The Original RAW Without Adjustment © Jay Goodrich

If you ask my wife, she will tell you that I am the moodiest person on the planet-ridiculously happy one minute and ready to end it all at a moment’s notice the next. Those mood changes surprisingly change my creative disposition, and not only the way I take photographs, but the way that I process them too. You can create mood in the field during different weather conditions or you can create different moods when processing your images after the fact. How do we go about this?

Shooting in the field is definitely the hardest of all the scenarios to generate mood because you are controlled exclusively by your environment. If you head out to photograph on a clear, cloudless day, the mood of your photographs will differ drastically from a day when you head out and everything is enshrouded in fog, or it’s raining, or snowing, or even clearing as the sun is setting. All these scenarios give your photographs very distinct and different moods. At the same time, you can change that mood while processing them too. Now generating a mood within your frame, can truly be limitless.

Think about the direction of processing your image. You can process an image darker to promote a more thought provoking view or lighter to cheer up your viewers emotions. The same holds true when adding color. Blues are cooler, thus driving a more inward feeling, while warm tones can promote a positive mood. You can add grain to add confusion. Add sharpness to add clarity. Blur parts of your image to change your viewers focus. And in the same thought you can combine of any of the previous mentioned techniques as well.

My photographic mission has been changing pretty rapidly lately and now Adobe’s Lightroom software is more of the mainstay image adjustment tool than Photoshop. This is happening because of two reasons. One, most of the editors that I am currently working with will not even accept a file out of Photoshop. It must be a RAW converted to a DNG. Lightroom allows me to make image adjustments and still export a DNG that looks the way I intended, but also allows my editors to see the original file for verification of its validity. Interpretation–NO MERGED IMAGES ALLOWED! And two, I don’t have a ton of time, so if I can create it in camera and then process it quickly, I then can move on to the next project.

Mastered RAW Completed in Lightroom with Dark Mood © Jay Goodrich

For those of you that aren’t in the mood to give it a try maybe the included image will get you there.

I think my mom said it best today, “John was a crusty exterior filled with a warm marshmallow center.” And after listening to friend after friend of his describe their experiences with my father, I couldn’t agree more. My father was a hard man to understand and know, but once you made it through that hardened exterior you were in for life. He would stop at nothing to fix whatever trouble you were in. Even if that meant crossing illegal borders with a small army to break you out of an international prison. Many people didn’t “like” him because they didn’t understand him. He had no filter, no buffer. He called it like he saw it and that wasn’t necessarily the way the people around him wanted it put. You did know exactly who he was though. As you learned more about the person he was you learned that there were special buttons that would set him off and the other special buttons that would diffuse his explosiveness.

There were times throughout the course of my life with my father that I loved him, hated him, needed him, respected him, and disagreed with him. He was a man who could figure out how to fix anything. He could build anything. And he did it until the last days of his life. He never needed to rely on anyone but himself, until the last few weeks of his life. He was a two-hundred pound, six-foot tall giant. He taught me to shoot and respect guns, how to fly airplanes, how fix my car, how to trick out my car, and how to swim at three years old. I returned the favor a few years ago by taking him flying for the first time in close to thirty years. I never saw him smile that way prior. Grinning ear to ear.

Looking back there were decisive moments in my life were I knew that I had won a place in my father’s heart and soul for eternity. One was the day that I called and told him I was a licensed pilot and the other came unexpectedly as we sat drinking beer by the swimming pool a day after he met his first grandchild. It was dark out, a hot summer evening in New Jersey, the sound of crickets around. He took a swig of his Samuel Adams Lager and said under a quiet and confident voice, “I never imagined in a million years you would be the father that I never was.” I looked over a bit confused. Took it all in and realized what he just said. I said nothing. He continued, “I am so proud of you, that little girl is going to be something very special.” “Thank you.” I drank some more beer.

As I cried my brains out today as his friends spoke, my daughter, Jade, made herself around the room hugging not only me, but every single person, that shed tears as well. I reflected on what they said and realized one very important thing. He saw and knew what I had yet to perceive. I had learned from him, I had taken all of the good and thrown out all of the bad to become a better parent, a better person. And hopefully Jade will in turn do the same to me.

As I head onto the plane home, I will leave you with two things. My grandmother would always say to me, “Never say goodbye, just so long.” Why? “Because goodbye is forever and so long is until I see you again.” And the other is the quote that my sister picked for the remembrance card, “Fill not your hearts with pain and sorrow, but remember me in every tomorrow. Remember the joy, the laughter, the smiles, I’ve only gone to rest a little while. Although my leaving causes pain and grief, my going has eased my hurt and given me relief. So dry your eyes and remember me, not as I am now, but as I used to be. Because, I will remember you all and look on with a smile. Understand, in your hearts, I’ve only gone to rest a little while. As long as I have the love of each of you, I can live my life in the hearts of all of you.

So long father. I hope you are flying and shooting guns every single day without pain, without hesitation, and for an eternity, until we meet again.

The Truck Stop in Green River, UT © Jay Goodrich

I am sitting here reliving my youth. It’s the same damn nightmare I remember, just different. I am driving on Interstate 84 finally headed home from a two-week long trip to Colorado. And, I am in fact twitching like a patient in a mental rehabilitation center. Is that the politically correct way to say that? If not, Lord I apologize.

Do you remember that nightmare? I don’t think there is an adult in their mid-forties that didn’t have the same nightmare as I did. A dark green metallic station wagon, simulated wood grain side panels with dark green metallic vinyl upholstery. Windows sealed tight. Air conditioning off. Dad chain smoking Parliaments and on enough coffee to kill a small horse. Mom reading a book or taking care of the whining kids in the back. Kids almost in tears to the point of twitching themselves. Those kids were me and my sister. My father trying to break the land speed record that he apparently held from last year’s trip to Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Disney Land. It doesn’t matter. I remember the chatter on the CB radio. And the whip antenna on the back chrome bumper of the green machine. “We’ve gotta Kojak with a Kodak at mile marker twenty five.” “Breaker one nine, breaker one nine.” The CB was the size of a large toaster. The car had an eight track with some kind of country-western crap playing over and over. Finally, at the breakdown point, my sister asks, “Are we there yet?”

Campfire Movement © Jay Goodrich

These road trips were a right of passage for most kids my age. I remember writing of them often when I returned to the school year, as did most of my friends. This was our little part of history. We stayed in hotels, motels, parks, campgrounds, and even in the metallic green monster itself. We snuck sips of Budweiser from our dad’s beers when they weren’t looking. Sometimes too many sips. We peed on trees far and wide. Ate hot dogs, hamburgers, and beans. Tons of beans. Then of course there were the s’mores. Hershey’s, marshmallow, and graham crackers. Not to mention the snacks that were full of sugar along the way. A bribe, to keep our mouths shut. Didn’t they realize the sugar was the cause of all of their problems?

Heather Goodrich Dropping into "Flushed Away" © Jay Goodrich

Am I hitting a chord within your soul yet? Enter 2011. Road trip rights handed over from our parents to Heather and me now . I am thinking of that line in the Matrix Revolutions, Morpheus looks at his ex-girlfriend Naomi as she asks him to dance, “Some things never change.” Then they hear her current boyfriend call her name, and he finishes with, “And some things do change.” Yes we have traded the green machine in for a Toyota Matrix on this trip, sometimes we take the FJ. We don’t smoke, we do try to break our personal records, knowing all too well that it will only be possible if we actually break the speed limits in larger quantities than previously. I truly now know why you try to break those records though. Because the faster you get there, the faster you get out of the car and away from the screaming kids. Heather does read. I can actually type on the laptop thanks to learning to fly an airplane in IFR conditions-that motion sickness thing kind of goes away. We both drink tons of coffee. We both drive. And we both argue with the kids and each other. The car gets trashed. The kids freak out. Although not as much as I did. Maybe it’s all the movies on the iPhones and soon coming iPads.

Jade Goodrich Giving Mark Kogelmann some Attitude © Jay Goodrich

Is it worth it? Well as an adult, if you actually take the time to look around while traveling, yes it is. You will quickly realize that those pieces of Americana that you remember from your youth do still exist. There are places in Idaho where the seventies never left. The worlds biggest frying pan is still in Kansas or close to it. And now you can beat your parents records because your car can actually travel faster on less gas. All this is contingent on the fact that you can put up with your kids and your spouse long enough to survive the journey. Yeah it’s safe to say that I wouldn’t trade any of this. What’s that saying? “Life is worth the journey…” Good feeling gone. I have to go, Jade wants to know if we are there yet.

A Tent of Mountain Bikers © Jay Goodrich

No, I am not talking about the World Wide Web or a new website I am going to launch to be a show stopper, like some of the upcoming Apple Products that were announced yesterday. I am in fact talking about photography and the image making process. I think we as photographers have a tendency to forget some of the simplest of ideals when we are photographing. Usually because the excitement of what is happening before our eyes clouds our vision. By attempting to keep site of these ideals, we become more successfully honed artists and in-turn can send a clear perspective out into the world. (This week’s photograph is viewable larger by just clicking on it so you can see more of what is going on.)

So if I am not talking web crap, what am I talking about? Simple. Where. What. Why. If you keep these three Ws in mind every time you trip your shutter, you will more likely than not create a successful photograph. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, so let’s consider this another guideline to better yourself as a photographer.

Where. Where in the world is this photograph taken? Wait that is not a gimme Jay, you said make it obvious. Record needle scratch here. Not obvious, but in there. The more your viewer has to look to try and deduce answers, the longer they will view. The longer they view, the more successful the image. Stuck to the brain and people return. So look. What do you see in the photo? The focus is on a rider. A rider who is behind some muddy and obviously wet cycling clothes. He’s eating something. Standing next to a propane heater. It’s dark out. All clues yet, not giving you the answer. Then in the foreground, a bike, a really muddy bike. It happens to be my wife’s bike, but that is irrelevant. It’s in a stand though and that says something–it needs work. A little TLC. Look around the room. Clothes hanging everywhere. Lights are on. Dartboard. Nalgene with a USCF sticker on it. United States Cycling Federation. A race? Look to the bike. A number plate hanging from the handlebars. Look deeper. Water bottles all over the place. Same with the food. What do hard core mountain bikers need during a race? Fluids and energy. All of a sudden we have one paragraph on the “where”.

What. What are we photographing? Well that has been answered in the previous paragraph to some extent. Mountain Biking. Some kind of race. It’s dark out. What kind of races head into the night? Long races. There is one obvious rider. One person you cannot really see, and two guys that are not riding. Relay racing? Team racing. It’s night time, so it has to be some kind of endurance race. Everything is boarded up. Heater. Jackets. Mud. It’s late season. Look at the mud. Even the color lends itself to more of the answers.

Why. Why are we photographing it? Besides the simple fact that we are photographers and we like the scene or are getting paid to shoot the scene, etc., etc., etc. I will tell you why I took the shot. Because of paragraphs one and two. There is a complete story in this one simple image. Over five hundred words already in this post and we are quickly turning it into that stupid cliché–a picture is worth a thousand words. But why else? The scene has great light. It is an unusual situation. How many photographers are up at an hour like this? It has marketing potential to the bike builder, to any company who has gear in there, and to the race coordinators. It works to add more detail to a set of images about this race. It shows the races when the are not racing. A different perspective. An intimate perspective. I liked that the scene unfolded with some interpretation. I liked the way that at first it is confusing, but then leads to more and more discovery. Do you see the dog? Do you see the clock?

Don’t worry, these shots don’t happen every day. Sometimes not even in a month of shooting. Don’t ever tell your clients that though. You as a photographer will work, really hard to accomplish great images. Usually when you feel like you are shooting pure trash, when you are most tired, most convinced you are failing, you create something that has…well, potential. Remember, WWW, and go out and shoot. Also, guess the actual specifics of this photo and I will send you a signed print of it, to use as kindling at your next BBQ.

An extended version of this article was published over ten years in a magazine that is no longer in publication. It was actually only the second time I had ever been published in addition to being my second feature article. It still brings back all of those emotions.

Toenails of an Alaskan Brown Bear © Jay Goodrich

Three weeks in Alaska changes a man’s ideals of our world and makes nature an everyday experience in his life.

The peaks rose from the sea, lush and green, and slowly turned snowcapped, white like a frosted cupcake. My jaw was on the floor of the airplane. I looked over at my wife, Heather. She flashed me a grin. I felt extremely lucky. We met each other in a climbing gym; seeking challenge, we found love. We got married at a ski area in the summertime. And now Heather and I were on our way to our honeymoon. Not a honeymoon like most, to go somewhere tropical and sit on a beach and drink fruity drinks all day. Nope, we decided to mountain bike Alaska. The next three weeks of our lives would be the adventure of a lifetime. Falling in love is a great thing.

We met Mike late that afternoon, entering his little shop of river guiding horrors on a whim. It was like Obi-Wan-Kanobi meeting Han Solo for the first time. He was a well-spoken, clean-cut adventurer.

“I’ll take you wherever you want to go, but it’s gonna cost you.”

“Bears.”, Heather replied

“Come back at 9.”

Seal Alaska © Jay Goodrich

He took our fifty bucks and the three of us sped off in his flat-bottom river boat. He hammered the throttle and we flew up Twister Creek at about 50mph

We crouched low in the bushes and didn’t say a word. A yearling Grizzly Cub was interested in us.  He was only half his full grown size, about 700lbs. The mom was in the tall grass, poking her head up a couple of times to make sure we weren’t going to harm the “little” guy. They disappeared into the bushes only to reemerge about fifteen feet from us. Mike, Heather and I all sat there not moving, not talking, just watching. It was amazing to see something that big in the wild. The cub’s paw prints were bigger than my size 12’s. Our trip was full of experiences like this for three weeks.

Whadya Lookin at Punk © Jay Goodrich

Cycling over to Exit Glacier weeks later, I began to get a cramp in my stomach as I realized the trip was just about over.  Heather and I had done things that people only dream of doing.  People always say “someday”. I believe that someday is now. Alaska is so wild, so untouched, that it grabs hold of you. A hold of your emotions, your dreams, and every thought you have ever had. Places that are so different than anything you have ever experienced do that to you. It was grabbing hold of me right now. Down where all your emotions come from, deep inside your soul. I was saddened that the end was approaching faster than I wanted. For the first time in my life I felt free, but freedom sometimes hurts. You are always afraid that it will leave you. I thought about the course my life was taking. The nine-to-fiver to pay the bills, to live that life I always wanted. Success. New York Style. That was the road I was on. But I wanted freedom forever, not just on the weekends. I was going to make it happen; I was going to take a different path.

Brown Bear Tracks in Mud Alaska © Jay Goodrich

I stood there taking photos of Exit Glacier, a glacier receding so fast that twenty years ago it was a quarter of a mile longer. It is amazing how fast this world can change. The shutter released on my camera for the 3000th or so time, and I decided. Screw nine to five, screw professional. It was time to do what I wanted. Pick the career I needed. I did, and at this moment in time photography was where I decided to go. This place, Alaska, changed my life forever. The desk I would now sit behind was my own. Outdoors was going to become a full time job. I have seen all I wanted to see of the “professional world”.

In a place where natural beauty abounds, I found beauty in my own life. I vowed from that day forward to never give up, and to always follow my dreams. I dreamt of Heather and got her. Now it was time to realize the rest of my dreams.

The trip was over. 500 or so cycling miles later we drove out of Seward headed to Anchorage and the big plane ride home. We were quiet, thoughtful. We were going to miss this place, but we were determined to return…

How has immersing yourself in nature changed your life?

And if you want to experience some of this wild for yourself, Jay and legendary photographer Art Wolfe have only 3 spots left in a workshop at the end of July. It could be your time…

Shoe Pastel © Jade Goodrich

Late last year, I wrote a blog post over on the Outdoor Photographer Website, about losing our creativity in America. This post was based on an article that was published on Newsweek’s website. Because of that article, our daughter’s main Christmas present was an easel and full set of professional art supplies ranging from pastels to water color paints and everything in between. I guess Heather and I figured we should at least give her the opportunity to create, since we knew it isn’t happening in her school. It didn’t take long for Jade to declare this “one of her favorite presents ever”. Heather and I are still shocked, because she got a baby carriage too, and those things usually wind up much higher on the love list.

In lieu of heading down the road of that bumper sticker–My Kid is an Honor Student…crap, I do have to say that I am quickly becoming the proud father of a somewhat creative daughter. People must have some kind of genetic mutation that kicks in when kids are born, that automatically gives us a propensity towards thinking our kids are the greatest. This probably happens so we don’t kill them, eat them, and get back to what it is all really about–sex! I am sure there is a perfectly good scientific explanation that my uber-educated wife can come up with, but I have yet to figure it all out. I have come to the conclusion that it gives our children the motivation to at least try, by having a vote of confidence from the ones they know the best.

Hands Watercolor © Jade Goodrich

The past week of my life has been pretty much work free, and unfortunately not by choice. Jade has been home sick with Strep Throat. Fevers close 105 degrees, vomiting, you don’t need to know the particulars, just really sick. It seemed like every dose of Ibuprofen had her up and about for at least 4 hours before the need of sleep would factor into the picture. During those times of insanity (sanity is when they are asleep) she wanted to “create artwork”. And there was no way I was going to argue with her at those moments, I just didn’t want her to puke on my carpet again.

Jade is 5, and acts like she is 15 with the exception that she still has a romantic innocence about herself. She holds prejudice against no one, doesn’t even fathom the idea of racism, and truly experiences the world with an open mind. It is fairly liberating for me to watch. My only goal now is to learn from it, to photograph like she paints–with complete freedom and for the absolute joy of doing so. I knew taking her to that Picasso exhibit was going to pay dividends. In 4 days of “home schooling” with dad, we watched countless movies on the apple TV, ate a few pounds of gummi bears, and actually painted 13 pieces. I guess I shouldn’t say painted, because Jade chose to use pastels, water colors, charcoal, and markers. Let’s go with created 13 pieces.

Flowers Watercolor © Jade Goodrich

I am hoping that her work is actually good and I am not being a “Jaded” father, then my creative background kicks in and I truly believe that this work has merit. She picked titles like, “name”, “face”, and “me” for some of the pieces, which has me thinking that she actually had a concept in mind when she went to town on that easel. The other part of the story is that it may not actually matter if the work is good or not. I got to spend a solid 4 days with my daughter, I got to be inspired by her creativity, and she personally taught me to look at the world differently, to create with more intensity. For that alone, I am forever grateful. And it might just have me picking up some of those art supplies to pull some of the visions I have banging around in that melon upstairs.

For the last week I have been under the gun from commercial architecture clients with ridiculous deadlines. I essentially have 7 projects to finish mastering by the 15th of November, which all came to fruition at the same time last week. It wasn’t like I was slacking on my end, just playing on Facebook and Twitter, figuring that somehow all this stuff would magically get done. No, I am blaming the clients for slacking in this event. I really want to give them a piece of my mind, but the reality is that it would accomplish very little, and I would probably lose those clients in the process of venting and making myself feel better. That means I sit at my wonderful computer relentlessly for days,listening to and purchasing tons of music from Apple. I have spent so much time in Photoshop in the past week, I want to start writing the code for that program. No, not really, but I have become more knowledgable with it than ever before. The up side to all of this is that on the 15th, next Monday, I will have the billings to reflect the fruits of my labor. Is there really a downside to all this? Well the only real thing I can think of, is missing out on some quality sleep time. I have always said though that sleep is for the dead. Well honey, I might be dead and don’t really know it yet–would that make me a vampire?

As I have been typing this I have watched the sun rise over Mount Baker and begin streaming into my office. I love the early morning light here in Washington. For those who have never experienced it, it is almost indescribable. With that said, I need to head back to image mastering, but I did want to show you what happens with a typical architectural image of mine. Many of these new photographs will be on the new website when it launches on January 1, 2011–1/1/11.

Raw File from a Private Residence in Colorado © Jay Goodrich

The above image is the original raw, middle exposure photo from a gallery hallway in one of the projects that I am now working on. I did not light this scene with my typical hot lights or strobes, although I did capture 5, additional, one-stop exposures that I fused together with Photomatix Pro to even out the scene. Then the real work began. The client specified that they wanted the track lighting, miscellaneous sprinkler covers, alarm sensors, HVAC grills, and smoke detectors taken out of the image. To which I obliged thanks to the the new Content-Aware feature in Photoshop CS5. Being in control of how my work is viewed though, that was just the starting point. Removing the lights were easy, fixing the areas where they cast light on–the walls, was where I spent the time. In the end, there were close to two hours spent mastering this image and that is pretty much the norm for all of my architecture photographs. That is why I charge mucho dinero for this work.

Final Mastered Image from a Private Residence in Colorado © Jay Goodrich

Notice the lack of lighting on the beam, it is actually a new beam. Then there is the smoothing out of the light casts on the walls, the balanced color, and additional contrast. I was okay leaving the light on the floor in the foreground because if you notice further down the hall there is the same cast, which is actually from the same track lights. Those just happen to be on the backside of the beam in relation to the camera. And, if you ever want to know how I do all this, you can always sign up for a one-on-one chat session and I will show you. Well, the sun is up and this vampire has to go back to work. I have many new post ideas coming, I just need to find some time to get them all out there. In the meantime, let me know what you think of the image.

Hand Blended Image in Photoshop CS5 © Jay Goodrich

You would have to be living in a proverbially photographic cave to not have heard about one of photography’s latest buzzwords–HDR. Although it has been around for quite some time, like all things that break photographic traditions, the community takes its time in adopting them. I have been using High Dynamic Range imagery for 5 years now. The reason that I picked up the technique, was to help me capture interior architecture images that more closely resembled the architect’s intent, without the need to over light the scene before me.

Photomatix "Grunge" Look © Jay Goodrich

Like any new tool, I quickly realized its benefits and its drawbacks. Although, I still use it in almost all of my architecture photography, I only use HDR processing with all the other photography disciplines that I shoot, when the composition warrants. That’s when a foreground subject rises above the horizon where a graduated neutral density filter could have evened out the scene. I would rather spend more time out in the field shooting and as little time as possible in front of a computer merging images. In addition, I am using this method only to create realism, and not create those amazing painterly images that photographers like Trey Ratcliff and Tony Sweet are producing.

Photomatix Automatic Photo Merge © Jay Goodrich

You have many choices with HDR. You can utilize a software like Photomatix Pro to automatically merge multiple exposures of a scene; at the same time deciding if you want a realistic look or a more artistic look. The new Photoshop CS5 does a great job of this too. In Photoshop though, you also have the option of manually merging all of those exposures to create an image that completely speaks from the heart of the artist. Even the iPhone has a built-in HDR option with its latest version of Apple’s operating system.

The Middle Exposure Raw File © Jay Goodrich

I can now produce images that I couldn’t just a few years ago. Which means HDR is a permanent part of my workflow. I don’t always use it, I will often use my graduated neutral density filters to even out the exposure of a scene, but the key here is that I don’t have to when a composition presents itself that goes beyond the limitations of even those.

As in any creative endeavor the proof is in the eyes of the beholder. How you choose to express the composition you photographed is entirely up to you. Like all things in life, too much of a good thing, can end up hurting you in the end. As you have seen in this post there are many options to any given photograph, it is knowing and understanding your options that will give you the best possible rendition of your personal vision and style. That is often the true success or failure of any image.

Want to learn more about HDR. Jay is teaching a 3 hour workshop at the upcoming NANPA Photography Summit in McAllen, Texas.

The Paradise Valley, Mount Rainier NP, Washington © Jay Goodrich

Last week I created a post asking what a certain photo of Olympic National Park had to do with the new iPhone 4 even though the photo itself was not taken with the iPhone 4. I managed to stump everyone who participated. Thank you all for playing along. The answer is that last week’s photo is an HDR image, a series of 4 exposures that I hand blended in Photoshop. The connection to the iPhone is: now with the new iOS for the iPhone you can create in-camera/phone HDR (high dynamic range) images with one touch of the shutter release.

Now for the nuts and bolts. It really works. Pretty nicely too. Exceptionally well if you think about the fact that you are creating images with a phone and nothing else. The above image was created using the HDR function in a new iPhone 4. I did some post processing in Lightroom 3 just to add some saturation, but that for the most part that is it. Pretty cool. Super fast. And like Chase Jarvis always says–”The Best Camera is the One That’s With You.” This little add by Apple is a new key to getting great landscape shots at the beginning and ending of the day when the light is low and super contrasty. I know HDR has been around since the 3Gs hit the shelves, but those are third party apps, to have this little gem, all you have to do is upgrade your phone’s operating system. And just so you don’t think I am pulling your chain, here is the image with the HDR function turned off:

The Paradise Valley--No HDR, Mount Rainier NP, Washington © Jay Goodrich

Pretty amazing isn’t it. But wait there’s more….

The image of Olympic National Park that we posted last week will be one of ten in a new series of images of mine that are going to be mastered for use as wallpaper on your Lock and/or Home Screens of your iPhone. I know what you are thinking–How much? Well here’s the deal…it’s FREE! Not a penny, but there is a simple catch–all you have to do is sign-up for our monthly newsletter. It is in this newsletter that we will post the link to download the file that gives you 10 original Jay Goodrich images for use on your iPhone free of charge. Not too bad. And, remember we will never sell, forward, or share your email with anyone. Period. And if you are wondering how to sign up for our newsletter look at the top right of any post on this blog. Oh, and the next newsletter is set to go out on October 1st.

Tomorrow I will be posting more images on the Outdoor Photographer Blog highlighting this evening in Paradise Valley.

Wildfire Burn, Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone N.P., Wyoming © Jay Goodrich

Last year Art Wolfe posted a time-lapse of the Arnica Wildfire in Yellowstone National Park which ended up burning close to 10,000 acres. The great part about this wildfire is that it crossed the road that parallels the shores of Yellowstone lake allowing easy access for photography and anyone willing to walk into the forest and have a look. Now I know many would wonder why you would want to photograph a freshly burned area, thinking that it would just be a charred mess. The reality is that this place is a photographer’s paradise, allowing composition upon composition of line, pattern, texture, and even new life. In less than a year’s time there is already new growth showing up– have a look at one of Art’s photos from this year.

Art Wolfe, Gavriel Jecan, Rich Reid and I recently taught a workshop in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. After that workshop, we decided to spend a day in Yellowstone photographing this forest. It didn’t take long to discover that there were hundreds of images that could be created here. The one that I am highlighting in this post, is a black and white conversion done in Adobe’s latest version of Lightroom. The highlights on the tree branches look like snow and give the image a depth that it did not possess in color. Like the title states, wildfires are definite necessity for photographers interested in going beyond the  iconic images that everyone captures.