Outstanding Photographers

The pure unsullied landscapes of Tom Schwabel, one of the finest photographers from around the world!

Posted by Arnaud | Filed under Landscape, Nature, Night, Photographers, Travel, Urban

Outstanding Photographers aims at showcasing some of the finest photographers from around the world and indeed there are some great ones out there. We are now proud to introduce to you our 160th feature, Tom Schwabel (pdxsafariguy), another fine example and among the best in the field. Tom is one of those rare artists that possesses the uncanny ability to pull the viewer into the scene and make you feel as if you were the one snapping the shutter! His pure, unsullied landscapes are both surreal and yet tangible in their breathtaking beauty. Below is but a sample of Tom’s amazing work.

Artist’s Statement:

I’ve always been into photography to some extent, starting long ago in a high school darkroom. After a long break from photography, I moved to the Pacific Northwest and the photography bug bit hard. Surrounded by so much natural beauty, it was only natural to begin trying to bring some of that beauty home with me. Now I find myself traveling far and wide to incredible locations, challenging myself to capture them in the best possible manner. Through this combination of travel and photography, I have been fortunate to gain a deeper appreciation of the culturally and naturally diverse world we live in. I find myself inspired by landscapes and seascapes, city skylines and bridges, wildlife, and anything at night. Wherever possible I try to integrate water, light, texture, and motion into my images. I am constantly striving to refine my eye for composition as well as improve my understanding of light and how to control it to achieve the impact I desire. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the incredibly talented folks here on Flickr who have helped and inspired me on my photographic journey. Learning is a lifelong process and I believe, maybe as my own harshest critic, that there is always room for improvement. In that regard, I am on a never-ending quest for that elusive ultimate shot.

All rights reserved – Copyright © Tom Schwabel

Baobabs at Night

Japanese Garden

Glacial Snake

Saline Sunrise

Autumn Reflections

Starbursts Over San Francisco

Where art thou, Bob Vila?

Mind the Gap

Looking for Mischief

Waterworld

The Logjam

The Star of the Garden

Storm over the Rock

Upper Antelope Canyon

Mesa Arch Sunrise

Falls in the Fall

Summer in Glacier

Proxy from Heaven

All photographs appearing on this post are the property of Tom Schwabel. They are protected by U.S. and international Copyright Laws, and are not to be downloaded or reproduced in any way without express written permission. Copyright 2004-2012 Tom Schwabel, All Rights Reserved. Infringements are addressed swiftly and vigorously in accordance with applicable laws.

All of my images are available for licensing or purchase as prints. If you have a need for subject material but are not finding exactly what you want, please ask.

Arrangements for prints or licensing can be made upon request. My images are generally licensed as Rights Managed unless otherwise noted. I will make every effort to provide market competitive quotes for licensing. Multiple image and long-term usage discounts can be negotiated, as well as exclusivity (where possible). Certain images available for license exclusively thru Getty Images or SuperStock. Send flickrmail or email with any questions. I will try to entertain all reasonable requests, but keep in mind that I need to be paid for most commercial uses. Thanks.

You can contact Tom at:

Browse my photos available for license at Getty Images.
Browse my photos available for license at SuperStock.

Also, check me out on 500px.com:

For information on upcoming shows and exhibits featuring my work,

please follow me on Facebook!

Use of these images on websites, blogs or any other media without the explicit permission of the artists is absolutely prohibited. © All rights reserved. It is prohibited to download, copy or use a photo in any other way without the express permission of the photographer.

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Tags: landscape, nature, night, Oregon, pdxsafariguy, Portland, Seascape, Tom Schwabel, travel, United States, urban

Read more | Comments (0) | April 27th, 2012

What does good poetry, bad poetry, cigarettes and espresso, have to do with photographer Eddie O’Bryan? Inspiration and great black and white photography!

Posted by Arnaud | Filed under Black and White, Conceptual, Landscape, Monochrome, Photomanipulation, Portrait

Meet photographer Eddie O’Bryan. Eddie is from Austin, TX, and has an amazing portfolio of superb art for all his 27 years of age! We have presented here a small sampling of Eddie’s work… surreal, captivating, imaginative, complex and often thought provoking images, very cool 18 black and white images of pure awesome!

27 year old photographer currently residing in Austin, Texas.

Inspired by: Bob Dylan bootlegs (before his 1966 motorcycle crash). Lou Reed bootlegs, the more lo-fi, the better. Good poetry. Bad poetry. Cigarettes. Espresso. Good B&W photographs (good luck finding them). Victorian furniture. Decadent chandeliers. Brocade fabric. Sleep deprivation. Typefaces that aren’t Helvetica. Sex. Handmade Italian shoes. Commes des Garcon. Gary Graham. Louise Dahl Wolfe. Love. Life. Death. You, probably (if I knew you.)

Golden Gate Bridge with fog

Pacific Coast II

Tree at Sunset

Tree on Hilltop

Girl with umbrella

Mackenzie I

England I

Calla Lily

Artichoke

Pears

Storms coming

Amanda & the Spanish Moss

Tophat

Solitude

Blizzard in Alleyway, Downtown NYC

Holga meets the birds

An Ode to Louise Dahl-Wolfe

Billy Corgan

You can contact Eddie at: Eddie O’Bryan Photography

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Tags: Austin, black and white, conceptual, Eddie O'Bryan, landscape, monochrome, photomanipulation, portrait, Texas, United States

Read more | Comments off | July 22nd, 2011

The Hall of Fame is proud to present the renowned photographer Ian Plant, by no means a surprise to the world of nature photography!

Posted by Arnaud | Filed under Landscape, Nature, Photographers

The Hall of Fame is proud to present as our 10th feature, the renowned photographer Ian Plant, (Ian Plant Nature Photography) by no means a surprise to the world of nature photography!

Ian Plant has been photographing our natural world for over fifteen years. His photographs and instructional articles have appeared in a number of books, calendars, and magazines, including Outdoor Photographer, Popular Photography, Nature Photographers Online Magazine, National Parks, Common Ground, Blue Ridge Country, Adirondack Life, Wonderful West Virginia, and Chesapeake Life, among others. Ian is also a Contributing Editor to Nature Photographers Online Magazine, and writes a regular blog column for Outdoor Photographer online. Ian is the photographer/author of eight print books, including Chesapeake: Bay of Light (2007), which received critical acclaim from the Washington Post, Washington Times and Baltimore Sun, among others. The Washington Times said “Plant’s sensational lens work . . . is a smash hit.” Ian is also one of the lead authors and designer of The Ultimate Guide to Digital Nature Photography (2009). Most recently, Ian has authored a number of nature photography instructional eBooks. Ian leads several nature photography workshops, digital photo tours, and online classes each year.

Here are some of his masterpieces!

Dreamscape

Egret Sunrise

Towers of the Moon

Sandstorm

Moonscape

Snowy Egret

Ocotillo Stars

King of the Hill

Phantasmagoria

Puffin Cuddle

Inner Glow

Light Bend

Cloud Forest

Gothic Rainbow

Canyon Kaleidoscope

The Lonely Shore

Night Glow

Heaven and Earth

You can contact Ian at: Ian Plant Photography

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Tags: Ian Plant, landscape, nature, United States

Read more | Comments off | June 3rd, 2011

When the light, angle and clouds all seem to just fall into place is it magic? Steve’s technical expertise and “know how” makes the real magic happen.

Posted by Arnaud | Filed under HDR, Landscape, Photographers, Urban

Our 42nd artist is outstanding land/seascape photographer Steve Skinner (aka sjs61)! Based in San Diego, California, Steve makes landscape photography look easy! When the light, angle and clouds all seem to just fall into place is it magic? Steve’s technical expertise and “know how” makes the real magic happen.

Steve talks about himself and his photography:

“I am now retired and have been lucky enough to call myself a “bum” for almost 6 years now. I graduated from College as a Fine Arts Major and was under the delusional idea that I could make a living as an artist. Wrong!!! After a few years as a retail sales person, an Insurance Agent and various other positions I got involved in the technology industry. I made a decent living traveling around the world and through most of the Western US selling and training other sales people how to sell my company’s product.

I currently live in the North County of San Diego and I have always loved the beach. I have been a surfer for over 40 years and gave it up a little less than 3 years ago because I lost that “stoke”". Realizing I needed a “hobby”, my son, who is the real photographer in the family, sold me one of his DSLR’s and some lenses. He also changed my view of photography by showing me what HDR could do.

Most of my images are of the ocean, clouds, beaches or those people that are found there.

It is truly an honor to be in included with these great photographers that you see here.

Best regards,

Steve Skinner”

The Approach – Turn-Arounds

The South Side – Oceanside

For Your Pleasure – Cardiff

The Vortex – Salk Institute La Jolla

Heading North – Big Creek Bridge – Big Sur

Still Waters – Morrow Bay

Shell Beach – Pismo Beach

Walking the Path – Terramar

There’s a Rain Squall Coming – Terramar

What November Looks Like In San Diego

The California Girl

Crystal Pier – Pacific Beach

After the Storm – Yosemite Valley

Beach Access – Only for the Few

Ponto’s Guard Station 21

If I Only Had a Second – La Jolla

Beach Walk at Terramar

Working on the Stairs

You can contact Steve at:

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Tags: California, HDR, landscape, sjs61, Steve Skinner, United States, urban

Read more | Comments off | June 3rd, 2011

Photographer David Shield, a man of nature who truly appreciates the wilderness around him!

Posted by Arnaud | Filed under Landscape, Photographers, Urban

Love the outdoors? David Shield, our 46th featured photographer is a man of nature who truly appreciates the wilderness around him! With a knack when it comes to capturing the light and beauty around him, David successfully interprets and captures it with his lens. Check out his marvelous work, and I am sure you will agree.”

Artist’s statement:

“Born in London, England, I now call Northern California home. Through no coincidence, I have chosen to live in a part of the country, conveniently located between the Bay Area, and the mountain ranges of the Eastern Sierra.

I have been a member of the Flickr Community for about one and a half years. This has been a great platform for receiving both comments and feedback. Even though I have experienced moderate success promoting my images through several different media forms, I am still far from being able to consider myself a true professional.

I still have a lot to learn, but I am however, totally driven to improve my skills. Through my passion; my goal is to touch and inspire others, so that more people will appreciate the natural beauty we are so lucky to have be a part of this Earth”.

Explore now some of David’s favorites:

Rodeo Starlight Twilight

Swoosh

Bullfrog Lake Sunrise

Zion Pool

Tides of Time and Ocean

Blue Lake Dawn

A New Day

A New Day 2

V2 Twilight Bay

Bay Bridge Twilight

Bay Bridge – A Timeless Span

Running Through the Forest

Mono Lake Golden Blues

Thor’s Hammer Sunrise

Shamrock Lake Sunrise

Antelope Canyon

Mobius Arch Sunburst

No Gray Today

You can contact David at:

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Tags: David Shield, Great Britain, landscape, United States, urban

Read more | Comments off | June 2nd, 2011

Meet world famous Marc Adamus, skilled professional and perfectionist when it comes to photography!!

Posted by Arnaud | Filed under Landscape, Photographers, Travel

Some say 33 is a number that denotes perfection. No coincidence then that our 33rd featured photographer is none other than the world famous Marc Adamus, skilled professional and perfectionist when it comes to photography!! Marc says:

“Being out in the field as much as I am really limits the amount of time I have to share and interact with other photographers like you all on Flickr, but I decided to put my name on here just in case any of you all are looking for me.”

And looking for you we are Marc!!!

Marc Adamus is a landscape photographer based in Corvallis, Oregon. The visual drama and artistry of his photographs are born of a keen eye for the many moods of Nature and a life-long passion for the wilderness. This passion shines throughout Marc’s work and has attracted a wide audience around the world.

Marc’s style is unmistakable. His talent for rare captures of amazing light and fleeting atmosphere imbue his portfolio with a sense of the epic, majestic and the bold. His success derives from patient single-minded pursuit of all the unique moments that generate the magic and energy of the wilderness, often spending months immersing himself in the landscape he shoots despite the rigors of season and weather.

Marc’s photographs have been published extensively worldwide in a large variety of media ranging from calendars, books, advertising and the publications of National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, Popular Photography and many more. Marc has been acclaimed as one of the most talented landscape artists of his generation.

Artist’s Statement:

“Welcome, and thank you for having a look at my photographic art. I’d like to introduce you to the natural world I know. Come follow along on my journey. Explore, consider, and take something with you. This is nature through my eyes. These photographs do not arise from any particular desire to see the world through a lens, but rather from my deep passion for this land we call wilderness. It has shaped every aspect of my life. I wish to show you the amazing, beautiful and powerful forces that have created the Earth we live on.

Through these photographs I express my feelings for the locations I visit and the wonders of nature that I encounter along the way. With these photographs I attempt to bring my experiences in wild Earth to the viewer.

We are well into a new and exciting generation of photography that is incredibly more limitless than ever before. I embrace this new generation. The digital age allows us to overcome many of the technical challenges that confounded ways of communicating such experiences to you by photographers in the past. It is an exciting time to be landscape artist. It is a time that enables my creativity and my ability to express my experiences in nature to you more deeply than ever before.

Even in the hands of a master, a camera alone will never capture Nature as we can observe it with all of our senses. My goal is to illustrate the rich experiences I have had in this multi- dimensional world as best as I can within the limits of this two-dimensional medium. Although I generally don’t add or remove anything significant from my images, there is never an absolute definition of what I saw in the image to begin with. How we see is a very personal thing. To this point, I believe a great photograph is not merely documenting the scene at hand, rather it is about fusing the essential vision of the artist with the landscape.

I believe the most important quality of a photograph, as in all of art, is to evoke an emotional response. While everything in nature does this for me, selecting just the right places and moments to make a photograph that conveys those emotions is far more difficult. My camera is one of the tools I use to achieve my final results, the images you see here. No one tool is perfect, however, and no one tool can make a great artist. My processes involve meticulous attention to detail in my field technique, along with work in today’s digital darkroom to fine tune, optimize and adjust contrasts, colors, tonalities, luminosity, etc. in an attempt to better present to you the experience I felt in being there myself.

It is an exciting process, and above all, a way for me to do what I love most, exploring wilderness and capturing it for you to see. Without wilderness, I would never have begun taking pictures.

Wilderness photography is infinite. I don’t need to go far, really. These images are all taken in the Western portions of North America, most often right here in Oregon. It’s not about where you are, but how you see.

I want you to know just how undeniably precious these lands are in their preservation. We NEED wilderness; now more than ever. The wilderness experience becomes ever more important to balance our lives as we become more industrialized and therefore bound within our own creations. This is because there exists within it a deep connection unlike anything that can be found in today’s intense world of instantly manufactured gratification. There is a certain freedom that comes only when we are immersed in the natural world. I come to the wilderness to experience something much greater than ourselves, and I hope you will too.

I must also mention, among my greatest inspirations, the gift that the late Galen Rowell gave us all through his photography, his adventurous spirit, his philosophies and his teachings. Galen’s combination of mind, body and sprit will likely never grace our lives again. Never forget any of those that came before you. Never be afraid to explore, to wander, to find a new direction. Share the beauty of this wonderful life and this wonderful Earth so they may be here forever.

Thank you for taking this journey with me today”.

Wind and Light

Forever-Dreaming

Desert Prism

War with the Sky

Light From Within

Downpour

The-Beginning

Lost in the Dream

Crater Lake, Winter

Midnight Magic

The Hermitage

Tranquility

Last Words

Higher Calling

Winter’s Fury

Fireball

Forest Fire

Wizard Island, Storm

Awards and Publications
Select recent publication clients of note

Outdoor Photographer Magazine (cover photo)
National Geographic Calendars
National Geographic Books
National Geographic Adventure Magazine
Sierra Club (various publications)
Popular Photography Magazine (cover photo)
Photo Techniques Magazine (cover photo)
Fotomen Magazine (China’s #1 photo publication)
Smart Photography (India’s #1 photo publication)
Four Seasons, Cover (Germany’s #1 photo publication)
Outside Magazine
National Parks Magazine
Sojourns Magazine
Digital Photo Magazine (cover photo)
Weingarten Publishing (fine-art calendars)
Helma 365 Publishing (fine-art calendars)
Megabrands USA Puzzles
Masterpieces Puzzles
Photographers Edge (cover photo)
Norwood Calendars
Unique Image Magazine (cover photo)
Calgary Herald
Travel Oregon Magazine
The Oregonian
Digital Photo Pro Magazine
Ocean Publishing
Selected recent awards

Grand Prize Overall, Banff Mountain Film Festival Photo Competition
1’st Place, Landscapes, Environmental Photo Invitational
‘Art Wolfe’ award for Landscape photography, EPI,
‘Landscape Image of the Year’, Nature Photographers Magazine

You can contact Marc at: marcadamus.com

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Tags: landscape, Marc Adamus, travel, United States

Read more | Comments off | June 2nd, 2011

Incredible photographer Jack Booth: “I probably enjoy photography all the more because it is not my occupation, although, looking back, maybe it should have been.”

Posted by Arnaud | Filed under Landscape, Nature, Photographers, Urban

Introducing our 30th featured photographer Jack Booth (aka Jackpicks on flickr)! While Jack describes himself as an amateur just one look at his photostream is proof that his work is anything but amateur, each and every one of his images executed with great skill and of superb technical quality!

“My name is Jack Booth. I’m an amateur photographer living in Philadelphia, Pa., although the vast majority of my landscape photographs are from Canada, California and Europe, where I would rather be..

Back in the 1980s, when I was a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, I sometimes was accompanied on assignment by Jay Dickman, a gifted photographer who later went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. I would pick up the next day’s paper and be astonished by his images, even those of ordinary subjects. It clearly was art, but how he accomplished it was as mysterious to me as though he had turned lead into gold.

Jay later moved on, the paper itself folded, and I forgot about photography until one morning in Switzerland in 1999, when I was awakened before dawn by bright light in St. Moritz, a far shabbier town than I would have imagined from all I had read. I looked out the window and was startled by glowing, snow-topped mountains – my first encounter with alpine light. Strolling around outside, I saw a scruffy town transformed by early morning rays. The mountains were on fire, and a tall mist rose from the lake, with a fisherman rowing a boat just beyond the golden reeds. I started taking photos with my little film point-and-shoot, with no inkling that an addiction had begun.

The pictures turned out better than expected, and I bought a real camera, along with books on photographic composition. Then I proceeded to make a lot of mistakes, and I do mean a lot. I probably had the world’s most expensive trash can. But there were enough keepers to maintain my interest, and a trip to the Canadian Rockies in 2003 clinched the deal. I realized then that photography held the same interest for me that reporting had. It’s the thrill of the hunt, only with a camera, not a pen.

There have been a number of cameras since then, and many trips, and I still like the hunt, and the hike, whether the setting is in the Rockies or a pumpkin patch near my home in Philadelphia, USA. I probably enjoy photography all the more because it is not my occupation, although, looking back, maybe it should have been.”

Thank you Jack for sharing your amazing photography with all of us here on Outstanding Photographers!

Ten Peaks – Lake Moraine