What Does “Purist” Mean?

October 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 8 Comments

So, let’s say you happen to be spending some time in a popular place doing photography and other things. In the course of your day you wander down to a spot that is very popular with tourists, and you discover an interesting and impressive-looking gallery of photographs. You go inside and read about the photographer – a self-described “purist” who says the photographs show the scenes as they were at the time of the exposures and don’t use fancy and artificial post-processing.

But all but a few of the photographs look like the saturation slider in Photoshop was pushed up to about 100. (OK, I exaggerate… a bit! :-) Highlights in clouds and such are blown out. Shadows are blocked. And colors are pushed in odd and impossible directions.

You understand why such an approach is appealing to folks unfamiliar with fine photographic work, especially when the presentation and pricing of the prints screams “This is Great Photography!” But you’ve seen really, really fine photographs that did not depend on heavy-handed post-processing. In fact, among the photographs in this collection you see a few that take the high road and don’t go over the top, and which remind you of some of those other fine and subtle and sophisticated prints – and which even inspire you a bit.

The artist’s statement keeps coming back to you – the business about being a “purist” and about not post-processing and about presenting in the photographs an unadulterated and real vision of the original subjects.

What do you do? Do you get mad? Do you laugh? Do you try not to think about it? Something else?

Just wondering…

BTW: A few things for the record:

I am not criticizing any specific photographer, but rather thinking about an issue that we might all have to deal with.
You do not know what photographer (or “popular place!”) I might be writing about – and since the specifics don’t matter I won’t confirm or deny anyone’s guesses.
Consider the possibility that I might have just made up the whole story as a literary device for this post… :-)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Site News

I’m Considering a Change to the Discussion Software – Perhaps Moving to Disqus?

October 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Recently I ran a little experiment and replaced the built-in discussion/comment feature at my dan’s outside blog with the Disqus equivalent. The experiment seems to have gone well: people continued to post a few messages on that low-traffic site, there were no complaints, and Disqus seems to provide some interesting features.

With that test under my belt I’m considering making the switch here as well. It appears that previous comments will all be ported over to the new service and will still be available here – on the same pages if I’m not mistaken. If anyone has any warnings, concerns, or advice… now would be a great time to drop me a line or leave a comment!

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Commentary, Locations, News

Last Gasps of Eastern Sierra Fall Color?

October 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Last week I decided not to head over to the east side for more aspen photography – a combination of still working over the many photographs I brought back from earlier visits, some other responsibilities, and continuing reports that the bizarre and unusual progress of fall color was continuing. (But see Michael Frye’s “Lazarus” blog post for hints of a different set of possibilities.)

Along those lines, the recent reports seem to fall roughly into two categories. On one hand we have continuing reports that the aspens are still turning to fall colors very, very late and, in some cases at least, reportedly going almost straight from green to brown or dropped leaves. On the other hand, during the past week I’ve seen reports and photographs of some possibly isolated but very striking aspen color. Without having been on the scene recently I’m going entirely by second- and third-hand reports… but it sounds like you might be able to find a few good trees still if you act quickly and are willing to look around a bit. (And don’t forget that not all trees are aspens – there are other fall color opportunities at lower elevations.)

My attention now turns to other subjects including other opportunities to photograph fall color. My target date for visiting Yosemite Valley to shoot meadows, oaks, dogwood, and maples in fall color has always been the very end of October or right around the first of November. That had been my plan again this year… but during the past week or so I’ve started seeing photographs and reading reports of some good fall color already appearing there. Is the next phase of the “Strange Fall of 2009” going to be early color in the Valley? I’m hoping to head up there this weekend to find out.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Storm Clouds at Dawn – Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys

October 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Early morning light above the Buttermilks illumunates Basin Mountain and Mount Humphreys under the clouds of an early autumn storm over the Sierra Nevada crest.

This is another of several exposures I made on this beautiful early October morning when I decided to abandon my plans to be at North Lake for dawn after spotting these astonishing clouds over the eastern Sierra as I drove through the Buttermilks on my way up into the Bishop Creek drainage. I drove out on gravel roads into the high desert until I found what looked like an interesting juxtaposition of near hills, mountains beyond, the peaks of the Sierra in the distance, and the clouds that were dropping light snow up higher in the range above.

Needless to say, the light and the cloud forms were constantly changing as I watched this scene. I waited until the closer rocky hills began to pick up a bit of a glow from the sun low in the eastern sky, and then I made a number of exposures as the sun struck lower on the mountains and as the patterns of light and shadow from racing clouds moved across the peaks.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.