The title of this post may suggest that it is another flower photo. But, instead, it is another sunrise photo. This photo is the result of serendipity, I suppose, in that I just happened to be in the right place at the right moment. But serendipity doesn't suggest that it was an accident. When I left home just before sunset on this morning, I drove north hoping to find something worthy to photograph. And this is the first photo I took. I'll post others in the next few days.
It occurs to me that my photographic process generally begins with a "hunt." In this case, I was slowly driving the back roads near Lonesome Lake looking for the perfect picture. Initially, I drove over the little bridge that this photo was taken from but I backed up thinking that the still water in the foreground would do a good job of reflecting the beautiful morning sky. I guess you would say that this photo is a good example of chance favoring the prepared mind. Sometimes we are lucky to get the photos we get but this "luck" depends on our ability to see and then on our technical ability to capture what we see.
Canon 5DIII 1/80s f/10.0 ISO250 24mm
I'll have to admit that I was trying to channel Ansel Adams when I made* this photo. Of course, Ansel used a view camera, filters and elaborate dark room magic to make his great black and white landscape photos. In the digital realm, all of those things are done using software.
This portrait of Nicole was taken in the Black Hills at my July "Black Hills Photo Adventure." I took quite a few photos of her and she was a great subject. I teach that the eyes are one of the most important parts of a portrait and yet I have her looking away from the camera. Why? Well, we were working on a pose that showed her relaxed and seemingly unaware of the camera's presence. In the next frame, Nicole is looking at me but I ended up liking this one best.
Even though I've posted stargazer lilies here and some would say, "If you've seen one stargazer, you've seen them all," I feel obliged to post photos of these beautiful flowers again and again.
In keeping with my "Working Photographer" theme from yesterday I post the second in a series. This time, the photo is of more mature subjects then Glenyce J. The subjects: Patricia, of Monterey, CA and Nicole of Houston, TX. The setting: Lakota Lake, the Black Hills, South Dakota.
A concern I have about retirement is that as I transition from my "normal" public self to my retired life, some people will start to think about me in the past tense. An even bigger fear is that I might show up somewhere and someone without proper social filters might say, "I thought you were dead!"
Anyone driving along the forest service road I used to get to this photo location would have wondered why a man was lying prone near an old, dead tree at 5:45 am this morning. But nobody else was likely to do that. In fact I could lie prone for the whole day and not be seen.
This blog has be AWOL much of the summer but I guess I have been, too. As of the 17th of July I think I have been home for a little more than 10 days since the third week of May. I have also had little access to wifi. So that's my excuse.
My brother in law Scott took my son Brian and me to the Ingersoll Mine, not too far from Keystone, SD. I'm not exactly comfortable prowling around in mine shafts and photographically is not a great location - there's no light to speak of except for beam of a flash light.
I was back along Iron Creek scouting locations for the upcoming Black Hills Photo Adventure when I saw these two trees forming an interesting sort of "bridge" across the creek. Of course, neither was make for transportation but they were made for the photographer.
This is the doting great mother and namesake of our new grand daughter, Glenyce Jane. And GJ is worth doting over. :-)