I got started by my wife in photography who thrust a digital camera into my hands with orders to learn.
She needed me to take product pictures of her creations (which can be seen here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/deniseannette?ref=em )
I do approx. 2 hours a day capturing her latest creations, which she makes each evening after her day gig, no two alike, so each one has to be taken and posted, often only lasting minutes until someone from around the world snags it!

Anyway....

It brought me to a place I had no idea that dwelled in me....

photography.

I do her products, but I love landscapes!

I have shot portraits/weddings, etc....HATE IT!!!!

Too hard  

Here is an example of my work, Lady Fisher.
Caught her from shore with my lens extended, as she is presenting her offering to the raising trout in a local lake where I live....



And a guy in his yak w/ a live one fishing the fall as the colors begin to change....



Here is one after the storm has passed, the sun is peaking out and shining through the storm generated waves that crash the shore down on the beach where I live....



So....what else do you guys do?

engineer wrote on 03/02/14 at 17:58:27:


Thank you.

She uses an oxygen generator w/ propane in a minor bench burner.  

old_rider wrote on 03/02/14 at 18:38:41:


The secret is......keep shooting!
Unlike film where it took a tidy sum to develop a skill (pun intend) ....
Digital is almost free. Shoot, shoot, shoot, upload and see what you got, if its only 1 out a 100, who cares, delete, repeat  
Your eye and preference will come accordingly, and its fun to use all the different editing programs too. They can take a ho hummer and give it a special twist. Some turn their elitist noses at editing, but who cares about those buggy whip hypocrites anyhow  

I spent the last two years of my studies at the Ontario College of Art studying photography- figure, portrait, and street. After that I worked as a commercial photographer for a dept store chain (Simpson's) for 2 years doing product photography in their advertising dept. I hated it with a passion, although I enjoyed working with my off the wall co-workers a lot.
After that, while at U. of Guelph getting a degree, I free-lanced, doing weddings, portraits, and general work. I hated doing weddings.
Now I do photography as a hobby.

"The secret is......keep shooting!
Unlike film where it took a tidy sum to develop a skill (pun intend) ....
Digital is almost free. Shoot, shoot, shoot, upload and see what you got, if its only 1 out a 100, who cares, delete, repeat  Grin
Your eye and preference will come accordingly, and its fun to use all the different editing programs too. They can take a ho hummer and give it a special twist. Some turn their elitist noses at editing, but who cares about those buggy whip hypocrites anyhow "
Raydawg, I agree with what you say, although I will add that shooting film hones your skills far faster than digital because of the expense. When I was at O.C.A. one of the teachers had us shoot transparencies only, so that you HAD to think about what you were doing while taking the shot because you couldn't edit it at all after the click. Talk about your ratio of keepers going up!! For my final graduating critique I hired a figure model for 2 hours and shot 4 rolls of 120- 2 slide and 2 B&W. About 1/3 of them found their way into the critique, and I got an A.
I guess I am an "elitist" "buggy whip hypocrite" because I dislike the attitude that ".. that's OK, I'll take 30 shots, one will be close, and I'll fix it in Photoshop". That gives all your photos a similar look. For example, if you had processed your seascape for accurate colour, it would loose a lot of impact. That yellowish tint makes me feel the sun on my face as I look at it.
Incidentally, when newspaper photographers began changing to digital, they would delete everything that wasn't printed, eliminating the possibility of going back to the shots they took for additional publication. They don't do that anymore.
If you want to learn about lighting, shoot everything in B&W for a while  (even flowers) and process it for as many tones as you can. Anyone can impress with colour, but it is harder to impress with B&W.
Just my 2c.
BTW, I really like your seascape.

Teach, let me extend my remark.....
Not for a second do I think digital usurps film or the knowledge and talent it takes to be good at it, film stands on its own ground, as does digital, apple and oranges in my opine. Some of the rules and techniques apply to both, but all in all two distinct medias I feel.
My remark was based upon personal observation from those who shoot film and look at digital as the lessor of two arts. Nary do I see one who shoots digital discount the merit of the results and product of film.
Nor is this attitude solely unique to this endeavor..... I see it in other pursuits as well, fishing comes to mind.... a "true angler" will tie his own flies and only fish natural water for native fish, a hook with a glob of red worms is so sacrilegious to the sport he has to bath and change his apparel if one of these neanderthals pass him along the stream    

Now....back to lighting  
Shooting glass is a real bugger...trying to capture the colors without compromising a lessor shade/tone gives me fits. The reflective nature of my product only adds additional elements to my problem. You any tricks or advice for me?
I was thinking of trying to move my lens further away so it gathers more light and I can tone down the lights and adjust my settings, but then I am thinking I was loose the contours, or sculpturing of my wife's work as it will appear flatter, yes?
Appreciate any adivce you can lend    

"Shooting glass is a real bugger...trying to capture the colors without compromising a lessor shade/tone gives me fits. The reflective nature of my product only adds additional elements to my problem. You any tricks or advice for me?
I was thinking of trying to move my lens further away so it gathers more light and I can tone down the lights and adjust my settings, but then I am thinking I was loose the contours, or sculpturing of my wife's work as it will appear flatter, yes?
Appreciate any adivce you can lend "
Have you tried a light tent? I looked closely at the pics of your wife's work (Nice stuff BTW) and it appears to me that you are using diffusers on overhead lights, with maybe a reflector or two. With a light tent you can get perfectly even lighting with no reflections on the glass. you need a minimum of three lights- four is better, and you vary the intensity from side to side or front to top (if you have four) in a ratio of 4-3 or 3-2 by moving the lights further or closer to the tent. I also had a small light in the corner to supply a specular highlight to the pieces. I used to use one to shoot silverware and glassware when I worked at Simpson's.
Hope this helps.
My wife used to make dolls with hand embroidered faces, and all the clothes as well, which she sold at craft shows. She did two or three life sized dolls for an art show that were 5' tall. I figured out her hourly wage and it was less than a buck an hour. An unscrupulous dealer bought five of them,  copied them with printed faces, had them made piecework by the dozen and pretty much put her out of business. This was before the copy write laws tightened up.

Plus x is no more. What I really miss is Kodachrome 25 120. You could project a life size figure on a white wall from a 6 by 6 slide and swear she was in the room.
My plan is to dig out my 2 1/4 camera, shoot B&W negs, process them and scan them into the computer to print.
I have three digital cameras, an Olympus E30, a Leica Digilux 3, and a Panasonic Lumix L1. The Leica has the best flesh tones, the L1 is almost identical to the Leica, but the colours pop a bit more. The E30 has a bit more resolution. I have a bunch of lenses covering 9-500mm including the Leica 25mm portrait lens and a 50 mm macro.

I think that Jerry has hit a key point; we seem to go for ease over quality.  And yet, when I look at modern TV's and computers etc, and cars of course, wow it is a golden age.