On photography

I have been fascinated with the art of photography my entire life. Even as a young child I would sit on the couch in the living room and study the photographs in the Life Magazines and National Geographics that my parents seemed to always have around. Images of The Beatles, the Alaska earthquake, the moon landing along with spectacular photos of Mt. Everest, the Amazon jungles and the Sahara Desert burned into my consciousness, not just in a historical sense but even more so of how the photographer was able to somehow inject the spirit of that instant into the viewer.

A photograph basically has three elements - light, composition and enough of an understanding of how the camera I am using functions to take full advantage of the first two. The newer phone cameras can do most of the technical adjustments automatically with astonishing results. DSLRs can also be set to automatically calculate the light that enters the camera to capture the best possible image but I find that the camera’s definition of the best possible image isn’t always how my minds eye sees the image. Therefore, I mostly shoot in a fully manual mode and thanks to an almost unlimited amount of digital storage space I can use various settings to have multiple choices of how that image can be interpreted.

Landscape photography requires a great deal of patience and flexibility. Photographing the setting sun can be a three to four hour process. I want to arrive at my chosen location at least a half hour or more before the beginning of what is known as the Golden Hour. That can last about an hour before it transitions into what is known as the Blue Hour. That also can last up to an hour before true nighttime settles in. Throughout this process, the light (which is really what I am photographing) is constantly changing. For example, the phenomenon known as alpenglow occurs when the sun has already sunk below the horizon but its light is reflected off something in the atmosphere onto the earth. As beautiful as the light of the alpenglow can be, often it only lasts for mere seconds before giving way to shadow and the coming darkness.

Since much of the subject matter in landscape photography sees its best light in the times around dawn and dusk, there are many times while on a backpack trip or a trip in the Navibahn where I am heading for my location in the black of night. This is especially tough in the summer when it starts getting light at 4:45AM. Which brings us to the final part of my thought for the day.

Capturing a moment in time when the light, composition and camera settings all line up is extremely intoxicating, but if in taking the photographs I forget to simply be there for the experience than I have failed in my endeavor. Slowing down to a level that I can fully appreciate the actual experience should be my primary goal while photographing the experience must be secondary. I attempt to juggle both and sometimes wonder if all the fuss over capturing images is too much interference with the experience itself.