Joel Truckenbrod – Photo Talk #11

This week’s interview is with Joel Truckenbrod. His website is www.joeltruckenbrod.com

I first got to know about his work through a forum in NPN where people were discussing his ebook: a photo project, a body of work on Banning State Park in Minnesota. What was intriguing to me was that Joel was offering this ebook as a free limited time download in pdf form. You can go to his website here to download it. I went ahead, downloaded this, got my afternoon coffee on a Friday and spent a happy couple of hours browsing and immersing myself in Banning SP.

His topic, his dedication in coming out with a portfolio, and then publishing it online, the way his photographs spoke to me, all inspired me to contact Joel and ask him a few questions.
This is what Joel has to say.

Foam Patterns, Photograph by Joel Truckenbrod, All Rights Reserved

SU: Tell me a little more about yourself. How did you get into photography?
JT: Well, I am a twenty-seven year old amateur photographer who currently resides in the twin cities area of Minnesota. Virtually all of my life I have been heavily involved in both art and various outdoor activities. My photography is ultimately an amalgamation of these two pursuits. The camera was introduced to me by a close friend during a mountain biking trip in northern Minnesota. We had decided to camp for a night at Cascade River State Park, located on Lake Superior, along Minnesota’s North Shore. Knowing of this planned stay in advance, he encouraged me to bring a camera with if at all possible. My brother borrowed me a manual Minolta SLR that he owned. Unassumingly, I brought it along. While we did go mountain biking from what I recall, I more vividly remember the time spent wandering up the river in the park, photographing anything and everything that caught my eye. Needless to say, I found the experience of exploring nature with a camera to be extremely compelling. I certainly didn’t know what I was doing at the time, but the act of arranging elements in the viewfinder was really exciting.

High Water Rapids, Kettle River, Photograph by Joel Truckenbrod, All Rights Reserved

SU:Your photography is predominantly landscapes. Can you tell us why are you attracted to landscape photography?
JT: Photographing regional landscapes has been the result of simply being honest with myself about what inspires me. I’ve tried my hand at other genres of photography, sometimes with a feeling of obligation, but landscape photography always call me back. Nature is where I feel the most connected, where I can recharge, and where I feel I have the most to say. These places offer a connection to past, present and future, well beyond the workings of man and our social constructions. Photographing landscapes offers a way to make connections; to experience something larger than oneself and come back with some record of that experience. It’s a subject that is amazingly diverse, constantly changing and full of surprises. You never know what’s going to happen, or what you’re going to find. There’s always something new to learn. It’s really rich.

Large flowered Trillium Bloom, Photograph by Joel Truckenbrod, All Rights Reserved

SU: You very recently published a digital portfolio titled “Banning State Park – A Photographic portfolio”. Why Banning State Park? Can you talk about this project and its conception?
JT: Banning State Park is located in east central Minnesota, about an hour and a half from where I live. The park is primarily comprised of dense woodlands, but it also contains a scenic river, as well as a number of creeks. It’s a rather uncelebrated place, certainly not a photographic hot spot. During the summer of 2006, about a year and a half after I had begun seriously pursuing photography, I decided to do a project on the park. My goal was to convey the essence of the park in 70-80 photographs. Most of my favorite landscape photographers tend to work in a focused, regional manner. This project simply took that ideal to the extreme. It gave me a tight set of parameters to work within, as well as a clear objective to pursue. I wanted to discover what it really meant to know a place well. This project was a way to push myself beyond the obvious.

I chose Banning over other possible locations for two primary reasons. The first is simply proximity. In other words, the park was close enough that I could economically drive over for the weekend, or even a day to photograph. Given the nature of the project, I knew I would have to return frequently in order achieve what I had envisioned. The second reason is a bit more complex. Banning is a park that I have always enjoyed. Many parts of the park remind me of where I grew up, and of when I used to go romp around the woods and wetlands as a child. Yet there are also enough differences in terrain and natural diversity within the park to hold my photographic interest. Intuitively I felt I would have enough subject material, it was also a place where I honestly felt inspired.

Snow, Red Pines, Photograph by Joel Truckenbrod, All Rights Reserved

SU: You have worked for more than 3 years in bringing this portfolio to light. Can you talk about what it took to complete this? Can you give any advice to other photographers contemplating photo projects of their own?
JT: It should probably be clarified that although the entirety of the project was created over a three year time span, the vast majority of the work was done between August of 2007 and June of 2008. I photographed many other places during those three years, almost all of the other images in my current portfolio were created within that same three year window. A large part of the reason it took so long to get the project fully underway, had to do with my lack of familiarity with my large format camera. Large format photography is significantly more complex and time consuming than working with a 35mm camera, and I had only been photographing for about a year and a half when I got the idea for the project, thus it took me a bit of time to climb over the proverbial learning curve.

In terms of what it takes to complete such a project, I would say that it simply comes down to making the choice to do it and then sticking with it! I’ve talked to numerous photographers who have expressed an interest in creating a cohesive body of work, but the majority don’t take that most important step of walking out the door and making it happen. In my experience, time spent working is directly correlated with the quality and quantity of images created. Time and effort are the closest things I’ve found to a silver bullet. Additionally, one needs to listen to their heart and follow their instincts. It has to be something you genuinely are interested in and want to do.

The majority of the images in the portfolio were created while I was a full time college student (finishing my second degree), and working twenty hours a week. It was a very busy time, but if I was able to make it happen, I think most people working a 9-5 job certainly could as well. All this said, I do think it’s extremely important to create a clear set of criteria from which to start, as well as a deadline. If one doesn’t know what they are trying to achieve, or when they should be finished, it’s highly likely that they won’t work effectively; Let alone even start the project. Photographers need to be proactive in setting their goals and priorities. As we all know, life is busy and there always is something else that can get in the way if one lets it.

Sandstone Arches, Hells Gate Rapids, Photograph by Joel Truckenbrod, All Rights Reserved

SU: Why did you decide to publish this portfolio digitally as a limited time free pdf download? Can you talk about the technical aspects that went into making this digitally?
JT: This project was really done as a personal exercise. In other words, my objective was to grow as a photographer rather than derive monetary gain from the project. As such, PDF publication gave me a cost effective way of sharing the project with others while still offering a high quality viewing experience. I’ve enjoyed the PDF ‘folios created by LensWork magazine publisher Brooks Jensen, and found PDF to be an excellent way of sharing bodies of work. PDF is very book-like in how it functions, plus it’s relatively secure. Personally, I’m very pleased that I have been able to offer my portfolio of images in this manner. It’s been a great way to share the images with others and get quality feedback.

Technically, it was fairly simple to create. Adobe Photoshop CS3 was used for virtually all of the work. I know Adobe InDesign is favored by quite a few people; however, I don’t have it. Instead, I manually made templates (12×12 @ 300 dpi) and dropped in 8×10 @ 300 dpi sharpened images. I then made the PDF by simply going to “File-Automate-PDF Presentation” in Photoshop. I created a “presentation”, told it not to downsample the images, but to save them as medium compressed jpegs. I also was able to turn off printing and editing in order to copy protect it a bit. Photoshop then assembled the PDF and that was it – pretty slick. I then opened up the PDF in Adobe Acrobat, removed any metadata and resaved. I opted for using larger files since it allows viewers to zoom in on the images to some extent if they want. Most of the images in the PDF hold up pretty well to 150% zoom. Obviously the trade off is that it’s a larger file to download; I felt it was worth it though.

Late October Sunset, Photograph by Joel Truckenbrod, All Rights Reserved

SU: Any recommendations? (like Photographers, Photo techniques, Music, Books, quotes, food..anything?)
JT: There’s a lot I could talk about here, but I’ll just stick with one solid recommendation. I mentioned Brooks Jensen earlier in the interview, and I would very highly recommend his LensWork podcasts. The podcasts focus on the art making aspects of photography rather than the purely technical; they’re absolutely loaded with great thoughts and ideas. You can find them here: http://www.lenswork.com/lensworkpodcast1-1.htm

SU: What are your future plans regarding this body of work? Can you mention how people interested in your work can contact you?
JT: Currently I’m exploring regionally based publication opportunities. I always enjoy interacting with other photographers and welcome questions anyone might have. I can be reached via the contact sheet on my website or directly via my email address: joel@joeltruckenbrod.com.

Thanks Joel!

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January 30, 2009 | Categories: Photo Talk | Leave A Comment »

Susan McConnell -Photo Talk #10

The first interview of 2009 is with Susan McConnell, wildlife photographer and biologist at Stanford. I have had the opportunity of meeting Susan on multiple occasions – out photographing at Ano Nuevo, at the Palo Alto Baylands. I’ve also had the opportunity of being in a group at Ano Nuevo where Susan was our docent. Her photographs have been received very well at the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) convention last year (2008). Her photographs can be found in http://web.mac.com/susan.mcconnell. I would recommend using IE or Safari to view this website (and not Firefox) since Firefox is showing issues with iweb websites.

Read on to what Susan has to say.

Wildebeest, Photograph by Susan McConnell, All Rights Reserved

SU: Tell me a little more about yourself. How did you get into photography?
SMC I started experimenting with photography when I was a student in college, but I maintained a deeply ambivalent relationship with the camera for several decades afterward. I felt uncertain about whether taking photos made me more fully present in the moment, or whether I might become so obsessed with “getting the picture” that I would lose sight of the rewards of direct experience. My doubts were erased several years ago when I went on a trip to Svalbard in Arctic Norway, where I had a camera body and lenses that were adequate, but not pro quality. On that trip, I became immersed in the process of photographing polar bears, walruses, reindeer, and birds, and I realized that when I’m behind the lens, I feel absolutely, fully, and deeply engaged with observing and predicting animal behavior. That was the point at which I realized that this experience is deeply satisfying to me, even when the resulting images are unimpressive (which those were!). After returning home, I decided to invest in high-quality cameras, lenses, and tripods, and started to learn seriously about composition and digital photographic techniques. I haven’t looked back since!

Lion and Impala, Photograph by Susan McConnell, All Rights Reserved

SU: Your work is predominantly wildlife photography. What about wildlife photography has captivated you?
SMC: I have been fascinated with animals and animal behavior ever since I was a little girl, when I would spend hours watching decidedly unglamorous animals like common brown rats (which lived in a woodpile near my home). At age 12 or 13, I saw a National Geographic television special on Jane Goodall and decided that I wanted to be her (or someone like her!) when I grew up. Although my interests in science ended up shifting significantly during my college years, my enthusiasm for animals has never waned and remains a priority in my life – I have ridden and shown horses since childhood and spent nearly 20 years showing and breeding dogs, so observing animals remains an important part of every day for me.

My early fascination with Jane Goodall and her chimpanzees generated a deep desire to visit Africa, which for many years was both a financial and practical impossibility. I was finally able to make my first trip to Africa about a dozen years ago, when my husband and I went on safari in Zimbabwe with friends. In all honesty, I can’t even remember if I took a camera on that trip – but I knew, from the moment that I stepped out of the bush plane onto the dusty airstrip at Mana Pools, that I was where I belonged. Lately I have been trying to make two trips a year to Africa – if I have to go to Europe for work, I figure I’m halfway to Johannesburg and I should just complete the trip! Spending as much time as I can in Africa maximizes my chances of creating special photographs, and as I learn more and more about Africa’s wildlife and landscapes, I’m better able to recognize and anticipate unique photographic opportunities. Many gifted photographers have spent much more time in Africa than I have.

That said, I also take advantage of opportunities to observe and photograph wildlife closer to home. I am not a keen birder, but I was shamed into learning more about local birds when I realized that I could identify dozens of birds in Botswana but none in my own back yard! In learning about local birds, I started visiting the Palo Alto Baylands and became enamored with its rookeries for great egrets, snowy egrets, and black-crowned night herons, as well as the abundance of resident and migrant avocets, stilts, swallows, ducks, gulls, terns, blackbirds, hummers, kites, hawks, harriers, sparrows, wrens, larks, coots and grebes – and more.

However, my greatest local passion is for the amazing colony of Northern elephant seals that periodically visit the A̱o Nuevo State Reserve, located just off of Highway 1 between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. I first visited A̱o Nuevo shortly after moving to the Bay Area in 1987, and when I became more interested in pursuing wildlife photography and thought about local mammals that might become good subjects for repeated visits, elephant seals were an obvious candidates. Repeated visits to the reserve during the mating season (when behavioral interactions are at a peak and guided walks are mandatory) made me realize that I love these animals and could give one of the guided walks Рat which point I signed up to become an A̱o Nuevo docent. During docent training, I learned a ton about the natural history of the reserve and even more about elephant seals, which are truly extraordinary migratory mammals. Being a docent does give me some photographic opportunities that are not available to the broader public, which is terrific Рand, in all honesty, this was one reason that I became a docent Рbut even more important to me is the fact that I have a chance to communicate with visitors every month about these amazing animals.

Mountain Gorilla, Photograph by Susan McConnell, All Rights Reserved

SU: How do you manage to photograph in a lot of amazing places? What does it take in terms of planning and resources to be able to shoot in these locales?
SMC: I am very fortunate that a variety of resources have enabled me to make repeated trips to Africa and Alaska, among other amazing places on our planet. An obvious logistical limitation to wildlife photography is financial, and I am lucky that I can afford to visit some of these. As I mentioned above, my job takes me twice a year to Alaska, and I always try to tack on at least a couple of days for wildlife photography onto each of these work trips. In addition, when I attend scientific conferences in Europe, I feel that I am halfway to Africa – so I try to “complete the trip” down south and spend time in Africa whenever possible.

I am also blessed that my husband not only enjoys many of the same places that I do and is proud of my images, but that he tolerates endless chatter about F-stops and shutter speeds and exposures during our trips together. We often travel with a private guide whose expertise is in photography, but even so, my husband’s help and support are invaluable in addressing practical issues of how to transport camera bodies, lenses, and tripods to remote destinations as carry-on luggage without having to pack expensive equipment onto flights as checked baggage.

Whenever I speak with a photographer who is planning his or her first trip to Africa, I emphasize the benefits of reserving a private vehicle and, if possible, a private guide who is familiar with the needs of photographers. It is common in African parks and reserves to share a vehicle with other guests, and it can be quite frustrating to try to take pictures while others are fidgeting in the vehicle, or to learn that you must leave a scene with wonderful golden light and an amazing pair of secretary birds because the majority of guests sharing your vehicle are bored and really, really, really want to see a lion (even if said lion is sound asleep). If you have your own vehicle, you can run your own show – you can ask your guide to try and find a species of particular interest, to stay longer at a sighting, or to reposition the vehicle for a better vantagepoint. Yes, this costs extra – and sometimes quite a lot extra – but is it worth it? Absolutely, yes!

When we’re going to travel together, my husband and I typically start planning a trip about a year and a half in advance. We have made many trips in Africa with Tony Reumerman from Wildnerness Safaris – Tony is an amazing guide, an incredibly fun person, and a gifted photographer in his own right. Typically what happens is that my husband and I choose a country or region as a target for a trip, then we contact Tony to get his advice on where to go and what the photographic opportunities might be at different sites. We work closely with a terrific travel agency, Bushtracks (http://www.bushtracks.com/), to arrange the logistics of the trip.

Finally, as I travel more and more frequently on my own to Africa and Alaska, I am becoming more comfortable with doing things on a budget. Understanding simple, practical issues about how to camp inexpensively in national parks, how to drive a 4-wheel-drive vehicle in deep sand, where to find animals, and (importantly) how to seek out and recognize truly unique photographic opportunities, are all a function of repeated experience and making local connections. The number of interesting images that I’m able to get are a direct function of the amount of time I’m able to spend in the field and the control I can exert on where I am and how long I can stay there. I always find a guide when I’m in a new part of the world, but once I get to know a place (and have figured out what’s safe, what’s not, where the animals are, and how to get around), then it can be fun and productive to be on my own. Since my husband can’t travel quite as much as I can, this is a great way to get out on my own without breaking the bank in the process.

Elephant Seal Flipper, Photograph by Susan McConnell, All Rights Reserved

SU: What does photography mean to you?
SMC: For me it’s all about being there and experiencing nature. The images are gravy. I am never so immersed with wildlife as when I’m looking through the lens!

Elephants at Night, Photograph by Susan McConnell, All Rights Reserved

SU: How do you manage to combine a very successful non-photographic career with being a wildlife photographer? What do you intend to do with photography in the future?
SMC: I am very fortunate that I have the time and financial resources to travel, and that my work often brings me into parts of the world that are in close proximity to amazing wildlife. Because I don’t have kids, I can tack on a few days or weeks to a work trip much more easily than can some of my friends, particularly those with family obligations. As a biologist, I have a longstanding interest in animals and their development, behavior, and conservation. As I become a more experienced photographer, I feel less interested in creating beautiful single images and more interested in telling stories about nature, biology, science, and conservation through pictures. While creativity, color, and composition remain an essential part of photography for me, I am exploring how a series of images can be juxtaposed with text to tell a full story about a place, a species, a research project, or a conservation challenge. To this end, I am currently working on two long-term projects: first, what I hope will eventually become a book about Northern elephant seals, and second, an article for a scientifically-oriented popular magazine about elephants and their social/dominance behaviors as a function of the availability of water. My role as a docent at Año Nuevo is playing a key role in the seal project, and I am spending big chunks of time at a field site in Namibia to develop a photographic story about research on elephants.

Dowitchers in Flight, Photograph by Susan McConnell, All Rights Reserved

SU: Any recommendations? (Photo techniques, Photographers, Music, Books, quotes, food..anything?)
SMC: I love studying the books and websites of truly gifted photographers, as a way to learn what is possible, to set high standards, to motivate my own photography, and to remind me that my efforts are pathetic compared to those of the masters! Here are a few of the photographers (and their websites and/or books) that I find inspiring:

Frans Lanting
Books: “Life, A Journey Through Time”, “Eye to Eye”, “Jungles”, “Okvango: Africa’s Last Eden”

Mattias Klum
Book: “Borneo Rainforest”

Nick Brandt
“On This Earth”

Michio Hoshino
“Hoshino’s Alaska”

Paul Nicklen
“Seasons of the Arctic”

Steve Bloom
“Spirit of the Wild”

Photograph by Susan McConnell, All Rights Reserved

SU: How can people interested in your work can contact you?
SMC: My photo website is http://web.mac.com/susan.mcconnell and my email address is suemcc@stanford.edu.

Oh, and by the way, it’s not work!

Thanks Susan!

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January 16, 2009 | Categories: Photo Talk | 4 Comments »