Postcards from the Creative Journey

Knowing When You Are Finished

 

After creating many successful “labyrinth” triptychs, I asked myself two questions; “Are you really finished?” and “Can you try something different?” I went back to Fort Worden to get those answers. I photographed indoors for a day or two to determine I was finished because I only saw my old photographs. In the realm of something different, I thought trying some triptychs made outside might be interesting. Those triptychs were not good at all. Having the sky in the picture gave me an orientation and took the mystery out of the experience. I didn’t know I was finished until I pushed past the end of the project. I didn’t arrive at the finish, but I went beyond the finish, turned around and went back to the end.

Good Scenes, Front and Back

 

We had just crested Forest Road 37 near Mt. Baldy and had finished making some panoramic photographs. It was a typical forest road; dirt, gravel and a thousand foot drop off without a guard rail. We were so busy looking forward (and trying not to fall off the edge) we didn’t look back until we had finished with the panoramic photographs. The old photographer’s rule “If you see a good scene in front of you, there is probably a good scene behind you,” was proved true again.

Declaration of Independence

 

Pioneer Village is a living monument to the sturdy immigrants that homesteaded the North Dakota plains. The good folks in Crosby, North Dakota rescued abandoned buildings and machinery to show how life was lived on the prairies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Buildings were moved to the site and furnished with items that were never thrown away. In North Dakota, nothing is ever thrown away.

Sign of the Times

 

I have photographed Wyoming several times. The entry into each town is marked by a sign showing the name of the town. Unfailingly, each sign proudly displays the population (measured in three digits) and the elevation (measured in four digits).

A Tough "Lie"

 

Hell’s Half Acres is about forty miles west of Casper, Wyoming and was used in filming "Starship Troopers." As we photographed this land of hoodoos and other- worldly rock formations we found a lot of things left over from the movie. I think the golf ball was the strangest. The problem was how to come up with a sly, witty photograph (I am not completely serious all the time) showing something that didn’t belong where it was. The best way to make this happen was to exaggerate the difference between foreground and background. This was conveniently accomplished by using a very low camera position and a wide angle lens.

Getting the Best Position

 

In composing this photograph I was struck by the arrangement of vertical rectangles and varying textures at various depths of the scene. While photographs are two dimensional, I do my best to try to create a sense of depth in the composition. Making a good composition means finding the best place to stand. When I find the right place to stand, I have to remember that eye level is usually the worst vantage point for a camera. The best camera position is occupying a point in space. Photographers often think about finding the best place on a surface, but don’t often think about how high the camera should be above that surface