Magic Light and the Dynamic Landscape ─ Creating Breathtaking Photographs Working With Light and Weather

Moments of peak action are well-known in sports photography, but they also happen in nature photography. The light can change within seconds and the best light may occur only long enough for a single frame. To create dramatic images, landscape photographers must first recognize those moments of magic light that get the heart pumping and blood flowing. While the sunrise and sunset hours provide recognized opportunities, the keen photographer will soon see that magic light can also happen at other times of the day. (Have you ever noticed how dramatic the sky can be before or after storm? Or seen a shaft of light shimmering through a snow squall over the mountain ridge?) After identifying the light, capturing the moment requires fast action; often, you need to set up fast and shoot within seconds to get the shot. At every phase of the process, from finding magic light throughout the day to making best use of it when you do, this book arms you with the skills you need to succeed?and use magic light to transform everyday landscapes into ethereal visions.

Jeanine Leech is a professional landscape and sports photographer whose work has appeared in magazines around the world. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

And below is from the author:

Inside us all lives the person we hope to become. We don’t all get there, but we must never stop trying. The hardest part of writing a book has been writing the bio. Talking about Magic Light is one thing, but talking about myself is another...here goes!

As a child, if I wasn't outside playing, I was drawing. My mother, a fine painter and avid photographer, swears that my first grade teacher raved about my natural sense of composition. My father, a computer repairman taught me the benefits of hard work and attention to detail. My two older brothers let me tag along through the woods, climbing rock walls, and wading hip deep in creeks while keeping lunch dry. I see now, my childhood was the beginning of basic training for landscape photography. At age fourteen, I saved my money and bought a Pentax K-1000 camera...photography became my passion.

I graduated high school knowing that inside of me was a photographer wanting to get out. I earned a degree in Visual Communications from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1987. A father in the digital world, a mother in the arts, and soon I’m a graphic designer riding the wave of desktop publishing. Life was good, the camera went digital, I went Nikon, and I never stopped wanting to be a photographer.

But it wasn't until 1995 that I stopped wanting to become a photographer and found the courage to become that photographer. I owe a tremendous debt to the late photographer Nancy Rotenberg and will forever cherish the years I spent by her side. She not only taught me how to see light and all the magic that can be squeezed out of it from behind the camera, but more importantly she showed me how to ignite my artistic vision and fire it into my art. I realized that it is the uniqueness of the artist that matters and we all need to follow our own path.

My images have appeared in national and international magazines, adorn the luxury boxes at the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey Club, and now I am writing my very own book. I have been honored to win awards in both design and photography. But I will always be grateful for the support of family, friends, co-workers and fellow photographers for letting me be me.