inspirations

Today I am appreciating friends of mine made during the Death Valley Workshop with Bruce Barnbaum, Jack Dykinga and Jay Dusard last October.  We are collaborating on a print share among our small group of friends and I am seeing some of their work from the workshop for the first time this week.  I am inspired by their images.  We all traveled the same roads, visited the same sights, and yet all came back with very different images.  Artist bring themselves to their image making, and these photographers are artists.  As David DuChemin recently commented on Twitter, “Vision comes from shooting from the heart, from making images more about how you feel than what you see.”

Mark Waits http://www.markwaitsphotography.com/

Chuck Kimmerle http://www.chuckkimmerle.com/

Alexenander Ehhalt http://www.alexander-ehhalt.com/content/index_ger.html

Eric Black http://www.ericpeterblackimages.com/EPB_Images/Welcome.html

Photo above: one of the ancient bristlecone pines in the Schulman Grove at sunset

looking again

Over and over again I am surprised at what I learn during the editing process.  I see new possibilities and missed opportunities that I’ll hopefully see more clearly next time I’m in the field.  So as much work as going through your images is… and it certainly is a lot of work for me since I don’t usually have large blocks of time to devote to the digital darkroom, organizing, processing and exporting… the self critique is invaluable to my education as a photographer.  I see how I framed the original image and can still see how I might have framed it differently, remembering the light and other elements I intentionally removed from the frame.  I can often still feel the temperature, the wind and sounds at the time I pressed the shutter.  Revisiting and looking again brings back those memories, often focusing my intent, but timing is everything for me.  I need to be away from the images and the experiences just long enough so the experience does not prejudice my ranking of those images in the grander scheme of my work.

Image of pine forest rebirth in Yosemite National Park, November 2010

December

With the winter solstice, full moon, lunar eclipse last night, and a cold running through the office… no wonder I’m feeling under the weather today.  Sorry I didn’t get any photographs of the big event, but it was amazing to see none the less.  I hope you too woke up long enough to witness one of nature’s wonders last night.  I’m hoping we get some snowfall soon so I’m able to add to my winter images… it’s harder to find exciting material to photograph in the ‘brown’ of winter in Pennsylvania.  December has always been the hardest month for me to be inspired by the season… no ice, no water, always overcast, no contrasts… just shades of brown.

Yes, the mahonia are in bloom and some of the other winter bloomers are hoping for warmer days and sunshine.  But as a photographer, this is the time of year I find new trees, new forms and dances among the bare branches.  I add them to my mental database, watch and ponder the best conditions to capture their grace.  The only thing keeping me inside lately is the strong winds we’ve had almost every day this month.  But with the shortest day of the year now behind us, we have longer days, brighter light and maybe a little snow to look forward to for the rest of the winter.  December is restorative…  time to enjoy the quietness of this time of year and let the creative process slow and wander.  For it’s during these times we can more easily reflect and embrace what is truly important to each of us as human beings and as artists.

salt crystals

Winter has definitely had her grip on eastern Pennsylvania this month.  It’s been in the 20s every night and cloudy and below freezing every day with a howling wind.  And then last night we had our first snowfall… just enough to dust the ground and cause traffic nightmares, but too late for any chance of an evening shoot after work.  So I’m inside editing tonight and it’s a good thing since it has been almost two weeks since my last post.  This dusting has definitely excited me about getting some good snowfall, frost or ice for photography.  But I may have to wait until January or February at this point as the weather is forecast to be above freezing during the day for the next week or so.  Christmas lights just might have to do for the next week while the sun fully sets before I’m off from my day job.

So I came across the image above while editing… it’s from Death Valley this fall, near the salt flats after the sun came over the horizon and side-lit the salt crystals.  Not frost or snow… but another wonder of nature.