Mar 21, 2013 | Landscape Photography
Had the great opportunity today to get out and play “tourist.” We woke to an Bermuda downpour of biblical proportions which, by the time we were finished breakie became a delightful day. Now Bermuda is this small island, 22miles by 1 mile but within that is packed nothing but really cool, gorgeous, quaint and spectacular land! We didn’t know it at the time, but the driver the Rosewood sent to pick us up at the airport would not only become our guide for the day, but now a good friend. Myron is this marvelous historian (and you know how I love history trivia) born and raised on Bermuda. And everyone on the island seems to know him so we are receiving the VIP treatment! Well, we started talking about the Shell Slate roofs that dominate the architecture of Bermuda and Myron wanted me to see the inside of one of the original structures using this material. Well, coming out, the light was great so I had to take his photo. This is a simple click with D4 / 18-35AFS of our new BBB (Best Bermuda Bud).
Oh ya, this is the view we stopped to look at when we went and explored the roof.
Mar 20, 2013 | Landscape Photography
If you would have told me a short while ago that I would be “working” in Bermuda, I would have said something like my Joe McNally. “No editor is going to send this simple mtn boy to a resort island to shoot!” I get funny looks here when I greet folks with “howdy!” But yet because of that miracle box known as a camera, here Sharon & I are working this week. I’ll be honest, Bermuda wasn’t even on my radar screen and now that I’m here, I have to ask myself why wasn’t and what other incredible locations on this planet aren’t that should be? The island, it’s people, the photography and the food are all marvelous and we’re loving it!
We’re staying at the marvelous Rosewood Tucker’s Point, simple a gorgeous property! In doing some homework, I saw this photo of one of their infinity pools and I simply had to have it for myself. So I went down this morning to check it out. Well, the first thing you’ll notice between the two photos (mine and on their site) is that theirs was shot in the evening, didn’t know that until I checked it out (I got up early for nothing?) Next, the pool, pool house and in general in their photo is perfect, mine, not so much. The area is being “readied” for the “season” which starts in 10 days. The winter storms fill the beach with sand for example so they have to “carve” out the beach with loader each spring. A loader in the photo just, I don’t know, kinda ruins the reflection in the infinity pool. None the less, I got down on the deck with the D4 and 18-35AFS to make some test shots. It has nothing to do with why we’re here but I really love the shot on the site and want it for myself. So, if the photo Gods are with me, I’ll be back down to the beach infinity pool with loaders gone and gorgeous skies in place. And the whole time, I’ll be pinching myself to remind me the perks of the click!
Mar 19, 2013 | Landscape Photography
Yeap, we photographed the base of Lower Yosemite Falls in the morning and ate dinner on Bermuda. Now the funny thing (not really but…) we went to Yosemite for a winter workshop during the driest Jan/Feb, ever, on record! And when we got the call to go to Bermuda right afterwards for a project, we thought the warmth would be nice. Dang…where’s my jacket?! It’s not that warm here right now but wow, is it gorgeous! For this simple mountain boy, this is going to be a great week in the sun!
Mar 19, 2013 | Landscape Photography
I first visited the base of Lower Yosemite Falls in 1970 and ever since then, I’ve been hooked. I can easily sit there and watch the power and listen to noise all day and never tire of it. Seriously, it just amazes me how the whole thing works! Photographically, watching the light move around the falls fascinates me. In this case, the light is bouncing off a rock face left out of frame and makes the water glow. It also brings life to the face of the cliff. It does this for a short time as the sun plays dodge with rocks, cliffs and trees. Without sitting there and watching, you could easily miss the whole show. That is probably why I just keep going back, it’s never the same twice.
Mar 18, 2013 | Landscape Photography
and count your blessings not only to witness such beauty, but have a camera in your hand the same moment!
Mar 15, 2013 | Landscape Photography
I kinda pride myself on including those elements that help the story telling while eliminating those that don’t. This is all done in the viewfinder. There are times though when I see the smallest detail and I will wait to make that one detail at least in my mind, pop though in the final image, it’s the smallest detail. So it begs the question in my own mind, do small details matter? Case in point, the rainbow at the base of Lower Yosemite Falls. By itself, it is so dynamic, so gorgeous and so full of life. What else can really matter in such a moment, a capture? Well to this shooter, the rock in the lower right corner. I waited and worked until that little kiss of light kissed its top. Why? Because to me, it looks exactly like Half Dome but only a fraction of the size. Now I think that, I know that I’m in Yosemite shooting Lower Yosemite Falls and Yosemite is the home of Half Done. But does any one looking at this photo know it’s “Lower Yosemite Falls” located in Yosemite and know the shape of Half Dome so well they connect all those dots? Honestly, that’s a stretch! So then why work to include some detail that in the final analyzes only you really know it’s there? I think we all SHOULD because the photo has to matter to US before it matters to anyone else! It is just possible that if you care that much about such a small detail, there might just be some bigger, more important ones that matter to you as well. If nothing else, it means you’re putting more heart than perhaps technical into your photo and that is always a good thing. You of course must answer the question for yourself and your own photography. But to me and my photography when all it said and one, small detail do matter.
