Anything can be a good photographic subject, if the photographer has a clear vision, and knows how to bring it to fruition. This is a vacant airport parking garage in Madrid Spain. Antonio Blanco’s vision was clear….and very stark. B & W was the perfect choice. I don’t know why there are zero cars in the garage, but the stark reality of the empty garage is (to me) the most important part, along with the vantage point chosen by the photographer.

We are so caught up today in the sharing of landscape photos that were made in spectacular locations such as mountains, deserts, red rock country and ocean fronts, that we forget just how beautiful a flat landscape can be with some pretty clouds and blanket of flowers. This shot was made in Austria by Barbara Seiberl Stark.

In 1992 I was in Arches N. P. in Utah for a couple of days of landscape photography, and I met a photographer from Colorado. He was a commercial image maker who practiced fine art landscape photography as a sideline. He was originally from Rockford Illinois. I told him I had lived in Colorado, but I am from southeastern Wisconsin and live there once again. He surmised that I was probably a pretty good landscape photographer. His reasoning was, that he learned the art of landscapes around Rockford, and if you can make compelling landscape images there, you will be great in the high desert of the west. He assumed that the same would be true for me.

No matter where you live, if you are driven from within to photograph the land, do it. There is beauty and power in the land, even if you live in the middle of Nebraska. After learning there, just imagine when you get your first opportunity to make pictures in Sedona, Arizona!

I haven’t shown a David Hemmings picture in a long time, and we are all the poorer for it. Simple but action filled, with an Alaskan Brown Bear, taken by David Hemmings. It doesn’t get any better than that.

I was immediately attracted to this dreamy image of leaves by Jamie Konarski Davidson. With a powerful composition, and artistic use of depth of field, a few leaves can be as powerful as The Grand Canyon.

My favorite picture of the day is this one of two Red-eyed Tree Frogs, made by James Adams. The beauty and power of this picture speaks for itself.  This is a great subject, but it is also a great photograph

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I’ve been asked a couple of times since I began sharing the work of other photographers, why I don’t critique the images. Examine the pictures and find the good and the bad, and share my opinion. I’d say that it was because I’m not opinionated, but that won’t fly with those of you who know me.

Firstly, I purposely choose images that I like, or at least that I think that the viewers of this blog will enjoy. Secondly, I don’t ask permission to share these pictures and if I did, I doubt anyone would give me that permission if my goal was to find fault with their pictures. I do not find flaws in pictures that I have not been asked to critique.

There is a landscape photographer who I have frequently called one of the world’s best. I have shared his images on this blog with joy. Every other week or so, he will throw a childish temper tantrum on social media, and either criticize the work of others, claiming that work to be inadequate, or a word he would more likely use, sucks. He also makes fun of other photographers, who’s published credits he finds inferior. I have quit following him, and I would certainly not promote his work again

I share photography because I myself love image making, and admire people who do it well. I do not bring you pictures to tear them down. I have of course, on a couple of occasions, critiqued my own work. I have that right, and my motives are obviously pretty pure when I tell you what I think is wrong with my own images.

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I used to get consistently frustrated with picture viewers (often photographers), who would look at a photo, and only see the subject. If there was a sharp Blue Jay within the boundaries of the photo, than it must be a good photo. On the other hand, the most artistic rendition imaginable of some dry grasses, was worthless because the subject wasn’t interesting. I have always been interested in both/either the subject and/or the finished picture. Besides, just why are grasses not important?

Photographic images don’t mean the same things to each of us, but we should all (especially photographers) be able to recognize either great subjects, or great images with a lesser subject.

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I know a lot of people get stressed out, and have problems when they travel. I can only imagine how many marriages met their demise while on the family vacation. That was always hard for me to understand, because I am at my happiest when I am traveling. Especially, when I am wandering the back roads of America. In many cases my biggest regrets, when I realized I would not be going out and making pictures with my friends anymore, was that in a few cases, I would have loved to have  practiced the art of photographic wandering with those friends, but I missed the chance. I loved my times alone on the road, and have enjoyed the trips I have taken with others, but I would have loved to share that experience with others who I felt were driven the same way I was. In some cases, I now know that they had the same need to wander, deep down  inside. Could a been, should a been, I guess.

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I hope you enjoyed today’s great pictures as much as I did. Maybe next time I will bring out some of my own work.

Have a great day,                                                                                                                            Wayne