Jan 25, 2010

Fiery Sunsets from late January Snow Storm


Nature and Landscape Photography, Snow up Embudo Canyon, HDR, Joe  Bridwell

Ronchetti’s repeated late January weather call indicated three storms in four days. The diligent photographer wants to be there just as the storm clears - that's the best time for magic light!
I've been scouting a pond on a golf course. During my walks, it had a bit of ice from a prior storm session. I thought, "If I can catch that S-curve of ice and water with ducks outlined on the pond at sunset, I've got a delicious full range HDR image!"
Only - when this storm cleared - no ice, just soggy turf and water in a normally bone dry creek bed. On the rapid hike to the pond, there was just enough sunlight, intermixed with clouds on the horizon, to let me see the sparkle of what looked like Golden doubloons (rain-soaked autumn leaves) lying on the ground each time I glanced towards the sun. I get to the pond ~ the light was not right! Oh well, I've taken this gamble before and lost... back home, wash all icy crud off the boots to keep the rug clean. Later, Ronchetti said, "The last storm's not going to clear until late day-after-tomorrow..."

Snowy Sandias and Emdudito Canyon
Driving north on Tramway an hour before sunset two days later, I could easily see along snow-covered Sandias. Swirling clouds hugged the crest like a warm wool cap. But direct sunlight was bright and glaring; not the best shootin' time...
This time, I got there with about 15 minutes to spare, sized up the terrain, then waited to set up tripod and go through rigors of a full range sunset HDR capture.
T-shirt, long sleeve L.L. Bean sweater, REI shirt jac, marvelous Helly Hansen rain jacket, elk skin gloves - it was a blustery 36° with the wind 20-25 miles an hour. But families were out. One kid looking grotesque, with his father's gloves covering cold hands. A toddler, slipping kerplunk on the ice...

Set Up
The night before, I've come to the same place, set up on some ice, and while manually changing shutter speed, got serious offset in vertical edge of the building. Somehow, the camera rotated on the tripod...
OK, Dig the tripod into snow and ice, so I could have a multiple view from the same position. Sandias to the north and Embudito Canyon southeast. Take a few practice shots using over an overexposed histogram limit to constrain full range capture, then change shutter speed until totally underexposed. About one second to 1/3000 for shutter range. Oops; too much light! Damn, it's cold and blowy out here...
The house just west blocked my actual view of sun set. So it was trial and error guessing when the Sun's mountain crest reflection would give the best soft sunset light and provide a passionate HDR image.

Passions Rise
As the last lip of the Sun dropped below skyline, things get furious. 20 seconds to shoot 11 Sandia images, swing the camera 135°, focus, then another 20 seconds to shoot 11 more images of Embudito. Three days of effort culminated in one minute of shooting. By then, my fingers were so cold I couldn't simply click the shutter dial twice and be sure I got a consistent 1 EV image difference.
Back at the ranch, it quickly became clear - for me, the most dramatically passionate image was Embudito. A dab of Photomatix, some Lightroom globals, masking pink rock and sky exposure - presto, changeo - and it's done. Well, it wasn't quite that quick, but full range workflow is a relatively simple task.

Oops...

Nature and Landscape Photography, Snowy Sandias, HDR, Joe  Bridwell
You might like this one more...
Enjoy...

Jan 7, 2010

Two Roads Diverged in a Wood…


Nature and Landscape Photography, Road Less Travelled, Joe  Bridwell

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that
~ ~ ~ has made all the difference.
Robert Frost

Today's economic climate might be one road in Robert Frost's wood. Another road might be reinventing creativity...
How does a nature and landscape photographer find the road less traveled by?

Around Our Planet in 80 ms...
Was it just nine months ago when my didactic memory converted Around the World in 80 Days to Around Our Planet in 80 ms? What is Around Our Planet in 80 ms?
It began as a way to look at nature and landscape photography of other people on the Web, transporting myself each day to some other part of the planet to see its gorgeous natural habitat.
Along the way, I began to discover very active photographers. These guys and gals tend to blog several times a week, showing their latest images and discussing their common future.
Yesterday, I took stock of the growing blog roll which appears on the right-hand side of Pathways of Light. Where I found an active blog, it remained. If I found a blog older than two weeks to a couple of months, it was removed; I wasn't learning much from it.
Then I went out searching for other blogs to see if that 'new' photographer was not only going to provide me with gorgeous nature and landscape images _ but_ share their thoughts and dreams for creativity and survival in today's economic climate as well.

New Visions
As I approached the First Annual New Mexico Photographic Art Show (ANMPAS), marketing was strongly on my mind. What if I met a museum director, gallery owner, excited tour prospect, or rich mentor at ANMPAS - how would I show them my portfolio and place my photography under their purview?

Enter the Apple iPod Touch...
Working PowerPoint for so many years, it seemed like a simple hop and a skip to create a slideshow and a video of my portfolio. Then, I’d pull out the Touch, hand it to a prospect, and literally let them swipe through images in my portfolio - at their own speed, with their real emotions in control!
This approach has already netted a workshop request, an early spring tour plan, and yesterday, another potential sale of Ship Rock from a busy physical therapy specialist in a full rehab center.

I Took the One Less Traveled by...
Although it's been a day or two, memories of learning in graduate school are a strong part of my creativity. As I studied Around Our Planet, many digital photographers were producing podcasts on a wide variety of digital photography topics. A podcast is in-depth discussion between several professional photographers (about 30 and 90 minutes).
In a relatively short time, podcasts re-introduced me to a new 2010 way of learning ~ taking a long walk and attentively listening to and learning from creative photographers who discuss their vision and new ways to overcome our economic dilemma. Early 2010 podcast represent some 48 hours of focused learning potential...
With magazine, newspaper, and Web world trying to find a new, stable, economic base for digital photography, that's lots of talented effort assessing what our future holds!

And THAT ~ ~ ~ Has Made All the Difference.
While I'm not shooting for another Master's Degree, old learning skills and new creativity paths are revitalizing my views of photographic creativity at the start of our second, and seemingly more trying, decade of 2000 A.D..

Imagine This...
Those long walks can occur while in training for a tour; while scoping out a new tour site; while traveling to and from tour sites. The fact of the matter ~ my iPod lets me go anywhere, learn anything, and truly enjoy each full dynamic day - while thinking, being in shape, and ‘staying fit’!

Just think...
Not only are my creative juices flowing, but active endorphins keep me young!

Happy New Year...