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Clearly, I explored this subject matter. You may even be tired of it by now. But I’m making a point. When you find something that works, work it. Go at it a hundred different ways. You will be amazed at what happens. I was at a Joe Buissink workshop late last year and he said people tell him he’s lucky, to which he replied, “No, I just throw myself on luck’s path as often as I can.” This has resonated with me since. This evening in particular is an example of just that. I didn’t set out to get a shot of the dog doing anything at all. I just took my camera on a walk so I was ready if and when luck can running by.
By pulling the most of the color out of this image, I effectively change the mood. I like the tension created by the look in Adam’s face coupled with Squiggy’s protective surveillance.
Here is an example of making good use of a puddle on the shores of Lake Tahoe. What lots of people often miss is the power of tools available to us all in the natural photo studio that mother nature provides. In the last few posts, my camera was aimed in the direction of the sun, forcing me to tweak the raw file pretty hard to open up the shadows while holding down the highlights. It also requires that I go black and white. I can’t push a color image that far. It’s just not what I want. In cases of extreme contrast, my vision is better communicated with a split-toned black and white. But, as the sun got low, it was so gorgeous and I was so excited that I had to remind myself to also shoot in the other direction. Soft sunlight coming in sideways lights everything equally. It’s like having a massive soft box with a warming gel. Expose for the highlight and let the rest go to shadow. It’s much easier than shooting into the sun.
As the sun dropped, I really wanted to make good use of the larger puddles of water that formed on the beach. I held my camera just off the surface of the water, aiming up slightly with my wide angle lens. After a handful of frames, Adam said “Get him!” and Squiggy ran right at me. In the past, I might have stood up to avoid getting bulldozed and stopped shooting. But after years of photographing, it’s finally instinctual to keep on shooting when something unexpected happens. Because you never know what you’re gonna get and you sure as hell can’t recreate it.
This image is discussed in fredmiranda.com’s photography forum here.
I went to Tahoe over the weekend with my friend Adam and his dog, Squiggy. We had an unbelievably gorgeous friday at Squaw Valley, where the Space Cowboys showed up with the UNIMOG and rocked the apres ski patio. Saturday was the Snow Fest parade, which closed through traffic in Tahoe City. So we headed for Northstar, where unbeknown to us, they were having a big contest. The place was a nightmare till we got further up the mountain. We skied uncrowded Rendezvous most of the day, going as fast as we could, every run. So much fun… On our way home, we stopped at King’s Beach to take the dog for a walk. But once we got to the water’s edge, I looked through my wide-angle lens and saw the makings for some great imagery. We shot for an hour plus and did a lot of good work. The dog had no idea I was trying to make a classic portrait, so I had to be rather patient and hope that she would give me something that complimented where I’d positioned Adam. While he stayed still, she walked all over the place and I got this. I will release more images from this shoot as the week progresses.
While shooting the helicopter skiing adventure last March, I kept noticing my own reflection of the shiny chrome button on the video camera. I also noticed the simplicity of the three-mode control button and while looking at myself in the reflection of the button at the same time, how the whole scene pretty much summed up my life. I suppose you could substitute “off” with “sleep if you wanted to, but I like it just the way it is.
A nice benefit to photographing people in bright daylight when snow or water is part of the scene, is that those elements not only add to the image in terms of subject matter, but that they essentially become natural sun reflectors. This creates scenery with fantastic natural lighting conditions. Here is a great example of both water and snow acting as reflectors to fill in the shadows.
Last week during the storm, I got excited and headed for Tahoe. We left Wednesday evening and braved the snowy summit in the dark. Thursday morning, we arrived at Alpine Meadows to find about 50 cars in the parking lot… It was very cold and visibility was not so good. But knee deep powder in the trees made it worth while. We got all the goods on Friday too. Saturday morning, as we were resting our achy muscles, we checked out Squaw. It was bright and sunny and hard not to go ride. But years ago as ticket prices went flying past $50, I vowed not to ride on weekends and spend half the day in line. So instead, we went up to the lake, had a leisurely breakfast and walked over to the lake’s edge at Sunnyside. Here, my friend Lucky is kicking snow from a dock directly at the camera, providing for a great opportunity to create something interesting by freezing the action with a single frame. We did this over and over. It’s hard when you’re dealing with a camera that has the dreaded delay, especially for those of you with kids. You almost always miss the shot… And I was shooting with my iPhone. I had to say ‘Go!’ and then click the shutter, hoping the timing would be right. There were a lot of botched attempts, but we nailed this one. And I gotta say, I’m really impressed that I captured this with a camera phone.
Dreaming of days like this… Big thanks to our guide John and the crew from Whistler Heli-Ski. Word is they recently sold the operation, allowing John to retire if he wanted to. But why would he??
I just found this in the archive. It’s the Icer Air event in Pacific Heights that Johnny Moseley put on for his birthday a couple of years ago. It was a gorgeous, hot, sunny day in the city and the place was packed.
Ahhhhhhh yes. Finally, the movie is ready from my the heli-ski trip to Points North in Cordova Alaska last March. You just won’t believe the incredible Northern Lights show I captured about a third of the way into the movie. Press play and enjoy. Full screen is great!
