Sean Bagshaw Outdoor Exposure Photography

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Sean speaks at IrishLight Landscape Photography Festival in Dublin, Ireland

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Registration and more information

“IRISHLIGHT is a landscape photography festival with a range of events that we hope will help to inspire and educate the landscape community in Ireland and abroad.

The festival is run by Peter Gordon and Jelena Derk as a forum to pull the best professional Irish based landscape photographers together, bring international photographers to Ireland while also mobilizing the amazing enthusiast talent that exists both here and abroad.”

Presenters this year include Marc Adamus, Joel Tjintjelaar and Paul Sanders.

Sean will be speaking on October 6th at The Royal Marine Hotel in  Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland.

 

March Show At Illahe Gallery – Earth Palette

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Last summer I had a private exhibit of my latest photography show entitled Earth Palette in the gallery at Rogue Valley Manor. I am excited to invite you to attend the opening of the first public showing of this body of work. The show will be featured at Illahe Gallery in Ashland, Oregon opening on Friday, March 4, 2011 from 5 to 8 PM.

Illahe Studios and Gallery is located on the corner of 4th and B Street in Ashland. The show will be on exhibit for the entire month of March so if you miss the opening stop by any time.

The show consists of a series of my landscape and nature images from locations in the western US that all share a focus on color, light, texture and form. The title of the show, Earth Palette, comes from my experiences photographing in the Painted Hills of central Oregon. The images are vibrant, surreal, dramatic and perhaps in many ways represent my romantic impressions more than a literal representation of the world.
In keeping with my ongoing interest in moving beyond the traditional in landscape photography, I have created this entire show on a medium that is somewhat new to the art form, namely canvas. All of the images in this show have been printed in large format, some as large as 60 x 40, on gallery wrapped canvas. This gives them a painterly quality very different from what we usually expect from photographs. It is also a more raw and simple presentation, allowing one to view the images without competition from frames or separated by a layer of glass.

I hope to see you there!

Photography for a Commercial Marketing Campaign

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In 2009 Jeanne Pickens, the marketing director for Rogue Federal Credit Union, contacted me looking for professional photographs of the southern Oregon region to be used in an exciting new marketing campaign. She needed inspiring iconic images of southern Oregon to be used during the launch of their newest branch office in Medford, Oregon and to completely re-invent their company branding. In the past several months, she and I have worked together to find just the right images in my collection for their project.

Rogue Federal Branch Interior

The Rogue Federal Credit Union marketing plan has been an extensive undertaking for Jeanne and her team and has been met with critical acclaim and public appreciation. To date, my images have been used in a wide variety of marketing and branding materials including large wall murals, calendars, greeting cards, video terminals, credit and debit cards and vehicle wraps.

Rogue Federal Branch Exterior

Curious about the creative process behind the re-branding effort and how Jeanne and her team went about finding and selecting the images that would support their concept, I interviewed Jeanne to gain some insight. Following are my questions and Jeanne’s responses.

[Sean]: The Rogue Federal Credit Union marketing campaign is very impressive. Tell me a little about the concept your team came up with and the types of images that you were looking for.

[Jeanne]: Rogue began to go through the rebranding process in 2008. It began with extensive research on defining who and what Rogue stands for. One of the results of that research was a tagline, which is “Living Local … it’s a ROGUE thing!” At Rogue Federal Credit Union we get it, we know why Southern Oregon is such a great place to live and many of those reasons can be communicated through the images captured by Sean Bagshaw. We knew we wanted to communicate our brand through local imagery and when we set out to find a photographer that was in line with what Rogue stands for we hit a home run when we discovered Sean. We define “Living Local” as actively engaging in life here locally experiencing all that Southern Oregon has to offer. The big bold photographs of local landmarks carry this primary position and allows for us to connect with a broader target audience of why Southern Oregon is so special. It also communicates the fact that we are local and as a result builds trust within the community.

Rogue Federal Credit Cards

[Sean]: How did you go about finding the images that you needed for the campaign? Had you heard about my photography before you started or did you come across it as part of your image search? If you did an image search, where did you look?

[Jeanne]: We were searching for only Local photographers because part of our brand is only doing business with local businesses if at all possible. In our search we came across several local photographers, but Sean’s images definitely stood out amongst the crowd. Our search was done exclusively online.

Rogue Federal Vehicle Wrap

[Sean]: What kinds of placements and products are you using images in for this marketing campaign?

[Jeanne]: Where aren’t we using Sean’s amazing images? We started with the use of the images with the merchandising of our new branch located in North Medford, from there we have redesigned business cards, our debit and credit cards used by our members, membership cards, wrapping the corporate vehicles, brochures, promotional pieces, calendars, branch stretched canvas images, and many other branches have been rebranded as well. Any branch you go in, you can find pieces of Sean’s work.

Rogue Federal Office Mural

[Sean]: I heard that Rogue Federal Credit Union won an award related to this marketing campaign. Tell me about that.

[Jeanne]: Rogue entered our debit and credit card designs into a national competition for credit unions called the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council. We won first place for our new card design in our asset category. We were very excited to win this award because it is a reflection of the brand we have developed and is a prestigious award for credit unions.

[Sean]: How has the public response to your photography based marketing materials been? Has it had the desired impact?

[Jeanne]: We receive compliments literally on a daily basis. Members love our new brand position in that we are supporting local and improving the communities in which we all live. With a new brand it takes some time to resonate, but our members and community have been very receptive and complimentary to our position we are taking!

Finally Some New Images On The Site

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I really enjoy almost every aspect of the work I do. Going out in search of light and visually enticing scenes to photograph takes effort, but it is also good fun and a worthy challenge. The countless hours I spend painstakingly guiding each image through my workflow, applying the processing and developing skills I have learned over the last decade is also quite enjoyable and rewarding too. So is producing prints, and sharing my images with others on various websites, in publicatons and at galleries and exhibits. However, I have to admit that the tide of progress often stops flowing when it comes time to introduce new images on my own website. We all have portions of our work that is less engaging and more tedious than others. The process of putting new images on my site, which is the way that I share them with my largest audience, requires several layers of work I don’t particularly look forward to.

I’ll spare you all the details, but in brief it requires renumbering all the images to be uploaded, creating web sized images and thumbnails for each image, giving each image a title, keywords, caption and the organizing it into various departments and categories within the structure of my site. Once all the data entry is complete the database is uploaded to the software that uses the information to create the web pages and link structure for the new content. Any mistakes or typos cause havoc on my site, so I have to look carefully for bugs, repair them in the database and then allow the software to build the site again. Depending on how many images there are, the entire process can take me as much as a week.

Needless to say, this chore often slips off the top of my to do list to make way for more engaging or more pressing business. It has been nearly eight months since I last added new images to www.OutdoorExposurePhoto.com but I finally got it done. The good news is that there is now a large collection of new work created in the last year up on my site just waiting to meet the public. If you are keen to take a look at the photography I’ve been up to I invite you to take a look at my latest additions.


I wonder when I’ll catch up with the hundreds of stock images still waiting for their turn to see the light of day?

Blurred Water Effect

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I recently had a question from a photographer about achieving the classic blurred water effect that many landscape photographers use during full daylight. The blurry water effect comes from using a long shutter speed (.5 sec to 10 sec depending on speed of water) to allow the motion of the water to appear smooth.  In low light situations it can be easy, and sometimes unavoidable, to get a long enough shutter speed without any assistance. When more exposure time is needed also make sure you are using a tight aperture (f/22+) to let in less light and a low ISO (50-100) to decrease your camera’s sensitivity to light. In slightly brighter conditions a polarizing filter, which holds back about 1 stop of light, can help give a long enough shutter speed to get blurry water. In brighter daylight conditions you might also need to use a neutral density (ND) filter, or combinations of ND filters, to block some light (3 stop up to 10 stops depending on how bright it is) and give you a slower shutter speed. Singh-Ray and other filter makers also have variable ND filters that allow you to “dial in” the amount of filtration you need.0383912-20090722-Edit

Oregon Exposure App for the iPhone

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Oregon-Envi-3-bigI’m proud to announce the release of my second iPhone app which is called Oregon Exposure for iEnvision. As with my first iPhone app, Outdoor Exposure for iEnvision, it was created in partnership with the fine folks at Open Door Network. They produce an entire line of iPhone apps based on their iEnvision software platform.Oregon-exposure-screen2

Oregon Exposure for iEnvision runs on any iPhone or iPod Touch. It contains nearly 100 stunning images that show the grandeur and beauty of Oregon. The images are arranged into galleries by region. Each photo captures a bit of Oregon’s personality with the artistic attention to composition and light that my photography has become known for.Oregon-exposure-screen4

I’m really excited about this application because as resident of Oregon for 35 years it is a place that I am very close to and feel strong connections with the geology, nature, climate and culture. Several years worth of photography work have gone into creating the images in this new iPhone application.  I really wanted the app to be a worthy tribute to my home state and a way that people who share my enthusiasm can take a bit of it with them. It is a great way to keep Oregon close at heart and to share it with others who might not have had the opportunity to visit.Oregon-exposure-main1

You can download the app from the iTunes store: http://itunes.com/app/oregonexposureforienvisionOregon-exposure-screen3

Help Selecting Images for 2009 NANPA Showcase

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Help me select images for the NANPA Showcase
Help me select images for the NANPA Showcase

Want to help me select the images I enter in the 2009 NANPA Showcase competition? I have narrowed it down to the photos in this gallery on facebook. You’ll need to have or sign up for a facebook account to enter your votes.  I can only enter 6 images in the competition, and it gets really tough to narrow them down. This is where you come in. Vote for your 6 favorites by commenting with a “Yo!”. The first person who v otes for all 6 of the images I submit will win an 8×12 print of their choice. My final selection may or may not be the 6 with the most votes, so vote for your favorites not just the most popular. Thanks in advance for your help.

Sharing Photography Via Social Networking

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Social networking is quickly surpassing more
traditional means of communicating and
sharing ideas and information on the web,
such as email and bulletin boards. In the
month since I started the official Sean
Bagshaw Photography page on facebook the
number of fans (facebook’s term, not mine)
has grown to nearly 900 with members from every part of
the world. Facebook is an efficient way for
me to quickly share Outdoor Exposure Photography information, new
photos, photography tips and signed print
give-aways, much more efficient than my blog
or newsletters. Best of all, it provides a
platform for fans to participate by posting
their own thoughts, tips, questions and
photos.

Click here to follow my photography on facebook.

fbscreen

Twitter is a social networking site that I’m
just starting to experiment with. The idea
is that I can use twitter to post very short
dispatches from the field, photo tips of the
day and random thoughts from the day in the
life of an outdoor photographer.

Click here to follow me on Twitter.

Photography Exhibit Event: Of Our Time and Place

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Standing Watch, Crater Lake
Standing Watch, Crater Lake

The Rogue Galley & Art Center in Medford, Oregon will be opening a new photography exhibit called “Of Our Time and Place”. The show will be a group exhibit that showcases the photography of several artists from the Rogue Valley region. This juried show will be on exhibit at the Rogue Gallery through September 26. The reception will be open to the public and be held on Friday, August 21, 2009 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.

Four of my large prints will be part of the exhibit. In keeping with the theme of the show, I selected images that depict defining and well known landscapes around the Rogue Valley with my signature attention to dramatic light, sweeping compositions and a sense of adventure and mystery. The locations featured in my images include Crater Lake, the Rogue River, the Greensprings foothills and the old Wood House near Eagle Point, all icons of our time and place.

The Rogue Gallery & Art Center is one of the finest community visual arts organizations in Southern Oregon. Founded in 1960 by artists, educators, and community leaders, it serves as an art center and artistic catalyst for the region. More than 40 years later, it continues to serve the citizens of the Rogue Valley with art education, exhibitions, and artists’ services.

Location and contact information for the Rogue Gallery:

40 South Bartlett, Medford, OR 97501

541-772-8118

www.roguegallery.org

Photos On Exhibit in Ashland Starbucks

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For anyone in southern Oregon who is interested in checking out some of my photography on display and/or is in need of a coffee fix, four of my large, framed fine art prints will be on exhibit in the south Ashland Starbucks from February through April. The images on exhibit are entitled Rogue Sunrise, Land of Fire, Future Forest and Lunar Eclipse Over Mt. Shasta. They are some of my most popular images and represent a good variety of my landscape photography.

Starbucks is a corporate member of the Ashland Artisan Gallery and Art center of which I am a member and resident artist. In addition to their main gallery, the Art Center currates art shows at various corporate member locations around Ashland. As a southern Oregon artist who photographs often in the Rogue Valley it is great to have the oportunity to share my work in the community at public venues such as Starbucks.

The south Ashland Starbucks is located at 1474 Siskiyou Blvd in Ashland, Oregon.

Organizing The Digital Photography Workflow

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I recently had the opportunity to take an amazing one day workshop on digital photography workflow from Mac Holbert, co-founder of Nash Editions, widely known as the world’s first digital printmaking studio focusing solely on photography. Prior to Nash Editions, Mac Holbert was the Tour Manager for the music group Crosby, Stills & Nash. He co-founded Nash Editions with Graham Nash in 1987. If you aren’t familiar with Nash Editions or Mac Holbert I recommend reading this interview by John Paul Caponigro. John and Mac are both instructors with the Epson Print Academy.

Mac Holberts’s workshop revolutionized how I approach my workflow in Photoshop. While Mac knows and willingly shares a wide range of Photoshop actions, adjustments and techniques, it is his suggestions for how to organize and approach the digital photography workflow that I found most enlightening. As the saying goes, “give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for life”. Mac refers to specific Photoshop techniques as the fish, but a well organized and purposeful work flow as knowing how to fish. He also points out that with a program as powerful as Photoshop, there are many ways to get to any single photoshop destination, but having a well organized workflow ensures that you don’t end up at the wrong destination, such as with damaged pixels or with workflow steps that can’t be reversed.

Mac emphasizes that the digital workflow should begin with adjustments that directly affect pixels (those not made on adjustment layers) and more global adjustments and then proceed toward more and more localized adjustments. He also suggests that your Photoshop layer stack be organized to reflect this progression.

A workflow following this type of progression might go something like this: start with adjustments that affect pixels, such as cloning, noise reduction and perspective adjustments. Then proceed to global tonal and color adjustments (made with curves adjustment layers) such as setting the black point, gray point, global contrast and global brightness. After those adjustments are made it is time to start targeting smaller regions of the image that need adjusting such as regional dodging and burning and targeted tone, saturation and contrast adjustments. Finally, the workflow is finished up with specific “spot” adjustments such as manual dodging and burning, tonal adjustments, midtone enhancement, local sharpening and so on.

Keeping the layer stack organized to reflect this progression is paramount. The following graphic is the one the Mac uses to give a basic illustration of what a well organized layer stack might look like.

My old workflow, largely self-taught, generally allowed me to achieve what I wanted with an image, but it was highly haphazard and disorganized, and I often worked myself into corners or created hard to resolve issues. I knew that there was a better, more efficient and less damaging approach. Mac’s suggetions were just what I was looking for. If you ever get the chance to attend one of Mac’s workshops, through the Epson Print Academy or elsewhere, I highly recommend it.