Hofn Iceland

Traveling around in Iceland there are many spectacular locations to photograph.  The land is open with long vistas of dramatic landscapes.  While in the the town of Hofn I looked around for a location near the ocean to capture some of the stormy skies of the day.  The beaches in this area consist of black sand from volcanos that have erupted over the years.  The reflecting light on the black sand provides an interesting foreground for the mountain range in the background.  The weather conditions were rapidly changing on this particular day but I still had to wait considerable time for the clouds to clear the peak of the mountain.  I made several images in this location and all of them have a very different look with the moving clouds around the mountains and changing tides of the ocean. 

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is to place two concepts, characters, ideas, or places near each other to contrast them.

While I was in Iceland I searched for natural settings to capture the beauty of this majestic and isolated land.  I traveled the coastline and ventured into the central mountain areas in search of interesting subjects.  While traveling on the far eastern coastline I came into the small town of Djupivogur.  I stumbled on to the artwork called Eggin i Gleovik, "The eggs of Merry Bay".  The artwork consist of 34 eggs on pedestals, each one representing a bird species that live in the area.   As I walked around these sculptures I came to appreciate how they were placed to contrast with the surrounding landscape of water, mountains, and sky.   It is always a challenge to find new and interesting things to photograph as a landscape photographer.  It takes hours of planning and many miles of travel to find locations of interest.  Sometimes they just appear as these sculptures did while I was pursuing other types of subjects.

https://beiceland.is/the-eggs-of-merry-bay

Man in the street

I picked up my first point and shoot digital camera in 2008.  It was a Canon G10.  I used it for street photography along with my more trusted film camera.  I was in San Miguel de Allende Mexico that year and found myself using the little digital camera to capture the fast moving street scenes of that colorful city.  Although I continued to use film as my primary platform for photography until 2011, I was slowing finding myself making the shift to total digital.  Now after nearly five years of working with digital I can respect the unique properties that each format brings to photography.  When I view my black and white prints made with large format film I have an appreciation for the fine detail and tonal separation that was capable with the darkroom process.  A gelatin silver print when made correctly has a unique quality that almost appears to emit light from the print surface.  The hardest obstacle for me to overcome when first starting my digital process, was not being able to touch the image as I was working on it.  The simple fact that my image was locked behind a piece of glass of the monitor was very disturbing to me.  The darkroom has a tactile aspect to it with the handling of the film and paper, and was a critical part of the emotional involvement throughout creative process of making the fine print.  The absences of this relationship to the image is something that I still struggle with at times when trying to determine my approach to how I feel about a subject, and working towards the finished print.  Digital imaging has allowed me to continue photographing as I get older with light weight camera gear and the computer replacing the strenuous work of my darkroom.

The Popsicle Man

We have made serval trips to Mexico over the years and I have always found interesting subjects to photograph.  One day we were out driving the back roads and came across this man riding his bicycle down an old dusty dirt road that led into a small rural town.  I stopped to talk with him knowing he was interesting character to photograph.  He told me that he rides his bike twenty miles each day selling popsicles in the small farm towns in the area.  He was a carefree guy that enjoyed what he does.  We bought a couple of popsicles and talked for awhile.  As he was preparing to ride on he proudly posed for me with a popsicle in hand.  I am always grateful when I am able to meet and photograph interesting people in my travels. 

Working in Black and White

 
     Fruita Flats, Co.

I recently made a trip to Utah and came away with a few new images to work on.  As I review my images in Lightroom, I realize how much I appreciate the days I worked with film and the darkroom process.  Working primarily as a black and white photographer, it requires me to pre visualize, as best as I can, the scene as the finished print while in the field.  When working with Black and White film the process is made easier because the only time I have to deal with color is at the time of exposure.  With the digital process there is a disconnect of what I visualized in the field and what is viewed on my computer screen, because of the RAW image being in color.  It can be a bit more challenging to bring out the initial emotional response I had to the subject in the finished print.  It has been my experience that the film/darkroom process is easier at the start and gets more difficult working towards the finished print. The digital process works in the opposite direction by being more difficult starting with a fuzzy. faded, RAW file that is in color, and then gets easier by utilizing the accurate controls offered by photo software.  For me personally, I try to maintain the thought process I used with Black and White film and apply as much of it as I can to my digital imaging work flow to achive my desired final image.  As photography progresses we will be faced with new equipment and ways we deal with our images.  During these changes we tend to get focused on how we photograph and the equipment we use, rather than the reason why we are inspired to photograph and create. 

Bare trees and gray skies

I when I am out traveling in new locations I never know the type of subjects I will come upon.  I usually have a preconceived idea about an area and the expected images I might make there.  I try to keep my travels as spontaneous as possible to have the flexibility to change directions if the weather or other things arise that hinder my chances of doing photography.  Such was the case in my recent trip to Utah.  I was tent camping and had to reroute my trip because of extremely heavy rains and tornados that came through the state.  It made me rethink my plans and adjust my travels to avoid areas of storm damage and flooding.  I ended up not visiting many of the places I had originally planned on, and found myself travel unexpected roads in search of new locations to photograph.  The above image was made in an area that was not in my original travel plans.  Utah is full of spectacular red rock canyons with unusual rock formations that attract many visitors to the state.  It also has many miles of wilderness roads with ranch lands of scenic beauty to explore.   This image was made on a very stormy day with strong winds and rain.  It was a challenge to get out of the vehicle to do much photography in such conditions.  With most all of my field work I use a tripod even when I really don't need to.  It is all part of my many years of using a large format camera that required a tripod to steady the camera.  I made this image with my Sony A7R11 without the use of a tripod.  This camera has a 5 axis built in image stabilization feature that is helpful in situations like this.  I was also able to use the tilt LCD screen on the back to compose my low angle view of this scene.  It is always satisfying to be able to make a few good images on a trip when my original plans don't work out. 

The road less traveled

From an early age I have had a desire to travel and explore remote areas.  I am drawn by the thought of  "what is up around the next corner".   I always feel that if I turn around now I will miss something really great just around the corner.  When I come upon an intersection I almost always take the road less traveled,  believing there are things to be discovered that may have been passed by.  When I think about the early influences that shaped my desire to travel and explore,  my mind always goes back to a poem that stuck with me as a child.   In grade school I had a gifted teacher that would read books and poems to her class.  Her talented expressions with words took me into the story as if I was the one being talked about.  The one poem she read that has always been with me is one of Robert Frost's, "The Road Not Taken."  Many times have I looked down the road as far as I could see and then taken the one less traveled, and yet breathed a sigh of regret knowing I will never return to travel the other.  In life with the many choices it offers, it always has us choosing the road we will follow.
The above image of an old Post Office was made in remote area of central Utah while traveling on a secondary roadway.
                                                                                                  
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost