The Miracle of Light

Less is more

Those that follow me on flickr would have noted that this year I’m limiting my landscape images to monthly postings. Although I consider myself a travel photographer, I obviously have leanings towards the natural world and over the past five years have built up an extensive portfolio of landscape images. When I was starting out it was quite easy to shoot new photos that seemed fresh and contributed to my output. These days, it is more difficult to find landscapes and light that say something new to what I’ve done in the past. This project on flickr is part of my effort to edit my work more closely.

When I look at the galleries of many other photographers and see multiple variations of the same subject obviously taken around the same time, I feel that the effect would be so much more impressive if a more selective approach had been made to displaying images.

“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” Ansel Adams

If twelve images were good enough for Ansel I’m going to set myself that target too. What makes an image “significant”? For me, that would include photos

• that convey a mood or emotion not evident in my other images
• with lighting that I consider of special quality or of a type I don’t usually work with
• that have little or no compromises with regard to what I’m trying to achieve
• most importantly, different on some level to what I’ve done in the past

How often do miracles happen?

This month on flickr, I’ve posted an image titled “Moonrise Symphony”. While I’m very happy with the photo itself, it doesn’t even come close to the experience behind it. Now I’m sure you’ve all read stories about how so-and-so hiked x amount of miles in y degrees of heat, came across a fantastic landscape composition, half-dead managed to set up their tripod and nail an exposure of once-in-a-lifetime light. Now, I don’t wish to diminish the efforts of other photographers, but that begs the question of how often these miracles of light occur. How often have you seen these conditions that make you feel that you’re witnessing a miracle?

I’ve been photographing since 2005 and on average have 4 or 5 trips a year. If I were to make an estimate of how often I have experienced those ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ conditions, my guess would be about twice a year. In many cases these have arisen from the most deplorable unpromising weather for photography. How many magical moments are missed because we don’t go that extra mile? This month’s image is a case in point.

When a picture doesn’t tell the whole story

I arrived at this coastal location in the Otago peninsula, scouted the previous day. Heavy clouds, a featureless white sky and relentless rain had made be reluctant to venture out at sunset. The conditions looked absolutely hopeless for any kind of photography but we sat in the car and waited. A short while later, a glimmer of hope arrived in the form of a tiny hole in the sky. Nothing too promising at all, but enough for us to pack our gear and scurry down the steep trail to one of the most majestic coastal locations I have seen. Half an hour later, that tiny hole in the sky had widened to allow the setting sun to warmly illuminate the storm clouds and create an intense rainbow. But the best light was yet to come. I spent the  next hour perched on a massive rock capturing the sunset. At nightfall, the tide had gone out and I was able to step onto the beach and photograph from ground level. Wandering by moonlight around among rocks as big as houses, themselves dwarfed by cliffs on either side, with the roar of huge incoming waves in my ears was an experience that no photo would ever be able to capture.

For those who want to know

There’s a pretty interesting discussion on www.naturephotographers.net

this week about the value of knowing the technical details behind a photo. My take on the matter? Not that important. I used to spend time studying the specs behind my favourite photographers’ images. In hindsight I believe that this wasn’t at all useful. Unless you’re standing in the same spot using the same light, I can’t see how relevant that information is. More important is the idea behind the shot and the reason for using this aperture or that filter.

Having said that, the technical details are as follows : Canon 5DMkII, 16-35mm 2.8L, ISO 100, f6.3, 7 minutes, Gitzo tripod, no filters. Despite the surreal otherworldly look to the photo, processing was very simple : a single RAW image put through my basic workflow of curves, vibrance and sharpening. Some noise reduction was applied in the shadows.

By the time this exposure was made, it was well into nightfall. The clouds had almost completely cleared and the pink colour was due to the moonrise rather that sunset. I had initially planned on a longer shutter speed with startrails but cut it short due to concerns about the brightness of moon causing over-exposure.

As I’m typing this blog article I’ve just noticed it’s been selected as IOW on www.naturescapes.net which I’m rather chuffed about!