Tag: landscape

One time I can live with light pollution…

I’ve been really lucky—or maybe really well prepared. I’ve photographed things that people only dream of seeing. I’ve shot rare cloud formations, the Northern Lights, and sub-auroral arcs called STEVE. Elephants and pangolin in the wilds of South Africa (thank you Jenny), grizzly and black bears in the Rocky Mountains (thank you Sonny), and a tornado in Alberta I was so close to that the shot didn’t require the full length of my zoom lens. But one of my favorite things to shoot is atmospheric optics and light. I’ve got Les Cowley to thank for that!

The light pillars in the photograph above have been on my bucket list for ages. Conditions have to come together exactly right before they’ll appear, and their appearance can be fleeting. You need finger-numbing, battery-draining temperatures, plate crystals in the atmosphere, and light pollution—that bane of a night photographer’s existence. Light pollution disrupts the natural patterns of wildlife and in the U.S. and Europe, 99% of people can’t experience a true dark sky. But when the lights combine with ice crystals floating gently in the sky, I can’t resist trying to capture them. There’s a season for sighting these pillars and where I live, we’re at the very end of it.

On this night, at 2:30 in the morning, I pulled on my husband’s very warm down-filled jacket and stumbled outside with my senior dog who’d woken me up for a potty break. Shooting upwards into the sky around me were the pillars I’d resigned myself to never seeing. They don’t shoot directly up from the light sources. The delicate crystal plates drift down and reflect the light back toward the viewer from a more midway point.

We were in the car in about five minutes and off on another optic adventure. One I won’t soon forget. The frozen fingers were worth it, and I was so happy to share the magical night with my husband.

Note: A shout out to Deborah Byrd of https://earthsky.org/ too for publishing so many of my images. It’s always an honor. And if you’d like to learn more about optics, visit Les Cowley’s incredible site https://atoptics.co.uk/

Life in color…

We got up early and drove in darkness to catch this brief moment of light and color in the mountains. We don’t mind the drives—they’re a perfect combination of companionship and conversation without interruptions from phones.

It’s been the most beautiful of Octobers. Cool mornings, warm days, and many opportunities to view the colors of fall. For once, the winds haven’t snatched the leaves from the trees.

This particular place is one I’ve photographed before and hiked through the trees in the background. The mornings when the water is burnished in copper by the mountain’s alpenglow are special though. It doesn’t happen all the time.

And that beautiful red bush on the beaver lodge! How perfect…

It lives in transient moments…

sandhill crane snowy woods

In our travels yesterday we passed a man toting a camera and lens longer in length than my arm. When my husband asked me if I’d like a lens of that size I could truthfully answer no.

While I do love macro photography and images that could be described as intimate landscapes—tiny sections of a larger scene—I’m more passionate about the story. I’m just as excited about seeing signs that an animal has passed as I am seeing the animal itself.

The light covering of snow softened the harsh landscape winter left behind and as we got out of my Jeep, the rattling bugle-like call of a Sandhill Crane echoed through the mountains.

A hike towards the marshland uncovered fox tracks, wolf tracks, and winged impressions left behind by perhaps a large hawk. Striding along the snowy landscape was the source of those melodic calls.

Nature is all around us. It lives in transient moments not always captured by a camera.

But on this morning I’m glad it was.

Couldn’t let the day pass by…

without acknowledging my father’s birthday. When I came across this pastoral landscape accented by light falling on a distant mountain, it struck me that it was the kind of scenery he would have loved to have painted. I can almost see him slathering color upon the mountains with his palette knife and scratching detail into the hay bales in the foreground with a stiff, tapered brush.

My father’s been gone for almost twenty years but the memories linger. He wasn’t the perfect father but I always knew that he loved me and he knew that I loved him. I’d give almost anything to share with him what my life’s like now.

Love is imperfect, but that’s as it should be. It lives in darkness and light—touching some for a day and others for a lifetime—a gift, not a right. If you love someone, tell them today, in case tomorrow never comes.

Happy birthday, Dad!

In Memoriam…

Wolf Kahn.

Many years ago while taking a drawing class I was forced to confront landscapes. While used to altering my camera settings to create the feel that I wanted for an image, having to do the same with pastels, while outside, seemed almost insurmountable. I began a search for artists whose work resonated with me and came across Wolf Kahn. His use of bold colors, often at odds with the subject matter, in addition to its often abstract nature, inspired me.

In the chaos of 2020 I missed that he had passed away in March at the age of ninety-two. I played with my photograph of trees, shot after a devastating wildfire swept through, to come up with this image that gave me the feel of Wolf Kahn.

In an interview he stated, “My choice of color is dictated by tact and decorum stretched by an unholy desire to be outrageous.”

Words as delicious as his work.

Happy New Year everyone! Let’s make it a good one! 

View…

of the future.

[rəˈflekting] reflecting

thinking deeply and carefully about

I’m glad I have an extensive archive of photographs to revisit. I’m always able to find one that hits the mood for the day. A lone strip of land, isolated objects, and in the distance fog–the new normal.

My view…

#on_tilt #dutch_angle

dutch tilt landscape coulees water

[dəCH] [ˈaNGɡəl] dutch angle

a photography style where vertical lines are shot at an angle

I find dutch angle resonates with me at times when things feel off-kilter, unsteady, and unusual.

This is one of those times when it’s hard to find balance and the world seems shadowed by one unwavering question mark.

I try to imagine what things will look like on the other side of this–and can’t. It’s simply unimagineable.

There will not be anyone excluded from feeling the impact of this pandemic. It will affect each one of us.

What I do strongly feel is there will be good that comes from this–a centering and strengthening of the human spirit. And when that happens, we will be able to look back and and understand why.

Stay safe…

Anywhere…

the wind blows.

All the lessons are in nature. You look at the way rocks are formed – the wind and the water hitting them, shaping them, making them what they are. Things take time, you know?

Diane Lane

I love this time of year when the seasons change from day to day; one moment is fall, the next winter.

This was taken the morning of the Autumnal Equinox when the length of day and night was almost equal.

The rock lover in me could not get enough of these sandstone sculptures in this magical place.

Take time to get out in nature. I guarantee it will give you a new perspective on life.