Randy Ziegler photo of a bicycler in yellow haze Randy Ziegler
When Randy came out of an air-conditioned hotel into the hot, steamy Jacksonville, Florida, morning, he saw the great location and wonderful play of light and shadow. When the cyclist approached, he knew he had his picture. Condensation added a natural fog filter to the lens. D2X, AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED.
Randy Ziegler photo of spiderwebs on an orange fence railing Randy Ziegler
“In the early morning there was a heavy mist on these spiderwebs on the gate. My problem was I was walking my dogs and had two leashes wrapped around my wrist, trying to hold them still when they spotted a deer in the distance. But I got the shot one-handed.” D2X, AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED.
Randy Ziegler photo of a person shoveling snow off steps from above Randy Ziegler
“I got this in Stockholm, thanks to Jay Maisel’s ‘always look out your hotel window’ advice. The guy was off in the distance, but I saw the shovel patterns and the lineup of trees and waited for him to come back. A lot of information here, but no clutter.” D300, AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED.
Randy Ziegler photo of horses in the snow Randy Ziegler
“Snow in Texas is rare, so I went for a snow walk. I always bring carrots to my neighbor’s horses, so they came toward me, and then one of them turned to keep his eye on my dog, who was leaning on the fence.” D300, AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED.
Randy Ziegler photo of a leaf on a newly painted street grate Randy Ziegler
“Timing was everything—they’d painted the street gutter an hour before I walked by. The leaf was there, I didn’t place it. If it weren’t there, no excitement, no picture.” F3, Micro-NIKKOR 55mm f/2.8.

"I’m not a person who spends a lot of time with a subject,” Randy Ziegler says. “It’s there, it comes out at me, and that’s the way it has to be.”

He keep things simple—in his compositions, his gear and his advice: “I tell people, if you want to be a better shooter, get a longer lens and tighten your compositions and framing to reduce the extraneous and isolate the essential.” He says he’s not much on inclusion. “I think of myself as a rejecter: I don’t want this, I don’t want that. I like to think that painters select, photographers reject.”

When Randy started out as a news photographer, it was through fixed focal length lenses of 24mm, 35mm, 85mm and 200mm that he saw and framed the world. “I knew ahead of time—there’s a 24mm shot, that’s an 85mm, this one’s a 200mm,” he says, and today when he shoots with zoom lenses he’s still thinking of the specific focal length that’s right for the image. He’s not a big fan of “the frozen zoomers” who stand in one spot and let the lens do the work. “All they’re doing is framing. They’re not changing perspective, not refining the composition. I want to tell them, ‘Move your feet!’ Zooms give you tools, but use them intelligently.”

Though his aim is always simplicity—”to present the strongest statement in the simplest terms”—the first point he makes to students is that they have to have passion for the work. “If they’re excited by what they’re doing, they’ll start to see,” he says. “It’s their adventure, but I want to show them the possibilities. I tell them to look at the work of the great painters and study how they used color, counterpoint and negative space; how they framed the image, and the rhythm of it. You can learn to appreciate composition, and seeing will eventually become believing: you can do this.

“Once you realize what you want to say and how you want to say it, be sure you know your gear and your techniques so well that they’re second nature. I tell photographers, ‘You’ve got two seconds to take a good shot, one second to take a great one.’”

Randy Ziegler photo of part of the dress on a native American dancer Randy Ziegler
“I took this at a Native American dance. I started out thinking, one person; then, one dress; then, one part of the dress, and that was the picture. It’s all about deciding on the essential graphic elements and simplifying the image down to those things.” D300, AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED.
Randy Ziegler photo of shadows backlit at the Ft. Worth Texas Stockyards Randy Ziegler
“I was on a typical walkabout at the Ft. Worth, Texas, stockyards, looking for photos. All the elements were there, backlit and beautiful. I got into position and waited for the cowboy, who was working on the fence, to move into the frame.” D300, AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED.
Randy Ziegler photo of a blue window and brick facade Randy Ziegler
Randy was driving around a small town in Texas when he spotted the blue window. “I worked this a little bit. It was all about where I stood, a few inches either way. At first I eliminated the tree, then realized I needed it with the shadow. Lots of elements and angles to play with here.” D300, AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED.

I tell people, if you want to be a better shooter, get a longer lens and tighten your compositions and framing to reduce the extraneous and isolate the essential.

Randy Ziegler