Photo of the Month

Young Man with Horn
Portrait skills are an important part of any professional photographer’s bag of tricks, regardless of that individual’s particular specialty. Perhaps not so much for wildlife or landscapes, though even a shot of a bird can be considered a portrait of sorts. But photographing people, whether in a formal setup or…

Is it a Duck or What?
Birds in flight have always been popular photographic subjects but present unique challenges. Of course, anything in motion can be difficult to capture with the camera, especially if the motion is erratic, the background confusing, or the light poor. But bird photography has another problem…

Hand in Hand
Rudyard Kipling wrote that East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet. Perhaps that may have been true in the 19th century when ethnic differences were more emphasized and pronounced. Today’s Global Village has narrower boundaries…

Landscape
I have heard some ignoramuses say that there is nothing to a landscape photograph. Find some pretty scenery, aim your auto-everything camera in that direction, and that's all you have to do except press the shutter release. The absurdity of the remark should be painfully obvious to anyone who has struggled, usually much more than once, to make a good landscape photograph. Come along with me on a nature hike as we explore this photo of the month...…

Zebra
I have written before about shadows as they have appeared in various Photos of the Month. Once more the topic arises in this month's selection, the photograph of the zebra by NYI Student Angela Gonzales of Harlingen, Texas…

Elephant
Perhaps the strangest creature on this planet is indeed man himself. His quixotic, unpredictable, unfathomable behavior has often puzzled the very man himself…

Woman with Cigarette
All too often, in the modern scheme of things, we as photographers are fearful of shadows. We bend over backwards (sometimes) to avoid shadows on the wall. And so we flood our scenes with fill light and background light and make a frantic effort to "kill the shadow". But is this always necessary? …

Times Square
What better subject for our NYI Picture of the Month! NYI Student Jeong Hwa Min, a New Yorker from Long Island City (just across the East River from Manhattan) made this excellent photograph depicting a variety of American patriotic symbols and a number of other cultural icons, too all in one broad expansive photograph…

Balloons
Hot air balloons have always attracted me because they consist of broad expanses of bright color. They can provide an attractive focal point and spruce up any landscape shot. Of course, they are also a great platform for shooting aerials, though you can't really steer them. But even on the ground, as here in this photo made by NYI Student Douglas Russell, they are quite a dramatic splash of color…