We’re in Moab this week and having a great time! We scouted yesterday in Arches which is the land of great rocks! I came with the mind set of doing a lot of B&W and the light made it real easy to do. These are really simple clicks, shoot and convert in SEP2 to B&W. There will be more as the week goes on and I’ll explain more as I go.
Photos captured by 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
My bud RC is an excellent shooter who is constantly taking his photography and pushing it. In the process, he pushes us, at least he pushes me. He does a lot of HDR portraits and while not my style, I am aware of what he does and I really like it. So yesterday out at Broken Arch when I saw Chris standing there in his yellow jacket, I thought, RC! This is a 9 image handheld HDR that I actually kinda like. Chris’ attitude is what makes it for me. I wish the sun wasn’t behind a little bit of cloud cover because I couldn’t get a star burst, just a giant blinkie. Will I do this again? If the opportunity arises but I won’t seek it. It is good to know that I can get close though. Thanks RC!
Photo captured by D3s, 16AF on Lexar UDMA digital film
Sharon & I had a marvelous couple of days the beginning of the week as we played host and tour guide to our good friends Adam & Brandon. They are part of the incredible Kelby Training video crew and they were out with us in the Sierra filming my latest class on fall color. We were filming exactly one year to the day from last year when the fall color on the eastside was spectacular, just hitting its peak. As you can see, the peak has come and sadly, gone. It’s one of our favorite times of year here with the color, light, nip in the morning air and the excitement of the snow to come. This is a favorite grove of Aspens of mine where I have spent a lot of time over the last couple of decades shooting. I feel like I know these trees personally.You look close enough, you’ll recognize some of them from my book Captured.
I know, I know, it’s a waterfall. Like the grove of Aspens, I know this waterfall really well. Family legend has me falling in when I was a little Moose making quite a scene. Adam & Brandon being from FL haven’t seen the Sierra before and in fact, this was Brandon’s first visit to CA! Waterfalls are pretty darn rare in FL so since I had the opportunity to share a favorite with them, I did. Filming was complete so they grabbed their cameras and I took along one as well. We got there and the sun was out making for spotty light, not to appealing. Then the sun went behind the clouds and I liked what I saw. So I closed the lens down to f/22, ISO to L1 and made this hand held 1/2sec shot to blur the water. The trunks are what make it for me along with the spots of color. And the best part are the memories of taking this while creating the class with our dear friends from FL. Perfect!
Photos captured by D3x, 24f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
Ever been to Disneyland? Well this little depot in Westport reminds me of Disneyland so when Scott asked if we could stop, it as brakes on, bat turn left! Now the drama in the light and clouds weren’t there like our first visit and I knew it wouldn’t be the same. It never is. But I knew there was fun to be had here and when I think of having fun and goofin in photography, I think Fisheye! So I grabbed the 16mm and when a shootin. You see what I came back with. Both are 5 image hand held HDR that were then finished with Photomatic Pro and CEP4. Now did I run home and make 24×30 prints of these and hang them on my wall? What do you think? Did I have a blast with my friends Scott, Jeff, Chris & Kevin shooting these? Oh man, were we ever immature and laughing out heads off! Will these photographs always remind me of that moment in time? You bet! And for that reason, they are totally successful and will never be deleted. Not photographically my favorites but as life memories go, they most certainly are!
Over a matter of 18min, the sunrise blossomed and lots of pixels died! Our Tuesday morning shoot last week was in the gorgeous little town of Westport, NY and the photo gods were smiling on us. The clouds to the north were killer and the water, the perfect mirror. But how to make the photograph? First was placement of the tripod. There were actually many options, I went with this on the gamble the clouds would end up as you see them, making a great shaped especially when reflected in the water. Now there are two elements you can’t see that I saw in the viewfinder. There was a green lawn on the left and part of the dock structure in the bottom right corner. As you can see, they have both been dealt with in post. Next was the range of light, about 8 stops. The only way I know of dealing with that really easily is HDR, these are five image HDR images. But then there is that magic ingredient I tend to use in about every photograph I take. Time! yeap, I had faith looking at the wind and clouds that if I hung in this one spot, I would a set of images I really like. And water like this that is just a mirror, I can shoot all day and never get bored!
Photos captured by D3x, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
OH HELL YA!
But here’s the problem that rages inside my head. I’m a competitive SOB and I hate to loose. I hate to have a location beat me, I hate for another photographer to get a shot I didn’t because of a mental attitude and I hate not shooting. So, while I get bored with water pretty damn fast, its’ then I dig down and go into the super secret, highly trained, not known mode of, artsy fartsy photography! What’s the difference? First, I’m not a artsy fartsy photographer, not much fluff in the ol Moose. So when I start looking for that kind of photograph, I’m really pushing myself. It’s the same transformation I must make if I’m going to, shudder just thinking about it, shoot flowers! I wouldn’t like put these images in my portfolio (the in thing at the moment) but they will work themselves into a slideshow, some slow piece of music that’s real sappy. These are really simple clicks and other then ACR, nothing done special to finish them. Now how many of these “types” of shots did I take this morning to come up with two I like? A lot which speaks to my inability to make them. Will I push myself to get better at these? Not any time soon!
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VRII w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film