Deborah Sandidge

Deborah Sandidge  |  Mar 17, 2023

Camera technology these days is amazing; it’s practically magic. The problem, though, to my way of thinking and photographing, is that the magic offers a very wide and deep comfort zone—you might call it a zone of automatic decisions, and it’s probably best not to spend a lot of time there, certainly not if you want to create individualistic images.

Deborah Sandidge  |  Jan 16, 2023

When I started in photography my pictures were factual; they fulfilled the “here’s what it looked like” requirement and checked off all the familiar guides: a clearly-defined subject; properly placed leading lines; the rule of thirds obeyed; backgrounds taken into careful consideration. But they were static images, and there was no real communication of what the images were about.

Deborah Sandidge  |  Nov 17, 2022

The photography essayist, critic, and historian A.D. Coleman once said that the biggest mistake photographers make was “thinking that what they’re experiencing is what they’re capturing in the photograph.”

Deborah Sandidge  |  Aug 19, 2022

I’m guessing the blue moon photo did its job and got your attention. It might surprise you to know that a key element in its creation was a weather app. We’ll get to the details of that shortly, but first, a few words about not-strictly-photographic accessories.

Deborah Sandidge  |  Jun 28, 2022

Most of my columns for this website concern the ideas and purposes behind the photographs I take. I always include information about the technology used to achieve the photos, which could be as basic as the f/stop chosen to direct your attention, or the use of a ND filter to make a long exposure possible. That approach is not incidental or coincidental; the stories are planned along those lines because my ideas come first, and technology’s purpose is to support those ideas.

Deborah Sandidge  |  Apr 22, 2022

There are three zoom lenses I consider absolutely essential to provide the versatility that travel photography demands: the 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm. It's no exaggeration to say I don’t leave home without them, and if travel is in your plans for the upcoming season, those lenses can play a big part in how well you tell the story of your journey.

Deborah Sandidge  |  Feb 18, 2022

It was shortly after I’d completed a remote Zoom presentation to a group of camera-club members that I decided to share some of the images and main points of my talk in this column. I show photographs, explain the process of making them, and answer questions, and at a time when in-person workshops, camera club meetings, and field trips were impossible, doing Zoom sessions was a welcome chance for members of the photo community to stay connected, motivated, and inspired.

Deborah Sandidge  |  Dec 09, 2021

It’s often a case of hurry up and wait. I’ll hurry to a location—often it’s a beach, while it’s still dark, and with a flashlight to guide me I’ll check out where the rocks and tide are. Then I decide on the location for the camera and select the lens that will best tell the story.

Deborah Sandidge  |  Jul 24, 2021

I know someone who calls these photographs my Alfred Hitchcock Project. You know, The Birds through a Rear Window. Nice touch, but the truth is the Master of Suspense was not in my thoughts when I began to shoot.

Deborah Sandidge  |  May 07, 2021

Before I answer the question above, a few words about the kinds of pictures I like to take. Simply, they are pictures that are different—different from what others might be shooting at a particular location, even different from what I might have shot at that location the last time I visited.

Pages

X