Wednesday Landscapes, 20 June 2018s

You are invited to upload one or more of your landscape photos and, if you’d like, to accompany your image with some commentary: challenges you faced in making the image? your intent for the image? settings? post-processing decisions? why you did what you did? the place and time? or an aspect you’d like feedback on? And please feel free to ask questions of others who have posted images or to join the discussion. If you don’t feel like using words, that’s OK too—unaccompanied images (or unaccompanied words, for that matter) are also very much welcomed. As for the technicalities, the usual forum guidelines apply: files < 1 MB; image size <1000 px maximum dimension.

 

Here’s the one I’d planned to post last week, before Sally Mack’s turkeys intervened. I’ve been playing with abstract landscapes again. The aspect that had me puzzled—and resulted in five different renditions of the image—was figuring out how to crop it in a way that would balance the composition. Nothing seemed to work until I very slightly reduced the highlights at the top center so that the brightest part of the water didn’t lead off the edge of the frame. And yes, those are the walls of Fern Canyon reflected in the creek.

 

I was in the low country of South Carolina last week. Photography wasn't a prime objective of the trip, so I had a limited kit. I'd never been to the area, so the maritime forests were new to me. The seemingly endless marshes reminded me of south Louisiana. It was hot, humid, and teeming with nature's wonders. The food was pretty good too....shrimp and grits......mmmmmm yummy.

 

Our son graduated from Marine boot camp and afterwards we wanted to go somewhere quiet so he could relax. I looked at a map and saw Hunting Island. It's mostly state park, with trails, forests, and plenty of beach. He liked the idea, so off we went. At the southern end of the island there is a trail out to the beach. Evidence of 2 hurricanes blowing through was everywhere on this barrier island. It's the nature of things here. We came to a large sign warning us of debris on the beach, and that we were there at our own risk. The sign was contrary to the pleasures of the sea air. We walked onto the beach and into another, totally unexpected world. We stood there, looking around in a state of amazed wowness. We were on a "boneyard beach" at low tide. We found our feet and started moving around.

 

It looks like a natural disaster until the big picture is understood. Nature rips itself apart, then rebuilds. Most of the trees are large oaks. The massive jumble of trees goes on for hundreds of yards. HIgh tide waters cover the base of many trees, and they are homes to communities of crabs, barnacles, and really big cricket/cock roach looking bugs. The trees help catch the shifting sands of the island. Over time the trees bleach out to ghostly white. Large birds nest in them, and people have given names to some like "The Peace Tree". It's a natural community, ever changing, always on the move. Check it out on Google Earth.

 

From a photo POV, I only had a 70-200mm lens in harsh mid-day sun. But, we work with what we have. Here, I used the shadow of a large dead tree to fill in the foreground and add some depth. The clouds out there were building and added to the overall scene. If I find myself going there again, wide angle and a tide table go in the bag.

 

I'm not sure that this fits the subject matter of this week's thread. Here goes, anyway.

I went down to the lake and tried to make some ripples by through stones in the water. it didn't work too well. This one I sort of like.

 

Nevada landscape

Was on a drive to Santa Fe and decided to bring along my Shen Hao 6x17 camera to shoot some of the wind generator farms in West Texas, and to get more practice with the camera. I was looking for a particular composition that was symmetrical with the generators more in line. Didn't find this composition on the trip out, so decided to shoot off quick roll of Delta 100 (but I did notice what I was looking for on the drive back and made a note of the location...that'll be on the next trip). Still trying to get the hang of the camera movements and coping with an upside down, flipped image on the ground glass. lol Shot Nikkor W-150/5.6 at f/45 for depth of field and to capture the motion of the blades.

 

8 Element Leitz Summicron 35mm f/2 shot at f/5.6 mounted to a Leica M9 - ISO 160

Post processed using "Holga-ish" action via the discontinued Picasa...

 

 

The Musselshell past flood stage this morning with Swallows on the hunt.