Exploring The Possibilities - Taking That First Step

Photography often becomes a connected series of events that ultimately results in a finished photograph exhibiting a unique look. To arrive at the end of those events requires us to travel down a path of exploration, and those travels always begin with a first step. Therefore, we must be willing to take the first step, if for no other reason, but to discover the possibilities that await us.

The winter of 2018 and 2019 in Kentucky was a rather dreary and wet affair. Not much snow, but a great deal of cold rain along with many days of overcast skies. Not often for several months did the sun manage to burn through the overcast. But, on one occasion, I managed to be at the right place at the right time to capture an amazing sky when the sun decided to appear.

It began with a first step when the skies began to break apart late one afternoon. No plans were made for any kind of outing, but I realized an opportunity was developing that just might lead to an interesting lighting situation. An instinctive warmth swelled up inside as I gathered my camera and gear and headed out. I just drove at first not knowing for sure where to go, then I remembered a location from a previous outing I thought might work out. Well, it proved to be rather ordinary, but I was not far from another place and decided to head over that way. It proved to be a good decision.

Originally I hoped to capture some long lens images of an old brick house that sat off in the distance along a country road  that split two harvested cornfields. As the afternoon wound toward its climax, the light began to improve and I captured several long angle lighting shots of the old house, but I noticed how the clouds and the sun were going to interact as the sun dipped below the cloud line along the horizon. It became obvious that a spectacular light show was building and I shifted my focus away from the house toward the setting sun.

As I thought it would do, the sunset proved a welcome respite from all the dreary days we had endured all winter and I snapped away. It is amazing just how quickly the light changes at the transitions of the day. Between each shutter release the clouds shifted and the light swung in great arches of red and orange mixed and blended themselves between the muted gray of textured clouds.

I moved here and then there, changing my camera angle as the clouds moved ever so slowly carrying with them the full color spectrum of a setting sun. As I moved along a gravel access road that lead down to one corner of one of the cornfields, I noticed a single tree standing broadside to the sky. I raised my camera, framed a couple of quick images then paused for a moment.

Something unique began to develop across my field of view. The clouds moved to either side of the tree and grew dark red as the last moments of the afternoon display transformed into its final act.

I moved back a few yards...then a few more...and there it was, the final possibility...a flaming tree silhouetted against a sky engulfed with a magnificent arch of fire and smoke. I made a few final shots and then, almost without hesitation, the light dropped, grew dim, and the curtain of darkness implied an end to the afternoon performance.

That image alone was worth the taking of that first tentative step of anticipation. Yet, several weeks weeks passed and I kept looking at the images from that shoot. I realized the possibilities were not yet finished and started playing around with what was there.

Photography is a series of events that ultimately leads to a finished photograph. The trick is to recognize the possibilities, then wade deeper, taking what you capture to another level of exploration.