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Seth Andrew, A Former Obama White House Aide, Pleads Guilty To Devising A Scheme To Steal $218,000 From Charter Schools He Founded

On Thursday, a federal judge sentenced Seth Andrew, a former education adviser for the Obama White House, to a year and one day in prison for his role in a plot to steal $218,000 from a network of New York charter schools that he established. At the time of Andrew’s sentencing in the United States District Court in Manhattan, he was 43 years old and received a fine of $5,000. The prosecution…

ZEAL Optics Ambassador Seth Andrew shares some amazing insight on taking amazing photos in the first of a series - this week we kick things off by “Thinking outside the box”

Broken down into its simplest form, photography can be described as the act of capturing light.  As simple as it may seem, it is actually vastly complex to use the light to capture a beautiful moment in time.  Here are a few tips that can help you get the most out of the moment. 

If you are a photographer, then you have probably heard of the “Golden Hour.”  This phrase is used to describe the soft natural light given off within the hour of sunrise and sunset.  As a general rule of thumb, the Golden Hour will be your best bet for getting the most out of your photos.  And honestly, who doesn’t love a good sunset?  But this doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t go after a shot outside of these times.  Some of my favorite shots were taken at various times throughout the day.  It just depends on where the light is located and what surroundings it is effecting. 

For example, there is a beautiful waterfall located on the Sacramento River near Shasta, CA that faces west.  I chose to wait until mid morning (far past the Golden Hour of sunrise).  This location is heavily shaded due to the shadows from the rising sun. There would have been too little light to bring out the bright greens and yellows that I was looking to capture.  Even though the light in the sky was technically less desirable for shooting, waiting for the brighter, mid-morning light allowed the trees just behind my position to help illuminate the scene.  Think: bounce flash off of a ceiling or wall, but on a much larger scale.  This ambient light is what made the shot possible.

Another time that I shot using “less-than-desirable” light is when I went to the lava caves in the Mojave Desert.  Some of the lava caves have open portholes, where sunlight can shine down into its chambers.  The trick here is to know where the sun will be in the sky and at what time.  Once you know this, you can use it to choose when you need to be ready at your location.  In my case, it happened to be right around mid-afternoon, which is normally not ideal.  Had I taken the shot any earlier, the beam of light would have been too bright.  It would have filled the entire chamber with far too much light, creating less of a “beam” look and washing out the entire scene. On the other hand, had I waited any longer, the beam would have disappeared altogether.  Waiting for that perfect moment got me the exact results I had envisioned… and in photography, there is no greater feeling than looking down at the camera and saying to yourself, “Got It!” 

Sometimes it’s a good idea to bend rules and think outside the box.  So get out there and explore some new locations.  Maybe even check out a few places that you have already shot at different times.  Who knows?  You just might find a hidden gem by using the shade, clouds or a certain time of day to really capture the light.