Posted on September 13, 2024, 2:14 pm, by QT Luong, under
Books.
In the second installment of my selection of favorite black-and-white landscape photography books, we are moving up a bit in time compared to the first list, which did not include any living photographer. At sixty, I am no spring chicken, however all the photographers on this list are my seniors. Some are quite active in […]
Posted on April 25, 2024, 1:28 pm, by QT Luong, under
Books.
National Park Week is upon us. My past write-ups acknowledged the role government and citizen organizations played in protecting our national parks. One of the takeaways from Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea was that their establishment also owes much to the tireless efforts of individual dedicated conservationists. However, the […]
Posted on February 29, 2024, 12:05 pm, by QT Luong, under
Gear.
My tripod survey mentioned that the quest for the ultimate tripod was still ongoing. I convinced myself that my next general-purpose tripod could be, finally, the last one I bought. With that in mind, I removed the budget as a consideration and set up to look for the perfect tripod. Read on to see which […]
Posted on January 23, 2024, 8:42 pm, by QT Luong, under
Books.
Wynn Bullock (1902-1975) worked almost exclusively near his home in the Monterey Peninsula, yet in his pursuit of what exists in the world beyond ordinary perception, he created mysterious photographs that reached a universal, almost metaphysical quality. Their metaphorical meaning reveals the extraordinary behind the surface of things. In the mid-1990s, Moe’s bookstore shelves prominently […]
Posted on September 13, 2023, 11:00 am, by QT Luong, under
Books.
When I came to America in 1993, my knowledge of past photographers was mostly limited to photojournalists working in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson whose humanist approach dominated the French photography scene. Discovering the landscape work of f/64 West Coast photographers such as Ansel Adams or the Westons in Bay Area museums and galleries was a […]
Posted on February 27, 2023, 9:25 pm, by QT Luong, under
Gear.
When Sony announced the fifth iteration of its high-resolution camera, the A7R5 (or A7R V) its AI-based autofocus got the most attention. Action photographers also benefit from faster data handling and a much larger buffer. Video saw several improvements, including UHD 8K with 10-bit capture. However, the sensor and stills resolution are unchanged from its […]
Posted on October 14, 2021, 11:32 pm, by QT Luong, under
Gear.
When I photographed in the Alps in the early 1990s, I didn’t even own a tripod. My camera support of choice was a clamp that could attach to the adze of an ice-ax. Upon arriving in America in 1993, one of my first purchases was a tripod. Many photographers have wasted money by starting with […]
Posted on April 16, 2020, 6:10 pm, by QT Luong, under
Books.
A follow up to 15 Classic Color Nature Photography Books, this list explores photography books that may be less part of the classic nature photography canon or somewhat push the boundaries of the medium. Many are also defined by a completist, encyclopedic scope. As before, each of the titles is part of my personal collection […]
Posted on August 26, 2018, 11:30 pm, by QT Luong, under
Gear.
The polarizing filter is such an essential tool because it allows you to control reflections, darken skies, cutting haze, and increase color saturation. Although using 24mm had become second nature for me to use, with a polarizer on the Sony FE 24-105 f/4, I found myself zooming in a bit until the dark corners (as […]
Posted on June 17, 2018, 11:22 am, by QT Luong, under
Gear.
In the past few years, progress in LED lighting has resulted in devices that offer significant advances for night photography. Find out why you should photograph at night with stationary lights rather than light painting, and read my review of my new preferred lights for that purpose. Cannonball concretions, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, 2013. Canon […]
