
UPCOMING 2010 WORKSHOPS:
Spring Big Sur Photo Workshop - March 29 - April 1, 2010 (Sold Out - Waiting List Only)
Northern Arizona: Grand Canyon, Upper Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Sedona Photo Workshop - May 3-7, 2010 (Sold Out - Waiting List Only)
Redwoods and Mendocino Coast Photo Workshop - June 15-18, 2010 (space available)
Kauai, Hawaii Photo Workshop - July 12-16, 2010 (space available)
Big Sur Photo Workshop Summer August, 17-20, 2010 (space available)
Arches/Canyonlands Photo Workshop November 3-7, 2010 (space available)
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New Article on my Website: Balancing Images in Post Processing
Books Available for Purchase on my Website:
Refined Vision: 50 Lessons Designed to Improve Your Digital Landscape Photography (e-book and printed versions - 160 pages)
The Photographer's Guide to the Big Sur Coast (e-book version - 102 pages)
On the Edge (printed version - softcover and hardcover - 120 pages)
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Sometimes nature is waiting with a potential image right in front of eyes, if only we take the time to look. While anticipating alpenglow on Half Dome and a possible reflection in Mirror Lake (which unfortunately never arrived), I wandered around looking for something a bit different, something that spoke of the reflectiveness of the calm water. I have been studying the work of Elliot Porter lately. Porter was one of the forefathers of color landscape photography. What I love about his work was his ability to isolate the landscape and direct his viewer's eye onto a small snippet of the entire scene.
Our cameras/lenses allow all of us this power, but the true image must be first formed in our minds; this is where art is truly created in my opinion. This scene was nothing more than some branches from a tree limb caught under the surface of Mirror Lake (really just a wide and still portion of Tenaya Creek). Just above these branches was a reflection of Mt. Watkins. My first inclination was to juxtapose the two (the strength of Watkins vs. the fragility of the branches), but the reflection of Mt. Watkins was disturbed by a small ripple of water. Somehow this became too much of a distraction for me.
I then hit on the idea of isolating just the branches and their reflection against to cobalt blue of the water (the result of the deep rich blue sky hanging overhead). The implied diagonal line created by the branches allows for some much needed visual movement in an otherwise static scene. In a sense it created an abstract as it becomes a visual game in deciding where the actual branch stops and the reflection begins. Galen Rowell referred to these types of images as visual riddles.
Sometimes we all get too focused on the literal scene (which is easy to do in places like Yosemite when standing under giant monoliths such as Half Dome) and we need to constantly remind ourselves that images - unique images - are everywhere around us. We just need to calm our minds and look.
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www.donsmithphotography.com