COULD NOT MAKE THE CUT

Fernbridge in the Morning Light, November 2012

This is an image that almost made the cut. I really like the overall feel of the hues and luminosity. The only thing that stopped me from printing it is that it was the first shot of the day, and I had the lens set to f4. As a result, the foreground is soft, and may be enough reason to reject it. Someday I may return to see if I can take it again with the proper settings.

So far this year, I have taken at least 7000 images. Many of them are duplicates from the bracketing process, and really should only count as one in three, so maybe I have actually composed 3000 images this year. My point is that I am fairly adept at working my camera, but I still sometimes mess up, and forget what mode the camera is set to. I rarely use an "auto" setting. I mostly use manual or aperture priority, but I still need to look and see what aperture/shutter-speed combination the camera is set to.

In the previous post, I shared an image from my Spirit Tree Series. That image is also soft. It is soft because the shutter speed was one-half of a second, and the camera moved during the exposure. There is nothing that I know of in Photoshop that can fix a problem like that. Fortunately, I had bracketed that image, and I was able to use the digital negative that was two stops darker. My camera's sensor had recorded enough data so that I was able to recover it in Light Room. The print looks really good - much sharper than the one on this blog.

MORE SECRETS OF THE ANCIENT FOREST

REVELATIONS, Spirit Tree Series, November 2012

This image is another one that took me awhile to even start to understand. It elicits something in me on the cellular level, but I cannot explain what it is - which is perfectly fine. That is why I undertake the creative process. I do so so that I may better understand what was revealed to me while I was in the forest. This image is to be seen and felt.

I have yet to print it, and I think I will after I go for a walk in the woods behind the house. That should put my psych back in sync with the forest.

SPIRIT TREE SERIES NEW ADDITIONS

Unnamed Spirit Tree Series Candidate, November 2012

I took this image Sunday at Prairie Creek State Park in an area that I have been working since 2006. Discovering the tree's secrets requires that I must let go of any thought. I have to attune myself to the forest. I can only do that when I let go of any expectations, and I must quite my mind.

I can do these things in the forest. I attempt to do so at home in meditation, and sometimes I get to a quietness in my mind, but it is fleeting. Whereas, when I am in the woods seeking the secrets of the trees with my camera, I come into a place of quiet peace.

I am considering showing this along with the rest of the Spirit Tree Series in my little gallery for the next month. I think the series now comprises of about fourteen images, and that it has become a cohesive little show.

PART THREE

Elk Prairie Sunset, Prairie Creek State Park, November 11, 2012

By-the-way, happy Veteran's Day to all Vets. My military experience was a positive aspect of my life. I am grateful that I accept that it played an important part of my becoming an adult.

This is the third variation of this image. I am finished for awhile - I have other images that need my attention. This is from just one digital negative, and everything was processed in Lightroom.

WHY WOULD I WANT TO LIVE ELSEWHERE PART TWO

ELK PRAIRIE SUNSET WORKED IN LIGHTROOM AND PHOTOSHOP, NOVEMBER 2012

The image that I posted last night was part of the "unprocessed" set of digital negatives that make up this image. I think that both images have their own impact, and I am not sure if one is better than the other. Sometimes, I think that I can over do an image. It often takes me awhile to come to terms with an image and its possibilities  I just need to live with them for awhile before even I know which version I want to exhibit or share on the blog. 

WHY WOULD I WANT TO LIVE ELSEWHERE?

ELK PRAIRIE, PRAIRIE CREEK STATE PARK, November 11, 2012

This is the view I saw this afternoon just before sunset.

A SLIGHT REVISION TO THE COMPOSITION

THE POWER OF THE "L" FACTOR, PORTOLA FIREHOUSE, 2012

I posted this image a few days ago. This morning I took a print of that image to the Redwood Camera Club's regular meeting. I shared it in the critique, and received some feedback - mostly positive. One thing mentioned was that it could be improved if I included some blue sky around the right edge. Viola, I had the sky in the original, and here it is. I think it works, but comments would be appreciated.

KORBEL II

NORTH FORK MAD RIVER BRIDGE AT KORBEL, 2012

I took this in January. I was on a little outing with brother Daniel. I was showing him some back roads in Humboldt County. Even though I photographed this bridge several times, I still think my first attempts with the Sony in 2006 were the most successful, but I keep on trying.

SUNRISE ON THE EEL RIVER AT FERNBRIDGE

EEL RIVER, NOVEMBER, 2012

This image is not at all ready to print, but I am sharing an interpretation of what the sunrise looked like last Friday. It may be that I do not have the details that I want in the raw files to create a look that I would print. Nonetheless, this is to me, a fun one to play with and to view.

PORTOLA CALIFORNIA

THE PORTOLA FIRE STATION, October 2012

Because I was stuck in Portola a couple weeks ago, I had plenty of time to photograph. I did spend most of my time photographing in the railroad museum, but I did have time to explore the town. What surprised me was how few buildings in the old downtown that appealed to my aesthetic sense. This is one of the few, and quite frankly, I think it is a good one.

NOTHING TO DO WITH TOMORROW'S ARTS ALIVE

A HILL ON BEAR RIVER RIDGE, November 2012

I went photographing with a friend today. I photographed at numerous sites, including Fernbridge, an this is the image that is talking to me.

I will be at the small gallery upstairs at the RAA tomorrow for Arts Alive. 

NOVEMBER ALREADY

Spirit Tree Series Redux

I just went through a stack of matted prints that I have stored in my studio. I still have copies of most     images from the Spirit Tree Series. Most of these images were printed in 2010. Some of them were in  New Mexico for a year. Those were subjected to extreme changes is humidity when they were returned here. I noticed some wrinkling of the prints. I think it was a direct result of the change from a very dry environment to a damp one. I also think that the nature of the paper that I used back then plays a contributing role in the deformation.

Last year I expanded  the series, and printed new images on the paper I now use. The new images benefited from the paper choice and from my improved editing skill set. I admit to being a slow learner. I easily get stuck into ruts on various aspects of my art. Even in my darkroom days I mostly stuck with a couple of film types (TMax 100 and Kodachrome), and I mostly printed on Seagull for black and white and Cibachrome for color.

It took me awhile to comprehend that the paper I was using in 2010 did not fulfill my needs. I was comfortable with the paper, but I lost sight of the fact that it did not fully translate my vision. I did try a couple other papers, but they were really bad, so I stuck it out. But when I saw the wrinkling on the prints that came back from Santa Fe, I knew that I had to come up with something else to print on. I did considerable research, and settled on the paper I have now been using for the past year - Canson Platine.

This paper does not wrinkle because it is made of very high quality materials, and because it is considerably heaver. The thing that really gets me is that the image quality is superb. It blows away the images from the old paper. It makes me want to reprint everything that I printed before, but I just cannot afford to do so (it costs four times as much as the old paper). That said, I am going through some of what I consider my very best, and reworking them. I will chose some to reprint.

The above image is on the short list.