White Sands Cantos

I have visited White Sands National Monument many times, and the place never fails to inspire me. My most recent visit a few days ago included camping overnight. The sun set behind the San Andres Mountains, and after an hour or so of darkness a nearly full moon rose, so I walked for a while among the moonlit dunes.

Next morning, I crawled out of a frost-covered tent, and wandered in the predawn light, looking for lessons to be found in colored clouds and rippled sand.

After a few drops of rain from a cloud that had to have its last word, the sun began warming the air, and by midday I was far into the dunes, marveling as I always do at the the patterns of light and shadow that last most of the day at this time of year when the sun remains far below the zenith.

Previsualization

A fellow photographer was talking recently about previsualizing, that is, seeing the photo before you take out the camera, rather than shooting a great deal and looking for the good ones.

I'm all about previsualizing...maybe it should just be called "visualizing," since previsualizing is inherently redundant... Using a 4X5 camera requires it, if nothing more than for the fact that each image costs me around $7.

And so, I scout locations, repeatedly over years. Some are many hours' drive away. I watch the weather forecasts and the satellite loops.

I study the way the sky changes before, during and after a storm, and at different seasons, which is easier to do here south of Santa Fe where I can see over 100 miles to the west.

I look for composition, light, and all the things that help me to translate the power of what I see to a rectilinear image. I try to anticipate what the light and sky are going to do. Itry to find a viewpoint that will combine all the elements to make an image. I know of no better way to immerse one’s self in the discipline of seeing things rightly.

But I have learned that there are always surprises. So, while I am focused on the image I think I am going to make, I also keep looking for what is already there, which I hadn’t anticipated. The result is that sometimes the image comes as an epiphany, other times it's more a matter of studying a scene for a while, moving around in it, and getting an insight into how it works.

My friend, Dean Howell, has given me what is so far the best definition of art and craft that I know:

"With craft," he says, “You start out knowing what you want to create and you pretty much end up with what you set out to do. With Art, you start out with an idea, but you somehow end up with an outcome that you couldn't have anticipated, but is far better than anything you could have visualized.”

Ansel Adams is considered one of the masters of photography that is visualized, but even he could never have anticipated "Moonrise".

Monsoon

The old-timers just called it the rainy season--July-August. But somehow the name "monsoon" gained popularity, and now pretty much everyone uses it. This year, especially after a particularly hot and dry June, the word has become part of a prayer, as in "I hope to God we get a good monsoon this year."

Clouds are especially important to me because they are so much a part of my photography. Watching the long-term forecast, satellite images, webcams, etc. I plan photo trips around sky conditions. The more dramatic the clouds, the better.
I was especially lucky a couple of days ago: Flying home from Minneapolis, we encountered beautiful thunderheads over Taos, and all the way into Albuquerque. If only I had been packing a bigger camera!

Playing with HDR

High dynamic range, or HDR, is a technique that uses software to combine 2 or more exposure-bracketed shots. The effect is similar to what can be achieved with nd filters, except that the process is selective in a way that a linear nd filter could never be. In this picture, the sky is properly exposed, as is the shadow detail in the cactus in the foreground.

Into the Light

The winter solstice approaches; soon the light returns. Here are two images taken recently on a photo trip to White Sands National Monument. Click on an image to view a larger version.

Bosque del Apache

10,000 Sandhill Cranes, 40,000 Snow Geese, 90,000 ducks. But it was the mountain lion sightings that got Nancy to accompany me on a quick trip down to Bosque del Apache. I'm not a wildlife photographer, preferring instead to take pictures of rocks, clouds and such. but there are some amazing photos of birds to be found, even with my inadequate equipment. (Check out the photographers who were there...talk about lens envy!)

Internal Dialogue

It's incessant, this internal dialogue, especially when I'm out in the middle of nowhere looking for pictures. Just about all of it is garbage, sort of like what you get when dialing through distant AM radio on a late night drive. Too much truck drivin' dime store sales pitch and not enough Wolfman Jack.
I would prefer the present time all the time, but my idle brain seeks entertainment. Even gibberish will do.
And then, I find a scene like this, and the present takes over.