How To Find A Mentor

[j. caputo]

How does one go about finding a mentor for landscape photography? I have become more and more interested in landscape photography

and I would like to find a good mentor. I did this with weddings and I found a great person who taught me tons of stuff. As for landscape

photography, I dont know where to look. Are there local clubs in southern california for landscape photographers? Any advice will be greatly

appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Jimmy

[tdlavigne]

I too would like to know this? Other than a now defunct photography club at CSUN there doesn't appear to be many "groups" out here that I've found.

[SCL]

You might check who's producing local landscape photos which are sold at local art fairs and tourist shops.

[joseph_martines]

Perhaps it is time to start a club.

[bruce_margolis]

I don't know about camera clubs in SoCal but you might find something here.......

 

http://www.photo-ne.com/biglist/page13.htm

[randall ellis]

My experiences with camera clubs show that they are not the best place to find a mentor, but who knows, your experiences may be wildly different than my own. I would suggest finding someone in your area who is an accomplished photographer in the style in which you wish to work and approach them for help.

 

Start by searching the web for 'landscape photographer' and the names of some of the places near you. You should find quite a few. Then just contact the ones who's work looks impressive to you and see if they would be interested in helping you out. I tend to be a (very) casual person, and I've always found people are very kindly and helpful when you take the time to talk with them in person in this way. Now, if you want to be a 'pro', they might see you as competition and things might be more difficult, but generally speaking you should do fine...

 

- Randy

[stemked]

Jimmy,

 

This may not be what you are looking for but frankly if you can handle weddings, I personally really think excellence in landscape photography can be self taught. Unless you want to shoot a lot of large-format and use movements the principles can be taught out of many books, I would suggest John Shaw's "Landscape Photography" as an excellent reference or one of several by Ansel Adams. I would also look at lots of landscape images and bare in mind what you like about the images and make a determination how the images were taken, the lighting situation, the compositions that work(the hardest part), and the equipment used. It really isn't technically all that difficult IMHO to take outstanding images with a little nose-in-the-book time.

[jwarthman]

Jimmy,

A good starting place would be this list of photography clubs, organized by state, that are affiliated with the Photographic

Society of America:

 

http://www.psa-photo.org/resourcePageDisplay.asp?DivID=8&menuID=6&pageID=492

 

In my experience every camera club is unique. Some will have decent mentoring programs, others not so good.

 

Let us know what you find.

 

Enjoy!

 

-- Jim

[j. caputo]

Douglas, Your the second person who has recommended the John Shaw book to the in the last couple days. Must be a good one. I have also been recommended "Light: Science & Magic". Anyone read that one?

[enlightened-images]

From my experience being a mentor, we've found it works best if the mentoring also involves a good chuck of field

time. It can be difficult to find that kind of

arrangement outside of some amateur groups and camera clubs. That can be fine, but there are other paths if you

really want to

take your work to the

next level. I tell people skip the urge to buy all types of new gear, and take a workshop or three. <br><br>Now as far

as

mentoring, I suggest finding a local pro in your areas whose work

and style you like, and either offer to intern trade work for learning, or just ask about taking one or two days worth of

private one-on-one workshops out in the field. It helps if you read and study a lot of resources first, so you can really

maximize any time you get in the field. Getting this type of personal attention can save months or years worth

of 'learning it yourself'. You want to be able to walk in a door and say, "Teach me A, B, C, E, G, & K." - and then get

exactly that. (That's the benefit of doing private workshops vs. the more "social" group tours and workshops where

you're just 1 of 15+ students.) As for as the intern deal, I've let people do X hours of cloning out dust spots in trade

for Y time in the field. Maybe you can find someone who will do a similar arrangement somewhere near you.

<br><br>Check

out some other online places like Nature Photographers Network or even flickr to find local groups or clubs. Also do a

search for Photographic Society of America, as they'll have the list of local camera clubs.

<br><br>

HTH & Good Luck.

<br>

- Gary

[lonebearimages]

Note to J.- I live in SoCal (Santa Clarita) and am always out and about shooting landscapes. I normally spend the majority of my time up around the Tehachapis (south and east of Bakersfield), the Carrizo Plain, and then up along U.S. 395 and the eastern Sierra. In the fall, winter, and spring I hit the deserts hard (i.e., Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Trona Pinnacles, Mojave Preserve, etc.). For landscape locations in our area have a look at my portfolio. I'm always up for company too; as you know landscape photography tends to be a pretty solitary affair and I do like the company. Cheers! Chris

[tonybynum]

the john shaw book that I like the best is called "nature photography", it covers more than just landscapes. His book, "landscape photography" is good no less. Since all photography is about capturing light, the more you know about light the quicker you will learn to read light, and the better you will become as a photographer. The Light Science book is the best book on the subject of photographic lighting I have ever come across. Many people would look at that book and tell themselves that it's not for them, and not really about landscape/nature/wildlife photography, in one way they are right because it does not use those examples, but what it does do is explain light that makes sense to a photographic artist. Dont be fooled, photography is about capturing light and the more you know about it, and what it does the better you will become as a photographer. Buy them both, read them, and then read them again. . . and practice a lot.

 

Good luck with the search. . .

[derek_thornton1]

J.Caputo,

 

Hey. I am new to this myself. Finding a mentor is not a bad idea, but would seem to be very hard to do this day in age. Personally, I had my oldest brother who taught me basic photography here and there over the years. He was heavy into photography and I was always interested but could never afford it. I bought my first camera last year and have learned 90% of what I know thus far by reading. I am in no position to recomend anything due to lack of experiance, but, I will say that reading has helped me a lot.

 

Derek

[Mary Doo]

J, I wish you luck in finding a good mentor. A good camera club would be a logical place to start. Visit a few to see

which fills your bill. In my rooky years at my club, I was lucky to have mentors who helped me along. I was

compatible with one of the best photographers who started me off on the right foot; and I am grateful.

 

Mentoring will be an important theme in the coming season at my club, as many new members have joined and

expect to benefit from the more experienced ones. The more experienced members also wish to attain new heights.

My observation has been that those who are willing to learn and who network well with the others improve quickly.

 

As you must know alerady, besides enthusiasm, good photography requires skills and hard work. Luck plays a part

sometimes, but never a big part. Many times it has been proven that two photographers who shoot side by side

produce entirely different images.

 

Good luck,

Mary

[derek_thornton1]

MD, nice web site. I really love the China folder.

[Jeff Lear]

Thank you for starting this thread. I had never considered a mentor, the thought (idea) just never occurred to me. I've read extensively but unfortunately, my long-term reading comprehension is less than stellar meaning that what most people get the first time takes me three or four reviews and a lot of mnemonics to remember 10 minutes after I set the book down. There are some great (and very accomplished) photographers that I've met along the way. Photographers who's enthusiasm for sharing knowledge was equal to my appetite for it. I never thought to ask about a formal mentorship but I should have.

 

Perhaps you should consider someone you already know. I agree with Gary regarding workshops, they are a great place to hang out with like minded photographers and actually learn something.

[savagesax]

Dave Wyman is a very wonderful photographer with several books to his name. I'm actually in 2 of his books.

 

He lives in LA and hosts several nature trips a year. Contact him for some of his upcoming trips. These trips are always easy, full of knowledge, and decent food! All at a good fair price. He's very approachable and fun to talk with.

 

http://davewyman.net/Route66.html