Articles

Big Picture: Scott Pelley's Passion for Photography and the Global Stories Behind Some of His Favorite Images, New Canaan Darien magazine

Click "Read the Article" below to see the story.

Bonus Sidebar: Pelley’s Photography Tips

1.     It is all about the light. It’s well worth it to get up before dawn and set up on your subject and wait for that early morning light to hit, and the same is true for the sunset light; everything becomes explosively colorful that way. When shooting outside, the greatest part of the day is useless. You have 90 minutes in the morning and 90 minutes in evening. Everything else will be disappointing in my view.

2.     With wildlife photography, patience is key. Find a place and settle in and wait and wait. Let the animals come to you. You can’t chase them, or you’ll have lots of pictures of animal butts!

3.     Use a shutter speed that is very high so that the sharpness of the picture expresses the content. You want to capture the real crystal Christmas of it. That has to do with f-stops and shutter speeds, particularly with wildlife.

4.     Buy the fastest lenses you can afford. A fast lens is the reflection of the lens’s greatest aperture. This gives photographers a real flexibility as far as the f-stops and shutter speeds to control depth of field and the quality of the picture.

5.     Keep a camera with you all the time and shoot, shoot, shoot.

6.     Look for things that other people don’t see. Present familiar ideas in a way that makes the viewer see them for the first time, in a way they’ve never seen them before, and gives an understanding of the subject that they’ve never had before. That’s the definition of artistry.

Follow Scott Pelley’s photos and commentary on Instagram: @scottpelley

Tags: Scott Pelley, New Canaan Darien magazine, CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes, Lubbock TX, Lubbock Avalanche Journal, Texas Tech University, Machu Picchu, International Rescue Committee Clinic, Kenya, Somalia, United Nations Emergency Feeding Station, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gold Mine, United Nations World Food Programme, Botswana, wildlife photography, photojournalism, mountain gorilla, Uganda, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, UNESCO World Heritage site, photography tips

Growing Up in Westport, Westport magazine

Tags: Westport, Connecticut, Westport Country Playhouse, Westport Weston YMCA, Cedar Point Yacht Club, Cynthia Gibb, Earthplace, Staples High School, Georgiana Silk, Owenoke, Miggs Burroughs, Kathie Bennewitz, Compo Beach, Gay Land, George Silk, Junior Sailing Program, Lea Bemus, Bruce Flournoy, CPYC, Bob Karpel, Ann Sheffer, Chilton Ryan, Frank Perry, Cindy Eigen, Suzanne Propp, Greens Farms School, Eva La Gallienne, Cary Grant, Joanne Woodward, Patricia Blaufuss, Deborah Grace Winer, Sing for Your Shakespeare, Helen Hayes, Christopher Plummer, Lucille Lortell's White Barn Theatre, Gordon Joseloff, Miss Comer, Mahackeno Camp, Pru Gabert, Doc Doubleday, David Waldman

Backstage: The Levitt Pavilion

Tags: The Levitt, Levitt Pavilion, Freda Walsh, Carleigh Walsh, Janet Plotkin, Peter Cadoux, Stuart McCarthy, Brandeis, Green Eyes, The Tempest, Mimi Levitt, Levitt renovation, Riverwalk, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Michael Bolton, Robert Flack, Jim Marpe, Saugatuck River, P.J. Pacifico, Emil Zrihan, Vent Du Nord, Incendio, The Pine Leaf Boys

Rooms With a View, Greenwich magazine

Sailing on the Wild Side, Greenwich magazine

Your Stamford, Stamford magazine

Holidays in Greenwich, Greenwich magazine

Editor's Call-Time: I Love New York; Tear Sheet magazine

London Calling, Tear Sheet magazine

Miami Design District, Tear Sheet magazine