I’m still thinking about the wonderful National Geographic/Lindblad  Expedition we went on last May/June to the Fjords of Norway and the Arctic Circle.

I’ve done posts on  the polar bear sightings,  the cod fishing towns and the absolutely stunningly beautiful, like makes you gasp, kind of scenery. Today I’d like to share the experience of having Jim Richardson on board.

Wow.  I loved that man.  He’s a marvelous National Geographic Photographer and a charming  person.  Friendly.  Patient.  Really a good guy.

He was on board to share his photo experiences, tips and help all of us photographer wannabees  shoot the wildlife, ice, water, glaciers and do this on a moving (vibrating) boat or while making our way across ice and snow.

He was wonderful.  How fun to share the experience. Trust me, I was watching what he shot and how he did it.

I’d like to share a couple of Jim’s tips from his photography lectures or on the expeditions ashore.

“When you get to a new destination go to a store and look at the post cards…. See what has been done to death and then challenge yourself to capture the scene in an original and creative way,” he said.  Here’s my attempt to capture the iconic Arctic Cathedral in Tromso.

What a great way to challenge your self to be better, to be more creative.  He also advised us to  avoid just standing in one spot and shooting what is in front of you.  Good photographers dance around the tulips is the phrase he used.

 And then there’s the light compensation meter.  Photographers might hoot, but there were a bunch of us who were clueless about this, even though we owned fancy SLR cameras.

There’s this great little button you can use to work with your exposure.  If I understand it correctly it really replaces the bracketing system that the shooters I worked with at the Grand Rapids Press followed.

Yes, I remember some of them, saying, “I think we’ve got some good shots here, Susan, just want to bracket to make sure.”

I’d nod as if I had some idea what they were talking about, but really…. clueless. .

Guess I have another crack at it.  If you are a Photographer Wannabe like me, get that manual out and learn about about your Exposure Compensation Button.

Jim gave us lots of tips  but  something that has really stuck with me is that he says he picks one thing at at time and works on it.  That there is so much to learn about photography and being a good photographer that the way to gain mastery is to take one concept or technique at a time and work on it.

He said he was currently working on Panorama photography. He takes lots of images of a scene all in a row and then stitching them together on software on his computer.  Cool.  He showed us some examples of what he was working on.

He suggested night photography or even as simple as just faces.

Being an obsessive over achiever I’m going to work on two things.  One is subject–capturing small children in ways that communicates their spirits and then there’s that exposure compensation button thing.  Going to master that.

Thanks, Jim.