Daniel Ruf

Keep Looking

"Life rarely presents fully finished photographs. An image evolves, often from a single strand of visual interest - a distant horizon, a moment of light, a held expression." Sam Abell

Our eyes are one of the most magnificent parts of our body we've been blessed with. They are always working, except when sleeping, and making hundreds of "corrections" minute by minute. From bright light to morning softness they adjust and focus continuously.

Photography is an art form that requires vision along with creativity. When one is out with their camera their eyes are flashing from one subject another while at the same time adjusting to light, color, movement, near and far changes. These concepts of our eyes are also a requirement for photography. The camera is our instrument to focus on the subjects we find, enjoy and capture.

In order to progress in the creative process of photography it requires constant looking, evaluating, and returning to the subjects we find. As I've noted in several of my blog posts I continually return to subjects of the past as was advised by my good friend Tony Sweet tonysweet.com during his workshops.

A single subject can change from one day to the next based on time, light, season, etc. and the results of these changes can be amazing and is good enough reason to keep looking and returning to subjects as well is finding new ones.

Keep looking, my friends and thank for visiting my blog site

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Revisit

"Every human is an artist. The dream of your life is to make beautiful art." Don Miguel Ruiz

There is a state park near my home which I continually return to looking for subjects to photography. When my time is up I go home vowing never to come back as it seems like such a boring effort with little to no results.

This past week I returned...against my weak vow and after hiking through the area finally sat on a culvert that has a stream running through. As continual thoughts like "why am I wasting time here" flow through my tiny brain, I was entertained by a muskrat, the cicadas and some flowers bloom from arrow plants. With all that going on the reasoning for my attendance was not resolved.

I was gathering up my camera and tripod when I happened to bend over and look to the left and found this amazing "light show" that was going on beyond my sight when I was sitting down on hard concrete. I couldn't believe the glow that was caused by a small shaft of light from the sun...a shaft of light that was slipping through an opening in a tree behind me.

The darkness around it emphasized the light as well as providing the reminder that in darkness there will be light. Very fitting considering todays nonstop news of violence, harshness and unconscionable activities. I needed this moment and the reminder, once again, to always return to sites of success and failure, a lesson I learned long ago from photographer artist, Tony Sweet (tonysweet.com).

Thanks for joining me here at my blog and enjoy the waining summer

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Crop, Crop, Crop!

"There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph." Robert Heinecken

The last time I had a critique session with Tony Sweet (tonysweet.com) was several years ago and the thing he pounded into my head was cropping images down to their heart and soul. I wasn't an avid cropper prior to that lesson as my framing and matting of images is usually always to an 18"x24" frame with mat. My image is usually an 12"x18" size. Since I have a regimen of reusing both frame and mat to save both myself and my customers some cash, I've learned to make my crop within the camera or in the editing process. I still have an argument with myself, but that's the hard headedness coming out.

The blog image above provided the perfect example of the value of cropping. The funny thing is that had my Photoshop screen not been set up for a crop in a previous edit, I would have never seen the value of cropping the image above.

As you can see, I hope, the effort of cropping has gotten rid of the distractions in the upper right side and put the focus on the subject. It was hard to admit it and I don't really like square crops, but it definitely proves the point.

The image was taken several years ago at a preserve in Minnesota. I felt fortunate that I got the capture and the lighting at the same moment.

Thanks for taking the time to join me here. Take care and have a good weekend. Oh, and one more note...I'm back on Facebook.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Chance, Luck, Opportunity Meet

 

"Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity."   Lucius Annaeus Seneca

A couple of weeks ago a really nice fog rolled in to our lakes community and I jumped out of bed and packed my gear into the truck with the idea that I would be doing a bit of photography around the lakes area for most of the morning.  The sun wasn't quite up yet and I had time to explore several spots before "crunch time".  As I drove past the first lake I was surprised  that there was no fog lingering over the lake surface...I drove on.  As I came to another lake I again saw no fog hanging about waiting for this excited photographer. This same disappointment greeted me at my  next water stop and I was starting to get really puzzled and upset.

After one more stop with the same result I thought I'd drive into the rural areas, since shooting fog scenes looked to be off the list for the morning.  As I got into the countryside, however, I found where the fog was hiding, drove to a spot I that had a river running through it and the result was the last blog image.  Once again I realized that just because the initial plan of lake scenes was fixed into my brain, doesn't mean that will be the outcome. God does have a weird sense of humor!

The other two blog images were all taken within a 1/2 mile radius of my first stop, places that I continually visit and that have been a great source of photographic pleasure.  As I've written before, thanks to the words of my good friend and mentor Tony Sweet (tony sweet.com), always revisit those treasure stops of the past under different lighting and weather conditions.  They will continually change in character and dynamics offering a plethora of opportunities.

Luck????

Thank you for your continued support and enjoy the summer as it slips away. Please pass on this site link to your friends. Also, I'm going to have a tent at this years Pearson Lakes Art Center's "Art In The Park" coming to Arnolds Park, Iowa on August 4.  Please join the event for a fun day of looking at some great artwork of over 90 artists.

 

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com  Also on Facebook for up to date activities

500px.com

Reflections

"You have to dream before your dreams can come true." A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

It is with great sadness that I report the Summerwind Gallery in Arnolds Park, Iowa will not reopen this coming summer.  The gallery director did not specify any reasons, but I know that the summer of 2018 will have a hole in it for me.  The gallery director was top notch and for the two years that it was open it was a huge success for my photography.  It is sad to see such a needed person and gallery disappear from our community.

So, where do I go from here?  My mind at this point is a blank, but blank spaces are meant to be filled and I'm waiting for that proverbial door to open for my next experience. I no longer am represented by any gallery, but that doesn't necessarily concern me since I was looking for a gallery when Summerwind Gallery came into my life. "Bert" was an exceptional gallery director and I say that with the experience of treading through many galleries.  As I've mentioned before, when my wife and I travel gallery hunting/visiting is about second on the list behind scouting for scenery.  We've found that the galleries that we have enjoyed the most were run by people that were truly interested in the customer.  They spent time getting to know us, exchanging ideas, and gathering information. We found that to be paramount at the Summerwind Gallery.  I wish "Bert" continued success with her art and future.

Moving on...the above image was taken on a beautiful morning with much frost and fog. The camera was a Canon 5D Mark IV, which I have fallen in love with.  The image was processed in Adobe Lightroom and converted to a black and white (it was pretty monochromatic to start with) in ON1, which is a filter in my Adobe Photoshop CC program. I also used a painting program, very lightly, to soften some of the effects of B/W processing. Just a matter of taste.

Subtle scenes like this, in my opinion, find real depth and mood when converted to black and white.  I have always been a follower of Ansel Adams, especially since attending one of his Yosemite workshops back in 1977.  I've also found the work of John Sexton, an assistant to Ansel way back when, to be extremely inspiring as well as my instruction from Tony Sweet.  Add to that the works of Andrew Wyeth, an artist that I followed when I was wading through college art classes, and all of this makes sense.  All of these artists could squeeze life into compositions, that others might pass by, with their own versions of creativity.

Thank you all for visiting this site and a reminder that Spring is just around the corner.  I'll let you know when I find a gallery!

The Docks #30

"I tell a student that the most important class you can take is technique.  A great chef is first a great technician. If you are a jeweler, or a surgeon or aa cook, you have to know the trade in your hand.  You have to learn the process.  You learn it through endless repetition until it belongs to you.  Jacques Pepin

If you've read the above quote I have an addition.  The learning never, never ends! That being said here we are again back at those docks that may be familiar to many of you that have followed my blog for any length of time.  It is a place that is always on my radar...I've come to know it and I've come to love it.  It is a "supporting actor" for what happens around it on any given morning/day.  I've kayaked around it, under it, between it.

The great Tony Sweet (tonysweet.com) has been a staunch supporter for revisiting places over and over again.  In different light, different seasons, and different times of day.  It's his reasoning and mentoring that has led me to this place on many a morning at the "bewitching" hour.....like 5:00 am.  Somedays there is a performance such as above and some mornings it can be a let down.  Some times there is a fog across the lake and sometimes the water is still.  

I've been shooting this scene for so long that The Visit is now of equal importance as these spectacular shows.  I have plenty of time to think, to muse, to prepare for what I think might be coming.  To think about tomorrow, or yesterday.  To think about my growth or not. To relax with this view that may change any minute for only minutes.

There have been mornings in which I have waited until I thought it was time to go.  Mornings when I've begun putting my gear in the truck and have turned for one last look to see that the late developing color had begun the show...almost without me.

Like life, we never know when or where the golden nuggets may come from.  We just need to continue to show up and wait with expectation. 

Thanks for joining me here and I hope you have a great week. 

Summerwind Gallery is open (summerwindgallery.com) and summer in Arnolds Park, Iowa has begun.

Sites where you can find my work:

Google +

http://500px.com

Summerwind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com

Catching Up Going Backwards!

"There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are."  Ernst Haas

While the title of this post may seem odd it seems perfectly normal to me during the winter months.  If you've followed my blog for any length of time you probably know that I spend a lot of my winter time, when not outdoors, reviewing my past files looking for the overlooked.  After loading new work into my computer I have the bad habit of selecting work that was exciting me at the time of capture.  Because of this, and the fact that I do quite a bit of photography during the Spring to Fall time period, I spend the cold months finding "surprises" that either were different scenes or different versions, such as the above, of a similar season.

This incredible storm had been building on itself for a couple of hours, which gave me the opportunity shoot it from a couple of differing locations.  This particular version is slightly before my immediate selection of a couple of years ago and displays the unusual peak that the other does not.  As do many photographers, in situations like this, I take multiples of multiples to make sure I get changes of light, shadow and color as time advances.  I also, as many of you know, go back time and again to locations for which I have a particular fondness.  This particular site is ideal for the rising moon, sunrises, sunset (in the other direction), agriculture activities, rain puddles, etc.

Much of what I've learned is the result of the quality workshops and critiques given by Nikon Legend, Tony Sweet. The advice of repeatedly returning to locations different times, seasons and climatic situations came from Mr. Sweet.  It's one of many pieces of advice that come from attending his workshops as well as having him critique my work in private sessions.  It is my opinion that photography is like any other art form where learning never stops and there are a number of excellent professional photographers that offer the opportunity of "on the job training" in the workshops they provide as well as critique sessions that come with those opportunities.  

Thank you for following my blog site and feel free to comment.  Enjoy the season...for me I just know that Spring is just around the corner!

Other sites where you can find my work:

Twitter

Instagram

Google +

http://500px.com

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com

This And That

 

"The best artist knows what to leave out." Charles de Lint

It's been a busy couple of months and much of it taken up with a lot of lakes area photography going up on the walls of the Summerwind Gallery in Arnolds Park, Iowa.  The top image is from the amusement park area of Arnolds Park and is always flowing with a city of people and boats galore.  On this particular evening I was there to practice on some fireworks photography as they have been doing a Saturday night fireworks display for the crowd at the park this summer after the 4th.  While waiting for the slow ticking clock hands to reach 10:00 I got a chance to do some low light shooting of the parks colors.  This a 8 shot pano image with the beginning edits done in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and then final work done in Photoshop CC.

Due to the incredible improvements in ACR I find it unnecessary to do HDR type adjustments as most of the adjustment in ACR will give me a firm platform to work from in the final editing processes, whether in Photoshop, NIK, Topaz or Alien Skin "Snap Art".  Add such things as textures and JixiPix programs and things can get pretty interesting.  In this image, however, things were kept pretty simple with the main attraction being the carnival like lights, people and boats.  By paying attention to details behind the camera, such as sharp focus, vibrations, tripod use, shutter speeds and aperture the editing process is made much easier.

 

 

Getting out into the rural areas of Iowa is also one of my objectives as I do manage to get work published in Our Iowa magazine, a magazine dedicated to the Iowa landscape and lifestyles of its citizens.  My interest in the rural parts of Iowa is also a result of 30+ years in farming. In this image, again a panorama, the final results are from working in ACR and not opting for a HDR solution. I should point out that I'm not an enemy of HDR editing as I've had some really nice results in some of my HDR work, but some of my shooting requires some high ISO use and using HDR seems to magnify the problems with these settings as well as chromatic aberrations, which in my case, probably comes from a bag full of zoom lenses which, I've been told,  can magnify that lens issue.

Even though I've been fortunate to join several workshops in the past, done some heavy instructional reading, and watched my share of video tutorials, I've found that there are two things that have been most helpful in my learning process. 1) Making mistakes and learning from them (an activity that I doubt I'll ever be rid of) and 2) Signing up for Tony Sweet's  (tonysweet.com)  individual video critique sessions which have made a big difference in my learning process as well as weeding out bad habits.  He's an excellent instructor and both the video sessions and/or his workshops are well worth the money for a person that is serious about gaining ground with their creativity.  Also, having a good photo friend to keep you on your toes doesn't hurt either...Thanks, Mike!

In the end it's just like a regular job or going to school...a persons improvement is measured by their time spent in learning.  If you're in the Spirit Lake/Arnolds Park area of Iowa drop in to the Summerwind Gallery to meet with the owner, Roberta Williams, and also get a look at the fabulous artwork on exhibit.  As I like to say..."there's not a dog on the wall".

Thanks for joining me here again and please feel free to comment.  I hope you all have a great week.

For more views of my work visit;

Google +

http://500px.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota www.lanesboroarts.org

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com

 

L E A R N I N G

"There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education.  The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die,is a  process of education."  Jidda Krishnamurti

Not too long ago I finished a private critique session that was offered by one of my mentors, Tony Sweet, and I was given another insight into the fact that my learning process just keeps on rolling along.  In this session I would submit 20 images each month for three months.  In my case we kind of sped things up since he's coming into his workshop season, which was not a problem for me.  Most of the work I submitted was from the last year and I would "dropbox" the work to him and in a few days he would "dropbox" a video of at least an hour in length for those 20 images back to me.  I did this same process a couple of years ago and it was an enlightening experience.

 If you've been a regular visitor to my blog you are probably aware that I have also been a participant in two of Tony's location workshops, one in the Badlands of South Dakota and one in the Smoky Mountain National Park area of Tennessee.  Those workshops allowed me to get to know Tony and his style of teaching as every afternoon of the five day workshop was spent in his critiquing the participants work from the last outings.  I found that both he and his  life partner Susan Milestone had a comfortable style of teaching and relating to the students as well as both having a unique thoughtful creative vision.

What I learned mostly from this last critique session is that I had slipped into some "sloppy" habits, one of which was the editing process called cropping.  Tony doesn't limit cropping to the camera viewfinder and its restrictive ratio.  He is aggressive and continued to tell me in each video to "...isolate and simplify the subject."  While I'm not a slow learner I do know that my bad habits die hard.  My habit of printing 18" x 12" prints resulted from wanting to keep my costs of framing and matting to the minimum by being able to reuse frames and mats cut for that proportion.  It worked as I had hoped in that I could pop out a photo from a mat and put in a different photo and have it back into a gallery in a short time with little added expense.  It didn't work because I slid into the habit that allowed main subjects of scenes being lost among other items in the scene.

Along with that he spent a great deal of time discussing the attributes of making "selections" in Photoshop which is a way of making adjustments to areas of an image that will not effect other areas surrounding the selection.  I was aware of how to do selections, but I didn't really make an effort to use the process more.  Being able to watch Tony do these different selection processes on the return video critiques impressed upon me the value of selections in the creative process of photography.

The blog image is both an example of the cropping and selection process with some work I shot in the past.  The selection process helped to give the subject a "glow" as well as better separation of parts of the subject.  All of the adjustments and cropping help to keep the viewers eye in the game and not aimlessly wandering about in the picture frame.

I've always been a fan of critique sessions by reputable people (I never give family praise much stock) and through my art classes in college my work was continuously being critiqued and graded.  The really good thing about classroom or workshop type of critique sessions is that everyone benefits from the learning of others.  In fact, the most astounding thing I learned is seeing how people interpret subjects differently from what I might be thinking or seeing.

While I only pointed out a couple of things I learned from this process with Tony there was a lot of other learning that was going on whether it was the use of differing editing tools, using textures or visual concepts.  It was well worth the money as well as the time that we both put in to making the process an educational one.  Check out his site tonysweet.com .  His work is beautiful, his workshops are incredible and he is sensitive instructor.

http://500px.com

Arts On Grand, Spencer, Iowa http://www.artsongrand.org/

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota www.lanesboroarts.org

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa http://www.summerwindgallery.com

Learning

"ISOLATE AND SIMPLIFY."  Tony Sweet

Currently I am getting some instruction during an individual critique session given by Tony Sweet ( www.tonysweet.com ).  This is my second set of sessions in the last three years and his experience in the field and behind the computer makes for a lot of help in learning and improving, which is really what I'm after.  If I hadn't been so impressed with his first set of sessions I would have never done another and the usefulness of his instruction has been extremely helpful.  He digs into the nitty gritty of composition, editing and finalizing an image for printing.  Many would criticize that he is too "picky", but picky is what any artist needs when it comes to avoiding pitfalls and bad habits.

The most recent sessions have caught some bad habits that have crept into some of my compositions.  The main one is defined by the above quote in that I have been making the image canvas bigger than it needs to be with extraneous information that is empty and detracts from the essence and strength of the subject.  When he points these regresses out while he's working on my image it becomes so clear that most often my inner voice is saying, "what was I thinking?"

As with his location workshops, which I've taken and thoroughly enjoyed, he makes this stuff fun and always, always finds the positives.  A long ago art professor taught me that lesson during a watercolor critique on one of my pieces.  It involved a location painting which had a white picket fence and after he got done pointing out some of the pitfalls in different areas, he focused on the picket fence and told both me and the class that it was the most beautiful picket fence he'd seen.  As I've grown older and I realize that he'd seen a lot better picket fences in his life, but he knew what "drove my motor".

This scene is from this past week after a beautiful frost at sunrise.  It's a place that I go to often and even if I come away empty handed, which isn't likely, I get the view and the envelope of silence while looking out and wondering about the history of where I stand.  The Little Sioux River Valley lies below and just in front past the fence line is a preserved native prairie.  This scene has been seen by our ancestors and much different after the farm buildings, which are behind me, were built. A wild place with indian tribes, tall grass prairies for as far as the eyes could see and herds of buffalo that seemed never ending.

Thank you for joining me here and have a good weekend.

"Sic 'em Bears"   CONGRATS TO THE BAYLOR FOOTBALL TEAM FOR ITS INCREDIBLE WIN IN THE RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL......"SIC 'EM BEARS".

For more views of my work visit;

http://500px.com

Arts On Grand, Spencer, Iowa http://www.artsongrand.org/

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota www.lanesboroarts.org

Summer Wind Gallery, Arnolds Park, Iowa