There is a mystery and wonder about finding places where you can see a far open valley. Great distances of natural terrain give a perspective about not only what is before you, but also what is behind you as well. Here in his photo is the Eastern slope of the Sierra near Cottonwood pass.
Simple yet engineered and well-crafted structures are easy to miss while exploring or traveling to your wilderness destination. Sometimes though it is worthwhile to just pull off to the side of the road and just enjoy where you are. The more hidden and less obvious structures are on the trail itself.
The Winter ahead is certain to turn out far more eventful than last season. By snowfall and storms that come and go, we’re going to have a replenished wilderness of rivers, streams, lakes, and foliage. All to make the most of new seasons ahead.
About a week ago I took a short course in Landscape Composition. In that course, a challenge was given to find patterns in the wilderness to highlight aesthetically pleasing subjects. That if we find patterns in the chaos of nature and wilderness, we can apply our creative point of view. To find a way to reveal order and meaning in what we see.
Clouds below are a great way to remind you how far up in distance you’ve traveled. It is especially pleasing when seeing this while up on a trail somewhere in the wilderness. While remaining above the clouds, it’s the better place to be for visibility and to remain dry and warm. Even better, it’s the in-between that makes for more emotion and wonder.
The affect light has on color varies by its intensity. The surfaces and shapes of natural objects can give out shades of beauty that illuminate the soul. It often has much to do with being in the right place at the right time. Or by bearing the cost and risk to put oneself in a position of the moment. To capture what the experience has to say.
With new pages added to this site, I’m more able to post images and messages while out and about. When I post to Instagram and Facebook, they will now appear here as well as a running collection over time. Over time, this content will post less frequently to social sites, but here instead. The farther I go and the more I learn gets added, the more relevant and timely content gets produced for this site.
After a few more lessons about processing images for better resolution, expression, and range, I’ve further experimented with large photos in both raw and jpg to see what would happen. Under different lighting conditions and color depths. With a few images, some of the adjustments were over-pronounced and edited, but the exercise was largely about seeing what the tools would do along with their visual effect.
In this image of Yosemite Valley, the subtle changes made were around light intensity, shadows, highlights, and exposure. Nothing added or removed from the original composition.
Most of all, a key principle I’ve learned is about where a scene begins. What meaning and intent is meant or said at the outset in a visual way. From there, the creative process extends to a crafted image that leads a viewer wanting to be there or wanting more.
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