Postcards from the Creative Journey

When Backing Up, Be Careful

From Rhythm and Patterns

I need to use some of my old images in a new project. I went looking for them. I found the final project (of course). I could find the RAW files all properly backed up. But, for the life of me, I could not find the intermediate (photoshop and PageMaker/InDesign) files for the project. I have no idea where they went. I do remember a hard drive failure a few years ago (Really, can you forget about something like that?) and I must lay the disappearance of the intermediate files to that failure. Sad, but true. The lesson to be mentioned again and again is you need to have a file back-up strategy and more importantly, the tactics, will and self-discipline to make sure the work gets done. It’s another one of those non-romantic chores that accompany art creation in the digital world. It’s part of the creative process that most of us don’t execute very well.

“How does anyone know what Etkar/Porta/etc. actually looks like?”

From Rhythm and Patterns

I saw this topic in a photo forum a few weeks back and it got me to wonder because I don’t think it will be too long before contemporary film photographs are a memory or a curiosity pulled out at family reunions. We will soon have the first generation of photographers that never put film in a camera or developed film and photographic prints in a darkroom.

I imagine there were photographers in the past that lamented the passing of hand coating glass negatives and printing paper while fretting future photographers will miss the true essence of the photographic process. There are always photographers decrying “the end of photography” at the dawn of every quantum jump in photographic technology. I am not one of those people.

But I do allow myself two grumbles about the new technology. High Dynamic Range (HDR) exposure compensation annoys me because it takes away the mysteries of shadows and the specular reflection. I still like zone 2 and 3 and think that they do add some depth and mystery to a photograph. Not everything should have equal intensity in a photograph. Infinite depth of field is another annoying proclivity of contemporary photography. I understand that short focal length lenses increase depth of field, but blending images to extend the depth of field just doesn’t seem right. (This comes from a guy whose favorite view camera f stop was f/32.) Some photographs need to have areas that are deliberately out of focus. For some reason this seems to have been forgotten in the transition to digital photography.

I imagine I will get over these two crotchets, but I think I will take my old sweet time doing so.

Don't despair that the Photo Safari web posts suddenly stopped. It's just that when you don't have access to the internet, it makes it tough to update the blog. It should be all fillled in later today.

The Fifty Project – Much Later

View from the roof of the Biltmore House

I went back through the Fifty Project as part of the reformatting of my web site. (What? You haven’t seen the new redesign? Click on over and take a look. I’ll wait right here while you check it out.) I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and I remembered considered doing a “Sixty” Project to celebrate that milestone. After careful consideration, I figured that wouldn’t be the best idea.

The Fifty Project was a watershed project because it pushed me into the (then) new world of digital presentation. It was the foundation for all the web and folio projects since. It was the end of the era of the individual print. I was not ready to commit completely to the folio as a final product, so “Fifty” was a compilation of “greatest hits” in an exploratory presentation.

A greatest hits compilation at Sixty would be completely different because I really don’t deal in single image art any more. I still (two years later) don’t even know how to deal with the concept of “greatest hits” in terms of folios, so I had to let it pass. Maybe by the time I do my “Fifty Years of Photography” project, (with apologies to all Brett Weston fans) I will have figured out how to share the best of my folios – or whatever medium I will be using in the future.

.

Editing from the Artist’s Statement

The Biltmore House, Asheville, North Carolina

In my version of the Artist’s Statement my goal is to lead the audience right up to the edge of the photographs and then let the photographs complete the story. I want to provide the set up for the story the photographs will complete. I try to create a mood reflective of the photographs, a question the photographs answer or create a premise that is supported by the images.

This is my key in selecting the images for my folios. The artist statement is the heart of the folio. It states the reason for the project to exist and the images are supposed to be the visual equivalent of the verbal description. The Artist’s Statement becomes the criteria for image selection.

Evaluating each image honestly against the criteria is the key to any editing process. There is no room for “kinda” or “mostly.” Editing is a ruthless business. It requires personal honesty and integrity to make sure that each image really does live up to the standards and criteria you use to judge it against all the photographs.

# # #

No photoshop on this image. The grounds crew put sod down in front of the fountain. The different color grass gives it that Jerry Uelesmann floating fountain look.

Following the Photographic Footsteps

I couldn’t upload the photographs from September 5 that night, because my keyboard would not work. I had this problem last year. First thing this morning after the nighttime cool down, the keyboard worked. I was able to upload the photographs from September 5. When I did so, I found out that my auto-focus was turned off for the first 140 photographs yesterday. Everything I did in the morning at the Durffey Mesa was useless. (That’s why there were no photographs from yesterday morning in the blog.)

This one's in focus.

One of the advantages of destination location photography is if you discover a gross technical error, you have the ability to recover by re-photographing. Brooks dropped me off farther down the road where we thought we started yesterday and I worked my way back down the wash. I followed my day old footprints and photographed what I saw yesterday and a bit more. It wasn’t near as much fun as yesterday, but it was accomplished in a workmanlike manner. Now, if someone asks me “Whose photographic footsteps do you follow?” I can truthfully answer, “My own.”

After finishing that photographic chore, we continued the drive down Scenic Route 12 to Escalante for groceries. We photographed along the way and in particular revisited Forest Road 153 that follows the Pine Creek. We met an Australian couple in Escalante and chatted them up a bit while we ate. They said they could see why Americans were so religious, because after looking at the landscape of Utah you have to believe in God. It’s true.

Along Forest Road 153

We made some more nice “grand landscape” photographs on the way back to Boulder Town (to document the handiwork of the Almighty, of course) and photographed Durffey Mesa in the evening light again before calling it a day. (It’s the same place we photographed in the morning.) But is it really the same place if the light is different?

View from Scenic Route 12

Near Durffey Mesa, evening

We have finished this year’s photo safari. Tomorrow morning we break camp and begin the trek home.

A Huge Day of Photography

Early in the morning we started photographing some white rocks and trees along the edge of Durffey Mesa. This was the first time we worked this area with morning light. We were excited with the results. We headed down the Burr Trail to Trail to see if we could make it all the way to the Water Pocket fold in Capitol Reef. One has to go through the Long Canyon to get to Capitol Reef.

We found a small slit canyon off Long Canyon. I stopped to photograph the slit canyon. Slot canyon photography was invented by Bruce Barnbaum about 1982 when he came upon Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona. Ever since then, photographers have been enthusiastically photographing slot canyons across the American West. I thought it was time I added this cliché to my oeuvre.

"I don't know. Do you think this wide angle lens is right for this photograph?"

This slot canyon photography is much more difficult than I thought. Proving that timing is everything, we arrived at the precise time there was direct sunlight in this little space. That is not a good thing. We continued our journey to the Water Pocket Fold.

OK. I was wrong. There is a time for bad light in Utah. Here it is right now.

(Brooks walking out of the slot canyon.)

There is a long stretch between the end of Long Canyon and the Water Pocket Fold. I believe it's called the White Canyon Flats. Sometimes the scenery is broken up by some interesting rock formations.

We were frustrated (again) by a washed out road. This time the roadblock (in the form of a two foot drop caused by heavy rainfall) was located just before we got the switchback that would drop us down into the Water Pocket Fold. We headed back to camp and continued to photograph and scout locations that would look good in morning light. The slot canyon was now graced with much better illumination, so I was able to realize this wonderful cliché.

This is what it looks like when I photographed it. There is no telling what it will look like after I finish with it in photoshop.

Late in the afternoon Brooks went back to photograph the white rocks and trees at Durffey Mesa. I went to the other side of the road and found a wash that had some small pools.

When the light faded, we headed back to our camp, popped the top on some Summerdale Amber Ale

and looked at the sky and considered what a great day of photography we had.

It was a good day.

Moving the Camp

We broke our camp in Torrey and headed down Scenic Route 12 on the way to Boulder Town to set up a “dry camp” on the Burr Trail. That will be our base camp when we photograph that part of the Escalante National Monument. Guy Tal told us about a “campground” on the Burr Trail. He said it was a flat spot covered with gravel and it had a big tree in the middle of it.

Didn't need a map to find it.

We found it quite easily, set up camp and continued down the Burr Trail photographing whatever excited us. The Long Canyon is spectacular. Photographers think about “good light” early in the morning or late in the afternoon to create dramatic shadows. Because the rocks face in so many different directions in the canyons, there is “good light” all day long. You just have to look closely for your opportunities.

Long Canyon over look

Long Canyon Wall in "bad" midday light

We returned to the campsite and decided to chill out and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

 

Sorry, We're Closed Today...

I’m having trouble remembering what day it is. That’s a good thing. It means I’m on vacation. Today is a chore day, making the necessary preparations for the next three days of dry camping (no external utilities). Laundry was completed, the blog was updated and I made a few posts to a social media site and generally forgot about photography this morning. We’ll see what the afternoon brings.

The afternoon brought a closure. The Park was closed today because the scenic drive was flooded. That kind of put a damper on the day’s activity. In order to do landscape photography, one needs to have access to the landscape. Our fortunes were greatly diminished. None the less, we soldiered on with whatever presented itself to us on the way back to the campground.

Even in Utah the secondary subjects are pretty good.

We repaired to the campground for a real lunch, rest and relaxation while we hoped the scenic drive would be cleared later in the day.

Happily, the park people were able to clear off the scenic drive by the time we returned to Capitol Reef late in the day. While the scenic drive was open, neither the Capitol Gorge nor the Grand Wash were open to vehicles. If it’s not open to vehicles, I took that to mean that it was open to walkers. I walked into Capitol Gorge to make some photographs.

I didn’t go very far because the dirt road was more mud than dirt, even with a few days to dry out. So, we headed back to the campground for the final evening of civilization before we head down to Boulder and the Burr Trail.

On the scenic drive back to the highway, we stopped for a photo opportunity. I scampered up a good sized hill to claim the high ground for a photo viewpoint. I got my tripod leveled, the photo composed and then a car drove into the photograph and just stopped in the lower right corner of the composition. I had to wait for the driver to make up their mind on what they were going to do and wait some more for them to go around the bend. I think it was worth the wait.

Scenic Scene from the Scenic Drive nearing sunset

Tomorrow we break camp and head for the Burr Trail. I don't expect I will be posting again until Saturday. Being away from the world means being away from the conveniences of life such as the internet, running water and electricity.

Being There

On Monday we met Guy Tal and Bruce Hucko some Utah based photographers to get an depth look at the area surrounding Capital Reef. We met Guy last year and had a good time learning a lot about the area. The plan was to 4 wheel it over the top of the Henry Mountains to see “the last unmapped area of the continental United States” and manifold geologic and natural wonders.

The trip started with such promise. We were heading up a dirt road and stopped in front of a muddy section of road. It’s very difficult to tell the depth of a mud puddle. Guy threw a softball size rock into the air. It hit the mud with a resounding “plop” and completely disappeared. The day’s plans changed right there. We backtracked down the dirt road and took off for some alternate locations. We saw some very well hidden petroglyphs.

Well hidden petroglyph

We all marvelled at how "primitive" people could have made art that's lasted thousands of years and our sophisticated cameras and prints might not make it to the end of this century. The location of this petroglyph shall remain undisclosed. Basically, because I have absolutely no idea how to get back to that place. We left from this obscure location to see Burr Point.

We were able to get to Burr point and spent some time soaking in the vastness of the landscape and patiently waiting for a cloud or two to add an accent to the scene.

Brooks, Bruce, Guy and yours truly

(If you look back at last year's photo with Brooks and Guy, you will see I am wearing the same shirt. I will assure you, I do own more than one shirt.)

After waiting more than a few minutes, a cloud did happen by...

View from Burr Point with cloud

On the way back we did stop occasionally to make a photograph.

We did manage to avoid some scattered thunderstorms.

The adventures continue tomorrow.

One of the disadvantages of being out in the wilderness is the lack of micro-brewed beer and internet connections. The last three days posts are coming from a picnic table next to the wash house at the campground, because that's the first place I found that will connect with my laptop's wireless. We head out tomorrow to the Burr trail and I guarantee there will not be any timely posting of your intrepid photographers adventures until week's end.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

We came to the desert because it doesn’t rain. Well, it rained today, just about all day. We were able to get out of the way of the rain sometimes, but other times there was no escaping the torrential downpours. Rain in the desert can be very dangerous, especially because there are lots of unpaved roads that get impassable quickly and steep canyons that fill up with water just as quickly. We did start out the day in the sun, went through many hours of driving in the rain and finally circled back into a wonderful afternoon as the storm broke up.

We started the day in Capitol Gorge just to see if we “got everything” in last year’s trip. A solid wall of rain chased us out of that canyon.

 

Before the rain started

We went on to Factory Butte, but the rain beat us there. Undaunted, we came up with an alternative view of the iconic landmark.

We headed off to Goblin State Park just to assess its usefulness as fodder for our photographic efforts. We drove through rain on the way there and arrived just as the rain was tapering off. Did I mention mud earlier? Goblin State Park was filled with that glorious red mud that you cannot possibly get off of anything. Ever. We never unpacked the cameras, ate some lunch at the shelter and headed back to Factory Butte. We could see the weather breaking up and knew that Factory Butte would be in the sun with great clouds in the background.

That's a little bit better.

Our prognostications were correct and the weather at Factory Butte was wonderful. The Sun was lower in the sky, great clouds in the background. We made some good compositions of Factory Butte and headed to a vantage point that would give us “the shot” for the day. Brooks set up his camera and waited. And waited. And waited. (One waits a lot when one is a landscape photographer.) For those of you not familiar with area surrounding Factory Butte, here’s what the area looks like:

Five miles from the nearest paved road.

This geologic formation is not conveniently located. As is often the case, the clouds and sun did not cooperate with our desires and we decided to pack up and move on. Brooks attempted to start the car. The car, also in a spirit of non-cooperation, did not choose to start. We found this troubling. There was no beer in the travel cooler. What would we drink? The proper course of action was to wait a bit for the car battery to recover from the daily abuse we heaped upon it and pray. I am happy to report that combination of events was successful in persuading the car battery to do its duty.

We headed back to the campground, photographing along the way and never turning the engine off. We decided it was the best course of action.

 

Photography is exciting. Editing is not.

From "Time and Tide."

When the end result of your project is a group of photographs, editing becomes the key task of the entire process. Let us assume that you (or your “auto-everything” camera) are technically competent, so the quest for technical excellence is readily achievable.

While it starts out as a quest to find the best photographs, the final goal is not to find the absolute best photograph (which you will eventually do), but it’s to assemble the best group of photographs that tell the story that you want to tell. It’s important to have all the photographs support each other to bring about the best product.

The most difficult part for me is to present a variety of photographs to tell the story. There is a fine line that borders monotony and scatter shot selection of images. I look for horizontal vs. vertical images, tonality (or color palette), varying close up, mid-range and telephoto images, detailed versus overall views, consistency or variety in lighting are choices to be considered in selecting images.

When dealing with a group of photographs sequencing of the images is very important. The audience is not going to be looking at one photograph, but many. How the images transition one to another is a very important issue when you sequence your images. I want to offer the viewer some variety in the images while telling the story with photographs. These are pretty basic criteria that you can use to select the photographs for your project. The artist’s statement will guide you to the correct criteria you need to select images for your project.