To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. -Elliott Erwitt

find life experiences and swallow them whole. travel. meet many people. go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. try everything. exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life.  - lawrence k. fish

Who Am I?

Hi there, brave reader...I’m Jim - traveler, photographer, wanderlust sufferer.  Poet, blogger, photo educator.  I take photos, share photos, teach photography and write about things that interest me. Oh yeah, I also make a lot of YouTube tutorials.   I feel like this website resides at the intersection of travel and photography, of discovery and inspiration.

At heart I am a traveler, photographer and educator.  These are the things that fill my soul and provide me with endless inspiration.  I was born an Army Brat, and have had "itchy feet" for as long as I can remember.  Getting up and going somewhere - and then crafting beautiful images when I get there - is just who I am and what I like to do.  So I started a blog about it, and here I am.  (Well, technically it was a bit of a winding road getting here, but here I am now.)

I’ve been sharing my photos, insights and experiences here on this site for years now and work hard to provide inspiration and education for those who come here in search of information that I have gathered from hard-won experience. Although admittedly, these days the majority of my educational content is video-based and thus resides on my YouTube channel.

As far as my photography education goes, I am self taught. I got inspired years ago, picked up a camera and started shooting and editing my photos. It was a TON of trial and error (mostly error in the early days of course!) but eventually things started to click (see what I did there?) and I started making better photos. I tend to learn by doing, so I am an advocate of taking a lot of pictures. Get in as many reps as you can, and experiment ruthlessly (in the field and in post).

I’ve Been Fortunate (and Lucky too)

I have licensed photos to businesses worldwide and my photos have been used on websites, company brochures, hotel room keys, marketing materials, napkins, drink coasters and more.  I've been featured on the cover of a literary journal and a local Austin visitor's guide.  I've even been published in Popular Photography Magazine. I was named one of the top travel photographers in the world in this article.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to have my work mentioned on FStoppers (my favorite photography website). You can find those articles here, here and here. I was interviewed on the popular webcast TWIP, which you can find here. I joined in with Skylum for their day-long Deep Dive series on Luminar AI - my episode is found here. I am an Ambassador for Skylum, and you can find my bio page on their website here. I have gone to Iceland with the Skylum Team twice to help lead their landscape photo tours there. I also joined a special Skylum webinar focused on landscape photography, and you can view that one here. I was a guest on the Beginner Photography Podcast, which is here. I was invited to present on a webinar for B&H Photo, which was livestreamed here. I also presented on a 3 part webinar series with B&H, sponsored by Sony, sharing tips, tricks and some editing demos. You can find those episodes here: Cityscapes is here, Landscapes is here, and Street is here.

I have presented and done demonstrations to many photo clubs across the US, especially during Covid when there was no travel. It’s always fun to have a live audience. I have taught at industry conferences, during online webinars and in-person workshops, and hosted countless private 1x1 tutorial sessions (both online and in real life) - always focused on helping others get more out of their photography. I do work hard at my photography, but I’ve been lucky, too.

My Preferences

My photographic preferences are landscapes and cityscapes, and my photographic style is expressive and colorful - that’s just how I see the world.  My camera is my accomplice and my co-conspirator.  It compels me to get out the door and go see something.  It doesn’t matter what the result is, it just matters that I got up, went out, and tried it.  That’s an accomplishment some days.

My hope is to motivate people to travel and take photographs; to inspire creativity in others by sharing what I create, how I create it, and even what I use to create it with.  I hope to inspire people to go explore someplace new, to just get up and give it all a try.  

So go see something new.  Try something different.  Travel.  Take a photo.  It doesn’t even have to be a good photo.  Just take it.  Create something.  There’s a kind of magic that happens when you do.  

We have a beautiful world on our hands, and it’s so worth going to see it.  

You can (of course) find me on all the typical social networks, sharing my images and having fun:

What I Frequently Teach

Over the years, I have morphed my blog from being a site that just shares my travel photos into one that shares a significant amount of educational content, reviews and opinions. It's actually more fun for me this way, and many readers seems to get helpful tips and tricks from my ramblings, recordings and such. I love to do it, and it's helpful for others - that's a win-win.

I spend a significant amount of time working with Skylum products, specifically Luminar Neo. After years of trying a lot of different tools, I have found that I get the most out of this tool. I get amazing results in a short amount of time, can take advantage of AI options to automate boring tasks, and still have the option to take full control over my editing so I can fine-tune my images to my preferences. I also love that they have incorporated extensions as optional add-ons to Luminar Neo, giving us even more capability and functionality in the product. If you want to see it in action, here is a HUGE playlist of videos I have made about Luminar Neo. You can also check out my Luminar Learning Center here on the site to get a nicely organized, “get started quickly” list of videos to watch.

On1 Photo Raw is also a staple in my editing workflow. It’s a powerful app full of a vast array of options, and frankly it is just fun to use. If you want to see it in use, here is a playlist of On1 Photo Raw tutorials. I think you will see that the amazing masking, layers, full DAM and more make it a really compelling product. They’ve added AI keywording, AI sharpening and AI enlarging too, making it a truly full-featured editor.

Thanks to the powerful masking and color grading tools, I have gotten back into using and making videos about Lightroom. It’s really a great product and I love to see them continue to innovate. My Lightroom Classic playlist is here.

I also enjoy using Photo AI from Topaz Labs. It’s a nice complement to my work in Luminar, and provides some powerful options for denoise, enlargement and sharpening. It’s well worth a look.

I manage all of my photos with Mylio Photos+, which is sort of like a super DAM in my opinion. It allows me to easily manage all of my images (300k+) across all devices, and keep it all in sync, all of the time. It’s a wonder and I love it. If you want to see it in action, here is a video that demonstrates how I use it as a front-end for my editing. You can also view this intro video that discusses how it works.

Apart from the preset packs and other digital goods that I sell here on the site (courses, LUT packs, sky packs and texture packs), I provide all of this training and educational content at no charge. I make my living via commercial licensing, preset and course sales, affiliate sales, workshops, and one-on-one training. If you enjoy this content and feel it has been helpful, consider using my links when you purchase something at Amazon or Skylum, or you can make a small donation to me directly. I appreciate all of the support and let me know if you have any questions!

If you want the full rundown on what gear I use, check out my gear page. Want to see the deals my partner companies will offer you? Check out this page.

Out In The Field

I’ve been really fortunate to travel, meet, hang out, and shoot with a lot of amazing professional photographers over the years (some by design, some by accident). These folks inspire me to get better and grow my skills (both behind the camera and behind the keyboard), and honestly just being around folks like this makes a HUGE difference to me - it’s very inspiring. It’s hard to beat having the opportunity to talk shop (no, not Photoshop lol) with like-minded photographers, learn from them, get insights into their work, and more. Here are some of those moments, captured with my iPhone.

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions, let me know!