Ansel Adams Kind of Day

 Ansel Adams, arguably the greatest American photographer of all time, with his black and white photography style and attitude towards photography as an art form, has made a huge impact on my photography in many ways. A few years ago I embarked on a summer long photography project I dubbed "The Ansel Adams Project" where I focused much of my photographic attempts at identifying potential black and white landscape opportunities and then creating images in the style of Ansel Adams.

The Ansel Adams Project

What I learned from the Ansel Adams Project

I learned a great deal about how to construct a black and white photograph through that project and my appreciation of the complexities and flavor of black and white photography grew a great deal as a result. I suppose that project has never truly ended as I will from time to time continue in that quest to experience those Ansel Adams kind of days where the sky has transformed itself into a cobalt blue highlighted by cotton ball type clouds adrift across its expanse. Recently, another such day presented itself and as I was needing to get out of the house I spent most of that afternoon driving the local backroads of Kentucky in search of Ansel Adams style landscapes. 

All the books say the best light to shoot in is early and late, you know, that golden hour of the day when the light is soft and shadowy and generates shadows and drama. The good thing about shooting black and white style images is that you can shoot almost any time of day even during the brightest and harshish middle of the day light. Most of the time that is when you will find those puffy white clouds floating in the sky and the sky will be at its bluest. Yeah, the golden hour does offer a great deal of drama and will serve a black and white photograph well, however I would suspect that most of my black and white photos have been taken mid-day.

I rarely shoot in-camera monochrome and will 99.9% of the time shoot everything in vivid color that I convert to black and white using the Silver Efex plug-in with Photoshop Elements. Although there are a number of very good black and white conversion products available, I really like Silver Efex in that it allows for the full range of color band adjustments along with color filter effects and even the ability to select the type of film simulation, plus adjustment curves and preset options.

When I scan the backroads for potential black and white landscapes I look for several specific things that I believe lend themselves well to the black and white final image. I've already mentioned a deep blue sky and fluffy white clouds. Those two are almost a dead give away, but there are other things a well. I love to find an open field with a distant hillside bathed in shadow and sun. The contrast presented by such a setup works well in black and white. I also look for large stately trees that stand alone in a wide field. I will most always shoot from a low perspective so as to raise the tree canopy above the horizon and isolate it against the sky.

Another view I look for are reflections on water especially with the blue sky/cloud combinations and also to include old barns or stately buildings or a single tree. Many times as I drive around doing other things I will run across a location that has potential and so I make a mental note of where I saw it and try to return on another day. Large open expanses make for nice panoramic images especially if they can be photographed from an elevated location, even just a small amount of elevation gain can make a difference.

Around where I live there are large fields of crops, mostly corn, wheat, and soy. If I can find a bronze wheat field swaying in the wind on bluebird day, it is pure gold as a potential black and white photograph, especially if there is an old barn or a single tree in the middle of or near the field.

Most of the time when I shoot those blue sky days, I choose to place the horizon relatively low in the image to accent the sky and clouds, but sometimes I do just the opposite and accent the landscape. It just depends on the angle of the light and the texture of the sky. Speaking of angle and texture, I will shoot with a circular polarizer filter which helps to darken the sky and reduce glare in the clouds. Once I begin the post processing, it makes it easier to retain cloud detail and by applying a red or yellow filter during post processing, the sky can be rendered a dramatic almost black. Polariers only work within a 180 degree arch opposite the direction of the sunlight. Just use your index finger and thumb as a guide. Point your finger at the sun and extend your thumb to the side. The 180 degree arch will be outlined to either side and around your back. Anything inside the opposite 180 degrees, the polarizer does not do well.

I do love Ansel Adams kind of days. The trick is recognizing how to visually convert what you see in color into what the scene would appear as in black and white. It's not all that difficult. It just takes a little practice, but once you master the process, an Ansel Adams kind of day can open your photography up to a whole new, or maybe a return to an older style of photography.

When The Dogwoods Bloom...

 Seems I tend to struggle photographically when the Spring season arrives. Certainly, that should never happen as the natural world begins to awaken from a winter's slumber and the sun climbs higher in the sky, well, that should be motivation enough.  Even so, I often find it difficult to sustain any degree of motivation to explore and photograph this newness of life..but...when the Dogwoods bloom...

From time to time as Spring progresses, I make time to stroll across the fields behind my home. It is there I discover the first signs of what is yet to come as a myriad of small wild flowers begin to form clusters of natural bouquets scattered amongst the debris of winter. Someday I will learn all the names of these small wonders of nature. Until then, I am at peace with simply enjoying their colorful flavors. Sometimes I bend low to the ground to steal a closer look and will even snap a few photos simply because I can. Rarely do I ever do anything with those snapshots, but the process serves a purpose to get me back into the swing of being a photographer again...at least until the Dogwoods bloom.

Eventually, the trees begin to show signs of coming back to life with a few buds and first fruits of leaf formation. I am always amazed at how slow the transformation process appears. A few trees sprout sooner than others and are often subject to enduring a late season freeze. Somehow or another, they always survive and turn a brilliant green in their own time. Cherry tree blooms come early, as do other ornamental trees, but the Dogwoods hold off a spell. I suppose they instinctively know the time is not right, unlike the Redbuds whose pink and lavender blooms harbinger a sign of how the best is yet to come...that would be when the Dogwoods bloom.

Some of the Maple trees produce their helicopter seeds early, but most hold off until the their leaves are well formed before having their branches hang low with the weight of millions of winged seeds. At the slightest breeze, the sky is suddenly filled with flashes of twisting and flapping seeds as they wing their way to the ground and into my gutters which are readily clogged by their numbers. Someday I'll put gutter guards on to prevent such a thing...but not at least until after the Dogwoods bloom.

The season muddles along often with stormy weather and breezy winds shaking the landscape from its long slumber and yet the Dogwoods are not here. The sky will turn cobalt blue with nary a cloud floating across its face and the Dogwoods seem to wait for such skies as their blooms were made to reach upwards toward the blue. 

My camera may have lain mostly dormant for several months and my creative heart along with it. Even after the first tantalizing hints of a change in seasons, those dormant doldrums are slow to awaken. I may spend a few moments lost in the hopefulness of what is to come, slow to capture even the most modest of images. 

With inner stirrings biding their time...still drowsy, still not fully ready to venture forth in earnest, I wait...then as sudden as the thunder of a Spring storm...oh, the Dogwoods, they have bloomed.

CG44331 - Motor Lifeboat on the Umpqua River Bar - The Story Behind the Photo

 When I was a young man, as I have often relived on this blog, I spent four years in the United States Coast Guard most of which stationed at the Umpqua River Lifeboat Station in Winchester Bay, Oregon. It was an adventure that far surpassed any adventures I've managed to be involved in since then. It was also a time when I purchased my first 35mm camera and began to explore the world of creative photography with quality equipment, at least with what I could afford at the time. That camera was a Fujica ST701 with a 50mm f/1.8 lens plus a Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 lens. My only regret was...I wish I had taken more photos of our station's operations. This photo of the CG44331 was probably the best one.

If I remember correctly, I was shooting Kodachrome color slide film probably ASA (ISO) 25 or possibly 64, I don't rightly remember, using that Vivitar 135mm lens. The events that led up to the capturing of this image began early one foggy morning as our commanding officer Chief Boatswain Mate John Whalen decided the conditions were right for what we called Breaker Drills. 

The Umpqua River Bar can be one of the roughest bar crossings on the west coast. Over the years, there have been many vessels lost on or near this body of water where the Umpqua River spills into the Pacific Ocean. When conditions are right, multiple layers of massive breakers can form across the width of the bar which was at the time (circa 1974) bounded on the North and South by rock jetties with a training jetty a bit further inside the bar directing the river flow outwards. At its widest it spanned about 300 yards from the tip of the South Jetty to the end of the North Jetty. That training jetty has since been extended all the way to the tip of the South Jetty forming one continuous channel and river flow directing structure.

On training days, the conditions were usually moderate with a 12 to 15 foot breaker line forming across the shallower north spit and middle ground areas leaving the south entrance channel mostly clear. These kinds of conditions were suitable for realistic training without presenting a high risk level to the crews.

Fujica ST701

If I remember correctly, I was a bit late arriving on site and had to scramble across the beach to reach the black rocks at the backend of the south jetty, then make my way along the top of the jetty by hoping from boulder to boulder trying not slip and fall. The training ops were winding down as a few moments before I arrived the 331 managed to experience a 360 degree roll. The young somewhat inexperienced operator had gotten himself turned broadside to the breakers and caught one across his starboard side. Over she went, hung for a moment, then righted herself as she was designed to do without stalling the engines or flooding the interior. I did not get any photos of the rollover as it happened before I got there.

The 331 did suffer some damage losing a ring buoy and having a radio antenna break off along with having some internal gear tossed around and some bilge water and oil thrown around inside the engine room, but otherwise she was in pretty good shape. Roll overs are not how you are supposed to do it for obvious reasons. 

As the 331 made her way back toward the calmer waters deeper inside the channel and then eventually back to the station for cleanup and repairs, I snapped the original transparency image...a single moment in the history and timeline of a fine vessel and crew. Many years later, I converted it to a black and white digital image which I believe more realistically captures the drama of the moment.