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Buildings of the French Quarter are reflected on the hood of a Jaguar parked on Royal Street. This shot reminds me of a workshop I did with Jay Maisel where he mentioned that he liked shots that were optical illusions or tricked the eye. The type of shot that it takes a moment to figure it out.

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Tags:   New Orleans reflections French Quarter Jay Maisel James Neeley f2014

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Jay Maisel is seen during our workshop in Santa Fe explaining the camera settings he uses. He shoots a Nikon D3s with the Nikkor 70-300mm lens. During the entire week I never saw him change lenses. I'm sure he has many others but this is what he uses most of the time. He told us to use 1600 ISO routinely. He was really big on sharpness and the high ISO practically eliminates motion blur in most situations!

The other technical aspect he stressed was framing. He would say "you are responsible for every thing in your image so look at the corners and edges." I wondered if that is why he uses a longer focal length lens than I typically use. He explained that with a wide angle lens you include so much it is harder to simplify the image and eliminate distracting elements.

Jay was never without his camera. He didn't use a lens hood so as to make the camera less intimidating and he said he always loses them. He doesn't use a lens cap so he is always ready to capture the fleeting light or gesture.

Jay is an excellent teacher and his insights and expertise in photography will forever change the way I take pictures and look at photography. Thanks, Jay.

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Tags:   Jay Maisel Santa Fe Workshops Light, Color, and Gesture portrait James Neeley

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On the first day of our Jay Maisel workshop Jay said, "Failure is an option if you are pushing the envelope." He encouraged experimentation. "Try something new that you have never photographed before." Of course we still couldn't manipulate the photo out of the camera. I chose to play with white balance. I went out before dawn and tried to find subjects that were lit with different kinds of light and then adjusted the white balance setting for different kinds of effects.

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Tags:   Santa Fe Workshops Jay Maisel Gesture Light, Color, and Gesture James Neeley

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As we approached the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston the sky and lighting were nice but what to use as a foreground element? At that moment this yellow cab entered the frame as if on queue!

Why do I consider this image "Jay Masiel inspired?" For the simple reason that Jay is an opportunistic photographer. He always carries his camera with him and it is set to capture a fleeting moment in an instant. He sets his ISO at 1600 to be sure the image will be sharp and keeps his lens cap off to be immediately ready. He uses the vivid setting in his Nikon D3s for bright saturated color.

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Tags:   Boston Massachuesttes MFA Museum of Fine Arts James Neeley

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