The fact that a thirteen-year-old project still resonates and can still have a large exhibit with lots of newspaper, magazine and TV press shows the timelessness of the project. Peter Menzel More Quotes by Peter Menzel More Quotes From Peter Menzel Hot air balloons are terrific to shoot from, although they have become very expensive, as has most lodging and food in the Napa Valley. Peter Menzel valleys air hot Scientists are usually nice, organized, logical people who are very cooperative. I always learn a lot of science while shooting science stories and it helps to be able to speak intelligently to a subject about his or her field of work, i.e., do your homework before the photography. Peter Menzel nice photography people Before digital, I spent thirty years shooting color transparencies, which are very unforgiving of exposure. A half stop can make or break a good photo on slide film. Peter Menzel make-or-break color years As a senior in high school my counselor recommended that I soften my science and math direction with an art course. Fortunately my high school offered a new course in B&W photography, so I opted for that instead of art, towards which I had an aversion. Composition is something that comes pretty naturally to me and I appreciate ordered chaos: the photo class turned out to be fun. Peter Menzel senior photography art RAW is very forgiving. I was photographing a farm woman in Ecuador cooking over a small fire and my fill flash didn't go off a few times. I was about to delete the RAW files but decided to play with the curves first because I like the composition. It turned out that the image, although underexposed by two stops, was better than the fill-flashed images because the fire was the only source of illumination and it looked more real. Peter Menzel curves real fire Digital makes it so much easier. No bricks of film, no worrying about airport X-rays, etc. Peter Menzel airports rays worry Freelancing in Somalia during their civil war and in Kuwait right after the first Bush War, I had some rather intense experiences that made life in the U.S. seem rather shallow and superfluous. Peter Menzel kuwait war firsts I like to move as much as possible and look at reflections, weird angles, subjects from airplanes and cranes. I feel sorry for the Jabba the Hut types who can't do this. Once an obese student told me that he wanted to be a war photographer. I said, "Really?" and then I shot him. Peter Menzel sorry war moving Getting up way in advance of dawn is always a good idea. Nearly ninety-nine percent of the time when I have gotten up in the middle of the night for a shoot, something good always presents itself to offset the nagging tiredness and discomfort of losing sleep. Peter Menzel ninety-nine sleep night Everyone should understand that getting good photos is paramount to everything. You have to do what it takes and often comfort and sleep are the first casualties of an assignment. Peter Menzel comfort sleep firsts I sold all my medium format equipment in 2005 after Canon came out with the 12 megapixel EOS 1Ds. Peter Menzel canon equipment mediums
