Regular practice is an important part of keeping your “photographer’s eye” sharp. I try to shoot frequently, and even when I don’t feel like using the camera I sometimes make myself stop and see what I can find in my surroundings. This photograph is simply an example of that process. On this particular day I was out on a very enjoyable autumn hike in the oak grassland south of where I live. I had almost completed my hike without taking a single photograph, so I decided to stop in this spot near the end of the trail and see what I could find – and a set of images of oak trees against the golden brown grasses was the result.
On my way to Point Reyes I passed over the Golden Gate Bridge just after sunrise. Since it is only a short distance off the main highway I decided to drive up to the famous spot overlooking the bridge and see what I could see. Everything was quite gray when I got there, but I notice a bit of light far to the east across the bay and decided to stick around to see what would develop. The light gradually worked its way westward toward the bridge and I made this photograph by stitching together several images of the bridge and the bay.
After getting up before dawn, driving hundreds of miles, and searching up and down eastern Sierra gravel roads for colorful aspen groves I was almost embarrassed to join the other dozen or more photographers working this scene right next to the road on the edge of the small village of Aspendell. :-)
As if on cue (given my recent and upcoming Yosemite photographic expeditions) Jim Goldstein has released a new installment of the EXIF and Beyond Podcasts, this one devoted to Yosemite Winter Photos. (My copy is downloading as I write this, and I plan to listen to it on the bus to work tomorrow.)
One of the great things about Yosemite Valley is that the best times of year there are not, for the most part, the most crowded. (One exception can be early June in a great waterfall year.) I just returned from a fall foliage shoot there and I can’t imagine the Valley being any more beautiful… unless it is right after a winter snowfall.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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