Tag Archives: Upper Valley Life

Spring Covers

Kearsarge in New Hampshire, Upper Valley Life in NH and Vermont, and Down East in Maine are three great magazines. But I admit to being biased. All emphasize photography by “real” photographers rather than buying stock images supplied by huge corporations. All have editors and photo editors who are dedicated and responsive—the very kind of people I enjoy working with.

I have been very fortunate this spring. While I trekked in Nepal all three magazines used a photo I took on their covers. Having a photo selected for a cover is always a thrill but having three covers on the magazine stands simultaneously really makes the time I spend overworking photography worthwhile. To top it off, I learned yesterday that the newest (yet unpublished) issue of Upper Valley Life will also have a photo I took on the cover.

Here are two hints for photographers who would like to get an image on a magazine cover. First, shoot more verticals. Many more horizontal images than vertical ones get made—most cameras are easier to hold that way. But magazine covers need vertical images. As I tell my photo students, the best time to take a vertical photo is right after you take a horizontal one. Shooting both gives you compositional options and choices, and a better shot at making a cover image.

Second, when composing think about negative space in the image. Magazines need plain or non-busy areas, particularly near the image top, for their masthead and lists of featured articles. Cropping tightly and filling the frame are important skills for many photographers to learn, but they may be a bit counterproductive for cover images.

Here are the four spring 2011 covers.

Posted in Photography Tips | Also tagged , , , Comments Off

Making Guitars

A few months ago I was asked to photograph a guitar-building class in Post Mills Vermont for Upper Valley Life, an excellent regional magazine.  Three students from three New England states worked with two instructors in a nicely equipped workspace.  One day I was there photographing I was treated to a live concert by a guitar duo.

I greatly enjoy making environmental portraits–photos of people in their work or play environments. My goal is to not only make a portrait but to show the individual’s relationship to their career, hobby, or lifestyle. The students at the school where not in their normal environment but were working with instruments they love so that is what I tried to show.

You can see some of the photos I took at the Vermont Instruments School by clicking the image below.  You can read the accompanying article by Sonja Hakala  HERE.

Posted in General, Photography Tips | Also tagged , , Comments Off