Products You've Viewed
We’ll keep track of the products you view here.
Articles You've Viewed
We'll track the last 7 articles you've viewed so you can quickly return to them.

Mentor Trekking in Costa Rica with Bill Durrence

by Bill Durrence

© Bill Durrence Loading...

© Bill Durrence

Nikon D700, Aperture Priority, Shutter Speed 1/1000 sec., f/5.6, Focal Length 200mm, ISO 800

Download now Read More

After being a professional photographer for 45 years, I still don't have an easy answer when people ask me what I like to shoot. For me the pleasure is just to be out shooting and dealing with the challenge of finding the strongest composition—regardless of subject. That's when I get to bring a bit of order to a chaotic visual world—at least within a defined frame—with a strong graphic design, or as a narrative arrangement of elements in the scene.

I started in photojournalism and have done both commercial and corporate work as well as event photography. I also spent 14 years as a Nikon technical representative. Through most of those years I did some photo instruction, but today that is the bulk of my work. In addition to teaching a majority of Nikon Schools (my 17th year with Nikon School) I also lead various photo trips and workshops for public and private groups and do private classes with individual clients. I am one of the Mentors in Popular Photography/American Photo's Mentor Series Workshops and recently had the opportunity to do something I find particularly interesting. I took a group of people into an environment alien to their own where the differences and challenges—and maybe some risks—might engage them in ways other than just photographically. Most trekkers come away with some nice photographs, a little more insight into themselves and great memories.

This recent trip was a Mentor Trek to Costa Rica. During these trips I try to share as much as I can about making better photos, both technically and aesthetically. This happens individually and in groups; it happens in the field when we're shooting, in classrooms, during image review and critique, even on the bus in transit between locations.

Most instruction is big topic stuff—good exposure, depth of field, flash techniques, etc. It's not enough to simply point the camera at something interesting. You have to see how it may be random and chaotic to the camera. By making sure you have a dominant, obvious subject you inform the scene better, and the chaos can be background, supporting content that extends the narrative. (See images 4 and 5.)

You need to fill the frame, use all the image space, by getting closer—optically, physically or both.