“Flickrite” in the Spotlight: Inspired by Sight and Sound

I am so happy to introduce to you this next “Flickrite” in the Spotlight, because not only is he a great photographer, but a personal friend. His name is Harley Pebley (a.k.a. hpebley3) and he has been a real face to face person of inspiration for me. He has a very tender manner and is a willing participant in the lives of the photographers who are around him.

In preparing for this article I had the opportunity to ask Harley a few questions. One of those questions was related to which photograph I might use for this article. He recommended his most popular and it is a truly wonderful image, “Star Trails” (shown left). However, I want to provide you a link to his latest photograph on Flickr, because it demonstrates who Harley is and what Harley is about as a photographer. It is called, “Teach Us to Number Our Days.”

He draws inspiration from any places in his life like books and songs, but recently in photography the work of others has really injected some inspiration into his post-processing work. He “[uses] photographs as raw material for composite images.” Harley’s “Teach Us to Number Our Days” is an image that demonstrates for us what he doing recently and how he draws inspiration from the things he loves to see and hear.

Harley has been around cameras and graphic arts his entire life off and on. As I said before, he draws inspiration from the photographic work of others, but he attributes his latest return to the photographic world to a couple of things. First, he was encouraged to return it by a friend named Rich Legg, a wonderful photographic artist located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Second, he attributes it to the affordability found in lower priced Digital SLRs. These two things saw his latest return to the photographic arena as a creative outlet.

With Harley’s return came beautiful photographs of landscapes and as he put it “artsy-detail/close-up shots”. As seen above, he does some very excellent work. Not only is this one of Harley’s most popular photographs, but it is one of my favorites on Flickr. He told me that he likes to look at different styles of photography like landscapes, cityscapes, macros, but has been really drawn recently to abstract/surreal composites.

Harley’s group involvement on Flickr right now revolves around Photowalking Utah, which is not only Flickr Group, but an actual photography club located in Utah. He was one of six original members and quickly emerged a leader in their monthly photowalks and free photography seminars. Harley said that the reason he likes the Photowalking Utah Group/Club is, “because of the regular real-life meet-ups, [it has] the live social aspect.”

I had the opportunity to ask Harley if he had any advice for those who want to pursue photography as hobby, trade, or profession and this is what he had to say.

“As an amateur: just do it! It’s more about the photographer than the
gear, so don’t let gear cost be an excuse. Get what you can afford and
use it. There are many people doing amazing work with simple point and
shoots.

As a pro: if there’s anything else you love doing more, do it. This is
true of any career choice: do what you love to do. You’re going to be
doing it all day.

In either case, take pictures, evaluate them, educate yourself and
take more pictures in a continuous loop.”

I believe Harley really captures what photography should be all about in this final statement and he demonstrates for me and I hope for you why he is a PhotoCapM “Flickrite” in the Spotlight”. His work in the photographic community is very important and precious. He represents the best in the photographic world not only for his artistic ability, but for his willingness to receive and provide inspiration, and encourage the best in others. Please visit Harley’s photostream by clicking on his Flickr name above (hpebley3) and find out how one can be inspired by the sights and sounds around them.

Until next time…

CbyM

Harley sells some of his work as stock photography. You can see the images that he has available right now by visiting hpebley3 on iStockphoto. (Important Notice: The image in this article was used with the expressed permission of and is copyrighted by Harley Pebley (hpebley3). All rights reserved.)