Some photographers post a thousand photos every week and others are lucky to post one. I'm in the later camp but does that mean I only shoot a couple times a month? In reality I'm out as often as I can.

The story behind this photo illustrates why you'll never see large volumes of pictures from me. It took me three separate visits, spread out over two years, before I got the scene right. The first two times I photographed the falls in the afternoon and the light was poor. I reviewed my images and envisioned the scene at night. I'm happy with this image but you'll never see my failed attempts.

My hard drive is full of shots I'll probably never post. Last summer I took three trips to Jasper National Park but conditions were horrible (overcast skies and forest fires) so I never posted a single image. I'd rather have a stale feed if the alternative is showing the world how I can make really beautiful scenery look dull.

The brass-tacks is that my shoot:post ratio is quite low. If I had to wager a guess I'd say I post 2-3% of the photos I take. Other people can pull 4-5 solid images out of a single sunrise while different people upload their entire flash card straight to the internet. I believe that the best way to captivate an audience is to only show your best work. Being selective is an essential skill for an aspiring photographer and differentiates an amateur/pro from a tourist.

TECHNICAL NOTES

This was shot from a tripod. Snow reflects a surprising amount of light and can brighten up a dark scene. The sky is a separate exposure shot at high ISO to freeze the stars. Photoshop was used to blend in the sky and balance the colours and contrast.