Inscape Column – Snow Falling – PHOTOGRAPH Magazine

May 8, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

The third issue of PHOTOGRAPH Magazine is now out with my latest installment of my Inscape Column – Snow Falling.

You notice it ever so slightly one morning as you take the kids to school, the dog for a walk, or during your morning run. A change. It comes in the form of cooler air, dew drops on the grass in the shadows, or even lower, longer light as that sun crests the horizon a bit later than it did yesterday. The dry browns and greens of summer begin an ever so slight change. The rims of leaves begin to see color. Reds in the east, yellows in the west. The furnace of our hot season begins to wane with every day that passes. Morning dew begins to turn to morning fog. In the beginning the sun breaks through almost instantly bathing everything in an indescribable warm glow. Then as the time progresses the fog lingers and lingers. Sunrise is shrouded in gray. Runs become colder. Kids begin to wear jackets. The dog waits for a bit before asking to head out on a walk.

Then one morning like magic, you hear a click from the living room. A quiet wisp begins to flow from heating vents. The dust that has been collecting there all summer long is backlit by the rising sun in a tornado of swirling and glowing particles. The sleeping dog’s ears rise and her eyes open to its change. Your alarm pops off. You begin to realize how much light is now gone. The sun that used to annoyingly blast you in your eyes at 5am is now rising much further south and its shadows on the walls are longer and more pronounced. The winds have returned and so has the rain. Moments after its rise the sun disappears…download the latest issue to read the rest of the current installment of my Inscape Column – Snow Falling.

A glacier river flows through wind driven beech trees in Los Glacieres National Park, Argentina.
Sunrise over the peaks near Mount Fitz Roy in Los Glacieres National Park, Argentina.
Sunrise over Lake Viedma and the mountain peaks of Los Glacieres National Park, Argentina.
Sunrise over the peaks near Mount Fitz Roy in Los Glacieres National Park, Argentina.

I Have Been Here Before

May 1, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

I’ve been here before. Definitely. Not literally, but maybe in another life? If that is possible to believe? I remember these places. It’s a simple case of deja vu, and if you have ever watched the movie The Matrix you know that deja vu symbolizes a glitch in the matrix itself. So is there some type of glitch going on inside my brain, or am I truly a recast spirit entering the body again and searching out what my past life threw forth for me?

It is safe to say that I am not a religious man. My days of worship have always taken place in the mountains of our world. For some uncanny reason I have never responded to the ocean, to the plains, or to the cities. I have sought out the mountains since age fourteen, coincidentally when I began skiing. I quickly added mountain biking to the list of sport pursuits to keep me in the mountains during summer months. To this day, over three decades later, I still long to return to those mountains. Any mountains. It doesn’t matter. I have lived in the Southern Alps of France, skied and biked the monster peaks of Alaska, and explored most of the ranges in the Continental U.S.

I can’t really explain what spending so much of my life in the layers of peaks does for me. There is a calm that appears. Tranquility. Stress disappears. Even during the most severe of situations that any peak can throw at the inexperienced. I stay fast. Positioning myself and those with me in a state of perpetual slow motion. A safe zone. I always see a way out during what most would see as a moment of crisis. I can’t really explain that either. Avalanches, whiteouts, and injury are all processed with a severe decisiveness that most find, odd. It all heads back to my opening thought. I’ve been here before.

Do you dispel my emotions? Do you think I am full of the proverbially chalice from which I drink? Possibly, but I know what I know and mountains mesh with me. Even in their angriest, coldest, most strenuous situations, I still have zero distaste. I long for more and always feel like I’ve been here before.

The people that I surround myself with during my explorations all seem to be there at those given moments because they too have that similar emotion. Though they may not feel as if they have noticed a glitch in their subconscious, I feel as if I have traveled with their souls before. And if it is their first time here, I find a way of giving them the introductions necessary to pass safely and often with me. I may be a fool for this entire process.

It is as I stand on the windy step looking deep into the heart of what will be the next two weeks of my life that I experience that fuzzy multi-colored frequency change of an old TV screen. A tuning moment. Again and again upon every composition that I visualize. I am standing at the base of 7-9000 meter peaks, that I have only envisioned in my wildest dreams. Looking for lines of weakness in which I would love to descend on skis or bike with monstrous spinning wheels. I have just entered Patagonia. Whether my conscious and subconscious are wrong or right, crossing streams or not. I’ve been here before. Unequivocally.

Inscape Column – Fall In – PHOTOGRAPH Magazine

March 20, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

Inscape Column Big Leaf Maple Portrait © Jay Goodrich

Well, the second issue of PHOTOGRAPH Magazine is now out with my latest installment of my Inscape Column – Fall In.

The noise from the seat behind me was ear drum rupturing. High pitched screaming. Kicking. Writhing. Bouncing. Smashing. Knocking. Arms flailing as if they were snakes escaping from Medusa’s head. No words. At least nothing comprehensible. I even sensed some flying mucous and saliva raining down on the back of my neck. It would have been the plane ride from hell, if I were on a plane. No, I was in a crisis of my own creation. A momentary lapse of adult sanity in order to push the limits of human existence. The 35 inch wheels of my FJ spun in sequential rotation up I-90 from Seattle – exceeding “suggested” limits as usual. We were looking for an unmarked fire road that contained, what we were told, was the best vine and big leaf maple of the season.

The monster in the back was my three-year-old daughter Jade. Like an escaped con discovered and caught by Marshals she was having nothing to do with our aforementioned idea. She wanted out of the zebra print car seat and demanded…well she didn’t really know what her demands were at this point. I knew though. And I should have known better at this point. This girl needed a nap. The kind you get in a crib. Behind bars. Once again.

As the truck motored on to higher altitudes with fellow passengers both ignoring the seemingly hour long tirade of the escaped con, the wipers pulled the loading windshield free of water. All I had to do was steer hard right or left to end the pain. Alcohol could fix this…download the latest issue to read the rest of the current installment of my Inscape Column – Fall In.

Sam Stevens riding to Carbondale published in the March 2013 Issue of Bike Magazine.

I Do What I Do

March 13, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

I gave a single day workshop a couple of weeks ago to a great group of participants in downtown Seattle. That workshop was as much of an eye-opener for them as it was for me. It was the group’s questions that not only inspired me, but had me answering some questions in my own mind about how and why I do what I do.

“We are all here to do what we are all here to do…” – The Oracle, The Matrix Reloaded.

The question was posed, “So how do you do it?” “How do you create the images we see here before us?” “Do you shoot at the spur of the moment?” “Do you set up images?” “Do you pre-visualize your shots?”

My answer was all of the above. I never look away from opportunity and I am always trying to discover a scene that is unique to not only to myself, but to others as well. I look down, around, up, and behind me every minute of every day with camera and without. I use my training as an architect to create compositions that possess a strong sense of place, moment, and subject.

I know that what I am doing right now is what I was meant to do. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t feel like working. There aren’t days when inspiration is lacking. And the harder that I push myself, my vision, and my business, the greater successes I find. I want to challenge myself in a way that doesn’t always have the answer directly handed to me. The hardest days have typically become my best days – for successful creative solutions. Nothing on this planet is free and nothing worth experiencing on this planet comes easy. I told my class that I am analogous to a “Type ‘A’ Jack Russell hopped up enough caffeine to heart attack an entire small country who is ready to kill the UPS guy at the front door.” That’s every minute of every day. If you can keep up please feel free to at any moment.

I use that same energy to train every single day. Carrying a thirty pound pack in the backcountry on skis does not come easy. I am old. I ignore all of that. The days I don’t ski, I run, I mountain bike, I road bike, and I hike. On top of that I throw in some Tai Chi, some days of lifting weights in the gym, and then sets of push-ups throughout the coarse of my entire week. The key is to never slow down. A body in motion stays in motion. For every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is all very true.

As I type this I am helping my dear friend Art Wolfe in Portland with a workshop. Yesterday, I was at the Chris King Factory shooting for an article that I am working on. Next week I am shooting a vision for GoPro and hopefully skiing some powder if the snow comes back before I head to Patagonia, South America into some other amazing mountains. Through out all of these explorations I will challenge all who will listen, to throw conformity to the wind, and discover something unique that heads beyond the every day and beyond the snapshot. Your mind is your ticket to success. You are the one who can do what I do.

“I know you’re out there. I can feel you now. I know that you’re afraid… you’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change. I don’t know the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin. I’m going to hang up this phone, and then I’m going to show these people what you don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.” – Neo, The Matrix.

Exposure Blending Video for Photoshop CS6

February 20, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

It’s not that often that I use exposure blending anymore because many of my clients want a single capture image. In addition though, Adobe’s Lightroom 4 software has such a robust RAW processing engine now, that I can usually get detail out of both my shadows and highlights if I expose in the proper area of my histogram. Like all of photography though, there are many solutions for many situations, and the technique that I highlight here is one of the best that I have found to deal a high dynamic range when my subject rises above my horizon in my composition. I hope that you find it useful in your workflow when processing images as well.

If you have any suggestions for additional tutorials that you would like to see, don’t hesitate to send me an email.

Brennen Fitzgerald looking out the window of the snow cat on Molas Pass.

8 Principles for Professional Photographers that I have discovered in My Career

February 14, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

I have been creating images and articles as a business model for a long time now. During that time frame I have discovered some principles for professional photographers that I have found to truly work towards obtaining, maintaining, and growing your career. Here goes without any sort of order.

1. Perseverance. When my wife and I moved to Vail almost two decades ago we had an amazing land lord. He owned two condos in East Vail, one of which he used whenever he had time to spare (which was very rare) and the other in which he rented to us. Based on his personality, there wasn’t any doubt in both of our minds why he was beyond successful. Every time he was in town, he took us to dinner to one of his favorite fine dining restaurants to see how everything was going. The discussions almost always went in the direction of business.

My photography and writing career were in the early stages of becoming a company and I asked Stephen if he had any advice during one of our meals. His reply was direct and to the point as if he had been asked the question several thousand times. “Honestly, the only thing I can offer you Jay, is that my success is based purely on the concept that I have been too dumb to quit over the course of the last twenty years.” Twenty years later and I still consider his suggestion words to live by.

2. Respect Clients. Notice how I am not telling you to like your clients. In fact, you can hate them to the point that you want to stab them in their sleep. Although, if this is your true emotional experience in a given situation, my advice might be to seek counseling or some new clients. The key here is that we are not going to get along with everybody. Especially in a creative industry. Everyone thinks they are right and more so when those people are the ones footing the bills for you.

However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t treat them with the respect that they deserve for getting to their position and shouldn’t expect to receive the same respect from them. Voicing an opinion that is different than a client’s isn’t wrong and if in the end you lose that client because of it, that client wasn’t worth working for anyway.

3. Shoot What You Love. Don’t think for one minute shooting weddings is going to make you successful if you would rather be shooting bears in the Alaskan Wilderness. However, there is nothing wrong with shooting bears in Alaska and shooting weddings if you have a true love for them both. Money and success come to those who put passion into what they are trying to achieve. I don’t care if it is building software, cars, electronics or crunching numbers as an accountant. The best and most qualified people in any field are the ones who love that specific field.

If you hate numbers don’t be an accountant. If you love people, shoot portraits, and if you hate your fellow man go out into the woods and get eaten alive by mosquitos. The key here is coming to the conclusion of what it is you are going to focus on.

4. Compose, Compose, Compose. I don’t care how different your opinion is from mine on this matter, this is the single most important aspect of photography. It is also the hardest to master. While many of you can dispute me saying that light is most important, as you realize your professional career, you will come to grips with the fact that light doesn’t always go the way you visualize and contracts don’t always permit you another day to allow your best work to happen. If you can pull a composition out of thin air in any situation, you can make everyone happy. A strong composition is always the connection to your viewers emotions. Work it, master it, and never drop the ball when looking through that viewfinder. You will never regret it.

5. You Need to Spend Money to Make Money. The key here is business and very few businesses succeed without marketing and an official marketing plan in place. Why would you want to fly by the seat of your pants and always worry about paying your bills? Photography is no harder to succeed at than any other self-made career, which makes it REALLY HARD to achieve your wildest dreams. We may live in the world of opportunity, but thinking for one minute that the world cares about you because you got the cover of Time once in your life a decade ago is as careless as handing your three-year-old matches in a dry hay field. You need to plan and planning has you putting a realistic budget and system in place to show the world that you are not only good at what you do, but that you can get them what they need. Market yourself, your style, your subjects, and your successes and others will come.

6. Confidence. I am not talking ego here. I am talking about bonafide confidence in one’s self. Confidence does not mean that you are cocky. It means that you are content in your place in this world, on this planet, and in your surroundings. You are not self-centered, you give any and all people your time, no matter the situation. You are balanced as best you can be every minute of every day. Tai Chi is the study of Yin and Yang. Most people think of it as a meditative martial art, the true masters find and achieve an equilibrium with the planet, that in turn, finds them as close to indestructible as anything in existence. If you can strive to discover this kind of power, you will in turn succeed. You will know that you are the best that you can be and others will feel that energy. The confident egotist may succeed faster, but in the end you will surpass them. You will steal their bits of good energy and learn how to use it against them. The cocky egotist is truly lacking any and all forms of self-confidence. Discover your Chi.

7. Win the Crowd and You Win Your Freedom. “Proximo: Listen to me. Learn from me. I was not the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you will win your freedom.” – Gladiator. I know we may be headed down a road of abstractness here, but if you do win the appreciation of those who follow you, you will win. They will help you become successful without blowing the budget in number five of this post. They will in turn win from your shout outs of their shout outs. My father always said, “What comes around, goes around.” Positive thinking and promotion will allow you to write your own ticket. That would be the ticket for your next project that you think will allow you to achieve numbers three and four of this post as well.

8. Consistency. Do everything that you can to achieve consistency in your photography, your brand, and your professionalism. People will notice and the more people that notice, the more success you will discover. Remove the disconnects, like I said earlier it is ok to shoot weddings and bears, but think about how those clients will look at your identity if they are both coming to the same place. Who will be turned off and who will be turned on? Which side of the fence is greater? Separation here is okay, if different clients are going to different locations, but the message (brand) is the same for each.

I am a contemporary photographer who creates imagery and stories of adventure and architecture, but if you are not an architect, you are not coming to the site (that would be this site) that highlights my roller coaster of life. However, you are seeing the same contemporary imagery and brand identity on the site that I do bring you to.

Have you discovered some aspect of life or career that has helped you understand your place in this world? Give us a comment!

Chris Cook going large in the Old Man's area of East Vail.
Tyler Hatcher drops an air in the backcountry near Mount Baker Ski Area during a huge winter storm cycle.

Moving Forward from Back to Forward Again

January 30, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

I don’t think it is that often that we (the human race) reflect back on our past. It is typically a motion that we try to forget because, for the most part, you cannot change the past. Right? In just about every case I can think of this statement holds true. Unless, you consider options like the computer back-up, the running history of your Facebook Page, or even the history of your own website. I am the king of the website. I go through them like my kids go through gummy bear bribes for promises of one more run while we ski. This post is a milestone of sorts, a backup, a repeat, but also, a symbolic event of moving forward again to create a new history, a new look, and new beginnings.

I am probably a bit abstract at this point, but stick with me here. The last three months of my career have been involved in a project that is honestly the largest undertaking I have ever concocted. The worst part of it, is that I have not been getting paid for it, but the positive side of the whole thing is that I am headed in the direction that I have always wanted; and people are noticing the complete connectivity that I have been able to achieve. I licensed my photography business in 2006. It had been licensed prior, but never like that moment in time. It was at that point that I become a full-time professional. It was the point at which my business structure completely changed, I was no longer a sole-proprietor, but now a corporation. It was at that point that my blog became a regular work event and my other portfolio website became something that was designed by professionals. It was well thought out and it was Flash – something that most were doing, considering what was available at the time.

I kept the professional plan moving forward from that point and the site underwent changes that followed my professional course. Simultaneously, my creative and professional career underwent changes. I photographed a lot of things. All of which I loved to photograph, but during that course I drifted with the tides. I followed money for the large part and my heart less and less of the remaining time. My posts followed, my designs followed, and my brand followed the same process. I think at times I suffered, and others I succeeded. There came a point about six months ago that I really looked deeply at who I was becoming and where I was going. This led to me drafting a plan. A plan of action that had a schedule, an idea, and everything that I wanted to accomplish. That plan is a bit behind schedule, but you don’t get the butterfly from the caterpillar overnight, or do you? Anyway, I digress. That plan began with what some consider a simple task and others a daunting one. Just a simple website that could carry the direction that I wanted to go with an adjusted brand and mission for my company.

The website opened the flood gates of reflection. I built it, for the most part, entirely by myself. Why? Because I kind of knew how and I definitely knew what I wanted. The work that I didn’t want to spend time figuring out I hired Werkpress – an amazing firm recommended by Graph Paper Press (the company who’s template I customized). Once I had my design, I re-built my blog from the ground up. I went through each and every post one-by-one to make sure the images were current, the referencing links worked, and that it still worked for my upcoming brand change. In the end, close to thirty posts got put into the trash. I consolidated the whole site to my portfolio site url - jaygoodrich.com and built-in every piece of functionality that works for my business and brand. The whole thing is updated utilizing the WordPress platform which means it can grow and migrate with me. It also means that you can view my site as you see here on the web or on any device out there – iPad and iPhone included. Continuous branding across the boards, and indexible by all search engines every time we add content.

One last thing…and probably the most important, this site represents a new beginning. In the review of every single post, I came to realize who I truly am – a photographer and writer who loves to share his experiences in a Calvin and Hobbesesque way. Sometimes a bit extreme, sometimes a bit weird, and sometimes right on the money of who I discovered I have always been – an adventure photo journalist. It all started with skiing. In fact, the first thirty rolls of film that I ever shot, were so grossly underexposed all you saw was black surrounded by a white cardboard mount. This then progressed to the proper exposure and then to the first image I can remember being successful for me at the time. An image of my friend Chris Cook launching a monster cliff in the backcountry of Vail just as the sun burned through the clouds. Moving forward 15 years, I now focus on combining the sports I love with the surroundings that I discover while participating in them. And a composition of my good friend Tyler Hatcher showing us why he is sponsored by Wagner Custom Skis, Smith, and Mammut. What is the adventure if you are not moving forward to discover something that led you there in the first place. Let me know what you think of the new content, new workshops, and new design that houses it all. There is much, much more to come!

Notes line the walls and ceiling of a guest cabin on the McConkie Ranch in Vernal, Utah.

Chaos Theory

January 5, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

I wanted you to have a brief look inside my head lately. Complete Chaos. That is what it looks like to the naked eye, it’s safe to say that it’s a little bit of a chaos theory. I see complete organized disorganization. Ah, I think. There are places in our country that offer such unique perspectives, a photographer would be insane to walk past without capturing a single frame. Let alone making the drive to discover and visit, if only for a brief moment. Chaos that is. Notice the Donation Box. More soon.

Winter snow melts from summer run off in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington.

Retract that Last Statement・A Contradiction of HDR

January 4, 2013 by Jay Goodrich

“Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)” – Walt Whitman

Okay, so I know that I have been discussing my lack of exposure merging and use of any HDR software in recent posts and articles. Now it’s time for a little contradiction. I have been completely content with my results from graduated neutral density filters in the field. So have my clients. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction though. Right? Enter the snow cave from stage right. Now, can I retract all those previous statements about tossing HDR techniques to the wind? Unless they devise some kind of special graduated neutral density filter that can mask an irregular object, or better yet be adjustable in the field, I will need to do what is best for my vision. That would be some really cool James Bond type tool wouldn’t it though?

When I saw this composition, I knew what I wanted for my final image, I just needed to figure out how to get it. Once I was back in my office, I quickly performed a few trial and error solutions in various softwares, I came up with this final workflow. I merged four of the exposures that I shot in Photomatix 4, then I took that composite image and hand blended in the sky and the Tatoosh Mountains beyond in Photoshop. I wanted my viewer to see a hint of the streaming water that was blowing in the light breeze, feel the coolness of my surroundings, and finally visualize the color coming through the thinner areas of the snow roof.

This final, final image was then mastered in Photoshop accounting for contrast, dodging and burning, color saturation, and vignetting. I think I was successful?

This truly proves that there is a tool for every occasion in photography. My goal is to never fall into the rut of shooting one or the other, but allowing for my scene to dictate which direction and approach I need to take in order for my vision to shine through to my viewer.

So what is your take? How do you feel about HDR and image blending? Do you regularly achieve the results you were looking for when you utilize it?

Original RAW capture untouched.
Mastered original.
Mastered Black and White Favorite.

A Midday Sun Battle

August 22, 2012 by Jay Goodrich

There are many that believe you can only create a superb image at the edges of the day. The reality is, that even during the long days of summer, during midday sun, you can come up with creative ways of expressing your vision. Weather and schedules don’t always collide to provide you with the best situations. Sometimes you have to make it collide. You have to make your vision come through.

This is exactly where I was last week. When Heather and I left the house, we were enshrouded in clouds. The hillsides were covered with that misty drama that I love to shoot in. This was going to be the day that I was going to be able to get mist and mountain biking in the forest near my home. We dropped the kids off at day-care and proceeded north to the trail that we decided to ride on this day. It was only fifteen miles from our house as the crow flies and as we got closer and closer, the clouds began to dissipate. Before I knew it, we were in full-blown sun. This is where the words that can insult many of you begin to come out of my mouth. My favorite begins with the letter F. It was safe to say that I was generally aggravated with my choice to go further instead of staying where I knew we could succeed. A classic concept of the “grass is always greener” illustrated right in from of my face. At this point in my life and my career, I should know better. Learning experience number 2,546,300, some review of my life may be necessary again.

As I finished kicking the dog, the ground, myself, and my bike, I finished my coffee and decided to just simply go for a ride. I may have returned with something different and I may have not. My images may have all gone into the trash. Heather reminded me that this was all okay. I completely disagreed, but I cleared my head so I could be open to what the day sent me. We agreed to ride a bunch of trails that we have never ridden before in order to see what else was available for future image making. Climb after climb in the sun and heat, I passed by opportunity upon opportunity. The light just wasn’t right. It was high-noon after all.

Just as we came to the finish of our ride, I found what I was looking for. I wasn’t really sure how great the finished product was going to be, but I spent a few minutes having Heather ride my composition numerous times. I varied my exposure and my framing slightly for each image and gave her instructions on how I wanted her to tweak her body position and at which point on the trail. The beauty of digital is that I have the chance to see what I am creating as I create it, so I know when the moment is complete. Usually, it is that last sequence. As I shot the final photograph, I was pre-visualizing it as a black and white, but I wasn’t really sure of the technique that I was going to apply to it. After some trial and error, I ended up using the over exposed highlights of the backlit maple leaves as the whites in my final conversion and then added light to my shadows. I am really happy with the results and the final image, even though it was created in midday light it represents something unique and different.

Maybe the grass, or should I say the leaves, are greener on the other side of the fence if you go beyond those standard expectations?

JAY GOODRICH

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