Wisdom of Trees
© Peter Davies
1st Place
Scenic Class Award
Professional Category
2009 New Mexico State Fair
© Peter Davies
1st Place
Scenic Class Award
Professional Category
2009 New Mexico State Fair
In the final chapter of his book Mountain Light, Galen Rowell describes 3 elements that must merge to make a truly fine photograph of the natural world: technical proficiency, personal vision, and light. Creating the photograph Wisdom of Trees was truly a convergence of these elements for me.
I shot this image on October 6, 2008 at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, just north of Half Moon Bay on the California coast. I had just finished taking a four-day Fine Art Digital Printing workshop with Steven Johnson at his studio in Pacifica. Those four days brought not only intense focus on refining my technical proficiency, but also total immersion in further exploration of my personal photographic vision. At the end of each workshop day, I drove out to the coast to explore with my camera.
While I have been to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve before, I had not realized that in addition to a small beautiful cove populated with harbor seals, pelicans and other sea life, there is a high terrace behind and above the cove. And, on this terrace is a large, almost surreal grove of cypress trees. Once I saw these trees, I found myself drawn back each evening to explore and experience them further. I took many, many photographs in the late afternoon light, trying to capture some sense of this place.
After the workshop was over, I had several hours the next morning before catching my flight back to New Mexico. I headed straight for the cypress grove, hoping to experience the morning light. Again, I wandered, explored and took more photographs. Finally, I sat down at the base of one of these trees and quietly began to reflect on my recent total immersion in my passion for photography, a mix of building technical proficiency and refining my personal photographic vision. Reflection turned into subconscious contemplation. Some time later, I opened my eyes to a different world.
A fine sea mist had come into the cypress grove off the ocean. The morning sun created a multitude of sun beams playing through the trees. Light had arrived. I quickly grabbed my camera to capture the experience. Having just come off of four days immersed in technique, my photographic instincts were sharp. I knew the dynamic range of the bright sunbeams and dark shadows of bark on the cypress trees was well beyond the dynamic range capacity of my camera’s sensor. Shooting from a tripod, I captured multiple sets of multiple exposures of different scenes as light played through the trees. I took 46 images in 16 minutes, and then the light was gone.
Technical proficiency, personal vision and light... they all came together in experiencing and capturing the Wisdom of Trees.
Technical Details
Wisdom of Trees was shot with a Canon D-5, using a Canon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO lens set at 120mm. Three exposures were taken with the aperture set at f/16 and exposures times of 0.60, 0.25 and 1.60 seconds.
Conversion of the RAW files was accomplished using Lightroom 2. High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing to combine all three exposures into a 32 bit image was completed using Photomatix Pro. My primary objective in HRD processing was to capture as much tonal detail as possible in the shadows and dark tree bark without blowing out the soft highlights of the sun beams. Final image adjustments and sharpening were done in Photoshop CS3.
The final image was printed on a HP Z3200 on HP Professional Satin Paper using 200-year pigment ink. The final photograph was archival mounted, using an acid-free museum mount.
Closing Comments
I would like to thank the judges for their time, energy and expertise... and for the learning that comes through their discussions during scoring challenges. I would also like to thank Joe Bridwell for creating this opportunity to reflect and share.
Peter Davies
Fine Art Photographer
www.peterdaviesphoto.com
Editor’s Comments
Peter Davies is the 1st Place award-winner of Scenic Class, Professional Category, 2009 New Mexico State Fair. His enthusiasm about learning, photography, and expression is clearly shown in this piece…
Glenn Hohnstreiter has agreed to provide an overview of our effort to express sentiments from Scenic Winners. Publication date is presentlyTDB; but it should be soon…
I shot this image on October 6, 2008 at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, just north of Half Moon Bay on the California coast. I had just finished taking a four-day Fine Art Digital Printing workshop with Steven Johnson at his studio in Pacifica. Those four days brought not only intense focus on refining my technical proficiency, but also total immersion in further exploration of my personal photographic vision. At the end of each workshop day, I drove out to the coast to explore with my camera.
While I have been to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve before, I had not realized that in addition to a small beautiful cove populated with harbor seals, pelicans and other sea life, there is a high terrace behind and above the cove. And, on this terrace is a large, almost surreal grove of cypress trees. Once I saw these trees, I found myself drawn back each evening to explore and experience them further. I took many, many photographs in the late afternoon light, trying to capture some sense of this place.
After the workshop was over, I had several hours the next morning before catching my flight back to New Mexico. I headed straight for the cypress grove, hoping to experience the morning light. Again, I wandered, explored and took more photographs. Finally, I sat down at the base of one of these trees and quietly began to reflect on my recent total immersion in my passion for photography, a mix of building technical proficiency and refining my personal photographic vision. Reflection turned into subconscious contemplation. Some time later, I opened my eyes to a different world.
A fine sea mist had come into the cypress grove off the ocean. The morning sun created a multitude of sun beams playing through the trees. Light had arrived. I quickly grabbed my camera to capture the experience. Having just come off of four days immersed in technique, my photographic instincts were sharp. I knew the dynamic range of the bright sunbeams and dark shadows of bark on the cypress trees was well beyond the dynamic range capacity of my camera’s sensor. Shooting from a tripod, I captured multiple sets of multiple exposures of different scenes as light played through the trees. I took 46 images in 16 minutes, and then the light was gone.
Technical proficiency, personal vision and light... they all came together in experiencing and capturing the Wisdom of Trees.
Technical Details
Wisdom of Trees was shot with a Canon D-5, using a Canon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO lens set at 120mm. Three exposures were taken with the aperture set at f/16 and exposures times of 0.60, 0.25 and 1.60 seconds.
Conversion of the RAW files was accomplished using Lightroom 2. High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing to combine all three exposures into a 32 bit image was completed using Photomatix Pro. My primary objective in HRD processing was to capture as much tonal detail as possible in the shadows and dark tree bark without blowing out the soft highlights of the sun beams. Final image adjustments and sharpening were done in Photoshop CS3.
The final image was printed on a HP Z3200 on HP Professional Satin Paper using 200-year pigment ink. The final photograph was archival mounted, using an acid-free museum mount.
Closing Comments
I would like to thank the judges for their time, energy and expertise... and for the learning that comes through their discussions during scoring challenges. I would also like to thank Joe Bridwell for creating this opportunity to reflect and share.
Peter Davies
Fine Art Photographer
www.peterdaviesphoto.com
Editor’s Comments
Peter Davies is the 1st Place award-winner of Scenic Class, Professional Category, 2009 New Mexico State Fair. His enthusiasm about learning, photography, and expression is clearly shown in this piece…
Glenn Hohnstreiter has agreed to provide an overview of our effort to express sentiments from Scenic Winners. Publication date is presentlyTDB; but it should be soon…
Thanks, Peter… Well DONE!
Enjoy…
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