Sand Dune – by Bob Barton

Sand Dune
© Bob Barton
3rd Place
Scenic Class Award
Professional Category
2009 New Mexico State Fair

It was a lovely early August morning; we were eastbound on U. S. Highway 50 in central Nevada. We were discussing how straight the highway was, mile after mile, not even a wiggle. We had not met another car for about an hour. Why had they built a good paved road that no-one wanted to travel? Booooring!

Then in the distance, the sun reflected from something, something that appeared to be white with shadows. As we got closer the “white thing” presented itself as a sand dune. Excitement took hold of me. “How can I get closer?” “Where is a gate?” “I have to get there before the shadows go away.” I was seeing a black and white image with the dune glowing in the morning light when the gate finally appeared in the distance. I turned into the park area and drove, entirely too fast, to a parking area, grabbed the camera gear and took off for the far end of the dune.

I was able to click off five or six frames before the sun got too high for good shadows. I was certain there would be at least one frame that would yield a good print. With images in the camera, I could finally relax and felt I had been productive for the day.

When we got home, I processed the “Raw” file in Photoshop CS3 and produced a good color image which was converted to black and white. I found the contrast slider to be very important in making the dune seem to “glow” in the final print.

The final print has drawn considerable attention in two shows.

The dune is known as “Sand Mountain” and is located east of Fallon Naval Air Station, NV, on Highway 50.

Editor’s Comments
In the next few blogs, 3 remaining award-winners of Scenic Class, Professional Category, 2009 New Mexico State Fair present their feelings about taking the image and technical aspects of digital processing…

Our second image is Sand Dune by Bob Barton. I like Bob’s excitement– “I was seeing a black and white image with the dune glowing in the morning light…”
Thanks, Bob… Well DONE!

Enjoy…

Orange Creekside – by Jim Gale

Orange Creekside
© Jim Gale
Honorable Mention
Scenic Class Award
Professional Category
2009 New Mexico State Fair

The image of “Orange Creekside” was taken in the Nelson Lakes region of New Zealand on a 5 day backpack trip across the high peaks and lakes. These orange lichen covered rocks were found off-trail while exploring the area near camp. The initial photos I took that evening were fine, but when I returned in the morning, the fog created an atmosphere of remoteness I was feeling, while increasing the saturation of all the colors. I photographed about 20 different compositions in the 30 minutes before the fog cleared. In the end there were 3 to 4 compositions that I felt might fit the judging style of the State Fair (the 100 point system that favors the old photography dogmas and conformity over creativity; see my comment at the end). The image I finally selected had a pleasing flow with the placement of rocks, flowers, forest and creek along with great light in the fog and enough space around all these elements to really give the scene a sense of being an unusual, hidden place.

The photo was taken on a Nikon D90 and Nikkor 12-24 lens. To quickly explore many compositions in a limited time and rapidly respond to continually changing light, I left my tripod on my pack and worked hand-held. As is my style, I used Photoshop very sparingly to attempt to replicate the true colors and lighting I saw that day.

For me Photography and Nature are deeply intertwined. In the great outdoors I find peace, renewal and spirituality. While the photographer in me drives me to continually discover and explore new beautiful places at their best times of year and motivates me to be up before sunrise and shoot till well after dark. Essentially, photography enriches and expands my outdoor experience. The more remote the wilderness and off-trail I explore the better. You will rarely see me in those iconic places overrun by photographers. Really, what’s the point of shooting another photo of a subject already photographed a million times before. I figure that the vast majority of photos are taken within a mile of their car. By going deeper into the wilderness and exploring off-trail, I find places seldom seen or photographed, like the image presented here.

Since I mentioned the State Fair judging, I would like air a gripe I have had with judging there for some time. Although I was not there this time for the judging, in the past I have seen judges regularly critique the professional images like they were amateurs needing their wise guidance. I believe a good judge of professional work should start with the assumption that every single element of the photograph was placed there on purpose and is specifically part of that photographer’s vision. It is not for the judges to try to remake the photo in their style, tell us how they would do it, or try to make it conform to some “rules” about composition; but to truly accept that this image is EXACTLY how this photographer wanted the image to appear in EVERY detail and judge it from that perspective.

Editor’s Comments
In the next few blogs, 3 remaining award-winners of Scenic Class, Professional Category, 2009 New Mexico State Fair present their feelings about taking the image and technical aspects of digital processing…

Our second image is Orange Creekside by Jim Gale. I like Jim’s sentiment – find the spot, then wait for the light…
Thanks, Jim… Well DONE!

Enjoy…

Morning Glory – by Leslie Davis

Morning Glory
© Leslie Davis
Honorable Mention
Scenic Class Award
Professional Category
2009 New Mexico State Fair

For those of us who photograph, we’ve all found that eating can wait. Getting warm can wait. Sleep will sometimes be in short supply. But when the alarm rings at 4:00 in the morning, we get out of our warm beds, we munch on a granola bar and if we’re lucky, we have a cup of coffee on the 45 minute drive to where we want to be when the sun comes up. But, do we really know what we are getting up for? It’s dark. Is that sun going to come up? Or will it rain? Will I have the perfect clouds? Too many clouds? Horizon clouds? (ugh!) And let’s not forget the wind.

Having the opportunity to shoot a location wedding in Jackson Hole last year, I made a week out of it, getting up early each morning and shooting each evening. What a feast of lush green for my starved New Mexico senses! You know, just being in gorgeous surroundings should be enough, but no, we have to make it harder by lugging around equipment, searching for the perfect shot, fretting over whether we will get the right conditions and hoping we don’t have some brain contusion wherein we blow the shot. Why do we do this to ourselves when we could just sit back and joyfully soak it all in……? (or just stay in bed!) I don’t know. I just don’t know… Except to say, personally, I just have to be out there with a camera. Just have to… It’s in my bones – I was born with the disease.

So on one of those mornings only a matter of feet from the Schwabacker’s Landing parking lot, Morning Glory materialized and suddenly, every other minute spent in the not-so-good-could-have-stayed-home-conditions, was forgotten. Every instance of alarm cursing was dismissed. Oooh la! I’m here for this moment in time! AND I get to take it home with me!

You’ve been there… You know…

Technical Data
I don’t like spending time in front of a computer screen, so my goal is always to get it “right” in the camera to minimize that computer time. Morning Glory is one file, shot in raw and post-processed in CS3. A curves layer to adjust densities, using masking, and painting only those areas I wanted to lighten and darken. Add a little saturation to bring it to what I remember seeing, a slight skewing to straighten the trees on the outer edges, and lastly, the always necessary sharpening. Done.

Camera Data: Gitzo Basalt Tripod, Canon 40D, 1/20 @ f8, ISO 200, Canon 17-35 lens.

In the next few blogs, 5 award-winners of Scenic Class, Professional Category, 2009 New Mexico State Fair present their feelings about taking the image and technical aspects of digital processing…

Our first image is Morning Glory by Leslie Davis. In her email, Leslie wanted to know “Does this work for you…?”
Most Decidedly…
Thanks, Leslie… Well DONE!

Enjoy…