Mother Nature did all the heavy liftin! This is a simple, hand-held two image pano taken of the purdiest grove of Aspens alongside the road. Backlight makes the color pop. F/22 creates the sunburst and ACR bought the two images together. Simply was a darn purdy slice of color!
Remember the scene where Gus is attacked by Indians and hides in a hole in the creek wall from them? Well, that’s what you see, well could see it if it weren’t night, at the base of these photos. We were out there though in the brisk air just to have fun with heavenly body photography the excuse. The basic exposure was ISO1600 / f2.8 / 6sec and for a change, no bourbon or coffee, just laughs to keep us going. New Mexico has such a gorgeous and romantic landscape, almost criminal to shoot at night!
Sydney Skyline captured by Z 9 / Z24-120, B&W out of the camera (A Gallery of image here click on arrow to see them all)
There was a time back in the ’70s when I flirted with the idea of going into architecture photography. It’s probably because of the math, all the lines, engineering, and symmetry that grabbed my imagination. While I didn’t pursue it, when I’m in a big city (they are all big compared to where we live) I tend to indulge those old flames by pointing my lens up. So was the case when we were in Sydney a few weeks back. There is no doubt the clouds are what made me look up and after that, it was just fun. I’ve already posted some of my photos of the Opera House, but I saved a couple for here because the Sydney skyline wouldn’t be complete without including them. Is there a “trick” to this stuff? I think that if you don’t feel it, it won’t come out in the photo. The it? A bit of passion for the lines, I think it’s all about the lines. A couple of the shots, the lines were squared up in ACR, otherwise they are as they lead. And after this, where did I go to shoot? Why, back to the forest of course. It would seem I can only take a few days of the big city landscape.
Up in AK waiting for the annual family reunion to begin. There I sat in my chair wrapped up snug as a bug watching clouds go by as behind me passed a Black Bear Family and in front a lone Griz. Off to a great start. Yep, life if mighty good!
Great fall color needs a couple of things, for that be explosion it’s a cold snap and moisture. Most of North America is missing the moisture which means big fall color might not happen. Seeing the handwriting on the wall last winter, I didn’t plan any fall color travels this year. Looking at our own trees going from green to brown, I’m saddened I was in the ballpark. Yes, there are some regions that will have color and that’s your mission to find if you want to photograph it. Search the web for regions with above average rainfall in the last forty-five days. Then narrow that down more by searching regions that received above normal moisture late winter. Compare those two searches and look at current temps for a cold snap. That might be your best bet for fall color this fall. I’m bracing for what might be one of those falls!
We’d read that the Queens image had been projected onto the Sydney Opera House but that it was past, not being done anymore. So two nights ago when we saw it there, we goofed up our Uber driver and did one of those great, “hold one moment while I make a click” moves. And with that quick click, off we went. Then last night, it was there again (can’t believe everything you read on the web) after dinner so this time, we took our time. We first shot it from the south, a totally different angle from the first night. You could faintly see the beams from the projector this night, slight moisture in the air. But the direction in which we were shooting, the beams were all wrong. We then walked in the direction of the first night shoot and the beams got brighter and brighter. We passed under them until we saw the view you see above. So on the third attempt to make the ONE click that brought home the story to us, did I get it right. And that’s the point. We shouldn’t settle on the first click, perhaps not the second or third even. We need to push ourselves, our photography, our visual storytelling until we get it right. It might take more and that’s OK. Just ask yourself, should we accept the first?
Sydney Opera House captured by Z 9 / Z24-120 (this is the first click)