Member Monday Featuring Dave Cornue
Our next featured Member Monday photograph comes to us from Dave Cornue.
Dave’s love of nature jumps off the screen with his photos. The small island of Monhegan Island, Maine is such a hidden gem, and the sunrise perfectly frames the calm and cool air.
We have Dave with us today to talk about the journey and progression of his work!
About the Photographer
- Hometown: I grew up in Virginia and Maine, but am now retired and living in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas.
- Years in Photography: In the mid-70s to early 90s I did a lot of photography, primarily 4×5 black and white landscape work. But I set that down when I started living in rural areas where I was on septic systems and didn’t want to be putting the darkroom chemicals into the ground. Although I had a cheap point and shoot digital camera for years, I just couldn’t warm up to the idea of digital. Then shortly before I retired (three years ago) I finally made the commitment to give digital an honest try and find that I am really enjoying it.
- Years as a KO Member: Three.
About the Photo:
- Title: I’m not a big one for titling my shots, I just stick with simple descriptive titles, for instance: “Sunrise, Monhegan Island, ME” for the image with the cat in the road.
- Location: Monhegan Island, Maine
- Any additional description of the photograph: This image was made during a workshop I attended on Monhegan Island last summer. I set up to make this sunrise shot and the kitty cat strolled over, jumped up, and sat down on top of my camera backpack! I got my tripod set up and explained to the kitty that she needed to move so I could get my camera out of my pack – which she apparently understood as she got right up and wandered over to sit in the road. As soon as she did that I knew I had to really hurry since I felt that the cat sitting in the road really added something to the image. Fortunately, I was able to get off about one bracketed series before she headed off into the weeds, in search of mice, no doubt.
- Gear/Software Used: Nikon D750, 16-35mm f4 lens set at 24mm, f14 and 0.4sec.
What is one thing you wish you would have known before starting photography?
If I may, I’ll change the question just a bit to reply to “before starting digital photography” and answer in light of the fact that I had done a lot of film photography in earlier years: I now really wish I had picked up digital photography sooner, I was missing out on so much that I hadn’t appreciated after putting down my film cameras. Also, although the learning curve has been steep, at least for me, there is so much more flexibility in digital photography than there was in film that it is simply amazing!
Who are some of your role models/mentors?
Ansel Adams, Brett Weston, Paul Caponigro, and Eliot Porter were certainly my early role models and continue to this day. Among more recent photographers I would point to Guy Tal as a real source of inspiration and thoughtful information/writing.
What is your most treasured piece of photography equipment?
That is a tough question, after all, they are just tools for the purpose. I suppose my RRS tripods and heads as those are unlikely to change if I should switch camera bodies, etc. in the future.
What’s your favorite class on KelbyOne and why?
Most recently I have been watching Daniel Gregory’s Printing course as I am now starting to add printing to my learning curve.
Dave does not currently have any social media to share. We sure do enjoy having him on our KelbyOne community, though!
Thanks, Dave for sharing your work with us here at KelbyOne! If you haven’t yet, be sure to submit your photos for a chance to receive a Member Monday featured post of your own.
