OK, here’s how I went about inviting you, the viewer into my morning experience at Mono Lake. The question is, do you wanna shoot there now? The technical side of making the click is bloody easy. Arranging the elements just like wording an invitation, that’s the challenge. Are you up to it? I think you are!
Oh yeah, when the show is on at Mono, it’s on! You’ve gotta act quickly because it doesn’t last long. That color can’t be missed but often photographers get sucked into its warmth and focus nowhere else. And while the clouds and really make that an easy thing to do, I’m suggesting you go further, go past the obvious. (The obvious WB-Cloudy A6, Vivid, EV-2 1/15)
Yeap, back to those curves again. I want the viewer to feel in my click what I felt that morning on the bank of Mono Lake. Using that curve, we bring in that intimacy, we create visual depth and the tufas still pop in front of that great color. That last thing I want you to think that ever lakeshore or sunrise has to be photographed in this was to be successful, quite the contrary. I just want you to consider your options and keep in mind the viewer of your photograph when you make that click. Invite the viewer into your image, into your world, into your experience and you will start having more powerful images!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film
Mono Lake is a favorite of mine, been visiting it since 1959. I have been incredibly fortunate to visit many lakes over the years and none are quite the same as Mono. There are many things contributing to this from location to character. Most think of Mono for the tufa formations at South Tufa and rightly so since this is the only destination for most who visit the lake. I’ve walked the entire circumference of Mono over the years and the one thing you see at South Tufa which is indicative of the lake are the curves on the shoreline. This last week on our latest walk down to the tufas I was watching the photographers and noticed the curves got no attention.
The tufas tower up and are very unique shapes but prior to dawn, they are just shapes. The challenge as I see it is how do you tell the story of Mono Lake, Tufas, dawn and the experience in one click? The camera part is easy, WB-Cloudy A5, Vivid, EV-2 f/5.6 1/10 with all finishing done in ACR. It’s the arranging of the elements that is tricky. The wind was nuts the day before, a blizzard that prevented us from even reaching Mono Lake. It left massive banks of foam which was cool so it outlined the curve of the shoreline. What is it with the curve in the shoreline you ask? If we straighten out that shoreline or not even include, how intimate is the scene? Seriously, you do either and you don’t invite the viewer into the scene but include it and it brings the viewer into your world you saw and felt that moment you went click. Such a simple thing it is easy to overlook, not even consider. Once you do take this into consideration then the only option left is, vertical or horizontal and that is totally your call, there is no right or wrong. Next time you’re at a lake, take note of the shoreline and do a little experiment and take a photo of a cover and or a long stretch and see which one feels more inviting to you, and more importantly, to the viewer of your image.
Photos captured by D3x, 14-24AFS (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film
I love shorebirds and have traveled north (as in Alaska / Canada) to photograph them on their nesting grounds many times. That’s because I love seeing them in their breeding plumage. So we were photographing the clouds in the last posting when I turned and looked over in the river to see a bird silhouetted. I said, “Willet?” How could that be, in April, here? It wasn’t moving fast and I began to wonder if it got caught in the blizzard and blown to where it was now.
I burrowed Sharon’s binoculars and sure enough, it was not only a Willet, but one in breeding plumage! Well, had a heartbeat or two of hesitation, I went back to the truck and grabbed the 200-400 w/TC-17e and headed over to the river bank. It wasn’t a great photo opp with the backlighting but this was the only the 2nd time I’ve seen them in breeding plumage and first time to try to photograph them. So I went for it. As first, it hunkered down and then it perked up and decided to start foraging. I was crouching down, shooting handheld off one knee.
After a few minutes of foraging, it had walked right up to me. While not the greatest Willet photo I’ve ever taken, it is the first in breeding plumage and the first in the Eastern Sierra so I’m darn happy. After this, I scooted away and left it to its foraging. The light was just getting worse and there was no way I could improve it and I was supposed to be teaching landscape photography so off I went. What a cool treat though. Just goes to show you that you get out with your camera, something will appear.
Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR2 w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film
I woke up at 04:15 to find a blizzard going on! All I say were stars five hours before, the radar showed the storm going north of us but by the time I got up, it had slipped south. There was two inches on the ground when I drove down to meet the boys for our morning shoot but half way there, the lighting started. That means the winds are blowing dangerously and we’re not going shooting!
We headed out at 1PM but the wind was still blowing. Remember that post a couple of days ago, the one with the video with all the wind? Well we ended up there for a little while and the wind was still blowing. These photos were all taken within a matter of minutes of each other. If I had had the time, it would have been a killer place to do a time lapse because the clouds were racing by.
The cool thing was, if you didn’t like the clouds or their shadows (which is why I change the image a little each time I clicked), all you had to do is wait a few moments. The bottom one is my favorite of the three because of the big puffy on the left, it’s a great anchor for everything else.
Photos captured by D3x, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
To be honest with you, I don’t even remember the last time I tried to photograph a soaring bird with the 600mm mounted to a tripod! I can tell you by my performance, it was a really long time ago. I was on the bend of the levee working the Ripairan Brush Rabbits with wildlife really just about everywhere going about their life as if I wasn’t there. The way I like it. I had a Coyote cruise right past me, never stopping or looking at me. I had a mink, my first wild one, jug past me as well. And overhead all morning were the raptors like this Swainson’s Hawk (listed species in CA).
Back to being rusty (putting it nicely). It’s not that I had a sharpness issue, panning the 600mm on the tripod even with the lens pointing to the sky wasn’t an issue, I’m not rusty there. Rather, it’s getting the subject in the viewfinder in the first place that I’m rusty! Panning at eyelevel is pretty simple but as soon as you point that lens skyward and you have to bend at the knees and careen your neck, life gets hard. Especially when you have to navigate the tripod legs. I missed a number of great opportunities until I finally got back in the flow of doing this. The worst thing was, I couldn’t raise the tripod like I would have wanted or really move much because I didn’t want to tip my hand to the bunnies that I was even there. I thought the raptors overhead (I had Red-tailed, Swainson’s, Blk-shdr Kit & Harriers) would have sent the bunnies looking for cover, but such was not the case. And when it comes to the final photo, I like the bottom photo much more then the top. Shooting straight up on a raptor, looks like a mobile you find in some nature store. There is no life to the flight, it’s just there. It’s the bottom photo I prefer where the bird has room to soar, the primaries have a bend to them from catching the wind and the head is cocked suggesting that flight is really easy. And before I head out with the rabbits again, I’ll be lookin for some way to practice my long lens / overhead technique. I hate missing photos because of pilot error!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film