The Year in Review - 22 and Thank You!

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Wow! What a Year. I want to thank everyone who attended one of my 22 seminars/workshops over the past year. You made the events fun for me – and I tired to make the events fun for you. What's more, I leaned a lot by you guys asking questions.

I am actually home for rest of the year. Ahhhhhh - no airport security lines!!!!!

Here's a quick back look at my 2010 events.

Las Vegas, NV
St. Augustine, FL
Miami, FL
Orlando, FL
San Francisco, CA
New York City
Turners Falls, MA
Palm Springs, CA
Atlanta, GA
China
Sand Diego, CA
Utah
Redding, PA
Japan
Fairfield, NJ
Maui
Los Osos, CA
Fort Worth, TX
Laos, Cambodia, Thailand
Pembroke, FL
Plymouth, MA
Providence, RI

The image above, taken in Laos, is one of my favorite 2010 images. The image below, taken in China, is another.

Click the Seminars and Photo Tours tabs here on my blog for a look at what's cookin' for 2011 - so far! Many more events are being planned.

Explore the light my friends – and I do feel as though I have many new photographer friends.

Happy Holidays!
Rick Sammon - Canon Explorer of Light

P.S. I also want to thank Canon USA for sponsoring many of my talks.

Quick Digital Imaging Tip 34/101: Focus Carefully

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This is tip #34 of 101 digital imaging tips I plan to post here over the next few months. Stay tuned.

Today's tip: Focus Carefully

Just because you have an auto focus camera, even if it has a 45 auto focus point system, that does not mean that the camera always knows where to focus.


Use the AF focus points in your camera carefully and make sure that the most important part of the scene is in focus.


When it comes to a person (or an animal) the main focus point is usually the eyes.


Don’t overlook the importance of the Focus Lock feature on your camera, which lets you lock in the focus on a particular part of the scene, after which you can recompose the scene and take the picture. Setting individual focus points can be advantageous, too.


Careful focus is especially important when photographing people (and animals) with telephoto lenses set at wide apertures and when there are foreground elements in the scene - as illustrated by this photograph I took of a Huli Wigman in Papua New Guinea.


Explore the light,

Rick

P.S. The catch light in the man's eyes were created by our guide holding a reflector. When possible and appropriate, I try to add catch light to a subject's eyes. You can also add catch light with a flash, or by having the subject look toward the direction of light.

Rick Sammon's 24/7 Photo Buffet iPhone and iPad App - The Silly and the Serious

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If you don't know about my 24/7 Photo Buffet interactive iPhone and iPad app, click here to see a silly video (screen grab above) about the serious app. Then come back.

Seriously, if you want a more serious look at the app (screen grab above), click here.

Hey, I think the world would be a much better place if we were all silly more of the time.

And speaking of silly.....

Explore the light,
Rick

Changin' Lanes is Back on the Road Again

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"It's never too late to be who you could have been."

This is a re-post of a post I did back over the summer. The traffic has cleared up, so to speak, and Juan Pons and I are back in the driver's seat on this project. Read on.

 Juan Pons and I are working on a new motivational project: Changin' Lanes. We are looking for personal and positive stories about people who have changed lanes, so to speak, in the business world – and in their life. People who changed lanes to follow their passion – to live the life they want to live.

I actually did this myself – several times in my career. I know many folks who have made the move.

I announced this project on twitter and facebook last week. You can join and follow along.

One goal of this project is to offer inspiration and motivation to those who want to change lanes. Another is to put like-minded folks together.

This project is not limited to photography. If you own a bicycle shop and used to be an investment banker, for example, we'd love to hear from you.

Much is planned for Changin' Lanes - including a reality television program, blog and maybe even a convention.

If you have changed lanes, if you are thinking about changing lanes, or if you know someone who wants to change lanes, etc., please email me at ricksammon@mac.com. All we need is text at this time.

All stories will be evaluated. If we use your story, you will be notified for more information.

Remember:

Here's another cool quote: "If you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life."

Thank you – and good luck in following your passion and dreams.
Rick

P.S. Need some inspiration now? Check out my app for the iPad, Life Lessons We Can Learn From Mother Nature.