The Way We See It: landscape

Showing posts with label landscape. Show all posts

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Box of Chocolates...

High key Lake Superior Sunrise - Kitchi Gammi Park, Duluth
Canon 5D mark iii + Canon 17-40 f4.0L w/ a Tiffen Variable ND Filter

You never know what you’re going to get.

Sunday had the potential of being an epic day. Wolf pups were frequenting a hamlet near the North Shore, and I was in need of an adventure. After a bit of arm twisting and plan-shifting, I convinced my good friend Brian to join me on one final summer shoot. Having spent two weeks together photographing Costa Rica in July, and countless days in the field throughout the years, I knew that this wild idea had traction.

We left our respective homes at 3:30 a.m. and coordinated a rendezvous near the northbound freeway. Bleary-eyed and unrested, we were in a race against dawn. First stop,... Lake Superior.

Nearly three hours after consolidating the gear in one vehicle, the sun began its daily ascent. Masked by the big lake’s atmospherics, we knew that there was little time to find the optimal vista. As we sped through Duluth, we hit the Superior Scenic Highway and pulled off the road at Kitchi Gammi Park. The sun was now our enemy as it made its way through a shallow bank of clouds. I overestimated the cloud cover and knew that we now had less than twenty minutes of good light.

Water and Rocks - Kitchi Gammi Park, Duluth
Canon 5D mark iii + Canon 17-40 f4.0L w/ a Tiffen Variable ND Filter

Brian and I scrambled across the rocky surface to find “the spot” where we could each craft “the shot.” As if hiking along a forked trail, he banked south and I ran north. The light was less than magic, but the surf was rough and splashed aggressively at my feet. The wet rocks caught my eye as the sun broke through a thin layer of clouds. This was far from ideal, but I was not going to let bad light damper my excitement. Rather than seek some perfect exposure, I chose to shoot both high-key (overexposed) and low-key (underexposed) images. Here, the mood was more important than the subject. Being there and experiencing life trumped my trivial desire to achieve perfection

Low key Lake Superior Sunrise - Kitchi Gammi Park, Duluth
Canon 5D mark iii + Canon 17-40 f4.0L w/ a Tiffen Variable ND Filter

We never saw the wolves that day, nor made the great American landscape, but we didn’t let sleep interfere with the opportunity to seek out an adventure. This Great Lake is like a box of chocolates, sometimes you get the rich nougat and sometimes you get the mystery cream center than nobody likes.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Summer 2013 : Live Your Passion

Suburban Coyote (Canis latrans) - White Bear Lake, MN
Canon 50D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + Canon 1.4x converter

It’s the annual end of summer post. For years I have blogged my ode to summer as a lament to the loss of freedom and a return to a year of work. At times I’ve eluded to a fabled purgatory or indentured servitude, but each of these references were always intended to be tongue in cheek.

The Singer (Melospiza melody) - Chippewa Preserve
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

I am a conservation photographer and artist, but this is only one of my two passions. My work, “the job,” is to teach. Teaching biology and exploring the working of life’s biodiversity is my other passion. I’ve been playing the role of a teacher since 1992, and am now a seasoned actor. Once a young buck among a sea of future retirees, I am now the old guy. Yet, with 22 years in the bank, I’m not one of those wannabe’s looking to leave the profession.

Northern Saw-whet Ow (Aegolius acadicus) - North Central WI
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS

The onset of the school year is as exciting and tense as capturing an ephemeral moment with my camera at the break of dawn. I feel the same pressure and fear of failure during my first week back to work as I do when photographing a fleeting moment. This fear is tempered by the sense of potential that also floods my thoughts. Much like photography, teaching excites me. The unknown product of my efforts and desire to improve what I do each day is a redundancy in these two passions of mine.

Chippewa Prairie State Park - Minnesota
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 17-40 f4.0L

It’s been a good summer. I’ve photographed the prairies of Minnesota, the deep woods of the Midwest, and the jungles of Costa Rica. I’ve explored the details in bird feathers and frog eyes and climbed mountains to catch the start of a new day. This will be a good year too. I will craft rich lessons that will illuminate young minds, and paint a picture of the life found on this Earth. So rather than author yet one more lament, just this once I’ll let the real truth speak for itself... this educator has a nice life ;-)

Saturday, August 17, 2013

5 Simple Things You Can Do to Improve Your Landscape Photographs

St. Croix River Sunrise - Summer 2013, Stillwater MN
Canon 5D Mark iii + 17-40mm L @ 18mm w/ 6-stop Tiffen Variable ND Filter

Call this one a tweener... a little something from home in between our Costa Rica 2013 recap.

Use a tripod to increase stability, slow you down and permit long exposures.
Wake up early, be on site before sunrise and shoot the pre-dawn light.
Use a strong foreground element like a rock, tree or color to add balance to the image.
Use lines to lead your viewer’s eye into the photograph.
Try to expose in a way that stretches your histogram from the brightest whites (at the right) to the darkest blacks (at the left). This offers you the greatest flexibility when post processing. If the exposure range is greater than five stops between the extremes, then shoot multiple images at various exposures. By capturing a bracketed series you can merge the divergent exposures in software like Photoshop, Photomatix, or Nik HDR Effex.

St. Croix River Sunrise (#2) - Summer 2013, Stillwater MN
Canon 5D Mark iii + 17-40mm L @ 18mm w/ 6-stop Tiffen Variable ND Filter

These pictures were taken on August 13, 2013 @ 6:10 a.m. Each was from a single exposure where I worked to maximize the dynamic range prior to and after image capture. The photographs were pre-processed in Aperture 3.4.5 and finished for presentation in Photoshop CS 5.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Where is your Shangri-La?

I Call it Shangri-La - Selva Verde Primary Forest, Costa Rica
Canon 5D Mark III + Canon 17-40mm f4.0L @ 19mm / f16

Synonymous with an earthly paradise, Shangri-La was first described by James Hilton in his 1933 novel Lost Horizon. The Himalayan utopia, as described by Hilton, lies trapped between mountainous peaks, and is a place where happiness and youth are maintained in perpetuity.

I have seen Shangri-La. Hidden to most, this magical landscape reveals itself to those who embrace their wanderlust. A place where the land touches the sky and light scatters about, Shangri-La is only visible to the early risers, compulsive hikers, and the dreamers of the world. Located somewhere on this planet I’ve been there before and I have no doubt that I’ll be there again.

Black & White Conversion with Topaz B&W Effects II

About the Picture --- This image was first conceived in 2011. I visited this valley during an intense hike through primary rainforest protected and owned by the Selva Verde Lodge and Preserve. Following an early morning ascent that included a precarious swinging bridge, hognose viper, steep switchbacks and bushwhacking up a mountainous slope, we arrived at the valley after sunrise. While I took many pictures that morning, I was forced to use HDR processing to reconstruct the image that disappeared as fast as the sun rose.

We returned to the Selva Verde Lodge in July 2013. Knowing that my intended photo required us to beat the sun, we began our 2013 hike to Shangri-La at 5:00 a.m. On this day the atmospherics were kind as rain clouds hung in the valley while the sun climbed the mountainous slopes. With the sun to my right and thick clouds in the foreground, I decided to use this dying tree as a way anchor my landscape. While I like what I’ve produced, I still don’t think I’ve made “The Shot” that lingers in my mind... I guess this means I’ll have to make plans to return to this Central American Shangri-La.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Of Two Minds

Evening Storm - West Side of Manning Trail
Canon 5D Mark iii and Canon 17-40 f4.0L + 3-Stop ND Filter

Physical or mental state... lately it seems that I'm at opposite ends. The school year is rapidly coming to a close. To prepare for the frenzied moments of the final week, grading has been a priority and art lays quietly waiting for inspiration. Ten hours in two days... interpreting data, reading about energy, judging student thoughts. The mind wanders as I navigate through the infinite pile of papers and watch the passing of storms. I am of two minds; I am ready to free the artist, but I'm beginning to mourn the end. Photography is my passion, but teaching is what I do. Schizophrenic in the literal sense, I am an introvert walking through a jungle of patterns and space; I am an extrovert, a showman on stage relating stories that make the abstract tangible. It's almost over, but I think I am sad... I am a teacher who takes pictures and a photographer who teaches. My students stoke my passion for biology, and I will miss them during this summers' sabbatical.

As with my thoughts, these images are of two minds. The first captured at dusk on June 1, 2013 was taken during an approaching storm. The second image (below) was made at dawn just one week earlier. Less than 400 m and quiet country road separate the two perspectives, a photographic metaphor for my state of mind.

Spring Sunrise - West Side of Manning Trail
Canon 5D Mark iii and Canon 17-40 f4.0L + 3-Stop ND Filter

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Go with the Flow

Old Cider - Stillwater, MN
Canon 5D mark iii + 17-40mm f4.0L & 3-stop B+W ND

We've adopted another puppy and with this comes the duality that accompanies every major decision. The fun of jostling a belly with stumpy legs is tempered by sleep deprivation and zero dark-thirty walks. The older dog, Sequoia, must endure the annoyance of puppy teeth in order to eventually have a worthy playmate. Dichotomies are at the root of so many of life's experiences. When we embrace the dichotomy we begin to see with greater clarity.

To produce this photograph I needed to balance my vision with the limits of my circumstance. The light was changing rapidly as heavy winds moved the clouds aloft. The streaky sky was quickly becoming overcast, and the tree I sought to photograph was trembling in the breeze. Rather than fight nature, I let the conditions dictate the process. I must have encircled the tree a dozen times before settling on this vantage point. The apple blossoms were in full bloom, but the wind foiled any attempt to make them my focus. The path of least resistance was to embrace the situation. It was here, before the composition was set, that I knew the image would be a black and white photograph. I added a 3-stop neutral density filter to my 17-40mm lens and zoomed to maximize the size and texture of the trunk. I waited for a massive gust of wind and shot a one-second exposure to capture the rustling of leaves. With windows facing into the apple orchard, I embraced the dichotomy and captured this familiar place in a new way.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Good Morning From Stillwater

St. Croix Scenic River - Stillwater Area, MN
Canon 5D Mark iii + 17-40mm f4.0L @ f16

A postcard from home...
Spring has sprung. Missed you all winter... welcome back!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Found It!

Fairy Falls - Stillwater, MN
Canon 5D mark iii + Canon 17-40L @ f16

On March 23 my blog was a plea for some relief.
Winter 2013 had us all by the short hairs, its relentless grip was wearing on the collective psyche. While climate change deniers are likely to hail this frigid blip as evidence of global cooling, I'm not up for the debate nor the battle, I just want spring.

To celebrate a respite from Minnesota's longest season, I took a hike on this 64 ℉ day. Birds chirped a hesitant song in a way that mimicked my own trepidations. I've been the fool too many times this year, and I fear that its not over yet. Sure the trees were budding, but while walking up this river carved canyon, I couldn't help wonder if the weather gods were still planning a bit of fun.

I found spring... it's warm today, but I'm not predicting anything about tomorrow.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy Earth Day

Greetings from Moro Rock - Sequoia National Park, CA

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Deep Knowledge

Wet Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) - Banff National Park, Canada
Canon 7D + Canon 300 f2.8L IS

Cliché warning.... the world wide web is the great equalizer.

New information streams at a unattainable rate, so I resort to summary sources to fill the immense cognitive vacuum; born is the literate poser. Original works take too long to digest, are cluttered by their obtuse detail, and often mask the bottom line. A three hour investment on the source yields deep knowledge of minutia and little else. Science Daily and Science News are my crutch, I am a poser.

Crane Lake - Lake Country, MN
Canon 7D + Tokina ATX-II 12-24mm f4.0

Today’s world of bits, bytes, and data create an opportunity for many while diluting greatness that might be lurking among the throngs of web participants. In the near past, it was easy to sort through the trash and find nuggets of gold. Outstanding works of art, literature and science seemed to radiate from within the pile, but today’s trash heap is so dense that the singularities are buried too deep to see.

Spring Crane (Grus canadensis) - Manning Trail, MN
Canon 40D + Canon 300 f2.8L IS + Canon 2x Converter Mk II

Like many, I am web junky. I frequent the usual sources like the NYTimes.com, Politco, HuffingtonPost, ScienceDaily, TechNews, and DPReview. Far from knowledgeable, I know a little about everything and a lot about nothing. Knowledge is good, but deep knowledge is better. In teaching biology, I find that my years of investment in the field, lectures, and labs are the platform for my classroom creativity. Deep knowledge serves me well when working with neophytes, but the farther I am removed from my formal training, the shallower I become. I try to leverage my losses with a voracious appetite for the ubiquitous glossy summaries available to us all... the web is the great equalizer for a homogenizing society.

Gondola Sunrise - Venice, Italy
Canon 5D Mk I + Canon 24-105 f4.0L IS

The context for my lament points directly towards my passion for seeing nature and being a participant in this world. The skills I developed with film are the foundation from which I now work the digital platform. Exemplary work, once relegated to the few willing to invest the sweat to learn, is now readily available to the masses. Like the world wide web, digital is the great equalizer. Average shooters become experts in months instead of years, and images that once took years to conceive are produced and shared freely every day. Deep knowledge serves us well when striving to be the best, but remedial skills coupled with amazing technology now makes fools gold glitter with brilliance.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Impressionism V (End of Series)

The Lake's Edge
Canon 5D mark I + Canon 20mm f2.8 @ f16

It's April 11 and we are in the middle of a "Winter Storm Warning." I awoke to sleet, snow and reckless drivers. Stories of spinouts, flipped trucks and gridlock greeted me during the morning commute. We are hardy folk in MN, but we're ready for the respite the accompanies spring. This has absolutely nothing to do with impressionism, it's simple a brief vent in the midst of another endless winter.

Bokeh
Canon 40D + Sigma 120mm-300 f2.8 HSM @ f2.8

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Winter Diary (Post III)

After the Owls
Shot on February 23, 2013 this photo was made as the sun was setting.
With nearly 500 miles on the Jeep we saw very few owls
but many amazing landscapes.
Canon 5D Mark iii + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

January 26, 2013

The Sculpture - Osceola, WI
Canon 5D Mark III + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE
3-Shot Stitched Panorama

January 26th was another 14 degree morning. The crisp night turned water to stone, and a sculpture was left in its wake. Ephemeral as the day's weather, the ice evolves as warm air replaces cold. The artist, Winter, manipulates her medium with a frequency unlike any I have seen before. Her work is nothing short of a masterpiece, and I am lucky when I stumble upon her unique vision.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Muse - Lake Superior

Driftwood - Gooseberry Falls State Park, MN
Canon 5D Mark ii + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE Lens

I become increasingly restless as the confines of winter begin to close in. Diminishing daylight and long work days conspire to crush the creative spirit. This is the time that wanderlust fills the void. While holiday joy might inspire happiness for the masses, I can only see darkness. I'm not a family guy. I am a loner who loves the company of a few and seeks serenity when my mind becomes preoccupied with life's minutia. In these dark moments I need a muse, a subject that lacks the static nature of my predicament.

Superior is this muse.The big lake releases a flood of emotion that I constrain each day. Its frigid wind and deep cold forces a cathartic release that inspires. No, it's not my only muse, it's just the one I need to visit each December.

For more from Gooseberry State Park, Check out this link to my "Favorite Places."

Monday, November 19, 2012

Tip #99: Make the Connection

Jasper National Park - Canada
Canon 5D mkII + Canon 50mm f1.4

There are fleeting moments where time stops and the essence that is the photographer becomes one with the subject. These are ephemeral experiences, intense bursts of focus that I can only describe as Zen. It might seem a contradiction for this empiricist to describe an experience in nature that is something less than science, yet I find that Zen philosophy can inform my mind without imbuing a religious conviction.

Eddy - Canada
Canon 5D mkII + Canon 24mm TSE f3.5L

Slot - Canada
Canon 5D mkII + Canon 50mm f1.4

Id, the scientist... “life is a continuum that began with a single cell competing for limited resources, motivated by the programmed need to replicate. Competition inspired organic innovation that led to a branching tree of life that extends into every ecological niche. Selection is the mechanism, and chance events in the environment separate the winners from the losers. The evidence of this rich evolutionary history is written in molecules and preserved in stone.”

Nanny and Kidd (Oreamnos americanus) - Canada
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + 1.4x converter

Leading Lines (Oreamnos americanus) - Canada
Canon 40D + Canon 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS

Zen, the artist... “Reality seems sterile and non-emotive. Art is a human pursuit, a mode of self-expression, and Zen helps me to explore my place in nature. I am the ripple in a pond, a wave in the ocean, a drop of rain cycling through the atmosphere; I am one, a part of the continuum.”

Reflecting Jasper - Canada
Canon 5D mkII + Canon 50mm f1.4

We are the Rock (Oreamnos americanus) - Canada
Canon 7D + Canon 300mm f2.8L IS + 1.4x converter

Schizophrenic in the literal sense, photography is a split of the mind; it is art and it is science. White light emanates from solar fusion, reflects off an earthly mass and photons are captured by a Silica wafer. Transformed into a binary code, this is the picture. In contrast, a careful search for leading lines, colored abstractions and tonal gradients shape our art. Lost in the moment, the photographer is one with the place and sees what others will not. Whatever your mind, accept that you are a part of the nature that you seek to capture, and you will make art from the science that is our reality.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Purposeful Work

Sunrise on Lake Alexander - Lake Alexander Preserve, MN
Canon 7D + Tokina 12-24mm f4.0 DX-II

“The Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners got a standing ovation at their meeting this spring when they approved the (Minnesota) DNR’s request to create the Mille Lacs Moraine Scientific and Natural Area...”

And so the story goes...

Fortunately for me, I was in the right place at the right time. Having recently won a photo contest that placed an image of red-eyed tree frogs in the 2013 Nature Conservancy calendar, I mustered the courage to offer my skills to this organization that I so admire. After requesting a few extra calendars for my files, I suggested that “The Conservancy” (TNC) tap into my passion for conservation photography.

Flagged for only a few assignment thus far, I hope to contribute images that inspire a conservation ethic. Pictures can transform abstractions into realities and convey a mood where words might otherwise fail. If our work moves others to contribute their time, their money or their vote to the conservation of wild spaces, then it is purposeful work to me.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Tip #89: Look Harder

Sleeping House Boats - St. Croix River, MN
Canon 5D markII + 24mm f3.5 TSE

Building on my suggestions in tip #69... mine your home town.

Patience and creativity can transform your boring home into a photographic treasure. Every time I leave the house, I stare at the light and study the way it scatters about and reflects the sky. I’m open to discovery and will readily shed the car’s armor to explore with my feet. It happened just yesterday while on a familiar road that I frequent regularly. I was driving, I stopped to photograph a tree and instead saw a staircase to the water. It was a new perspective of my river; it was a place I had visited but had never seen.

In the Shadow of the Sun - St. Croix River, MN
Canon 5D markII + 24mm f3.5 TSE

It’s easy to become bored after traveling abroad or experiencing life on the road. Yet, there is so much to see at home if you’re open to creative thoughts and willing to look a little harder.

Motored Waves - St. Croix River, MN
Canon 5D markII + 24mm f3.5 TSE

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Hello from across the Border

Off Lake Road
Canon 5D MarkII + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE Pano Stitch

We're in Canada again!...
This time we're with good friends on sleepy little lake in Ontario living a bit of the cabin life. There's no electricity and no plumbing, but there's plenty of beauty and solitude to inspire this contemplative photographer.
Cheers from the road,
bruce

Distant Storm
Canon 5D MarkII + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE Pano Stitch

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Tip #86: Make it Your Icon

Canoes on Lake Louise - Banff National Park, Canada
Canon 5D MarkII + Canon 50mm f1.4 @ f16

We amateurs, lovers of photography, need not feel intimidated by the millions who have preceded us. We travel to experience life and we shoot to practice our craft. It is inevitable that our journeys will cross paths where masters of the art have walked before; icons become icons because they did it first. This knowledge can be paralytic or liberating, the choice is yours.

Here are a few ways that I approach iconic destinations...

I study the history and culture of the place, not the images others have made. Prior work corrupts my vision and restricts my creativity. I choose to be surprised by the unexpected rather than disappointed by the assumed.
Every time is the right time. I will visit before sunrise and shoot through twilight. Inclement weather and overcast skies are my friends. It is during the extremes that I have the opportunity to see and make something unique.
I play with my composition, my point of view and my depth of field. I strive to be excited by the experience and convey the excitement with my work.
I think about the print that I will make or the post for my blog. This gives me a purpose for my deliberate process.

Don’t be intimidated by all of the great photographers in the past, as there are many who are even better in the present. Shoot for yourself and make each icon your own.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Tip #85: Print Your Work!

Sunrise on Lake Louise - Banff National Park, Canada
Canon 5D markII + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE

This is a message to the Weekend Warrior, Wannabe Photographer, Blogger, Facebooker, Instagrammer and Twitterati... Print your Pictures!
Back in the day, making photographs meant creating an artifact... a tangible product, a something that could be held, smelled and passed on. You are not obligated to relive your experiences on a monitor, touch screen or LCD because you trapped light with pixels instead of silver. If you want your memories to get lost on the increasingly tangled web or disappeared by a crashing hard drive, then keep on doing what you've been doing. But, if you want to love your photography and remember the physical experience of being there, make an artifact... and print it out.

Lake Agnes - Banff National Park, Canada
Canon 5D markII + Canon 24mm f3.5L TSE

In a future post, I'll share a few ways to get your work printed and describe my workflow for making fine art prints. Until then, review your files and a select a few precious images that deserve to be passed around and shared with friends.