Cumberland River, Ky.

We have been camped in the Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky for a few days.  It is July and the temperatures and humidity are high but that hasn't stopped us from doing our daily hiking.  We have been trying to make our hikes in the mornings or late afternoons to deal with the sticky weather.  We use the mid day hours to scout out possible locations to photograph in when the light is better.  We visited this area in the during the day and knew this would be a good location to return to.  This image was taken at dusk along the Cumberland River and was a fairly long exposure in the dim light.  I rarely ever set my ISO higher than 100 when photographing and enjoy the slow pace of using a tripod and making long exposures.  The mood of this location was very still and quiet as we walked around the rivers edge exploring the area.  The soft glow of light on the rocks and water reflects the mood of the place that evening.

http://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/Cumberland-falls/default.aspx

Quiet Light

The most interesting time of day for me to photograph is near dusk.  The light is very soft and the details are revealed in the dark shadow areas that normally would be lost in harsh sunlight.  This time of day is usually very still because the wind settles down after sunset and give the opportunity to make the long exposures required in such lighting conditions.  I hiked along this stream just after a heavy rain and sloshed my way down steam until I came to a 80' waterfalls just beyond this big rock in the photo.  It takes a lot of energy to carry the gear and heavy tripod with me on these hikes but the rewards of the experience and making some new images is always worth it.
John Sexton a friend and fellow photographer has produced a book entitled "Quiet Light" that has one of the best collection of photography in low light.


http://www.amazon.com/John-Sexton/e/B000APB7S4

Fall Creek Falls. Tn.

We have been camped or a few days in central Tennessee in the Fall Creek Falls State Park.  The park has some beautiful waterfalls to view and some exremely difficult to hike to.  The water is low this time of year but there has been a couple of nights of rain to help with the water flow.  I make this image last night after a hard rain in low light.  It is always refreshing to be around moving water and to feel the coolness of the air in the gorge. 

The Smokey Mountains

We are camped in the Smokey Mountains on the Tennessee side of the mountain range.  This is the quiet side of the mountains and has less visitors in the summer months.  Today we made a hike down into a gorge to photograph some waterfalls.  We found our way up a washed out mountain road with downed trees and big ruts in the gravel road from a recent storm.  When we reached the top while preparing our gear we heard the sound of distant thunder and decided we better wait it out to see how severe the storm would be.  After about a half hour of hard rain with lightning the storm passed and we started down the steep mountain trail to the stream below.  The temperature was about 95* and the humidity very high.  When we finally reached the bottom we were both soaking with sweat and stepping into the cool water felt refreshing.  I made only a couple of setups and realized I am not as young as I use to be.  I didn't venture out on the rocks with my camera and tripod as I have done so many times over the years.  Making the climb back out was strenuous but rewarding to know we made another hike together and came away with a couple of images to work on. 

Hand to Hand

We spent a few winters in Mexico and found it to be a vibrant culture with a contrast in living conditions.  We would walk many miles each day in the city streets taking is all of the sights and sounds of a new and exciting country to explore.  I was just starting to use a digital camera and had a small point and shoot Canon that I carried along with my film camera.  I had a habit a giving my pocket change to the people we would see in the streets, and sometimes would stop and talk with them for a moment.  With this image I was bending down to give this women my extra change and without really thinking about it I made this picture with my digital camera that I was holding in my right hand.  Doing street photography is a very different type of of photography and requires a quick eye because things are moving and changing all around you.  I enjoy doing street photography but always prefer to return to my nature work of being in an isolated and deserted landscape environment. 

Soft light

My favorite time to photograph nature is early mornings or in the evenings at dusk.  I prefer the soft light that exist this time of day.  Doing photography during the mid day sun can be challenge because of the harsh shadows and the overall strong contrast of the scene at that time of day.  The only exception is when I am doing a long exposure of several minutes with one of my neutral density filters.  The long exposure has a way of smoothing out the look of the image and creating a surreal or dreamy effect.  With film I almost always worked in very low light conditions and relied on the reciprocity effect of the film to increase the contrast on the film.  I remember many scenes having only four stops of light but through reciprocity failure and over development of the film I could easily get a negative with seven or eight zones of exposure.  Today with digital I have to rely on my ability to work with the RAW image in Photoshop to take the image to the initial vision I had when making the exposure.  I certainly utilize my many years of darkroom work to know where I desire to go with the look of the final image.  I am sure my method of working with Photoshop is lacking in many ways when compared to others that have much more experience with working with the software than I have.  My current process is rewarding now that I am developing and printing images electronically nearly as good has I did with the chemical process.

Visualization

When working with photography and especially in black and white, it is helpful to learn how to pre-visualize the scene to be able to create a successful image.  I learned many years ago how to clearly see the finished image in my mind before making the exposure.  In my days of working with large format equipment using strictly black and white film it was much easier for me to pre-visualize an image than it is with digital equipment.  I had use of the zone system and my calibrated spot meter that I use to analyze the contrast of the scene and to base my exposure.  I would place the low and high values ( darks and whites) according to the contrast that existed within the scene.  At this point I would base my exposure on the development I planned on giving the film to either increase or decrease the overall contrast within the scene I was photographing.  I used colored filter on the lens to change tones and contrast  the film was going to record.  The process was a discipline that produced great results and enable me to visualize the final image I was hoping to make in the darkroom.  Years of working this way led to many successful images but took plenty of mistakes and failures to master the process.  Today working with digital I try to ignore the color as much as possible to see in black and white.  One thing I do is review my exposures in black and white on the camera LCD screen by setting my picture style to black and white.  This lets me review the image much like the old black and white Polaroid's I took each time before exposing the sheet film.  Certainly my many years of working with film and printing all of my images has made the transition to black and white digital easier for me.  I know later in the process I will have to deal with a fuzzy color RAW image that is downloaded, but I have the experience of using visualization to help me get to my desired final image.