The Discerning Photographer » Nature

Photographing On the Water

DiscerningPhotog — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 02:16:12 +0000

On my list of “Photographic New Year’s Resolutions” that dates back to 2009 has been to get my old aluminum flat boat up and running. A fishing boat that originally belonged to my father-in-law, the boat has worked, and not worked, over the years. After a number of fits and starts, I’ve finally (I think) solved all of the nagging little problems that have stopped me. My motivation: an ideal shooting platform.

What’s a shooting platform? Anything you’re standing or sitting upon when you shoot a photograph. One of the very best shooting platforms, for any photography under a couple of thousand feet, is a helicopter. Take the door off, make sure your seatbelt is securely fastened, and you have the absolute best way to shoot lots of aerial stuff.

When you live in south Louisiana and your primary landscape subject matter is in and around the water, a boat is the perfect shooting platform. For a lot of my work, this has been an overdue development that has me truly excited.

I’ve been on two ‘shake down’ cruises so far, seeing what works and what still needs work. I’m using an old Gott ice chest as a ‘dry box’ for my camera equipment and that seems to work fine. (I have it shock-corded to the bottom of the boat.) I still need to invest in a push pole but have a paddle and very nice donated trolling motor (thanks to a colleague who had an extra one). These things, and my 18hp Nissan outboard, turn my old boat into a fabulous new photographic tool.

I’m researching the northern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain on Google Earth, planning my next few trips.

So why is this such an exciting development?

One of the fundamental facts of photography concerns vantage point: the position you’re in when you press the shutter determines a big, big piece of the result you will obtain. Now with the boat, I get a chance at an unlimited number of new vantage points to shoot from. This is probably the thing I’m most excited about.

I have two early examples included with this post. Both are images that could not have been shot from land. So right away, I see a new world opening up.

Isn’t this what’s at the heart of our love and passion for photography? Exploring new vistas, working in a new area or in a new way, learning new skills and applications that we can bring to bear upon our work and art.

So in the weeks and months ahead, I plan to spend a good bit of my shooting time out on my new platform.

Bon voyage!

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

Getting Up Early in the Morning

DiscerningPhotog — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 08:30:14 +0000

There’s an old expression: ‘You have to get up early in the morning…” if: you want to succeed in life; you want to catch that big fish; you want to be the early bird getting the worm, etc. Like a lot of old expressions, there’s a measure of truth in this one. I was reminded of this while driving home yesterday, after an ‘early morning’ of productive shooting.

I had done a bit of scouting the day before and checked to see when sunrise would be. I knew it would be important to hit this area early, before the sunlight really got up enough to illuminate things. I was hopeful as well because the weather forecast called for partially cloudy skies, slowly becoming more threatening throughout the day: just the type of sky I like for photography!

This image was the first thing I shot. Tripod-mounted, with a 16-35mm zoom and five exposures, combined in Photoshop CS5’s HDR Pro to extend the tonal range. I used the black/white Adjustment Layers feature to do most of the rest of the toning, adjusting green and blue sliders to accentuate the sky and ground.

What about you? Do you have a favorite early-morning photograph you shot? A favorite early-morning photography adventure? Or do you always sleep till noon? I’d love to hear what others think about predawn trips…

Two Views of One February Day

DiscerningPhotog — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 09:30:00 +0000

February is a time of contrasts in south Louisiana. Spring is beginning to hint that it’s about to be upon us; at the same time, it was 26 degrees last night and the devastation is everywhere evident on our 2 acres.

These two photographs are good examples of this contrast. Taken just a few moments apart, I have the first blossoms on one of my cherry trees today. This tree, even though heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina, is always the first to bloom, and the first plant to burst forth each year in our yard.

Then there are the remains of last summer’s banana plants. We brought some roots over from New Orleans over 20 years ago, and they never thrive sufficiently to produce fruit (which we used to get in the city). But they’re vibrant and beautiful and fun to have around in the summer. But what a cycle! Every year, beautiful green succulent summer plant, followed most assuredly by a complete die-off with the first freeze of winter. But aren’t they great when they’re dead? I love to explore the sculptural remains with my camera once all the life is drained out of them.

So a study in contrasts today. All in the space of a few moments.

Shooting in the Rain and Fog

DiscerningPhotog — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 09:00:29 +0000

Photography today in the rain and fog: fantastic! I found myself thinking about the post I wrote some time back about how to photograph in the rain, because that was definitely what I was doing today: rain pants, rain jacket, umbrella, towel to wipe camera off, one camera on very wet tripod, one canvas near-waterproof Domke F2 camera bag.

The fog showed up today on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain as the warmth of the last few days met the new cold front blowing in: lots of wind and spray but the fog was beautiful! Working fast, trying to see, shoot, and see again, working against time as I knew the fog wouldn’t last.

A great morning of shooting in Fountainbleau State Park. Out on the edge of the lake in the fog, no one around, the whole place to myself. Looking, shooting, looking again. Wiping off the gear. Socks and shoes soaking wet. Moving again, seeing something else to try. Lots of failed experiments and a few successes: we live for the successes, don’t we?

‘Love Pelicans’: Buy a Book, Save Pelicans!!

DiscerningPhotog — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:27:02 +0000

Cheryl Gerber is a talented New Orleans-based photographer who has come out with a new book: ‘Love Pelicans.’ It’s a ‘Blurb for Good’ book that you can buy online and all profits from the sale go directly to the International Bird Rescue Research Center, one of the nonprofits that is working to save Louisiana’s birds from the horrible effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Like lots of local photographers, Gerber has been out covering the oil spill and its effects on the Gulf’s ecosystem these past few months. In the process, she’s discovered how stately and majestic our state bird, the Brown Pelican, actually is. I did an interview with Gerber about the book project. Here’s some of what she had to say:

How did you get the idea for the book?

I got the idea for the book after putting up some photos on Facebook to share with friends and that started a rash of comments. Who knew so many people loved pelicans? I decided to do a book because I was so moved by the folks at the bird rehab center in Fort Jackson working in the heat with the most horrible smell of fish and dead birds that I wanted to do something to help.

How about the photos? Are they all recent or are some older (pre spill)?

All of the photos were taken recently while on assignment for the oil spill.

Tell me about your experiences shooting our state bird…anything memorable stand out?

Though I had been to Grand Isle, La., many times before, I had never witnessed the rookeries, Queen Bess Island and Cat Island, until the spill. Though I had always loved pelicans, I was amazed by the sight of their interactions with their babies, each other and man. While searching for oiled birds through a 400 mm lens, I witnessed their love and preening of each other. In a few of the photos, they seemed to be dancing! Equally curious, was their curiosity of humans. They seemed to be watching us watching them. It was beautiful and heartbreaking.

What sort of response have you gotten to the book so far?

The response has been great but sales not. I’ve only sold about a dozen books because the high price of books on demand make it difficult. But more than 400 people have viewed the book so I know there is interest. So now I’m trying to get estimates on printing some to put in stores.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for spreading the word!

So if you’ve been wondering what you might do to help, here’s a great new way: buy a book and help save the birds!

Related content on the web:

Cheryl Gerber’s website

International Bird Rescue Research Center

Information about Blurb for Good books

Abstract Photography—a few personal thoughts

DiscerningPhotog — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:09:41 +0000

I photographed my resurgent Sago palm plant a couple of weeks ago as it showed renewed life following our hard winter freezes. Since then it’s been growing at a furious pace and I’ve had trouble keeping up with it. The photographs here are of the plant five days ago. I really need to shoot it again as it’s already changed.

Spending extended time photographing this one object, even if a changing one, has gotten me thinking about the nature of abstraction in photography: what it is, how we employ it in our shooting, how it varies from genre to genre.

I think that when most people think about abstraction, they think about things that are unrecognizable: abstract. For me this doesn’t quite fit as a definition. Most of the abstract photographs I’m drawn to shoot are in the natural world, and seem to present themselves whenever I slow down and look closely. Patterns are sometimes the factor; other times shapes or textures may be the thing.

In the case of the Sago palm, it’s got everything! Patterns, textures, shapes. Things that aren’t what they appear to be. All classic examples of abstraction, jammed-packed into this one amazing plant.

The photographer that I think has most influenced my approach to abstraction was not really known as an abstract photographer at all: Irving Penn. Penn, who only recently died at 92, made his name, and his living, as a high-end portrait and fashion photographer in New York, beginning in the 1940s, working primarily for Vogue. He changed fashion photography by being the first shooter to place models against plain backgrounds, a revolution at the time which still affects our shooting today. Later he produced a highly regarded book of simple North Light portraits of primitive cultures from around the world, Worlds in a Small Room. Later still, he exhibited the photographs I’m thinking of right now: large platinum-palladium prints of greatly magnified cigarette butts, things he picked up out of the gutter in New York. As the New York Times observed in a 1984 article about Penn:

In his hands, however, a cigarette butt in the gutter becomes more than trash; it is an object as imposing as an Egyptian stele.

If you get a chance to ever see these images up close, do it. They are amazing! Cigarette butts transformed into art, monumental shapes and forms that have transcended their very existence through Penn’s vision and artistry. Many of his books are out of print, but many more are still available. The Pace/MacGill gallery in New York represents Penn’s work.

So my abstractions are usually small scale, up very close. That’s just the way it works for me, I suppose. What about you? Are you drawn to abstract photography? Have a favorite abstract shooter? Is this something you’ve ever pursued in your own shooting? Maybe you like a different type of abstract photography. If so, what type?

Related articles on the web:

Photos of Irving Penn: Sublime to the Perverse story in the New York Times

Obituary for Irving Penn in the San Francisco Chronicle

40 Outstanding Examples of Abstract Photography at The Photo Argus

Abstract Photography at Abstract-photography.com

Abstract Photography – Flickr pool

Waterfall Hunting–A Photo Trip to Tunica Falls

DiscerningPhotog — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 09:00:37 +0000

I went waterfall hunting last week. This is not so easy to do in Louisiana, where we’re known more for our swamps and bayous than our waterfalls. But just a few miles north of St. Francisville, La., in the southwestern tip of Mississippi, the Clark Creek Natural Area, also known as Tunica Falls, has a few dozen of them, hidden away in a wild, remote 700-acre parcel.

This was intended to be a photo expedition, so I loaded a daypack with camera, three lenses and my Leitz Tiltall tripod, along with some food and plenty of water. It’s about a 2 ½ hour drive from my home and the weather was perfect, unusual for here: dry and clear with low humidity. Wow!

Clark Creek is a modest little stream that runs through this surprisingly hilly area, tucked in just a few miles east of the Mississippi River. The hills are quite steep and the terrain covered with a beautiful mixed deciduous forest. When I arrived, there were only two other cars in the small parking area. I paid my $3 fee and headed down the main trail in search of my first waterfall.

It was about a mile down the trail to the first one. Here the creek splashes over a sandstone and hard clay dropoff, descending at least 25 feet to a small pool below. I got to work immediately, finding the mix of water and new spring foliage worked well together.

And so quiet! Mostly because it was midweek, I seemed to have this place all to myself.

Working with moving water, one of your big considerations is always shutter speed: what’s the right shutter speed to use? I tend to experiment with this, sorting through some ‘best guesses,’ chimping with my camera till I like the shutter/aperture combination that’s giving me the most magical results. Lots of the shutter speeds that worked best on this day were long: some as much as 5 to 8 seconds, due to the relatively slow and weak water flow.

I worked around this first waterfall for about 30 minutes, trying different angles and perspectives. It’s such an intuitive process: problem solving, trying to slow way, way down and really see. Sometimes this is easier than others. Achieving it after a 2 ½ hour car ride was a challenge, but the beauty around me did the trick. I was probably grinning like a fool from ear to ear—such a truly beautiful spot!

More waterfalls, more quiet. I never did encounter anyone from the other two cars, having a solitary and tranquil afternoon of shooting. Many of the photographs I ended up with weren’t from the water at all—other things in the woods that spoke to me on this day.

Next time, I plan to go much earlier and make a full day of it. This is a new favorite place!

Related articles on the web:

Exploring Pedernales Falls at Serious Amateur Photography

Fall Water at Epic Edits

How to Get Dreamy Water Look on Your Photos at Digital Photography Student

Modern Trends in Landscape Photography

DiscerningPhotog — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:00:32 +0000

I’ve received a positive response, both in comments and offline in email, to the article I posted last week aggregating some landscape photography resources. This got me thinking about assembling a group of landscape photographs as a post. The idea that interested me was to limit the photographers featured to those that are members of our Discerning Photographer Flickr pool.

This has turned into a truly rewarding little field trip for me, venturing out literally all over the world as I looked through the photostreams of our members. What follows are some of my favorite images that the group has shot, along with some selected comments about the photographs and the trends that I see represented.

I think our group is large enough to be a ‘scientifically valid’ sample of what’s happening in landscape photography today. The results may surprise you! This is where landscape photography stands in 2010.

First: some classic black and white photography.

When I think about landscape photography, the first photographer that comes to mind is the granddaddy of them all, Ansel Adams. There are still some photographers out there concentrating on black and white landscape work, and we have (at least) one of them in our group: Nurse Kato (all names listed here are Flickr names) from Washington State, U.S. Here are three of his images:

"When I Close My Eyes" by Nurse Kato.(http://www.flickr.com/photos/25978351@N07/4170012176/sizes/o/)

"Angels and Demons" by Nurse Kato.(http://www.flickr.com/photos/25978351@N07/3645494960/sizes/o/in/set-72157612530504022/)

Untitled, by Nurse Kato.(http://www.flickr.com/photos/25978351@N07/3271334368/sizes/o/in/set-72157612530504022/)

Kato modestly states on his Flickr page: “Black and white is my personal favorite. I sure do enjoy a good color image but I guess I just don’t see colors properly or something.”

Trend #2: The Influence of HDR

This was one of the most striking things that surfaces when looking at quantities of landscape photography from diverse sources: the powerful attraction that so many photographers feel for HDR shooting. Since this technique became so easy to implement in Photoshop, there has been an explosion of work done using this method. Question to consider: when does the HDR technique work, when is it a gimmick or crutch? Here are some samples from our pool:

"Foto 0672" by Inigo Aspirez.(http://www.flickr.com/photos/iaspirez/4133906224/sizes/m/in/pool-1182517@N23/)

"Calor polar - Cala Tarida - Ibiza 2008" by Joseeivissa(http://www.flickr.com/photos/joseeivissa/4254351745/sizes/o/in/set-72157623158042271/)

Question to consider: when does the HDR technique work, when is it a gimmick or crutch?

"Cabin1b" by Danny Bourque. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannokablammo/524027193/in/set-72157600246810166/)

"Myrtles Plantation" by Danny Bourque. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannokablammo/3435073421/in/set-72157600246810166/)

Autumn Sunrise in the forest of childhood dreams, nothing has changed ... in the forest - Missano , Via Fontanazzo.. (zocca modena italy) by Masotti Primo. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/masotti-primo/4046592337/in/set-72157622820476607/)

"Seychelles without you" by Stephane Dufief. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/penarbed/4460387688/in/photostream/)

"Twilight - Porzh Goulom" by Stephane Dufief. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/penarbed/4484508080/)

Trend #3: The Use of Texture

This is another popular Photoshop-based trend: layering on textures to create moods within photographs. An Italian photographer in our group, Duarja, has perfected his method and uses it to create dense, dream-like images. Here are three examples:

"Roads that open and close" by Duarja.(http://www.flickr.com/photos/34238858@N00/3895677661/sizes/l/in/set-72157594588096558/)

"Come on, wherever the heart leads" by Duarja. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/34238858@N00/3923409798/sizes/l/in/set-72157594588096558/)

"The Reason for the Wind,": by Duarja. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/34238858@N00/2822331758/sizes/l/in/set-72157621382353171/)

Trend #4: Bumping Up the Saturation

Here’s another trend that lots of photographers are utilizing: increasing the saturation, or in a RAW workflow, bumping up the vibrance and/or saturation, to really make the colors pop. This is another one of those toning techniques that some people love, other people see as an overused, trite gimmick. Here are a couple of examples from our shooters:

"Where the River Meets the Lake," by LPS129. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kozmokat/3042198293/sizes/l/in/set-72157607833672837/)

"Aiguilles de Baulmes (VD)" by Mathieu GUY. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/camerone/4404107742/sizes/m/in/pool-1182517@N23/)

Trend #5: Beautiful straight-up (more or less) landscape photography

Finally, just some great images! There may be a bit of the various toning techniques illustrated above in this final group of photographs, but it’s always subtle. Take a look:

"Nordvikvågen Utsira" by Atgrims. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/17853411@N00/309859181/sizes/l/in/set-72157594193904875/)

Photo by Martin Zalba. "No HDR." (http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinzalba/4138097723/sizes/o/)

"Bardenas en Junio" by Martin Zalba. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinzalba/2560088925/sizes/o/in/set-72157613007382188/)

"Bardenas de Navarra" by Martin Zalba. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinzalba/2562656638/sizes/o/in/set-72157613007382188/)

24 novembre 2009 - (zocca modena italy) by Masotti Primo. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/masotti-primo/4131591434/in/set-72157622820476607/)

"Today It Rained" by Romorga. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/romorgan/4209341402/sizes/l/)

Summing Up.

I’m awe-struck by the amount of talent and energy on display here within our Flickr group! Hats off to all of you landscape shooters who’ve contributed your photographs. We’re all in your debt as your images enrich our lives and make our photographic community all the stronger.

Related articles on the web:

Five Fantastic Flickr Photographers at Epic Edits

50 Breathtaking Waterscapes to Inspire and Amaze at Phototuts+

What Every Landscape Photographer Should Know About Lenses at Lightstalking

Landscapes of the Spirit at The Luminous Landscape

Landscape Photography Resources

DiscerningPhotog — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:12:39 +0000

A confession: I love landscape and nature photography. I don’t consider myself a landscape/nature specialist, although nature photography was my very first photography love. Backpacking in the Appalachians as a teenager, I attempted to photograph the beauty that I was experiencing with my Instamatic (read ‘point and shoot’) camera of that era, and was sorely disappointed in the results. That led to my first ‘real’ camera, a Konica 35mm rangefinder that shot beautiful, sharp photographs….the beginning of my continuing photographic journey.

Here are some landscape and/or nature photography articles or sites that I think you might find interesting. Bookmark the ones you like!

‘The Light Fantastic’ by Ted Leeming & Morag Paterson at The Luminous Landscape.

Wow! Read through this story of personal discovery—or rediscovery, really, of the naive wonder of nature photography, expressed in a truly intimate, personal way. You won’t come away without new questions for yourself about your own approach and results. Beautiful, impressionistic photographs from the wilds of Scotland.

Quality vs. Value at The Luminous Landscape—A thoughtful, carefully-worded trek through the world of digital camera costs vs. value as multi-megapixel sensor advances have flattened out and we’re left to ask what we’re paying for, along with some beautiful images from a photo safari trip to Antartica. A great read!

Perserverance at Serious Amateur Photography

Jeff Lynch is a landscape/nature photographer in Texas whose writing style I find particularly engaging and easy to read. Here’s a piece about what it takes to shoot great landscape photos. Don’t let the “Amateur” in the title of his blog fool you, these are seriously nice images!

Panorama photographs by Neil Creek

Neil Creek is an Australian photographer who many of you may be familiar with (he’s got an ebook selling online right now at the Digital Photography School called Photo Nuts & Bolts). But I want you to go to his site and check out his pans. They are beautiful and done with a little piece of software that allows you to ‘go into’ the photo and mouse around, scrolling and looking at different angles of the image. This sounds like I’m describing a gimmick, but in this case it really works. His panoramas are stunning!

Eliot Porter’s photographs at the Amon Carter Museum.

Eliot Porter revolutionized landscape photography. He was the first of his generation to shoot color landscape photographs, using a dye transfer printing method which conferred upon his images something close to the archival quality of black and white prints. (Up until then, color was too short-lived to be taken seriously by art photographers.) These are stunning images. Unfortunately I haven’t found a web source that does them justice. You really need to see these images in the original full-sized, ‘coffee table’ books, most of which are still available. Appalachian Wilderness, Glen Canyon, The Color of Wildness (Aperture) are three amazing examples. Might want to hit your local library too to see if they have any of his original hard cover editions.Eliot Porter page at Amazon.com

Paul Butzi’s Musings on Photography blog

I love reading Paul’s blog. I go there when I want to slow down mentally and take a moment to reflect upon why we do what we do…not strictly a nature or landscape site, but Paul’s imagery tends to usually be naturalistic. Here’s a takeout from his March 22^nd post:

“It’s staggering to me that so many photographers think photography is about sitting at a computer and reading stuff on the internet, or sitting with a book and reading about photography in their den. And it’s really about – dare I utter the phrase? – *making photographs*.”

Ted Orland’s Holga and panorama photos

Go poke around Ted Orland’s web site and you won’t be disappointed. His pans remind me of the Polaroid work of David Hockney, really interesting and sometimes challenging to view. The hand-colored stuff is great too. Orland is one of the co-authors (with David Bayles) of the best-selling Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of ArtMaking. Highly recommended. Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

Anybody have a favorite nature or landscape site? Favorite article on the subject? Favorite book? I’d be interested to see what inspires others…

Two Seasons, Two Images

DiscerningPhotog — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:09:41 +0000

I was tramping around one of my favorite local shooting spots on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain the other day, looking for images near the water’s edge south of Madisonville, Louisiana. The wind was out of the south and blowing, whipping things up and driving off the brown pelicans I was vaguely hunting. Driving out, I stopped on the small raised bridge that goes over the Madisonville Canal just as the late afternoon light illuminated the tall marsh grass that lines both sides of this little waterway. The light was beautiful and the colors coming off the water iridescent.

I backed up, parked the car and walked back up to the middle of the bridge to make this first image.

It’s a stitched-together image made from three raw files, shot vertically with a Canon 50mm macro lens and overlapped with using Arcsoft’s Panorama Maker stitching software.

As I was shooting this image, I was thinking about another one: about 8 months earlier, right at dawn, I had shot another photograph at this same spot, the morning glow in the east reflecting up onto some clouds in the west, the direction I was shooting in. Remembering that photograph and wanting to duplicate it compositionally, I used my macro lens and shot, planning on the panorama I knew I was making.

Below is the original photograph. Back on the computer doing the initial processing, I was surprised to see how far off I was on the whole composition! I didn’t come home with quite the right pieces to revisit my first image. The nature of the seasons plays a role too: the marsh grass is 8 feet high and already dead in December, unlike the young sprouts that were growing in April. Looking at both images now, I see them as very distinct, truly unique and different moments in time.

Do you have a favorite place you photograph repeatedly? How does it change from trip to trip? Maybe more importantly, how have the changes in YOU resulted in changes in the photographs you come away with?

Sometimes, our photos really are windows into our souls, aren’t they?

Two Images, Two Seasons

I was tramping around one of my favorite local shooting spots on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain the other day, looking for images near the water’s edge south of Madisonville, Louisiana. The wind was out of the south and blowing, whipping things up and driving off the brown pelicans I was vaguely hunting. Driving out, I stopped on the small raised bridge that goes over the Madisonville Canal just as the late afternoon light illuminated the tall marsh grass that lines both sides of this little waterway. The light was beautiful and the colors coming off the water iridescent.

I backed up, parked the car and walked back up to the middle of the bridge to make this first image.

It’s a stitched-together image made from three raw files, shot vertically with a Canon 50mm macro lens and overlapped with using Arcsoft’s Panorama Maker stitching software.

As I was shooting this image, I was thinking about another one: about 8 months earlier, right at dawn, I had shot another photograph at this same spot, the morning glow in the east reflecting up onto some clouds in the west, the direction I was shooting in. Remembering that photograph and wanting to duplicate it compositionally, I used my macro lens and shot, planning on the panorama I knew I was making.

Below is the original photograph. Back on the computer doing the initial processing, I was surprised to see how far off I was on the whole composition! I didn’t come home with quite the right pieces to revisit my first image. The nature of the seasons plays a role too: the marsh grass is 8 feet high and already dead in December, unlike the young sprouts that were growing in April. Looking at both images now, I see them as very distinct, truly unique and different moments in time.

Do you have a favorite place you photograph repeatedly? How does it change from trip to trip? Maybe more importantly, how have the changes in YOU resulted in changes in the photographs you come away with?

Sometimes, our photos really are windows into our souls, aren’t they?