Pro Techniques

In a business that thrives on intensely refined specialties, Newport, Rhode Island-based shooter Matthew Cohen has managed to find success in what has to be one of the ultimate photographic niches: nautical adventure photography. Cohen is one of a handful of photographers worldwide who earns much of his living adventuring on the high seas and capturing those exploits with his camera.

A phone call from a friend woke Chris Fulcher at his home in Newtown, Connecticut, around 10:30am on December 14th last year. “I’d slept late and didn’t know what was going on,” Chris says. “My buddy told me to check the news, and then I rushed to the school because my 6-year-old cousin goes to that school.”

Actor Richard Gere is best known for his roles in over 40 films, but few may be aware he is also an avid photographer and collector. Taking pictures on his many trips to India was always more of a personal project, until photography book and exhibition designer Elizabeth Avedon happened to notice a 3-foot stack of beautiful 8x10 photos in his loft. “A lot of these photographs I didn’t show anyone because it was such a private experience for me,” Gere recalls. “I had no interest in sharing them.” Fortunately, Avedon was able to convince him they needed to be seen, and these and other photos have been exhibited around the world and published in his book, Pilgrim.

While most of Tom Bol’s outdoor and adventure images begin with specific assignments or great scenic opportunities, there are a good number that begin with Tom asking himself, “What if…?”

I live near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn and have been photographing the canal and the neighborhood for over two decades, but it was only in the fall of 2009 that my photographs had the prospect of becoming a historical record, due to the imminent prospect of development and a long-term cleanup. Either way, the area was going to change dramatically. The photographs I produced have won awards, been featured in exhibitions, and 17 of the images have been acquired by the Brooklyn Historical Society for their permanent collection.

After 30 years of making a living as a professional photographer I reached another milestone this past July—I traveled with my 17-year-old son Justin around the entire state of Oregon, our goal being to create an in-depth documentary of this beautiful state. We had never before traveled together solely as a photo team. This trip served as another milestone for me—it would be my first photo trip with my new Canon digital camera, having finally said goodbye to my beloved manual Nikon SLRs and Fujichrome slide film.

At one time or another we’re all tourists somewhere. There’s even the old suggestion that to be a better travel photographer you might pretend to be a tourist in your own hometown. Seek out points of interest and find unusual ways of photographing them and you’re on your way to better images when you get to Paris, London, Toronto, New York, or wherever you’ll someday be headed.