06-10-09 Serenity - Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

04-02-09 The Brilliance of Nature

If you go to Olympia, WA, be sure to find the Japanese Garden. It is a beautiful, serene enclave surrounding by fairly busy streets and office buildings. I was there is late November and it was raining. (Is that the norm at this time of year?). I had taken a few photographs of this tree from the front and then decided to look at the tree from behind. And this is what I saw.

The color is striking, of course, but so, too, are the twisted, near-black branches. I could have photographed for quite a while but the rain and my wife suggested that I should move on.

Canon 5D 1/60s f/4.5 ISO400 58mm (Canon 24-105 f/4.0L)

03-24-09 Tokyo Street Scene

There are so many lines and geometric shapes in this photo and perhaps too many places for the eye to look. But the main point is intended to be the dark figure closest to the camera. He seems solitary but that's a bit of an irony because the night we were in Tokyo every place we went was crowded with throngs of umbrella carrying people. This pedestrian walkway was the sole exception - at least at the moment I took this photo.

Did I work hard to get this picture? Did I have to wait for just the right moment? Nope. In fact this is really more of a snap shot. I was with a group of 4 other people and because it was raining, we were on the move and the rest of the group wasn't likely to be real patient with my attempt to capture the right moment.

Canon 1DII f/5.6 1/80 Canon 24-70mm 2.8L 40mm ISO 800

03-23-09 The Perfect Place

I often find that some photos become favorites more for sentimental reasons than for aesthetic considerations. This photo is perhaps the best example I have of that. Pictured is the Mission Creek area near the Little Bend of the Missouri River. I have spent the night in my sailboat, Ariel, which is named after a sea spirit in Shakespeare's play The Tempest. I have walked up on to a bluff and am looking northeast over a glass-smooth body of water.

Is this a great photo? No. Is is one of my favorites? Yes. But only because it helps me remember what it's like to be in (for me) the perfect place: warm, quiet and utterly peaceful.

Incidentally, I use this photo to illustrate the rule of thirds and the principle that the eye is typically drawn to the brightest part of the picture, which is my sailboat.

No photo info: this is a scan of a film image (so 20th century!)

03-14-09 Votive Candles - Zagreb Cathedral

This photo was taken the same day the other Votive Candle post was taken. This time I was experimenting with the amazing Canon 1.2 50mm lens I travel with. This lens is excellent for poorly lit interiors, such as a cathedral. It is also very good at creating a very narrow depth of field, as in this photo. I'm not sure that this is a good photo, given that there isn't a real good focal point. But some people have told me they like it.

Also, I use this photo to illustrate what photographers call bokeh, which is the term used to describe the brighter, out-of-focus points in a photo. Some lenses have good bokeh and many don't. Needless to say, the Canon 50mm 1.2 gives great bokeh.

Canon 5D f/2.8 Canon 50mm 1.2L 50mm 1/250 ISO 400

02-28-09 Iron Creek In Spring

By Scott Shephard

Iron Creek is only a few miles from our cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This small pool has been the subject of my attention many times and this photo was taken in April of 2007. It had rained the night before, which increased the volume of water running through the creek. The rain also gave a wet look to the rocks, which helps create the atmosphere in this photo.

For this picture I put my camera on a tripod, which is standing in the water. I'm balancing precariously on rocks, trying not to let my feet slip into the icy stream. The secret to getting the milky look of the water in a photo like this is a timed exposure - in this case the shutter was open for 4 seconds. If I get a good photo when I come to this place, I'm happy. But just spending time in this serene place is enough for me. Can you hear the sound of the creek, the breeze in the branches of the trees and the birdsong?

Canon 5D f22 4s Canon 24-105mm 4.0L (35mm) iso100

02-27-09 Public Display of Affection - Barcelona, Spain

By Scott Shephard

And now, as Rocky would say in the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show," for "something completely different." Aside from my portraiture, I don't take many photos of people. But this is one of my favorites. I was in Barcelona Spain with a student group in the summer of 2003. We were visiting the famous Park Goell, designed by Antoni Gaudi. The trio in this photo was sitting on one of the mosaic covered benches on the terrace that overlooks the city. In our culture public displays of affection are frowned upon. But in Spain. . . why not? The couple is oblivious to the hundreds of tourists like me who were sharing their space. But my favorite part of the photo is their friend, whose frown is mysterious. Is he disgusted with his friends, does he feel left out, or is he just bored? Who knows.

Canon 1D f9 1/400 iso320 135mm lens unknow (Photo taken on July 17, 2003)

02-26-09 Lake Oahe Sunset

By Scott Shephard

This photo was taken about 20 miles south of the "212 Bridge" photo that was posted yesterday. In this photo I am looking west across Lake Oahe towards the confluence of the Cheyenne and the Missouri Rivers. The wind had died and I was bathed in the lingering warmth of the sun. And, aside from the creaking of the tiller in its fittings on the back of the boat, I was engulfed in near total silence. When the wind blows hard, this place can be very intimidating. But on an evening like this, it is spiritual.

02-25-09 212 Bridge - Missouri River, South Dakota

By Scott Shephard

This is the Highway 212 bridge across the Missouri River in South Dakota. There are some who would say that large parts of South Dakota are barren and unremarkable. But, of course, I disagree. I think there is true beauty in the openness and expansiveness of the plains. This is especially true at sunrise, when this photo was taken. On this morning I was on my way to the Little Bend area of the Missouri River for another sailing outing. This view of the river is the first view I get when I am on a sailing trip. At this juncture, I don't cross the river but turn south along highway 1804. I am only 30 minutes away from picking up my boat. And only 60 minutes from casting off on the third largest reservoir in the United States - Lake Oahe.

Canon 5D f18 1/50 iso250 43mm Canon 24-105 4.0L (Photo taken August 16, 2005)

02-24-09 Gig Harbor, Washington

By Scott Shephard

This photo is really two photos that I layered in Photoshop. One photo is exposed for the sky and the other is exposed for the water. If I had taken only one photo, I would have been able to get either the interesting clouds, which are fairly bright, or I would have gotten the sky reflected in the water, which is the darkest part of this scene. I often layer photos but normally I use a tripod. Because I had no tripod, I had to try hard to get exactly the same thing in both frames. I was close but not perfect. The hard part was aligning the masts in the sailboats.

Canon 5D, 24-105 4.0, variable exposures, iso 400

02-23-09 Rain Drenched Leaves - Hawaii

We were visiting our son Jon, who lives in Kona, Hawaii, in March, 2008, and ended up driving to the famous Painted Church, which is about 30 minutes from Kona. Though Kona is on the sunny side of the island, it had just rained, which was fine, because the overcast skies created a very soft light and the rain left all of the vegetation sprinkled with water. This is a very simple photo: the green stripes, the random arrangement of the leaves and the rain drops create the interest. I shoot a lot of vegetation and find that dark green is especially hard to shoot because in trying to expose the dark part of the photo, the highlights are easily blown out. Maybe this photo appeals to me right now because as I look out my window, I see snow.

Canon 5D, 24-105 4.0, f7.1, 1/125, 400 iso

02-22-09 Fallen

It was a cool, rainy day in Olympia, Washington, the day I took this. My wife, my mother-in-law and I had just visited the state capitol grounds and were driving through the historical neighborhood just south of the capitol building. I had stopped the car to get out to photograph a beautiful, brilliant red tree framed by a wooden fence. When I was walking back to the car, I looked down and snapped this photo almost as an afterthought.

Canon 5D f5.0 1/100 400 iso Canon 24-105 4.0 October 31, 2008