Sean Duggan Blog

The Sweet Light of Dawn

Meadow View Dawn  [Canon 5D]
January 7, 2009
(click in the image for a larger version)

This was taken not far from my house. I stopped to record the scene early one morning a few weeks ago as I left to head down to the San Francisco Bay Area for some consulting appointments. I posted this image now because tomorrow morning at zero dark thirty I am heading down to the airport for a 6am flight to Florida. Unfortunately for me, I am leaving much earlier than the time when this image was made and it will still be quite dark out.

I'll be in Delrey Beach for the week giving some presentations and leading some hands-on computer labs at FOTOfusion, the annual festival and conferrence on photography and digital imaging put on by the Palm Beach Photographic Centre. If you will be attending the conference, stop by one of my sessions and say hello!

The next workshop is on Feb 7th and 8th in Sacramento, California. The next edition of the newsletter is going out towards the end of this week.

Red Curtain

Red Curtain  [Canon 5D]
San Francisco - Jan 15, 2009
(click in the image for a larger version)

I was in San Francisco last week and found this image while enjoying an evening stroll. A shopkeeper was putting up a new window display and making final adjustments to this red curtain. I was intrigued that just her hand was visible, and the bright red paired with the yellow wall in the background made for a pleasing color scheme. This is a good example that night photography can also include tight detail-oriented compositions such as this, as well as those that take in the larger scene. For the technically curious, this was shot using an ISO of 1250 hand held at 1/40th of a second (with an image-stabilized lens).

Best Photo Book of the Year Nominee
My co-author Katrin Eismann and I were honored that our book The Creative Digital Darkroom was included as one of the nominees for Best Photo Book of the Year for 2008 over at The Online Photographer (ours is the 3rd down from the top).

Workshops
My next workshop will be in Sacramento on February 7 & 8th. Other upcoming workshops will be offered in Monterey, California, South Florida, Hawaii, Morro Bay, California and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Check out my workshops page for a full listing of 2009 workshops.

Irresistable

 
Golden Gate Bridge  [Canon 5D]
August 5, 2008
(click in the image for a larger version)

This was taken last summer on one of my regular consulting trips down to the San Francisco Bay Area. It's pretty much posted as shot, with only some minor adjustments to contrast and brightness made in Lightroom. It's hard to go wrong with end of day light on the Golden Gate Bridge. And even though it's a view that has been photographed countless times before, and will be again, there are some scenes that are just hard to resist.

I'm headed down to the San Francisco area again today for a few days of consulting and one-on-one digital darkroom training. I am generally in that part of the state once or twice a month so if you live in the greater S.F. Bay Area and are interested in setting up an appointment, check out the consulting page on my web site and drop me a line.

Red Boot

Red Boot  [Canon 5D]
January 11, 2009
(click in the image for a slightly larger version)

My daughter went horseback riding yesterday and her red boots next to the horse's side made for an interesting study in color, shadow and texture.

Workshop in Sacramento This Weekend:

Photoshop for Photographers I: The Basics
Jan. 17 – 18, Viewpoint Photographic Art Center - Sacramento, California 
$285 (members) or $335 (non-members)  |  More Info
(requires that you bring your own laptop with Photoshop)

And, a follow-up class will be offered three weeks later:

Photoshop for Photographers II: Beyond the Basics
Feb. 7 – 8, Viewpoint Photographic Art Center - Sacramento, California
$285 (members) or $335 (non-members)   |  More Info
(requires that you bring your own laptop with Photoshop)

Happy New Year

Untitled  [Canon 5D]
December 20, 2008  (click in the image for a larger version)

New Years Greetings to you! It's been a little over two weeks since I updated this blog. The hectic pace of the holidays as well as the fact that my MacBook Pro developed a dead display and had to go back to the repair mother ship shifted blog updates to the back burner for a while.  The image above was taken just before Christmas in our front garden but I felt that it was a good visual for the first post of the new year.

4 Workshops Fast Approaching

I have three workshops scheduled in northern California and one in southern New Mexico in the next 6 weeks. Space is limited so sign up soon if you are interested:

Photoshop for Photographers I: The Basics
Jan. 17 – 18, Sacramento, California  |  More Info
(requires that you bring your own laptop with Photoshop)

Photoshop for Photographers II: Beyond the Basics
Feb. 7 – 8, Sacramento, California  |  More Info
(requires that you bring your own laptop with Photoshop)

Photoshop Essentials for Photographers
Feb. 14 – 15, Monterey, California  |  More Info

The Art of the Photographic Collage
Feb. 19 – 22, Mesilla, New Mexico  |  More Info

I also added some new workshops to my Workshops Schedule page, including two classes at the Maine Media Workshops in June and October. Other upcoming workshop locations include Hawaii, Santa Fe, New Mexico,  Morro Bay, California and Connecticut.