You say favorite and best, they are 2 different groups of photos for me, so I am going with best. No jeepin photos in my best, none of them compete with the five I have assembled. Best or favorite jeepin photos would also make a nice theme too, hint hint.
The first photo was the big holdup for my contribution. Back in the previous century I had a camera that used APS film- the funny little film cartridge that you could partially shoot and swap out for later re-use since the film stays completely in the can any time it is not in the camera. It was convenient and I loved the saturation and contrast... Although working with the recently scanned photo now I am battling excessive saturation and contrast. :confused1 When you said “your best”, this image immediately came to mind even though I have not seen it in several years. That alone tells me that it belongs here. I had a crappy little scanned version on a CD that was too small and of such horrible resolution I could not bear to post it. I could not find the original print. The index print and film cartridge
did turn up in my hunt. This would be the easy part. It turns out that APS film has gone the way of the dodo bird. Nobody processes it anymore. The solution came from an unlikely place- COSTCO! I already use them for prints, they have given me beautiful results in anything from 4x6 to 20x30 inches, all within an hour. My local store said they junked their APS machine years ago because it kept breaking, but to try the eastside store. Oh joy, theirs was still working! They scanned the film to a CD, here is the result:
North Creek Cascades. Zion National Park. July, 1999
I have found that the best photos in my collection involve two things:
- Composition that leads the viewer’s eye on a journey through the entire photograph.
- A theme involving people enjoying or interacting with beautiful scenes in nature.
The hikers are vital to the success of this photo on both counts. Starting in the foreground, my eye is carried from the first cascades, to group of 4, to larger cascades, to individual hikers, to mysterious dark bend of canyon that begs further exploration. Notice the path of intersecting diagonal lines this creates? Diagonal lines are powerful compositional elements. Imagine the same photo without the hikers and the vertical cascades of falling water and the horizontal sandstone benches becomes competing dominant lines. They don’t lead the eye anywhere.
Now take a look at each hiker. They are obviously traveling as a group- yet they are all lost in their own moment. None seems to be aware of anyone else, nor of me taking their photo for that matter. They are sufficiently anonymous that I could easily imagine myself among them right now, hiking in the summer sunlight, cool water washing through my toes, the white noise of the cascades driving away all of the background noise of human consciousness. Every time I look at this photo it takes me away. Great photos invoke an emotional response.
Hot Spring, Long Valley Caldera, California. September, 2002
This single photo captured the spirit of the summer of 2002. That was when by choice I became homeless and unemployed. Composition is straight up, starting with the toes. The toes rising out of the shimmering water speak of leisure. The tall, dry grass place it as late summer/early fall. The empty valley and hills evoke undeveloped, wide open spaces- my “home” for 4 months. The blue skies and fair-weather clouds were typical of the weather I enjoyed throughout this period. My hope is that anyone viewing this photo places themselves there. It certainly is the case for me!
One of the last photos I made with my Nikon Coolpix 995 was one of the best! That camera was a masterpiece of design, with the split swivel body and internally focusing/zooming lens. I credit years of familiarity with it in helping me get this portrait of a bear in difficult lighting conditions while the adrenalin was pumping. Alas, after 10,000 photos it started taking randomly blurry photos and I was forced to replace it soon afterwards.
Black Bear, Fourth of July Canyon, Manzano Mountains, New Mexico. October, 2004
My future wife had expressed interest in going up to the Manzano Mountains, where a rare stand of big tooth maples puts on a spectacular fall colors show. Camera at the ready, we went for a hike. Suddenly a couple of excited people came running towards us, “there’s a BEAR on the trail back there!” I looked at Maria, “wanna see a bear?” “Yes!” I had always wondered how adventurous she was, I was not disappointed. We headed up the trail until we met a clump of people who pointed out the bear’s location. I could not see anything other than a blob of brown fur through the trees. We circled around the spot where Mr. Bear was sitting, either looking for acorns or digging up the carcass of the last hiker to cross his path for a second meal. I didn’t mention that possibility to Maria as I shot this photo, he was looking at her and kind of snorting and she needed some reassurance. I checked to make sure I had a keeper, then we left the bear behind. I had seen several bears in the mountains of California, they all looked scrawny compared this one. Both of us were very happy that we got such a close look at him.
Composition was simple: max zoom on the Coolpix, Mr. Bear pretty much filled the frame. People or animals appear most natural when given some “looking room”- space within the frame for them to move in the direction that they are looking. So I gave him some space, which included out of focus golden leaves to help place the season.
Kayaking Fiftymile Creek, Lake Powell, Utah. May, 2009
Another adventure with my wife. The most amazing part of this: getting her to paddle her own kayak. She is no big fan of open water, much less the confinement of a flooded slot canyon. Composition is simple: The green water forms converging diagonal lines leading the eye to the distant bend in the canyon. From there the streaks of desert varnish invite admiration of the soaring red walls. Follow Maria’s gaze and discover the glimmering reflections all along the lower canyon wall. Lake Powell is an incredible visual feast. It comes as no surprise that my last offering comes from there too!
Good friends on Good Hope Bay. Lake Powell, Utah. October, 2009
Composition-wise, there is a lot going on here. I was very lucky to get a candid photo where everyone’s face is visible. When viewing a photograph, the eye is always first drawn to human faces. We are curious as to what those faces are looking at. Each of the faces in this little group are looking at another person. This leads your eye around a circle in the center of the photo. Breaking out of the circle, notice how the white sandstone at the foreground mirrors the shape of the background mesa in shadow? There is a similar balancing of the black water and blue sky. Diagonal lines tie these corners together. Using the good ‘ol rule of thirds places 2 of the people right on intersections that are also located a diagonal line apart.
As you may have guessed by now, I am a big fan of composition. I am also a big fan of placing humans or other animals as compositional elements. They aid the composition and add interest to the scene. They differentiate my photos from the zillion other photos taken every day. Many photographers go to extremes to exclude any signs of humankind from their photos. To me those type of photos are quite literally, lifeless. Imagine any of the 5 photos I posted without the people or the bear. None of them would be memorable. What I like the most is that each one of the moments represented here only lasted for the 1/250 of a second that the shutter was open. I could never duplicate them, nor could anyone else. I have saved a unique moment in time for eternity. That is all I ask of my camera. If past experience if any prediction, I can expect a really good photo to come out of it about once a year.
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