The question “Where did you take this photograph?” is one which I receive quite often at gallery nrc with pieces of work shown during the Denver Art Walk each month.  During First Friday in May one image which received a lot of questions is the following photograph from Rainbow Curve in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rainbow Curve Clouds - Rocky Mountain National Park

The first question I received was “Were you in an airplane?”, or “How far did you hike to get that image?”.  My response was always, I was at Rainbow Curve just off of Trail Ridge Road instead of a story which I could have made up to stretch the truth.  For those of you not familiar with Rainbow Curve, it is the pull off just above treeline on the eastern side of the park and included at the location are restrooms and enough parking for maybe 20 or 30 cars.  To me the location doesn’t matter, but it is about the story the image tells.  When this image was taken I was heading up the road towards Bear Lake and about 1/3 of the way up decided to backtrack and head to Trail Ridge Road.  Just prior to hitting treeline I popped out of the clouds and was treated with the following scene.  As I chatted with a few people prior to sunrise who stopped as well, I told them to wait 10 minutes or so since sunrise was right about to happen.

I bring up the question of where did you take this image as I was at the Downtown Denver Art Festival this past weekend, and noticed a photograph which looked like a familiar location.  I inquired about the photo of the mountain lion and was told a story which didn’t seem to sound right as the background was in some of the images I have of mountain lions taken at a place in Montana which caters towards video and still photographers.  Using a “game farm” allows the safety of both the photographer as well as the animals since you are not tracking animals in the wild which could put an animal in harms way.  I did some research prior to selecting this place to see the photographers using it and why it makes sense to get photographs in this manner.  So the story I was told by the photographer at the arts festival was that he hired a guide outside of Glacier National Park who knew there was a mountain lion in the area but it still took a great deal of time to get this image.  I could have asked more questions to the photographer about specifics about this but decided to take the high road and let him get back to his booth and his story for other patrons.  Upon getting home I confirmed the location based on past images of mine, in addition to asking another photographer who has been there during the winter.

But I am wondering, does the story he is sharing with people help sell the image?  Would you buy the image based on the story of him being in the wild finding the animal or is it just the image itself which would draw you to purchase the photograph?  If you bought the image based on the story, and later found out the truth how would you feel?  To me deceiving the buyer doesn’t make any sense as a photographer and a business person as the truth will come to light at some point which not only hurts your reputation but those of all photographers.  A photograph tells the story, but maybe in this case the story needs to tell the story to sell the image.

The group hike this past week for the fall season of Team in Training was at Doudy Draw just south of Boulder.  As this was the first hike for the season it is a pretty easy hike, however towards the end we did add in a good short elevation gain for the group bringing a total of over seven miles hiked during the morning.  While hiking I threw my camera over my shoulder and grabbed the following image.

At the lower elevations, the wildflowers are now in their prime.

If you would like to contribute towards my fundraising efforts with Team in Training where I am raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society please visit my information page to find out how you may help out.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States which commerates the men and women who lost their lives while serving in the military.  On this day, I decided to wake up early to photograph at Fort Logan National Cemetery here in Colorado.  Prior to Memorial Day an American Flag is placed at each headstone in the cemetery which brings the meaning of this day to life.

There has been some interesting weather the last couple of days here in Denver as well as on the eastern plains, so sharing the Rainbow Chasers website as the linking the week site is quite timely.  A series of nine videos, the Rainbow Chasers is a spoof on the whole storm chasing as three guys decide to go out and search for rainbows as the number of rainbow sightings in the past few years has been down here in Colorado.  This was a collabrative effort between Ben Jones of Image Brew, the Honest Bros. as well as the Nix Brothers.  Be sure to check out the videos to see how their quest plays out.

When I was living in Missoula during the summer of 2007, I had the pleasure of meeting Marcy James who is a talented photographer with a creative and inspiring vision.  Also during this time, she had her show “No Man’s Land” at Gallery Saintonge which was great to see and experience.  I had the opportunity to ask Marcy some questions about her work and inspiration and have included these below as the f/22 photographer profile for the month of May.

What was it which got you interested in photography?
Hmm. It all started with a yashica mat camera I found at the goodwill. I never thought that i would be able to afford a ‘real’ camera…and the point and shoots….well, they just turned out images generically. They didn’t have enough options. but then I found the yashica and was transfixed by my lack of control and a love for looking down into the waist level finder, and not knowing what was going to come of it. I still have my first image etched into my mind…. I am a meanderer of sorts so the yashica in conjunction with extended time renting videos for a living and thus watching up to four movies a day…well, I guess that somehow sensitized my eyes in a way that made me curious. I found my language in images. I spent so much time trying to express my ideas with words and it just didn’t cut it. Working with images allowed for an open ended conversation, like poetry. No need to be succinct or make logical sense. you can run around in your own logic and others found it to be refreshing.

The name Marcy James is known with the photographic work you have done on Butte, Montana even being mentioned in the book “Butte Trivia“.  What inspired you to concentrate on the town of Butte, especially after growing up in the eastern US and spending time in larger cities?
Oh these are such big questions, Neil. I visited Butte once long ago…I was in search of Evel Kneivel. I didn’t find him that day (that encounter came much later), but I did notice that Butte looked like a place lost in time. Like a museum where time, as I used to say, ‘was left to its own evolution.’ That day remained in my thoughts for years until one afternoon I awoke from a nap with a strong sense that I needed to move there and make a book about that place before it all changed. I knew that it was a time sensitive matter so I moved there within a month. and it has changed. and it continues to inspire me…its resilience, its stark beauty, its authentic and kind people, its land, its buildings, its sad commentary on how American society disposes of important things and places without much consideration. I could photograph that place for a lifetime but I think that I have said all that I need to say there for now. Photography helps me to reflect, process and comment on what it is like for me to live in this time.  I draw from everything around me, the evolution of small towns,  industrious cities, the family farm, the American landscape are all subjects that I connect with and that are in the midst of change that may be irreversible for our history as Americans. It is a big subject and one that I will probably be fascinated with for my lifetime.

With your Butte work you explored some abandoned buildings as well as the city in oft hours. Were there any concerns you had with safety and anything you did before hand to ensure it did not become an issue?
Everything I did in Butte dealt with facing one fear or another. I had a good system though for keeping myself somewhat safe..it was home made but thanks to people who loved me, it worked out really well. and safety did become an issue a few times. I think that the one event that really opened my eyes though, beyond the average dangers that go along with the type of project that I was doing was that the building that I owned and lived in was attacked by arsonists…twice in one week. that really had a lasting impact on me for awhile.

You have done plenty of work with alternative processes.  With darkrooms being phased out at schools and the push more to a digital education as well as from the manufacturers will this impact how you create work in the future?
This does not impact my work in the least. I use whatever tool suits the idea that i am working on…so whether I am using a 4×5 camera, a scanner as a camera, a pinhole camera or my digital video camera…my studio just grows in its potential. I have a wonderfully eclectic tool box. I think that I would be upset if the day came that I was not able to print my own work. I don’t think that I would respond to that well but who knows, lot’s of people have kicked and screamed their way into the digital world…and what a shame it would be to not have access to the immense technology that is available to us now. Personally, I have been wanting to work in 3D for nearly a decade.

I know there is a long list of photographers which you follow.  Could you tell us what photographers inspire you to shoot in your style?
I have been pretty fond of Sarah Moon and Masao Yamamoto lately. I love Annie Leibovitz‘s work. Maggie Taylor and Julianne Kost make me want to master compositing. and I think that most of all, the students that I have had the great pleasure of working with throughout the years have been my most active and influential process-oriented inspirations. I love to watch them explore themselves through their work. I miss that and find reasons to continue to work with them even though I don’t teach anymore.

Lastly, do you have a piece of advice you picked up along the way which helped you with your career that you would like to share with our readers who are interested in moving forward in photography.
It’s not my advice, but it has guided me well. “choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Confucius.  In addition…Virginia Woolf taught me that everyone needs to have a room of one’s own. my studio is where my world is wide open…everything is possible there. do you have your own room, Neil?

Excellent question Marcy.  While I do have an area which is somewhat like a room of my own I do think that I need to solidify this location so it is indeed my own room.  This is something which I will be working on in the next couple of months.

The following images are a few which Marcy shared with us…

Image Copyright Marcy James

Image Copyright Marcy James

Image Copyright Marcy James

Image Copyright Marcy James

You may find more of Marcy’s work at the following sites:

• Marcy James
• Marcy James Journal
• Marcy James Facebook Fan Page

Thanks to Marcy for taking the time to be the f/22 profile for May, and look for a new profile in June.

Earlier today I placed a collection of photographs at Optique of Denver located at 1580 Blake Street in Downtown Denver.  Madeline the owner of Optique enjoys bringing in the work of local artists each month which brings a different feel to Denver’s Unique Eyewear Boutique.  I shared this month with Art for Edison as they did a fundraiser at the beginning of the month, and was happy to give up the first two weeks of the month for that cause.

My photographs will be on display at the store until June 3rd, and the hours are Monday-Friday 9am-6pm, and Saturday from 10am-4pm.  If you are in the downtown area stop on by and check out the work as well as Madeline’s products and friendly staff.

You may have noticed the following image at the bottom of the website pages the last couple of days.

Now you are probably wondering what does this mean.  By being a member of One Percent for the Planet, Neil Corman Photography joins the hundreds of other businesses who donate one percent of their yearly sales to environmental groups around the world.  It is up to each business to determine where their contribution will go each year from a pre-approved list of over 1500 possible non-profit organizations doing work to help the environment.

Joining this effort was something I didn’t think twice about as you can see on this website many of the images are taken in nature and helping to preserve these treasures is important.

So what can you do?  The easiest step would be to purchase something from the website, but that may not be something you are ready to do at this time.  However you can also look for the 1% FTP logo and if you see one at a shop or other business give them a second look as you know they are being held accountable for their chartitable giving and at least one percent of their sales each year is being given to chartities who are helping the planet.

With the start of the summer recreation season, and the snow starting to melt quickly at the higher elevations I thought the Outdoor Recreation Infromation Center would be a good choice for the linking the week site.  The ORIC can be a useful resource around the year but most people venture out hiking or backpacking in the summer and the website has a good list of hikes in the Colorado area.

In addition to the online information, you can talk to the ORIC staff at the Denver REI flagship store near downtown and they can also give you ideas for places to visit as well.  Most people just past by the area on the way to the cashiers, but next time you are there and are looking for some ideas for your next hike be sure to stop by and see what ideas they may throw your way.  The service is free but they may suggest you get a map for that area if you don’t have one, but that is something you should have with you anyways when getting on the trails no matter the length of the hike.

Yesterday evening fellow photographer Christopher Rice hosted an event for a group of nature photographers we know from the Rocky Mountain Nature Photographers online forum at gallery nrc as well as Bentwave Gallery in the Tennyson Art District.

The follow is a list of items either I mentioned during the course of the evening or wanted to get to and just ran out of time.  If you have any questions on anything discussed, please let me know.  First off here is the link CAZ mentioned on the NPN side, it may be a few years old but does have great information and some of the same items discussed last evening.

Photography Books

• Best Business Practices for Photographers – John Harrington
• Modern Marketing for Photographers – Leslie Burns Dell’Acqua
• The Photographers Survival Guide – Amanda Sosa Stone/Suzanne Sease
• Pricing Photography
• Lightroom 2: Streamlining Your Digital Photography Process – Nat Coalson

Business Books (More so available at your local library)

• Tribes – Seth Godin
• Purple Cow – Seth Godin
• The Brand Called You
• Getting Things Done
• Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
• The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

Organizations and Groups

• National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP)
• Nature Photographers of Colorado (NPC)
• Indie Arsenal
• American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP)
• Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce

Mailing Lists

• MailChimp
• PinPoint Mailings

Blogs

• Burns Auto Parts
• Duct Tape Marketing
• A Photo Editor
• ASMP SB2

Local Resources

• State of Colorado
• Colorado Secretary of State
• Colorado Department of Revenue
• City and County of Denver
• Denver Treasury
• Small Business Development Center (SBDC) – Denver

Magazines and Journals

• Fast Company
• INC
• Entrepreneur
• Communication Arts
• RangeFinder
• PDN

Online Networking

• Twitter
• Facebook – Neil Corman Photography
• Facebook – gallery nrc

Other Items

• Photoshelter
• Livebooks
• B&H Photo Video
• elance
• Google Analytics
• Clear Bags

Keep in mind for some of the above links you will get a discount for being a member.  An example is being a member of ASMP gets you a discount on Livebooks and PDN, A member of NAPP gets free 3 day shipping from B&H Photo Video.

So what did the first weekend of the Fall 2009 season of Team in Training – Hike consist of today?  Painting a ceiling in my house.  As the Summer 2009 season is heading out to the Grand Canyon today, this is an off week from hiking due to the overlap of some of the participants on the support staff.  There may be an opportunity to go hiking tomorrow (Sunday) so hopefully the weekend is not lost from the trails.  But on the positive I did get the ceiling primed and possibly painted later today which is something needed to be done for a while now.

Since I will not be on the trails today, I will also take this time to work on fund raising.  So far the response has been good, but I would like to push forward and surprise the Hike Campaign Manager upon her return from the Grand Canyon in the middle of next week.  So what would be a good surprise?  How about being at 50% or more towards the final goal.  That is just $525 from where we are right now.  So visit the Team in Training page I have set-up and see how you can help me reach this goal and what you could receive by helping out with a donation.