Fine Art Photography Blog

Light is the essence of photography, as we can see from the word roots.  ( Photo = Light;  Graph = Visualization, Display )  Most landscape photographers take this to mean shooting during the Golden Hour, and for good reason.  Incident light falls on our subject from its source - often the sun - before reflecting off the subject, to the camera.

The tonal quality of the light can play more role in the final image than, perhaps, any other single factor.  We can see this in the work of Ansel Adams ( the crosses of Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico;  the clouds in Clearing Winter Storm ) or Sebastiao Salgado ( Sudanese Refugee Camp, Boys in Mexico City ).  Both men produced gorgeous zone-system exposures, but, two of these show light filtering through the atmosphere. Black and white zone system photography highlights the effect, but it can work well in color, too.

Dust particles in the air can be one of the easier ways to capture the filtering light effect.  Storms are harder.  Water droplets suspended in the air can reflect the light perfectly, as Old Ansel  showed us.  Unfortunately, low hanging fog tends to block the sunlight;  finding the right conditions can be difficult.  Edges of storms are most likely to catch the light - and let enough of it through to make a good exposure. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been treated to especially disjointed weather lately in the Emerald City. Last Friday saw big snow-flakes falling downtown for several hours in a late March storm more appropriate to Colorado than the ocean-side Pacific Northwest. We’ve enjoyed freakishly benign weather ( “that yellow thing in the sky” ) up until last week, and on clear days, both mountain ranges have sported receding snow lines.

The Cascade Range divides eastern and western Washington / Oregon, and the northern edge of California. To the west is a lush valley, while a vast desert lies to the east. Dividing these eco-systems, the spine of the mountains cuts upward, breaking up the path of the clouds overhead, getting many of them to spill their water earthward.

This divide creates an unpredictable series of micro-climates. A storm can be profoundly violent in one area and open up like an eye in others. Above, wide swatches of blue shine through, while below we see thick fog hugging the mountainside while sleet falls on the trees.

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Fog hangs in pockets of the Seattle, particularly near the water, while clouds blow overhead, reflecting the colors of the city behind them. This isn’t unusual for mid January in the Rainy City … most days, the sky scrapers are hidden behind the fog.

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Amgen is a California-based bio engineering firm. Steel beams woven together to form what looks something like DNA. This is clearly a metaphor; the pedestrian bridge over the railway hugging Puget Sound leads to a state of the art research complex. Stylish and substantive, the bridge itself looks as nice as the view it provides:

This is one of my favorite photos.

A bit of luck was involved here; during the two minute exposure on a dark night a train came roaring underneath, burning the image of its headlights into the frame. The intense darkness forces the shutter open for what would normally be an unfathomable amount of time. Seattle’s cloud cover reflects the city light back downward, and given enough time, the wind carries them through the sky, leaving faint blurred traces reminiscent of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

Elliot is the main avenue along the waterfront north of downtown and bordering Queen Anne. Just to the west, separated by rail lines, is a series of parks: Myrtle Edwards, Smith Cove, Elliot Bay, and, ultimately, Discovery Park, one of Seattle’s favorites. The Helix Bridge connects the Puget Sound waterfront to the rest of the city, and is one of only a few crossings in the area.

Because of the convenience - a trail runs from Kinnear Park, near my apartment, down to Elliot - I’ve walked or biked across this structure a hundred times. A labyrinth of trails lead past loading docks where herons, egrets, and even the occasional osprey hunt:

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