As an outdoor photographer I am usually subject to the whims and fancy of nature itself and the weather thrown at me to deal with. Some days I struggle through poor weather conditions and do my best to make the subject of my work look the best it possibly can that particular day under prevailing conditions. Other days, I am blessed with better fortune where nature plays nice and provides an awesome canvas for me to work with. On the day these images were taken the weather certainly started out less than ideal, but my experience kicked in and I just knew if I was patient there was a building of conditions that could turn into something truly magical. As the evening progressed, I was certainly rewarded by being in the right place at the right time prepared to capture the magic to unfold. The sky you see here truly was as astounding as it appears and was not manipulated in Photoshop to look as it does. The colors, shapes and depth of beauty were simply unforgettable. As I scrambled to collect as much of this beautiful light as I could in my little 'black box' I somehow knew it may be quite a while before I was graced with such beauty again and just took a moment to soak it all in. I thought how truly 'lucky' I was at that moment. Then the words of one of my photography mentors came to mind who taught me, "the harder I work, the luckier I get." Maybe this was just hard work coming to fruition or maybe it was just plain luck. In either event I was grateful for this moment in time being able to pursue my passion and share in nature's beauty.
Doug
I have had the great opportunity recently to expand my portfolio of real estate work and shoot some amazing homes for local Boise builder....Clark & Co Homes. The owner, Dan Clark does an amazing and thorough job and has an incredible eye for detail. I was honored to be asked to shoot several of his homes. As only one of these was vacant, I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and visiting with the excited new homeowners of each of these special properties. Each of them simply love their new home and have nothing but wonderful things to say about their builder. I am grateful to each that have opened their homes to me with full access and have immaculately prepared their homes for the day of shooting.
I really enjoy this type of work as it demands great attention not only to composition and lighting like any photo, but also a great amount of detail in geometry and perspective of lines and angles that is largely missing in portraiture and nature photography. While it is possible to correct some of these items in post processing I feel it is always a better practice to get the picture 'right' in the camera and make fewer adjustments as necessary in post production.
Most homeowners, builders and realtors prefer the look as represented in my new 'Real Estate Gallery' using HDR (high dynamic range) that involves blending several images of varying exposures to adequately capture the extreme of highlights and shadows typical of a home's interior and exterior. Depending on one's preference, HDR processing can be used to simply enhance the range of highlights and shadows to the extreme of a more 'surreal' and 'painterly' look. I am always happy to adjust this processing to meet the specific needs or preference of any client.
Please get in touch with me if you have need of this service and let's see how I can best help you market your real estate in a beautiful and tasteful manner that gets attention and RESULTS!
Please visit and enjoy this gallery. Check back often as I have many more homes that I will be adding in coming days.
Doug
It has been a great day for Doug Petersen Photography! After entering three photos this year in the Western Idaho State Fair - Professional Division, I was very excited to arrive at the fair tonight and find that each of the three garnered a placing ribbon. The image above of Haystack Rock At Midnight won 1st place in 'Night Scenes.' (Be sure to read the description of the picture in the gallery for a quick detail of how I captured this unique image of a heavily photographed land mark.) The picture of the Beautiful Wood Canoes won 3rd place in 'Abstracts,' and the Colorful Portrait of Maya won an Honorable Mention in 'Portraits Color.' I was particularly excited about the portrait of Maya as it is not a 'typical' portrait and was competing in a grouping of very beautiful images by very accomplished photographers. It was an honor to compete with them.
All of the photographs will be on display at the Idaho Fairgrounds August 17th - August 26th, 2012. Although the prints on display are rather small (conforming to the rules), please stop by and see them if you are there!! And of course, they are all available to view and purchase as prints right here on my website. As always, please feel free to leave comments here or my Facebook page as well.
Thanks!
Doug
Thinking of the days of shooting cellulose film, whether slides or negatives, I painfully recall the one incredibly difficult challenge that always loomed was keeping them clean and free of dust, hair and other contamination. Later the concern became one of avoiding discoloration and deterioration in storage of either the film, the prints or in most cases both.
As we evolved to embrace our digital world, these chemical marvels have quickly become a thing of the past that for most of us lay deserted in a long forgotten box somewhere. We seldom, if ever bother to pull them out to view them, I think mostly because they can't be browsed as easily as their new digital counterparts on our iPhones and iPads but likely somewhat due also to the image quality of these now deteriorated gems of history. But imagine if you could enjoy them as much as the other new digital pictures in your collection.
Kind of like an "Extreme Makeover," many of these old slides, negatives and prints can be scanned and restored through digital restoration technology and saved as shiny new digital files to avoid further aging and deterioration. This is not always easy work, but like any labor of love, through patience and attention to detail I have been able to yield great results. As can be seen above, even a heavily fade, scratched and discolored image can be rejuvenated and brought back to life for many more years of enjoyment not to mention their heritage and legacy. Heck, making new prints of these restored beauties to rehang on a wall makes more sense now than when they were taken.
Please contact me if you have old images you would like to have restored and made a part of your new digital world...yep, even on your iPhone and iPad....But don't delay!!! Like most of us, those old pictures aren't getting any younger and the sooner you throw them a rope, the more breath they will have when we start CPR on them! Time is not their friend. Trust me, your family years from now will thank you for protecting their legacy.
Click here to view my gallery of some other prints and negatives demonstrating just a few of the restoration results possible.
Doug
I have often pondered when and where my love of photography really began to take root and blossom. While I haven't been able to pinpoint it exactly, I do recall very fond memories as a young boy receiving a gift for Christmas of a brand new Kodak Instamatic X15. While I had previously used some older family hand me down Brownie cameras, the fun truly arrived with this new little package. Don't misunderstand, the X15 was no spectacular or elaborate piece of equipment, rather it was an incredibly simple little photo tool. However, it's size,simplicity and ability to easily capture what I was after made it a real treat for a young boy of probably seven years old and instilled in me great confidence that I could take pictures. Besides, who didn't love the pyrotechnics of the quirky little steel wool filled 'magicube' flash bulbs?
I recall a particular school project that allowed me to use my new friend. Somehow, I had the fortune of having an amazing teacher that took upon himself the task of setting up a dark room in an unused bathroom. All who were interested got the chance to shoot a roll of black and white film, develop it and create prints and enlargements using all of the equipment he set up. What a spectacular experience of handling the film in the dark, passing the negatives and prints through the various chemicals and seeing the images appear on paper right before my eyes that I had first seen through the tiny viewfinder of the X15. Now keep in mind this was only grade school and not some high school photography course. I think of this teacher and am truly grateful for his efforts and the significant impact this had on me. Of course since then I have passed many steps of the addictive ladder of camera gear including my first 35mm SLR and today I shoot with very highly advanced digital equipment. Rather than a blacked out restroom, I now enjoy a 'digital darkroom' that affords many incredible transformations, but I never tire of the pleasure of watching images magically appear from what I once envisioned in my head to what comes out in print or on the screen. I will always reflect back on the boxy little silver and black friend that set me on the path that would stay with me a lifetime and be grateful for having met.
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