Oct 18, 2019 | Landscape Photography
There is a certain calm that comes with Friday morning and that’s the knowledge tomorrow is the weekend. When you’re able to train your lens than on a landscape with the rolling ground fog constantly transforming your view, it’s just the perfect start to it all. That was our morning this morning. Went to Plan A site to find no ground fog so went to Plan B site and bam … there is was!!!
There are many approaches one can take to shooting the landscape draped in ground fog. For example, color or black and white. Another is wide or long and this morning overlooking Townsend, TN, I went with long. That’s because I wanted to bring the calm beauty of the wrapping ground fog up close and personal. The Z7 / 180-400VR made it real simple shooting at times at 180mm and then 560mm and anything in between. And each time I saw a new detail, graphic, in the viewfinder I would decide to go either B&W or color. It was the perfect start to the weekend!
Oct 15, 2019 | Landscape Photography
Our time in Newfoundland last week was simply amazing! One of the cool things we did on a really dark day was spending time at Cape Spear. Cape Spear is as far east as you can get in North America. This amazingly gorgeous and romantic piece of land is so fascinating, we spent three hours in the very cold fog wandering around with our cameras shooting Z6 / Z14-30).
This is the original lighthouse that over time went from a single light in a dome to be enclosed in this structure. The new lighthouse you can see down the bluff. Going inside the original lighthouse, you can see how the lightkeepers lived and worked. One of the windows looks out on the Atlantic and takes in the new lighthouse.
The dark skies and the subject matter were an instant call to go to B&W. Cape Spear sticking put in the Atlantic as it does, the clouds swirl around so, in a short time, the skies will be different. I used this as I walked around to frame up the original lighthouse. I worked the thinner – lighter parts of the sky so they would be above the structure and I walked around doing a full 360 of the lighthouse. Being the furthest east part of North America, on the Atlantic and the mood of the skies really made the photo process pretty simple. The romance just oozed in!
Sep 23, 2019 | Landscape Photography
Alabama Hills
captured by D3x / 24-70f2.8
Yeah, it’s simply gorgeous out! Spent the morning stacking firewood with the clouds floating past overhead and the gorgeous light that is, fall. I have basically every minute between now and Thanksgiving planned to be out amongst the leaves to drink in every drop of light pouring through them. It comes to fast each year and goes by even faster!
Conway Summit
captured by D3x / 24-70f2.8
As I mentioned in my podcast today, I think the Eastern Sierra (this is Conway Summit) will have a good fall color show. You need two key ingredients for fall color, wet late spring and a good cold snap. We had the snow in May and we just had a quick storm blow through a week ago with its cold temps. That is setting up the eastside for good color. If you need hints or ideas on how to work with fall color, be sure to check out my KelbyOne Classes on Moose’s Fall Color Class. And be sure to get out and play in the leaves, it’s good for the soul!
Sep 17, 2019 | Landscape Photography
The wind was howling through Nevada yesterday with 40mph gusts. It whipped the snow-laden clouds about in gorgeous forms (first Sierra snow fell yesterday). It also did a number of vehicles, flinging a 16 wheeler off the highway and stopping all traffic in both directions for four hours. We came upon the scene just after the incident so we were stuck. We were entertained with great conversation and scenery outside our windows. The light was gorgeous light so I braved the elements and made some clicks.
How windy was it? It took my rear lens came out of my hand and flung out of sight in a heartbeat! Braving the sensor dust I knew was coating my Z6 in the wind, I attached the FTZ / 105f1.4 and spent an hour with the ever-changing landscape. With the fierce wind, the apertures in the clouds came and went and with them, new light on the same scene. If I wasn’t stuck on a two-lane highway at an accident scene with 40mph gusts, I would have shot a time-lapse which would have been spectacular. Perhaps it was a good thing I was forced to stop cause otherwise I would have probably just enjoyed the view rather than record and share it. Simply, spectacular!
Sep 3, 2019 | Landscape Photography
When we caught up with our dear friend Richard the other morning, he was so excited to go off to work. And he’s retired! He’s a biologist and he was asked to work the Spring Fire. A naturally caused fire from a lightning strike a month back, it’s burning in an area that just recently burned and has never burned in the largest stand of Jeffrey Pine in the US. We think of fire as a bad thing but it’s is a natural part of the system, when the system is not broken. In the remote area where the Spring Fire is burning, it’s pretty natural so for scientists, is a burning laboratory where they are discovering all sorts of new things about the system. I was very pleased this morning I could take this photo for Richard which I know he’ll love after he shakes off the dust and washed off the ash from the fire. Oh, the body of water is Mono Lake. And the photo, a simple click taken with the Z6 / 70-200f4.
Aug 28, 2019 | Landscape Photography
I’ve not met a single photographer who didn’t travel for his art. Some definitely travel further than others and some, travel a whole lot more often than others. But photographers seem to be natural travelers, explorers, and wanderers taking the camera along to record their memories. The good photographers are happy with their finds and keep searching. The great photographers are never totally happy and cannot stop searching. Searching not for that great photograph, but for the adventure at the end of the road and the memories that search brings to their lives. Why, perhaps they love telling stories?!
I honestly don’t know how many times I’ve traveled to the end of the road in Denali. I do know that the journey or search has never been the same twice, not even close. That’s why I keep going back with my camera with eyes wide open for whatever appears. Critters are the obvious attraction and we did see a lot of Moose. But the light brought life to the landscape that was captivating. The challenge is bringing the vastness of the land to the image and the light was so magical, even that was done for us. Then all that was required was to follow that natural cred of the photographer acknowledging the journey never-ending.
