Category Archives: Color
A Study in Green
Many of the the iconic views in the Palouse are from Steptoe Butte. On one evening with our group I made this capture, a study in green. The gentle rolling hills of planted crops make for endless compositions.
We are all exhausted today after a wonderful albeit long day yesterday.
The Boneyard
At the risk of being cliche’, I’ll add my “boneyard” image to the plethora of others on the off chance some of my blog readers have not see one. The “boneyard” or Botany Bay, is near Edisto Beach in South Carolina. Depending on the tide, you’ll find a few trees in the water creating, well, a picture of a tree in the water! So there ya have it!
For smoothing out the water, I used my Singh-Ray VariND filter. If you want even longer exposures, you can use the ultra cool Mor-Slo 10 stop filter.
Oaks & Azaleas at Magnolia Gardens.
The mighty oaks draped with spanish moss and surrounded by colorful Azaleas were indeed a sight to behold at Magnolia Gardens.
A Special Moment
Sometimes the elements align and you are presented with a scene that screams to be photographed. On my third trip to Magnolia Gardens, I was finally beginning to relax and “see” images that were not as obvious as the ones I had been shooting. I don’t know about you, but I bring to my photography other images I’ve seen, especially images I may have seen from the location I am shooting for the first time. I call this my “Visual Portfolio”. (Thanks Terry!) In the case of Magnolia Gardens, I’ve seen glorious images from my buddy Tony Sweet. It was hard not to run to the arching trees or white bridges and make the same images. So I did!! Then, I wanted to step back and see what else I might find that was not in my “Visual Portfolio”. Just on the other side of the famous and oft photographed white bridge, was this delicate scene filled with flowing color and strong lines created by the three main foreground trees. It immediately drew me in and has become a personal favorite from the trip. I know I’ve said it many times, however, it is worth repeating over and over, when I was finally “still” the images began to come.
Magnolia Gardens II
Another from the magnificent Magnolia Gardens in the Charleston Area. This scene was found by Dan at the end of a long day in the Gardens. We had a nice group gathered in this location and so we all took turns.
Death Valley does COLOR!
In looking back at my last ten blog posts, I realized I’ve been in B&W mode! I figured it was time for a color image. This one is from the abandoned Eureka Mine area. On our scouting day we had a cloud that was cooperating and the sun even reflected a hint of color as it disappeared over the horizon. I scurried up the hill to the car, moved to a position where I could best use the cloud, and make just a few captures as the light faded.
A teaching moment if I can. I’ve included an alternate version of the posted image below. In it you will see the sky had more color which I preferred. The issue I had was, in my haste after running up the hill to catch the color, I was not paying attention to where the car was in the frame. Below, you’ll note is was merging with the sky just a bit. I quickly changed my position to fix the issue but lost some of the color. Its a small nit picky thing, however, I was reminded by Tony Sweet this weekend (we presented together for a group along with Denise Ippolito) how important being nit picky is. A friend I was sitting with said, “thats what separates Tony from the rest and makes him so good.” I agreed.
Be sure to check back as my next post will be by guest blogger and Master Black & White photographer Chuck Kimmerle! Shout it from the roof tops, tell your neighbors, tell your friends, tell your mom, dad and siblings too… Everyone will want to read his great post.
Trinidad Man
This image has been haunting me for a bit. I love image and the man’s face but can’t help but feel I had intruded. I asked permission but still felt awkward. Lets turn the tables. Say some Cuban Tourists came to your house and pointed a camera in your face, how would you feel? Awkward, thats how I would feel and did feel as I photographed this handsome man. Interested to know your thoughts on the idea of photographing people in a foreign country.
An alternate color version below. Remember, you can click on an image to make it bigger.
Tampa sunset and a new quote.
We left Havana arriving in Tampa late afternoon. As we arrived at our hotel, the sunset was brewing and looking pretty darn good. I looked at Tony and said, wanna shoot it? We were dead tired but could not resist! We ran through the parking lot to the glass building next door and had a BLAST!! A few more below. All shot handheld with the Fuji X-E1
I came across a new quote from Max Planck. “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” I think this applies to photography as much as it does our lives. Oft times we think we know someone, until we look at them through a different pair of glasses. Walk in their shoes if you will. I find it much the same with photography. To many the building next door to our hotel was just a place of work, another building. For me, it was a giant mirror reflecting the amazing display in the sky that night. A perfect graphic design to add to the sunset.
Chasing light again…
On another night, we were chasing the golden light yet again. Having been there once before, I knew this particular street and the direction it faced might offer some opportunities. And then we stumbled upon an old american car. And the sky was pretty terrific too, perfect!
Chasing the light
One evening in Trinidad, yes Cuba, we were in town as the sun was setting. The gold light bathing the gold building was too good to pass up!
