My landscape photography often involves what might be described as hunting. I look for the potential of good light conditions and for locations with subject and compositional promise and then I… hunt. I wander, I go with hunches. I use what I know about light and terrain — but often I very much do not set out with a specific photograph in mind. This photograph was not made that way.
Continue reading Tuolumne Meadows, Evening
On this late-August evening I headed to a spot along the Tuolumne River that I had scouted earlier that afternoon. I’ve previously photographed from this location at sunset, so I had a general idea of what I would be working with. The photograph I had in mind was not this one — it fact, the planned photograph had me pointing the camera in exactly the opposite direction, toward the Sierra Nevada crest.
Continue reading Tuolumne Sunset
Photographing in the morning and evening twilight can be a bit of a crapshoot. The light can be soft yet intensely colorful… or it can simply fade away to gray. Familiarity with the patterns of clouds and light can improve the odds, but you still have to head out there and take advantage of whatever happens. That was my plan on this late-August evening when thin clouds stretched across the sky, presenting the possibility of colorful light.
Continue reading Tuolumne River, Dusk
I have long been a sucker for backlight. I’m attracted to the glow of light coming straight at me, and I’m intrigued by the dark shadowed sides of objects and by the beams of light that lead toward the camera. Put a forest full of trees in front of me in that light and I cannot resist.
Continue reading Evening Forest and Hill