phone. The point in which people should focus is how to use the gear. Inexpensive lenses and cameras can yield good results by using good technique like employing a tripod or practicing good composition and sound lighting techniques like shooting with the sun at your back. It’s all in how you use the equipment. The take-away from this article is to learn good technique (which we’ll discuss in later topics) and shoot often for practice. Modern cameras are technological wonders. However, they are only as good as the person holding it.

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BRUISES

RED RIVER STORIES

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