James Staddon, Author at Lenspiration

Flat Lay Background Surface Ideas

Tuesday’s coaching webinar wrapped up the Shoot to Serve photo assignment for the month of October. Family Conferences wanted a picture for a Thanksgiving-themed social media post and had some photo ideas they liked, so we were all challenged to replicate those ideas the best we could. Several of the photo ideas were... Read More »

Ever Heard of the Word “Cull” Before?

Have you ever heard of the word “cull” before? Know what it means? It’s a word that comes up during Photography Teams all the time. The students go out and take a ton of pictures. In this digital age, we always take more photos than we need, right? So we need to come back, download them, and cull through them.... Read More »

The Hike Down From Seneca Rocks

From the top of Seneca Rocks, the views are picturesque, the danger real, and the experience of climbing around positively thrilling (see The Hike Up To Seneca Rocks). But the hike down was also picturesque, dangerous, and thrilling in it’s own way. Picturesque? Ah! How the artist’s heart leaps in the moment it peers... Read More »

The Hike Up To Seneca Rocks

Oh the sheer fun of taking a camera on a hike with no real purpose other than to just photograph whatever strikes my fancy! Such a whimsical experience is not so common a happenstance for me any more these days. There always seems to be some sort of grown-up distraction from the old-fashioned hikes I used to take in... Read More »

On Assignment: Happy Thanksgiving!

“It’s barely the beginning of October, and you want me to start thinking about Thanksgiving?!” Well, welcome to the world of graphic design, publishing, and commercial photography! For those of us who like to do most of our photography in the outdoors, I guess this can be a bit of a problem. For me, it especially was... Read More »

Covering a Family Event

The camera on my cell phone is usually sufficient for capturing memories for most family evets. However, for my grandfather’s funeral, I brought my DSLR because this was more than just a random get-together. It was an event I wanted to remember forever. For the graveside service, I didn’t want to carry a lot of... Read More »

Making the Right Edit

It was a gloriously foggy day! I love foggy days. Especially when I’m driving down curvy backgrounds. It makes them so photogenic!Coming up to the top of a ridge, I was happy to see a safe little place to pull off. The road came up one side of the mountain, and then down the other, so right there at the top was an... Read More »

Have You Ever Had Your House Burn Down?

I hope you haven’t. Can you imagine how incredibly horrifying that experience would be? Even if nobody was hurt, it’s one of the most awful things I can imagine. And imagine if all your camera equipment was inside. It’s all gone up in smoke. Completely ruined. No more photography for a while. And yet, that’s exactly... Read More »

On Assignment: Awesome Reflection

Have you ever gone to the same location multiple times in the same day, simply to observe what the place looked like at those different times of day? You would think that I, of all people, would have done this many, many times since I love landscape photography. But getting to a location isn’t always the easiest... Read More »

Silly and Somber Pictures of Houses

A friend of mine is working on a book reprinting project. Right now, he’s working on recreating the cover. Problem is, he doesn’t have the original book cover image, and what he does have is too low quality for the printer to accept. So, he asked me about it. “Would you by chance have a picture that looks similar?”... Read More »

Which Photos Are Your Favorite?

How would you like to have a say in which photos get put in the annual Lenspiration Calendar?! A calendar can only have 12 pictures in it. After sorting through hundreds of photos and spending endless hours in meticulous editing, I’ve finally narrowed things down to…. 79! I think I could use some help. This is the... Read More »

The Golden Hour I Was Looking For

Just driving up the driveway, I knew it was going to be a great place for a Photography Field Day! The day before a workshop is very important. It’s when all the decisions have to be made about where we’ll be going and what we’ll be doing when. And so preparations began as soon as I arrived on location. Come golden... Read More »

On Assignment: Interesting Textures

Ready for the next assignment?! It shouldn't be hard to find Interesting Textures anywhere you go, even in places you've never explored before! As you just saw, I took lots of texture pictures. I thought I had done a pretty good job. However, it wasn’t until after I put them on the computer and started sorting... Read More »

How This Next Assignment Came To Be

I’ve always been a fascinated observer of the “Creation vs Evolution” debate. Of course, I believe the Bible is true, but to see ways in which it can be scientifically proven has always been a fun thing for me. Growing up, we would watch Kent Hovind’s Creation Seminar Series. It would teleport me off to far-off... Read More »

If I Was Young Enough . . .

Have you heard about HSLDA’s 2021 Photo Contest?! The deadline of August 1 leaves you with only 16 days to submit! I’m too old to submit my photos. But if you are between the ages of 7 and 19, now’s the time to start clicking! The themes to be shooing for are: Category 1 (ages 7–10): Small Category 2 (ages 11–14):... Read More »

A Place Worth Going Back To

I was headed from Ashville, NC, to Culpeper, VA. A stretch of very picturesque countryside. I wanted to do some landscape photography along the way, so the question was, “What places should I explore?” This was back in 2011. I was just getting into landscape photography and hadn’t done much exploring yet.... Read More »

On Assignment: The Bright Outdoors!

If the assignment is to photograph The Bright Outdoors, then it means the best time to shoot is while the sun is shining, I’d say. But what happens if the sun isn’t going to be shining for very long? Then it’s time to take on an extra challenge! I’m really surprised at how well my very first picture turned out. Even... Read More »

How I Worked This Scene

While taking pictures of the sunset the other night, I distinctly remember working this specific scene. It was the best view in the area for that time of day. I walked around to a couple different spots, but kept coming back to this one break in the trees because it was simply the best. The problem was, how do I... Read More »

Camping Stories

I get excited when there are lots of big events lined up on the calendar, one after the other, at different places all over the country. It means that, between each event, I get to go camping all over the country! The end of FPEA kinda marked the beginning of a series of camping stops. First, though, I spent a couple... Read More »

Crazy What Can Happen In a Week!

After traveling around doing conventions for a couple years, you’d think I’d be a pretty experienced traveling photographer by now. But there’s always so many new things to learn! For the particular excursion I’m on right now, I decided to post 1 pic a day on Instagram to share my boots-on-the-ground experiences and... Read More »