Articles Index (and archive)
In this space you will find links to our articles about photography, places to photograph and travel, photo-related Web
sites (including this one), computers and software, and links. I'll also have the occasional article about environmental
issues, but I find such writing has become a frustrating and often depressing endeavor, so I'm doing less of it.
New articles will appear on an irregular basis. The information presented here is based on my own experiences and/or
research in the areas listed above. When I find an interesting place to photograph, had a fun or unusual experience making
pictures somewhere, or simply have a good story to tell related to making, preparing, or displaying photographs,
you'll find it here.
The Articles are listed below by date, with a synopsis; newest work is at the top. As more articles are added we may change
the format of this page, but with only a few entries thus far, this should be adequate. Comments are welcome.
I hope you enjoy the articles. Use the contact link at left if you'd like to comment on anything you read here.
Jay Cross
Lumen Perfectus
30 January 12: “The Bird Photographer”: An irruption
of snowy owls in the valley in which I live sparked an article about the ratio of bird photos to
others (primarily landscapes) in my portfolio, about birding and group outings, and of course, about
the owls.
29 December 11: “Gravity”: Nothing defeats gravity.
There are countless decaying and derelict strutures in rural Montana. Our article this month
describes a photographic project we're undertaking to photograph some of these to make a portfolio
that's somewhat different than the norm.
30 November 11: “Printer 2.0”: We've installed a new
printer, an Epson Stylus Pro 7900. This month's article reviews the decision to purchase an Epson
rather than a Canon.
27 October 11: “iSad”: The passing of Steve Jobs on
5 October prompted a look at how his work has affected my life, what I do, and how I do it.
27 September 11: “Being There”: A short camping
trip to Kintla Lake in Glacier National Park's northwest corner provided material for our
September article.
31 August 11: “Versus”: This month's article is about
the decisions we make when buying photo gear, and our apparent need to defend those choices.
31 July 11: “Getting High—Aerial Photography”: A friend's
invitation to take a flight in his motorglider led to this article about the experience.
28 June 11: “Fathers Day”: A June trip to visit
my parents in Ohio prompted this article about artistic talent and skill, and some lessons
learned from a father who has plenty of both.
24 May 11: The tenth anniversary of the registration of the
lumen-perfectus.com domain name led to the posting of a new article, “The More Things
Change….” It describes the development and evolution of our Web site.
26 April 11: “Pano-Vision”, Part 2: We wrap up last month's
article about making panoramas and other large, multi-frame images with some examples and the stories
behind them.
29 March 11: “Pano-Vision”, Part 1: This month's article
is part one of a two-part article about making panoramas and other large, multi-frame images. Part
two will be posted next month.
28 February 11: “Open and Shut Case”: Our
experiences with free, open source software have been quite good. This month's article is about open source
software, why we use it when appropriate and which OSS we've been using.
29 January 11: “An Insider's Look at a Co-op Gallery”: The
year's first article describes some of my observations and experiences as a member of a local cooperative
art gallery.
15 December 10: “No Contest”: Our final article of 2010
offers some pros and cons (mostly cons) of submitting your work to photo contests.
17 November 10: "Something for Nothing": Comments (a bit of
a rant, perhaps), prompted by the many requests we get for donations, about the perceived value of
photography as art, and something requiring technical skill, artistic talent, and money to produce.
13 October 10: “Fresh Eyes”: Seeing new things, seeing in new
ways, in frequently visted locations.
23 September 10: “Raising the Rent”: Upgrades, endless upgrades.
To software, mostly, but sometimes to computer hardware, too. Today we've posted a new article about the
software rental (upgrade) game. In the case of Adobe® Photoshop®, upgrading to every-other version
has worked out well for us.
31 August 10: “Getting It”: Our August article comes from a
visit to an "Art Gala" and meeting Lee Secrest, an artist making interesting and unusual
wood objects. A discussion with him led to some thoughts about making art, keeping it fresh, interesting,
and different, and how the result may not be for everyone.
31 July 10: A friend's visit, and the process of planning a photo itinerary, led to a new article,
“An Embarrassment of Riches”.
28 June 10: “Being There vs. Art”: Watching someone photographing
in blinding afternoon sunshine, and thinking about my own photography and reasons for making pictures led
to this article about documentary photography and my own definition of it.
27 May 10: “An Old Friend Enters a New Century”: On 11 May 2010, the
100th anniversary of the creation of Glacier National Park was celebrated. We've added an article about
visiting the park on its birthday.
30 April 10: “The Making of a Photograph”: Our recent trip to
Freezeout Lake and the exploring we did while there led to this article about making a sunrise photo at
Ear Mountain, on the Rocky Mountain Front.
31 March 10: “The Portfolio” relates the story of creating
a portfolio of our work for a selection committee, which resulted in getting a nice commission. The
article offers some tips for anyone creating their first portfolio.
06 February 10: “And Now For Something Completely Different”
is an article about photographing the iconic scenes and locations, those pictures everyone has seen,
and coming away with something different — your own interpretation of the great landscape photos.
05 January 10: “Fringes”, an article about photographing
at the edges of the day, seasons, and weather. Capturing the light in the golden hour.
10 November 09: "The Numbers Game" describes our attempts to
manage the megabytes we accumulate, how we separate the good stuff from the bad, and how it's stored.
24 September 09: "Paper Chase" describes our experience
learning the craft of printing, making paper selections, and "getting it right".
17 August 09: We recently exhibited our work in an outdoor art "festival"
and thought the experience of preparing for and exhibiting in shows worth writing about.
06 August 08: A hike to the top of Reynolds Mountain in Glacier National Park
led to this photo journal.
04 January 07: Comments received about the photo Christmas cards we made and
sent prompted an essay about veracity in nature photography.
28 August 05: A recent trip to northeastern Ohio gave me some time to walk in
the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This article briefly describes this odd and lovely park.
28 April 05: Our computers now operate in Symantec (Norton)-free environment,
and we'll do everything we can to keep it that way. Here's why.
20 August 04: Attending a photography workshop in Glacier National Park led to
new knowledge, new friends and a few good pictures, despite some ugly weather.
Much old stuff removed....
18 November 02: Your Ecological Footprint. An article about the impact each of us
has on the environment, with links to calculators. The results may surprise you!
19 September 01: Our first column. An essay about our growing population and its impact on the planet.