being a photographer

I am thinking tonight about how lucky we all are to have our sight.  Photographers use more than just their physical sight to “see” a photograph.  But tonight I am thinking about this because my father is having eye surgery Tuesday to correct a blown retina after cataract surgery.  A visual artist who may or may not get his full sight back.

It takes a lot of emotional courage to be an artist. Remembering this, I picked up a favorite book again tonight, Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland, and found this quote to share… “In the ideal – that is to say, real – artist, fears not only continue to exist, they exist side by side with the desires that complement them, perhaps drive them, certainly feed them.  Naive passion, which promotes work done in ignorance of obstacles, becomes – with courage – informed passion, which promotes work done in full acceptance of those obstacles.”

The photo above is of aspen trees on the shore of Grant Lake in the Eastern Sierras. Clicking the thumbnail will bring up a larger image for closer viewing.

editing skills

I was going through my images from the trip west ranking them for processing and realized the best images are from when I was allowing myself to trust what I saw rather than trying to make an image of something I thought might be interesting.  I guess this is one of the lessons of editing, a task I rather dislike but am beginning to value.  I’ve certainly taken images and not known how to process them until later; I needed some additional digital darkroom skills. But I’ve come to realize that if I keep my mind open during the editing process, and take time to look at past images, patterns and concepts appear and sometimes I see something I couldn’t quite understand earlier.  What continues to surprise me is that I need some time away from the actual image making in the field to be able to really edit well.

The image of the cottonwood above is from Bishop, CA when I was scouting for petroglyphs before sunset.  But this tree and its pattern caught my attention and I’m glad I stopped to photograph it!  Be certain to click on the image above to view it larger.  This blog template does not allow very large thumbnails.

fall colors

In preparations for my trip to Death Valley, I was playing with (learning the functions of) a rented 70-200mm lens so that I was not fumbling too much in the field with it.  I’ve been watching the transformation of the Rhus typhina colors near the underpass on route 320 and captured this abstract that represents more of what I saw than a fully focused image of this planting and cars.  I’ll be back in a couple of weeks and hope to have some beautiful images of the western part of our beautiful country to share!

subtle autumn

Image taken with Nikon D700, 105mm lens at ISO 200, 2sec @ f/32

Sunday I spent much of the day scouting a little further from home for potential fall color spots in SE Pennsylvania.  But I am always amazed at what might be found just in my own backyard if I take the time to venture out a little further, look a little closer, and at the same time open myself up to possibilities.

I’ve admired this grove of wild sassafras in the Crum Woods for years, but I’ve never been able to capture what it is about them that I find so appealing.  I’ve always taken a frame of the whole tree in its fall coat.  But it’s the wildness and the twisted forms that really catch my imagination.  They aren’t quite at their peak yet.  But I realized today that the transition between summer and peak fall color is subtly beautiful.  Why do most photographers always seek out the “show” or “color peak” to photograph trees in autumn?  Perhaps because color has such a strong impact to images and our reactions to them.  And don’t get me wrong… I love these images too.  Fall color is a miracle to behold.  But I find myself lingering longer with images that don’t have such a color punch, but where the colors play a softer role in my contemplative process.

first signs

Yesterday I spent some time scouting some local sites to see how fall color is progressing.  Some of the first signs of autumn were evident in the native dogwoods and this lovely specimen was sitting on top of a hill at the Brandywine Battlefield in Chadds Ford, PA.  Many of our tulip poplars and oaks are dropping slightly yellow but mostly brown leaves and I’m thinking I may need to go north this year for some of the yellow displays.  But a few stressed sugar maples are keeping me hopeful that the reds will still show up around the end of October.

red in September

young seedhead of Magnolia grandiflora

This morning was a perfect morning for macro photography… not a hint of a breeze, a chill in the air with some morning fog and dew.  Just before sunrise I found this magnificent Magnolia grandiflora covered in cone-like structures.  These fruiting cones turn pink to red when they ripen and later this fall will split open to reveal the brilliant red seeds suspended on a fine silk-like thread.

Today they remind me of autumn’s renewal.  So many think of autumn as a time of decay, death and dormancy.  But autumn is also the time of spring hopeful and the renewal of life.

Warming my spirit

As I’m getting ready to head to Harriman State Park in NY tomorrow morning for some winter landscape images, I found this from my trip to Promised Land State Park in PA last fall.  I am excited with anticipation of what I might find at Harrimon and the seven lakes there.  And this image is warming my spirit after knowing tonight’s low is forecast to be in the single digits… so I might find some great frozen water opportunities tomorrow!

Be open to mystery

Last weekend I was lucky to be given a trip to Virginia for my birthday.  The weather was not very cooperative for the shooting I was hoping to do of the falls in Great Falls National Park.  So we spent the remainder of the morning exploring along the Potomac River after disappointing morning light at the falls.  But we found Scott’s Run Nature Preserve later in the day and decided to take a walk in the middle of the afternoon.  Sometimes the best photographs are made when you don’t have preconceived concepts or images in your head and instead find them as I did here at the creek running through the preserve.  The rocks beckoned me from the path to explore them and after only 2 other images and visual exploration and examination of the geometry they played, I found this angle looking upstream into the beech forest.  I could sense a good photograph from the path along the creek; a sense pulling me more than normal.  I need to follow those instincts more often.  As Jay Maisel told me at the Photography at the Summit workshop last October, “If you’re not open to mystery, why should it find you?”

Dancing trees

Do you ever wonder what forces are at work that makes trees dance?  I do.  I find trees like these Acer saccharum (sugar maples) special, having a spirit all there own, different and unique to each pair.  Fall color in our native flora in Southeastern Pennsylvania is at it peak this week.  Last week I visited Promised Land State Park in the Poconos and found these embracing maples.

What do you hear or see in these trees?

For more blogs about fall color on the east coast and its progression south, see the fall color project.