FEELING THE FOREST AND ITS MOODS

Prairie Creek State Park, November 2012

I love going through my "contact sheets" in Lightroom. I rediscover images, and often I feel the essence of what it was that drew me to sit with the subject. This photograph is right on the road. I must have driven past it a thousand times (no exaggeration) while driving to and from Klamath and Crescent City.

I saw these scenes, but I never could figure out how to capture them until I was able to stop and sit within the forest. Driving past just did not allow the time for me to feel the spirit of the forest. 

A VARIATION ON YESTERDAY'S THEME

Reworking and Manipulating Marsh Photographs, 2012

If you frequent this blog you have seen this image before. In one of my recent posts, I placed a B&W copy of this. After receiving some feedback on the B&W print, I decided to take another look at the color version. In the B&W print, the band of sunset light comes through as white, and it overpowers the viewer. Here I think that the light as shown in color does not have the same effect.

I did print this back in the spring, but this is considerably different. I swear that these images sometime must ferment for awhile.

MORE MORNINGS AT THE MARSH

More Mornings at the Marsh, 2012

This is another candidate for printing. I think it complements the other black and white images that I made of the marsh in recent months. I think it conveys the mood that I feel while I am photographing there.

I have not printed anything for almost two weeks. I am trying to be frugal with my paper and ink, but, as I said before, the only way to actually judge the photograph is by viewing it on paper. I think I will assemble about six or eight images to print soon.

A LITTLE CROPPING

Earth Meets Sky Revised, November 2012

I am acting on some feedback that I received about the earlier version of this image that I posted a few days ago. I think I like it this way. This is an example of why I prefer to give images some time to develop within my head. What I mean is, that I found that as often as my first impression is the best one of a series on a subject, that sometimes I need to study the possibilities for the print. I am glad that I did not print the first version of this the other day. 

SOMETHING I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON

Earth Meets Sky, November, 2012

I worked on another copy of this image several weeks ago. I started again from scratch without looking at the earlier version. Both came out close, but this one offers a fuller range of light and mood. I think it will look much better on paper.

UNHINGED?

A Splash of Color, 2012

All right, I know that total manipulation is completely taboo, but this was just downright fun to do. Therefore I will not apologize for pushing the limits. For what ever reason, I like this image.

A THOUGHT ON SMALL SENSOR CAMERAS

Funky Cabins, December 2012

I took this shot today at a model train layout. I made attempts at this before, but those attempts never even got close. Mostly, they failed because I was using my full-frame DSLR. That camera has an inherent shallow depth of field, and so my photos looked like tilt-shift photos (which many actually were). I know that this photo is not all the way there, but it is very close. I am using this as a "sketch pad" drawing to help me to come up with some interesting compositions in the near future.

By the way, the small camera I used for this and other shots has a very small sensor. Therefore, the lens is a much shorter focal length, and that is why I get a greater depth of field. The camera is very small, and it is much easier to get it down into the scenery. 

TIED DOWN LIKE KING KONG

The A&MR RR 101, December 2012

This is the locomotive that I have operated from time to time over the past two years. It was stored at the flake board plant in Arcata. The plant closed about a year ago, and is being demolished for scrap. We only had a short section of track to run it on, but because of the lack of power to keep the batteries charged, it was not operated very often. This photograph shows it after it was loaded onto a flatbed trailer. It was transported yesterday to Samoa where the Timber Heritage Society is keeping it for future use.

HAVING FUN BEING SPONTANEOUS

The Last of Autumn's Leaves, December 2012

Yesterday I took Sadie for a walk in the forest behind our house. I left my new pocket camera turned  on so I could find out if the "geo-tagging" would work better. What I discovered is that it takes the camera awhile to acquire the satellites, and by leaving the camera on that it recorded fairly accurate coordinates of all my shots. This information linked with the map and I could see through the forest canopy and onto where I hike. I think that this feature is pretty cool.

One of the things I like about the small camera is that it encourages me to shoot. I have it in my pocket, and it is no hassle to get it out and to make imagery. I think of it as a sketch pad. When I got home, I still was in the mood to photograph. I came up with a series of these images of the maple leaves on the hood of the old Toyota.

TA, December, 2012

THE MORNING AFTER

Sunday Morning in Eureka After the Big Rains, December 2012

I took this about an hour ago with my new companion camera a Canon S100. It is wonderful having a pocket camera that I can carry anywhere. I took this image with the  camera set to a high image quality setting. It was hand-held, and I used ISO 400. While I was working on it in Light Room, I could see that the actual image quality is much lower than with my Canon 5dMII, and that is to be expected. Nonetheless, this little camera will provide me with a tool that will come in handy whenever and wherever I may be.

ROAD SWITCHER

Alco Road Switcher, Portola, 2012

I just love this image, and I know it will print out gorgeous. I will not tell another railroad story today. I am getting ready for Arts Alive. I have numerous photographs on the wall and in a print bin. They are all for sale and discounted at least 25%.

Well, I was wrong. I do have a story about Alcos like this one. When I was in school at Sierra Junior High in Bakersfield, I would often see a Southern Pacific train that had three of these engines on the head-end. The almost daily, train ran on the SP main line. My school was near the line. Whenever I heard the train I always stopped whatever I was doing, either in the classroom or out side, and imagined that I was in the cab and running that train.

I observed that the train consisted of, what to me appeared to be, many cement hoppers, and I deducted that the train took the cars to the Monolith Cement plant near Tehachapi. I was familiar enough with the route that I could day-dream for a long while. That is where I wished to be - not at school. I eventually manifested a version of those day dreams. I did not run Alcos up and down the hill, but I did run SP diesels past that school many times within about a dozen years of making those wishes.

To me, the railroad experience was the most idyllic when I was in the seventh and eighth grades, and now that I am in my sixties. My experiences in my twenties and early thirties did include some wonderful times, but the reality of working shifts, and often working short-rested was not the same as the dream. 

SUNSET COLORS ON THE BALD HILLS

Lone Oak on Bald Hill Road, September, 2012

I took this photograph two months ago in September. Equinox was just a couple of days prior, so the sun was setting directly to the west. It was very dry that evening.

I imagine if I were there today it would be very different. We are in the midst of a series of rain storms, and I imagine that once hard and dusty road is now softer and muddy.