The End of Winter

Today is February 28th, the so-called last day of meteorological winter. I am happy to see Mr. Winter go, but have mixed feelings this year since it was a time of some photographical productivity. I reached my goal of getting out into the elements and also expanded and experimented with various combinations to make the hard to get shot more easy to get, simply based on practice.

To celebrate this event I am posting a shot of some withered grass and bush on Sachuest Point, RI, which caught my eye in the waning sun on a late winter’s afternoon with  storm front clouds moving in. It is quite ordinary, but thought that I could make it extraordinary just to celebrate the moment of beauty.

I used Greg Benz’s Lumenzia extension for Photoshop to craft a luminosity mask to more easily capture the foreground and reduce the water’s glare.

The grasses were shot using a Canon 5 DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 100mm, f/10, 1/640″, ISO 320, post processed with DxO 11 Optics Pro, Color Efex Pro, and Lumenzia.

Seeking Snowy

This month has been most productive as far as the Muses effecting change in my photographic soul (meaning, orienting and grounding my soul to those things most photographically meaningful). I have used the current ornithology phenomenon of the rare appearance of the Snowy Owl this far south of the Arctic Circle, to be the impetus for me to brave the elements and start honing my skills as a photographer.

The Snowy Owl was first witnessed by me two weeks ago at Sachuest Point, RI. I had missed the most recent invasion of the Snowy Owl this far south two years ago, and I was determined not to miss it again. While I did catch this elusive emigre from the Polar regions when I visited Sachuest Point (a National Wildlife Refuge), this wary bird was perched on a rocky islet about 400 feet offshore, making a photo of any significance moot.

I was finally able to catch this elusive creature further up Narragansett Bay at a small promontory on the western shores of the Bay just south of Providence, where the Save The Bay (nonprofit) property is located.

The encounter of this owl tests the patience of mortal men (probably a survival tactic of the owl) since it literally would sit for an hour at a time in one place. I waited it out and was able to capture the currently posted photos, which in and of themselves are quite ordinary and lacking in sharpness. What the photos are not lacking in is “gesture”, which as Jay Maisel notes is a critical element of any photo worthy of print.

The first photo was taken with a Canon 5 DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 278mm, f/11, 1/640″, ISO 250, post processed with DxO Optics Pro 11, and Nik Color Efex Pro. The owl was probably just fluffing its feathers after quite a spell of inactivity.

The second photo was taken with a Canon 5 DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 278mm, f/11, 1/640″, ISO 250, and post processed with DxO Optics Pro 11, and Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Second Best?

This past winter has cast upon me the challenge to continue my growth by both studying and practicing the art of photography.  I have done this with surprising gusto because I did not think it within me. Anyway, I revisited Vincent Versace’s arduous method of producing photographs for “fine art” printing. Vincent’s knowledge of the field has been a guide worthy of a king’s ransom. But, for this poor soul at this stage of my life, I find it far beyond my capabilities and aspirations. However, I have adopted his many insights as an ideal to be aspired to and then use these as a measure to adapt to the current capacities I possess.

In counterpoint to Vincent I have also been studying the method of practical photography by Bryan Peterson whom I find as equally adept at creating worthy photographs of the lived world. Bryan’s techniques are capable of being easily utilized in one’s own work flow, at least in actually taking the photograph without any attention to post-processing (in other words, taking a great photo before all else).

This dialectic has left me in the creative tension of trying to choose what best works for me and yet produce the best possible photo I can of a particular situation.

That being said, (i.e., the studying part), I have also met the challenge of getting outside this winter to shoot in conditions with are winter-ish. I must say I am proud of myself, and have actually enjoyed the experience of living on the edge of endurance (a wonderful aside is that it has allowed me to feel completely alive as I used to feel when I was younger and facing the elements).

All of the above leads to the point that I am trying to make. Both of the posted shots are critical existential moments of movement of wild life, i.e, deer running to escape something, and a hawk trying to find a meal. Both of these moments actually occurred in split seconds of the moment, meaning I had to absolutely have the right settings in my camera and the camera had to be responsive to my needs to capture the in-focus, properly framed shot. 

I almost had it! That was my conclusion. Both of the posted shots were hand held and rapidly captured based on subject movement. I thought I was on automatic focus, but there clearly was not a really sharp image captured in both situations. Maybe the subjects were moving too quickly. Maybe not. My point is: You must have responsive equipment based on what you are trying to capture. You must allow for the elements (heat, cold, moisture, fog, light, etc). You have to be ready with your settings based on your anticipated need.

The first photo was taken at Sachuest Point National Wildlife Preserve in Rhode Island at a split second when the deer suddenly appeared. It was taken with a Canon 5 DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 255mm,  f/11, 1/640″, ISO 1000, DxO Optics Pro 11, ACR, Photoshop CC2018.

The second photo is of a Red Tailed Hawk taking off from a field directly in my direction. It was taken with a Canon 5 DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, f/11, 1/640″,  ISO 2500, post processed with ACR, DxO Optics Pro 11, Color Efex Pro.

Flux Incarnate

Needless to say, I find myself in an inchoate state of photographic growth. Meaning, there are acquired skills trying to reach another level of development. However, the threat remains ever constant that I may make wrong choices and not grow at all. Is this what is called “creative tension?” If it is, then, I guess, I have it. But it beats being stagnant!

The photographic tension revolves around developing an “eye” to discern subtle changes in a photograph which either makes it or does not make it “exceptional” (that is, not ordinary). This involves a multitude of parameters to juggle all the way from capturing, processing, and then printing the photograph as seen by my eye.

“Having put my hands to the plow” re photography, the challenges remain forever great to overcome obstacles to achieving a continued process of seamlessly capturing what I perceive worthy of capturing, i.e., the ephemeral moments of my life.

The foregoing is an attempt to explain the complex state I am in…somewhat perplexing but also exhilarating in its aspirations.

The currently posted photo is of a White Pine by my house in the very cold and snowy January of 2018. My challenge to my self this month was to get out in the cold and capture the extraordinary in the ordinary. Whether I met that challenge is open to debate. However, the effort was none the less sincere. The main object was to capture a Snowy Owl (maybe I still will), but I will settle on the smaller creatures of creation, in its stead. The photo was taken with a Canon 5DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @214mm, f/8, 1/640″, 800 ISO, post processed with Adobe Camera Raw, DxO Optics Pro 11, Gradient Map in PS, Color Efex Pro, and Viveza.

Staying Alive

Whether I want to admit it to myself or not, the whole issue before us (myself, my loved ones, and the living creatures around me) is how to stay alive!

After 70+ years of life I have found that the most prominent element of what is around me is: staying alive. I have somewhat subconsciously realized this all of my life, but now it has reached critical importance. Probably because there is only so much time left for me to expend (?use up?). In other words, time is running short, as it were.

Okay. Maybe this is a bit over the top as far as blog dialog is supposed to go, but in the Winter of Our Discontent (read as God- Forsaken-Curse-of-a-Present-as-this) and as far as a Winter as hard as this (despite the denials of which the current President is saying regarding Global warming), then this is quite reasonable to say that I am in a phase of a somewhat gray-view of reality.

“So What!,” says the countering voice within me. “Falling in Love is Miraculous. It is realizing this fact that is important.  I am in love with my wife. As always, I am involved with carrying on the process that I started when I was an infant, namely—living the wonders before me.”

I shoot photography to capture/steal moments. Moments which exist within a fraction (sometimes) of a second, but which are revealing and transcendent.

The currently posted photograph was taken in early morning at the beginning of January 2018. Life has been harsh this year with frequent winter storms of snow and wind. I have been feeding the birds, but the larger animals are on their own. Hence, the coyote seaching for his breakfast meal. It’s been hard for me watching this display of life trying to survive this winter: this ranges from Hawks killing other birds to survive to smaller birds fighting to get seeds from a feeder. That being said, the photo was taken with a Canon 5DS, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, f/9.0, 1/500″, ISO 2000, post processed with Adobe Raw, DxO Optics Pro 11, gradient map in PS, and Silver Efex Pro.

More Versace

It’s been a fascinating month of photographic growth.

I embrace this monika phrase (of growth)  simply because it capsulizes this process of capturing the ephemeral into a static frame, which is the moving process of understanding the dynamic process of trying to capture the un-capturable. Now, that is a phrase sequence which I wish did not happen. But, be that as was it may, I have re-visited Vincent Versace’s approach to photography…which, in my estimation, is profound in its simplicity.

Be that as it may, I have re-read Vincent’s book, Welcome To Oz 2.0, and have absorbed another 10% of the incredible  amount of insight/information in it.  This process has allowed me to get to the point of achieving the images I believed I was taking when I pressed the shutter button on my camera. I have another 80-90% of the Versace Process to go, but I am optimistic.

I have found that the Spirit which invades Vincent invades me. I may not have the talents/skills of Vincent, but I will  proceed onward.

The current photo is of Occupessatuxet Cove, taken on December, 2017, toward the evening. I like the composition of the shot but the technical precision of the  shot is missing. The phot was taken on a Canon 5DS, with a EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens @ 400 mm, f/8.0, 1/160, ISO 640, post processed with Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop Creative Cloud,  using a gradient map and Nik Color Efex Pro.