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This is my contribution to the great photographers on Twitter discussions that have been going on lately. This list is mostly nature/landscape/adventure photographers who inspire me to get out and shoot. These recommendations are also based on the quality of their photography, not necessarily the quality of their tweets.

1. @bernabephoto—www.richardbernabe.com
2. @brucepercy —www.brucepercy.com
3. @CornforthImages—www.cornforthimages.com
4. @ianplantphoto—www.ipphotography.com
5. @enlightphoto—www.enlightphoto.com
6. @MartyKnapp—www.martyknapp.com
7. @chriscorradino—www.christography.com
8. @spoolimages—www.spoolphotography.com
9. @jimgoldstein—jmg-galleries.com
10. @gdanmitchell—www.gdanmitchell.com
11. @scottflaherty—store.clanoflaherty.com
12. @Niebrugge—www.my-photo-blog.com
13. @ScottDickerson—scottdickerson.com
14. @MoosePeterson—www.moosenewsblog.com
15. @pixelatedimage—www.pixelatedimage.com/blog
16. @artwolfe—www.artwolfe.com
17. @akornylak—www.akornphoto.com

This list is not in any particular order, and is clearly not meant to be comprehensive, merely the ones I am familiar with. If you have suggestions, please share them, I can always use more inspiration.

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Ansel Adams once said, “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. ” I whole heartedly support this statement, and it’s one of the reasons that I tend to avoid posting my photos to public websites for critique. The people who are most active in the critiques sections of these websites tend to be the people who have learned the “rules” of photography and then go into the forums checking off the rules. If you followed the rules then it’s a good shot, and if you didn’t then it gets torn apart.

The thing about the rules of photography, especially composition rules, is that they can be helpful to someone who doesn’t understand the fundamentals of what makes a good image.  They’re good guides in helping illustrate abstract concepts, like visual tension, that are difficult to explain without something of a concrete example. Unfortunately, the rules can become counter-productive if they underlying concepts they illustrate are never fully grasped.

To illustrate this, I tend to use the example of hitting in baseball.  In little league, children are taught the rules for hitting a baseball.  Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, arms back, elbow up, step into the pitch, swing level, etc. The thing about these rules is that they’re great for someone with absolutely no clue how to hit a baseball, but look at baseball players from every age group, from the traveling teams through to the pros. How many of the players still have a textbook swing? As players get experience, they learn what works for them and they adapt their hitting style accordingly. By the time most players become pros, their hitting technique is so unique, that they can be identified by their stance at the plate. These guys are by definition among the best baseball players in the world. Every one of them have abandoned the rules, after learning the fundamentals of hitting and adapting those techniques to their strengths.

So it is with photography. Photographers learn the rules as a guide for understanding the concept, and then move past those rules, adapting their technique to their strengths.

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Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. My wife and I met my our senior year in High School. We went on our first date the night of my senior prom. Not going to prom that night was one of the best decisions I ever made.

2. I adore my kids. I love the fact that their faces light up when they see me after I’ve been gone for any length of time.

3. I have a huge family, with six brothers and sisters who are all married. They have made me an uncle 20 time over, and a foster uncle 5 times over.

4. Two weeks before my dad died, he told me he had some books he wanted me to read, but wouldn’t tell me what they were. He died of a heart attack before he got a chance to tell me.

5. I love photography. I have always been one to “stop and smell the roses” as it were and photography gives me a good reason to spend an hour appreciating a single flower or waterfall.

6. I don’t make friends easily, but I’m fiercely loyal once I’ve become friends with someone.

7. I have extreme wanderlust. Sadly, I have only traveled outside the United States once, this past Christmas, when I drove into Canada.

8. Heights freak me out. Just seeing photos of someone standing on the edge of a cliff, or on top of a mountain, gives me a little anxiety. However, I have no problems with airplanes, roller coasters, or tall buildings.

9. I am a very deep sleeper. My wife would probably tell you it’s easier to wake the dead than it is to get me up in the morning. It’s not uncommon for my wife to hit me two or three times with a pillow before I wake up, and that’s after an alarm has been going off for an hour.

10. I like cold weather. Around my house, you will find bedroom windows open and fans blowing even in the dead of winter. The temperature has to drop to near freezing before we close the windows, and colder before we turn on the heat.

11. Since August 2005, I have shot nearly 50,000 photos, and posted nearly 500 to InvisibleGreen.com. I’m hoping that with enough practice I’ll be good one day.

12. My eyes used to be really dark brown (nearly black), today they are almost completely green with only the slightest hint of brown.

13. I was robbed at gun point while staying at a cabin in North Georgia, on Friday the 13th.

14. Having twelve police officers point their guns at you is far less frightening, than having one masked man do the same. Also, if you’re polite to the police officers, they’ll buy you an ice cream to replace the one they made you put down when they handcuffed you.

15. My wife and I once came home to find one of our rottweilers on the roof of our house.

16. Growing up my family had a computer with a color monitor before we had a color TV. We had internet access (via CompuServe) in the late 80s, but never paid for cable.

17. I’ve always felt awkward at parties and in other social situations.

18. I still believe I can do anything I want when I grow up, and have not completely ruled out the idea of becoming a doctor, lawyer, national geographic photographer, or any of a number of other professions.

19. I was SCUBA certified when I was 15 years old, but have only been diving once in the last decade.

20. I can be incredibly tenacious, and have found that it creates opportunities that might not have been available otherwise.

21. I have a BA in History, a BS in Psychology, and work as a web developer for a theology school.

22. I love the rain. It’s my favorite kind of weather.

23. Around age five or six I had an accident that required surgery, and over 160 stitches, to re-attach part of my face to my skull.

24. When I was very young I told people I wanted to be a house painter when I grew up. I eventually changed my mind about that, and found that I really hated working with paint. As fate would have it though, while working for a home builder, I was regularly asked to digitally paint houses before they were actually painted.

25. My brothers and sisters and their spouses are among my very best friends.

*These instructions were written for Facebook. I’m posting here so my non-FB friends can read it.

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