Yes sir, summer is almost up. At least for those in the educational system. Many photographers think that summer is a pretty slim season, especially due to dry areas and inactivity. However, I’ve had a pretty good run at it so far, and there’s more to come. I am including a few unseen photographs from this summer up until now that I thought highlight just what can be found in the “slow season.” I’ll post some more published ones from the summer once they are out in public.

Fog is not necessarily a usual apparition in the summer, especially in Texas. It’s always nice to notice unique occurrences when you have a camera with you!

This is a photograph of one of my grandfather’s work/tool benches. I made it a personal project to begin photographing the ranch that I grew up on, and I’ll have more posts along the way detailing how the shooting is going.

Wildlife is definitely a little more finicky in the summer, to a shooter in Texas anyways. Moose Peterson is always posting great blogs on photographing bears and buffalo in northern states, but then again, grizzly bears become more active during this time of the year in Alaska!

And summer skies can be quite exciting! I have had plenty of my students send me photos that they have taken of some nice West Texas summer skies. It’s just one of those things a photog has to be wary and persistent of!

Truthfully, some days you are really stretching it to make a photograph, but then again, that’s just the essence of being a photographer. You get to make the image! Finding excitement in mundane subject matter may be all the spark a photog needs to make a nice photograph.

Then again, due to seasonal and area events, you can make great photographs out of very dynamic subject matter. Take advantage of your area’s happenings and going-ons, they will reward you with usable material for the future. Plus, you never know what next year will look like; you could be faced with your only chance to capture a hazy sunset silhouetted with an operating irrigation unit over some early summer wheat (you know what I mean).

And don’t count all vegetation out during the summer. When you are driving along anywhere, it’s easy for anyone (and by anyone I mean those that grew up in rural or urban areas) to notice whether the land looks great, good, or poor. Reference the statement made above about not knowing what next summer will look like!

And when the land doesn’t look great, but particular areas do, immerse yourself in those little islands of life!

Now, most of the above photographs are landscape/natural history pieces. One thing that I stay constantly involved with is photographing people, and the summer gives you plenty of time to work on that aspect of your photography! More on this later!