Leica Black and White jpegs

It's been a while since I posted, and i thought I would start again with a black and white jpeg, straight out of my Leica M9. This is a picture of my mother in law, Nancy. She objected to me taking the shot, but I took it anyway. I took it because I had just finished reading an article by Thorsten Overgaard, about jpegs taken with the Leica M9. They are not your run of the mill jpegs. Leica does something to them that makes it hard to discriminate them from a DNG file. Fine detail is held in the file, and the wonderful Leica lenses suffer little from glare problems when shooting into a bright background. In addition, I also used a gold reflector to shine some light back into her face.

I like Thorsten Overgaard's analyses of the Leica M9, since he uses it in all his photography. He works for Getty Images, and shoots a variety of commercial images. He gives workshops around the world, some for the "filthy rich". His weekly blog gives a lot of good information about Leica in general, and a lot of instruction on how to shoot in the digital age. I highly recommend him.

Yellowstone Meadow

My trip to Yellowstone did not yield a large number of images due to inclement weather, which is to be expected in the fall, but I did manage to obtain a few that I liked. This time of year can yield beautiful scenes. The skies are what make this area such a rich area for landscapes. I did find that when the sun was out, the result was very high contrast light, and it was sometimes difficult to get a decent exposure, without blowing the highlights. At one point I was mistakenly shooting in jpeg format, and the result was disastrous. My highlights could not be recovered from the jpegs. In contrast, my raw files, while having high contrast, were able to be recovered in my raw converter. Never shoot raw! This image, thankfully, was shot in raw mode.

Love affair with Trees

My love affair with trees continues. My favorite subject matter has always been trees. This shot, taken in Toronto's High Park, is an example of what I look for when it comes to trees. I love the tall trees that inhabit this area, and Ontario as a whole is a great place to see the beautiful maples, oaks, and elms. I like the repetitive shapes that the branches offer, and repetition is a great tool to produce a harmonious image. All great photographers and artists use this ploy. Speaking of art, I will be exploring painting with real paint soon. It remains to be seen how soon I will post them on my blog, though. It will take some time for me to perfect my technique. I have had a few years of art instruction to fall back on, but I know my first work will not be the greatest. Mostly I have to work on the technical aspects of painting. I'm looking at trying out water color, oils, and acrylic A few of my favorite artists are Gordon MacKenzie, Robert Genn, and Doris McCarthy.

Mesa Arch

Mesa Arch in Arches National Park, in Utah, is one of the most photographed locations in the park. I was on a workshop with Alain and Natalie Briot in May 2010. We had to get up at about 5:30, and drive for about 30 minutes to get to the trail leading to the arch. When we arrived, we were a bit surprised to see about 25 photographers already set up, waiting for the sun to rise. The goal was to photograph the sun as it appeared through the arch. The area in from of the arch spans not more than 25 or 30 feet, so it was very crowded and difficult to set up. However, everyone was very polite, and all of us were able to get a decent shot, as the sun appeared through the arch. The bright red under the arch is very real. The sun casts a beautiful glow under the arch, and it lasted for several minutes. The shot was over when the sun was no longer visible under the arch, and the red glow disappeared. The shoot lasted for about an hour, so there was plenty of time to get a few good shots.

Behind the arch is a shear cliff, dropping hundreds of feet. Bikers like to ride their mountain bikes over the arch, but that sport is not for me. I wonder how many have gone over the edge.

Sasha wide open

My friends and I often debate which lenses have the best "Bokeh", or out of focus pleasing characteristics. I like the lens I used here, the 50 mm Leica Summicron, shooting it wide open. Leica lenses are designed to be shot wide open, and most street shooters will shoot with the aperture wide open, or with the widest f-stop setting. This gives pleasing out of focus areas in front or behind the subject in focus. Some lenses give more pleasing Bokeh than others. Its just a characteristic of the design and the glass in the lens. Here you can see that the foreground and background are out of focus. The area in focus is a very narrow region, and depending on the f-stop, can be very narrow, such that only the eyes, for instance, may be in focus, while the tip of the nose and the back of the ears may be out of focus. In this image, the region in focus is not quite this narrow.

Montana Stream and Forest

One of my favorite images taken on a trip through Glacier National Park. I had recently purchased my Nikon D700, and this trip was the first opportunity to use it. I was amazed at the painterly effect that the D700 can impart to a photograph, with very little Photoshop adjustment, other than the standard black and white point, etc. Many photographs taken with a DSLR can be too dark right out of the camera, unless exposed properly, utilizing the ETTR principle. In other words, DSLR cameras have a default exposure where the exposure is too far to the left on the histogram. I learned about this principle on the Luminous Landscape website. ETTR means to expose to the right, utilizing the histogram to monitor this. Doing so can eliminate a lot of camera noise, which is more prevalent in the shadows. Exposing to the right maximizes exposure so that noise is drastically reduced. There is much less noise at the highlight side of the histogram. Still, you need to be careful not to clip at the high end. The best way to achieve a proper exposure is to set the compensation to about +2 EV.

Hugh Park 2

A second shot from High Park in Toronto. My grandson Sasha and his is mom and dad, love to go here on warm sunny days for picnics. It is also a great place for photography, and I make it a habit to visit the park when I travel to TO. As I do more and more photography, I think my style is changing, and may even evolve to an even more personal style. I think it is natural to do that  as I begin to see images differently. I try to make them more balanced as a complete image, by excluding extraneous elements that don't really contribute to the overall scene. Cropping can do this during post processing, but the challenge is to see this final image  the moment the shot is taken, but this does not always happen. This image is the complete frame, with no cropping involved, and I am quite happy with it.

High Park

In 2010 we were in Toronto, at High Park, a very beautiful park north of the Queensway, and south of Bloor. The light was quite beautiful this afternoon, and the greens were stunning. This scene reminds me of an impressionist painting, with the activity of the families relaxing on a warm sunny day in France.The silhouettes of the trees against the backlit sunny field gives the image a strong focus. The people in the scene are secondary, but they add to the story of an afternoon outing. This was shot with my Leica M9, and the outstanding  color rendition is typical of his camera. This is one reason I really love this camera.

Abstract

Recently, I have been thinking more of taking abstract images, and seeing what i can do with them. Slightly out of focus, over exposed a bit, and some nice rendering results. I have to be careful that highlights don't get totally blown out, but a little pure white doesn't hurt. These are the kind of shots you can shoot in your own backyard.

Balance in a Composition

Another image that I looked back on, about 1 year after I took it. I cropped it somewhat, and I really like the result. Quite nice tonality, and again we have the red - green color vibration. Cropping it in the square format really helps to make the image. One of my favorite photographers  is Mark Dubovoy. A tip he gives is to avoid taking images that he calls "postcard images", or types of images that are very common in composition. I try to follow that advice. The original image was a "postcard" image. Cropping it in the square format, and zooming in changed the feeling of the image totally. The bush is supported by the root and stem below, and this gives a feeling of balance. Without that shape below, the same impact would not have resulted. Centering the bush in the square is also very important. The square format resulted in an interesting overall shape, and quite often I do not allow the original 35 mm format dictate how I want to present my image.

Abstract

I like abstract art. It is quite easy to find images in nature that are abstract. Most often I find them in a shot that I had taken, but somewhere within the original image. This is a crop of a shot that I really did not care for, and often I would look at it, and leave it. Tonight, I decided to do a crop within the original, and this is the result. It may not appeal to everyone, and this is the nature of abstract art. That little dark area in the center draws your eye into the center of the image. So the eye does not wander all over the place within the image. A good photograph or painting always has some obvious abstract element to it. In fact the way to see if an image,whether a painting, drawing or other, has a flaw, is to turn the image on its side, or upside down. The flaw will be immediately apparent. It is the abstract element of the work that makes this stand out.

Ice Fields-Tree

This amazing place, the Columbia Ice Fields, always provides interesting images. The sky was quite over cast, and very little sunlight was available. I took this shot, not noticing the tree in the foreground, until after I downloaded the files, and opened the image. It portrays the isolation of any living thing in the glacial till at the base of the glacier. A ray of sunlight appeared momentarily, enough to cast some light on the gray scene. Really a striking moment.

B+W Impressionism

OK, so now I'm playing with photoshop! I did like the result of doing this from a color image. I chose the green channel, and brightened it a bit. I might make a digital negative from this, and perhaps try making a paper negative from that. Then who knows what the result may be? I was inspired by a young photographer in Edmonton, Jonathan Luckhurst, who was part of a show starting last Thursday night. The show is called Fading Lives, shown at the Louie Gallery. All of Jonathan's images are very impressionistic, and have an ethereal quality to them. He shoots with a pin hole camera to help get that effect. His web site is: http://www.jonathanluckhurst.com/portfolio.html. Of course, my image does not come near the quality and atmosphere that his possess. I admire his work very much.

Dead Tree #2 Athabasca Falls Area

This is the third image of the three panorama shots I took at Athabasca Falls, in Jasper. I hope to show these three as a set. All three images are 30" by 16.5", all fair sized prints. I plan to go out shooting in the next few days, and add a few more prints to choose from. I like the color of these three images, and they complement each other.

Valley above Athabasca Falls

Here is another shot from the same location as the previous post. What caught my eye here was the bright band of color on the mountain in the background. The setting sun highlighted the light green area in the distance. The actual image is a bit more saturated than as shown here. I cropped it to the same ratio as the previous post, and I hope to get a set of three, all of the same aspect ratio. I am printing these images as large as my printer will allow, 17 x 30". In fact, I have not printed an image this wide before, and it will be a bit challenging to matte it. There's not a lot to say about composition here, other than the horizontal lines contrasting the verticals. The previous image posted has a lot more going for it as far as compositional elements are concerned. This really is more about color. It is almost a monochromatic image.

Burnt Tree

On a weekend trip to Jasper with the family, I did get a chance to do some shooting. I find it difficult sometimes to shoot in the mountains, because I tire easily of the common mundane photography that is so prevalent of that area. Hopefully I can come up with images that stand out as being a bit different, but still has visual appeal. Shots like this contain a lot of green color, and sometimes the color can be overpowering, as it predominates so much. Not only that, an image still needs line and shape to draw attention. So here the burnt tree creates a nice diagonal across the image. The diagonal meets the vertical and the eye ends up going back and forth across the image. The horizontal tree on the ground also directs the eye back and forth across the image. Actually the central focal point is the conjunction of all three lines.  The red tones in the burnt tree creates a vibration between  red and green colors, since they are opposites on the color wheel.

Impressionism

This happened by accident. I was on a trail ride, and was trying to take photos as we went along. I guessed that some of the shots would be blurred, due to the slower shutter speed, and also because the ride was not very stable. Anyway, I liked the result. In fact, I had recently asked myself, why does a photograph need to be in focus to be successful? I guess that the die hard pixel peepers would say "yes". But, to me, art does not always follow convention. Just ask Picasso. I also love the color that my Leica M9 always provides. I may do more of this kind of photography.

Sasha and Leica

This is Sasha, our grandson. I took this image with my Leica M9, using a 50 mm Summicron lens. Thorsten Overgaard, a Danish photographer who shoots mostly with Leicas, always says that the Leica lenses are designed to shoot wide open. This was shot wide open at f2. The result is, not only a very sharp image, but also beautiful bokeh in the background. The M9 is also special since very little color adjustment is required in photoshop, as is quite often the case with DSLR's. Another advantage of the rangefinder Leica M9 is that it does not have an IR filter for correction as do most DSLRs. The IR filters cause the images to lose a bit of sharpness, so this is not a problem for the M9. In addition, the M9 has a full frame sensor, in a very small camera. At the time I purchased it, it was the smallest full frame camera in the world. I won't tell you what I paid for it:)

Sunset Needles Area, Canyonlands, Utah

This was taken at sunset in the "Needles area" of Canyonlands in Utah. A beautiful sky, which is typical of the southwest in the USA. We photographed at this spot for about 3 hours, as the sky constantly changed in the warm hues, as the clouds passed overhead. This was the last light, as the sun had already disappeared beyond the horizon a half hour previous. Quite often the nicest colors come well after the sun has set. I prefer photographing sunset over sunrise, since the sky stays painted for a longer period of time than it does at sunrise.

Triangles

What I like about this image, taken in Arches National Park, in Utah, is the repetition of shapes, in this case, of triangles.If you look closely, you will see at least four of them. Repetition of shapes usually creates interest in the image. Vincent van Gogh used triangles in many of his paintings, as have many other artists.  I was attracted by the light red stone in the foreground, which leads the eye upward to the bush. The shrub is the focal point of the image. Lines from the far right background also lead toward the shrub, as well as the rock from the left, coming in from the top and leading down to the shrub, and stopping at the top edge of the light colored stone in the foreground. The light surface of the foreground stone also directs the eye to the center of the image. Another unifying force in the image is the harmony of colors. This shot does have a few out of focus spots, but that was due to the fact that I shot it with a 50 mm lens, with the aperture wide open, resulting in a narrow depth of field. The foreground rock is the object most in focus.

Weeping Wall

The Weeping Wall in Jasper, Alberta. The light this day was a mix between sunlight and overcast. Basically filtered light. This kind of light can be magical. The beautiful colors in the cliff wall are really highlighted here. A grey day would not have enhanced the warm tones of the cliff. The Ice Fields Parkway is a great place to shoot endless images, at almost any time of the year.

Ice Field Hut

This was taken when there was very little sunlight available. The sun was breaking in and out of the clouds. I liked the ghostly feeling the clouds imparted. The image had very little color, so I extracted what I could. The result is an image that looks very watercolor like. These are the kind of images I like, where its hard to distinguish a photograph from a painting. No tricks were employed to get this effect, other than to use the "selective color" tool in PS. What drew my attention to the shot was the very tiny hut near the bottom of the image. I think this image needs to be printed quite large, to draw more attention to this little hut.

Lines and Shapes That Merge

What struck me about this image were the lines that all lead to the center of the composition. They merge together, streaming down from the top, the sides, and the bottom. From the two sides, lines lead to the center. From the bottom edge of the frame, the eye is led upward by the green shrub, which itself is a triangular shape, the apex of which again leads the eye to the center. You could almost say that the whole composition consists of several triangles, all having their apexes at the center. In art, triangles are often desirable shapes to have, since they quite often create interest and tension in the image. The image therefore is composed of repeating lines and shapes, another desirable quality, while the red-green contrast between the shrub and the rocks is an element that creates color vibration.

Too sharp or not too sharp?

I have a couple of versions of this image. What I did with this is that I lightened it quite a bit using the curves application in PS. (It's no secret I "manipulate" images in PS :). However I do try to replicate the original scene as much as I can remember. A problem I used to have was that I would frequently make my images too dark. This was especially noticeable when I would print the image. Alain Briot would quite often admonish his students to make prints lighter. This image, for whatever reason has a painterly quality to it. I took it with my Nikon D700, and it seems that this camera does produce images that do exhibit this quality. I love this image, and I never get tired of looking at it. I think one reason it seems to look painterly is that the leaves and branches were not "frozen" with a fast shutter speed. The light quality was excellent when I shot this, late in the afternoon. The image also looks better when viewed from a distance, rather than close up, as most pixel peepers like to do. This is one thing I notice, that these so-called pixel peepers like to get their noses right up to the image, and then complain that the image is not sharp. Sometimes I don't want it sharp.

Solitary Photography

A friend of mine told me that he feels most photographers are solitary people, who like to carry out their craft alone. I think there may be some truth to that in certain cases, and I do like to go out at times by myself and do my photography by myself. But there are times I really like to go with a group of like minded photographers. We may each have our own vision of a scene in mind, and that is good. We don't want our photographs to look like someone else's photographs, and that actually rarely happens. Its amazing how 10 people all taking the same shot will get their own representation of an image, different from the rest. Once or twice a year I go with several other photographers on day trips or even for a week at a time. We can learn from one another, not just the technical stuff, but the artistic side of photography, which is my favorite topic of discussion. Too many focus on the technical issues associated with photography, rather than the artistic side of it. One can focus all he wants on the type of camera, how many pixels, what speed of film, etc., but all that does not result in good art.  I believe that a person can make a good work of art whether its a painting or a photograph. Becoming a good photographer takes a long time, just like it takes a painter a long time to develop his or her craft. It isn't the camera that makes good photography, just like it isn't the brush that a painter uses that makes him or her a good painter. Getting back to the solitary side of photography, I do feel that this solitary side of  an artist does contribute more to development as an artist, because what we portray in the image is a statement of who we are, which can only come from within.

What the Camera Sees

When we take a photograph with a digital camera (as in this case), does the camera reproduce what we see, or what is actually in the scene? One element of photography that is always of concern is the dynamic range of the camera, and the scene we are photographing. The eye can see an equivalent of about 24 "stops", while the camera can see only 14 to 16 "stops". So the camera does not reproduce the actual scene as it is, in most cases. If the scene does have a very narrow dynamic range then the camera does come closer to doing that. Because the eye is so much more capable of seeing such a wide dynamic range, we can become disappointed when we see the final outcome of a photograph that we have taken. I used to believe that I needed to have a "better camera" because my pictures were so awful. Not only did I not understand the aspect of dynamic range, I also did not know how to actually expose a picture properly, and I always chose the "auto" mode, believing that the camera would know how to expose the shot properly. In some cases a good exposure can result, especially with today's modern cameras, but in situations of high contrast, it is very unlikely that the camera will know how to expose the scene properly. Dynamic range and proper exposure are just a few aspects of this topic.

Twisted Root

This image just fell into my lap. It had almost perfect composition. The central focus, of course is the twisted root, and it is nicely balanced by the green shrub just below it, to the left. The root forms a diagonal line from the top left corner, across the center of the image. There is also a balancing element at the lower right hand corner which is the lower edge of the red sandstone, and the grassy shrub to the right keeps the eye focussed in the middle of the scene. The eye shifts between the green shrub on the lower left and the grassy shrub to the right. The red - green color opposites create a nice color vibration. I find that I am creating less color saturated images than I used to. I toned down the reddish and yellowish colors somewhat. This was shot with my Nikon D700, and the original scene was quite well reproduced.

Needles District: Canyonlands Red-Green Color Contrasts

This was taken during late afternoon when the sun was still high in the sky. Its a good example of shooting in the shade to obtain the optimum color saturation. I'm always amazed how much color is available under these conditions. Had I taken the shot in bright sunlight, the colors would have been washed out. The sun was also behind the large rock to the right, and this can result in a halo effect on the edge of the rock. It takes a little tweaking to eliminate that halo. I love the color contrast, with the greens playing against the warm reds. Its a classic example of opposite colors on the color wheel. The green - red opposites on the secondary color wheel, vibrate against one another. Another example would be orange and blue. I look for these contrasts in nature, and they help to define the image as much as lines and space.

Another Sunrise Navajo Mountain

Navajo Mountain is in the distance as the sun rises at about 6 am. The weather had improved, so we did not have to suffer from the freezing temperatures this day. Motivation to get up at 5 am to go and shoot a sunrise when the weather is bad usually is lacking. This was the case on our first sunrise shoot at Horseshoe Bend a few days earlier. As we drove up to the trail to hike down, it was snowing, and the wind was blowing. No sane person would think of going on a hike in these kind of conditions. But bad weather can result in some beautiful photographs. The light may be fleeting, but all it takes is 5 minutes of sunlight to get a good shot. Usually that means that the rest of the morning may be a fruitless wait for better conditions, but at least you have a few good shots.

Balancing Act

I am always amazed by the natural features that can be found in a place like Arizona. How long will these formations last? The fact is that there is constant erosion taking place in these areas, with the result that the land and topography will eventually be altered, sometimes quite rapidly. Here the erosion taking place is mostly due to the wind, and sand being blown by the wind upon these land features. Flash floods can also be a factor, but in this location I think that the wind is the major influence. These hoodoos are situated on a high mesa like feature, and I remember that it was quite windy here at the time when we were shooting, not to mention very cold. It was difficult to get a decent shot here, since there were at least twenty people with cameras and tripods present. Sometimes other photographers get in your shot, as was the case here.  Actually, one was in the left hand corner of the frame, but all I had to do was crop the shot, which I normally do anyhow, from the standard 35 mm frame to a 4x5 format frame, which I really like.

Sunrise Overlooking Page: Navajo Mountain

In the far background, to the north east of Page is Navajo mountain. Navajo mountain is sacred to the Navajo peoples. It is the predominant landmark in the region, and is located just north of the Arizona border. The mountain "represents the head of the sacred female and pollen figure of Navajoland, of which Black Mountain is the body, and Balukai Mesa the lower extremities."  At one time "the Navajo were afraid to go above the lower elevations of the mountain, and had great fear of the underground rumblings that used to be reported on the western slopes. In ceremonial parlance the whole system (of geographical features) is called Tádídiíín Dzil  (pollen Mountain)."

Sunset Boulder's Area Page

Here is a classic image of near - far composition. The object of interest is place in the foreground, while at the same time having the far background as a complementary part of the scene. The eye travels back and forth between the flowers in the foreground and between the gully in the distance. In this case I centered the flower bush in the image so that the viewer's eye does not travel from left to right. The light from the setting sun casts a warm glow over the ground, while the shadows have a cooler cast over them. This is my favorite lighting condition. The sky was slightly over cast, filtering the light somewhat, as opposed to the previous image where direct sunlight painted the landforms with an orange glow. I shot this with a fairly wide open aperture, f2.8, but still retained a good degree of the far distance in focus.

Sunset near Water Holes Canyon, Arizona

This is a very interesting area near Page, Arizona. The uplifted strata create beautiful formations that reflect the setting sun with warm glowing colors. This area is near a slot canyon called Water Holes Canyon. Not far from the highway, many of these uplifts are evident here. This is what is so unique about Arizona, the variety of rock and sandstone formations all within driving distance of Page. This kind of light does not last very long, maybe 20 minutes max. I would have liked to have photographed this area in the morning at sunrise, but it did not fit into our schedule. I'm sure that the light would have been quite different. The light at sunrise usually is a bit cooler than at sunset.

Watcher

This image is one of my favorites from Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona. It is one of those images that has an ambiguous appearance. Which is the foreground, the lighter colored rock or the darker shape to the right? It seems as if a face is watching from the right hand side of the frame. The warm colors of the background sandstone counterbalances the darker shape nicely. I think it is a well balanced composition. The center of focus is in the center of the image. There is a repetition of shape, line, and color. One can see why the Navajo people have a spiritual relationship with the canyon.

Symmetry

My old art teacher used to preach at us to use repetition of line, form, and color, in order to achieve symmetry in our paintings. I still look for these attributes in potential images. Here we see just that. We see the repetition of line form in the parallel tree trunks and branches. We see at least three sets of parallel line shapes. Sometimes shapes and forms like these end up in my images without having consciously looked for them. Another wise peace of advice is to "keep it simple", or "less is more". The above image meets those requirements, and as a result it becomes an appealing image.

Sedona

This is an image that I always liked, mostly because of the dramatically shaped tree. Still, there was something missing that I could not pin down at first. This was taken in 35 mm format, and as a result the image proportions were in that format: about 7 x 11.5, quite rectangular. So I cropped the image into a 4x5 format, the same proportions as seen in 4 x 5 large format. This makes the image feel much better. The cropping removed some extraneous stuff on the right hand side. It almost looks square, which is another format that I will be exploring. A photographer named Steve Strom, whose work I really like, shoots in the square format. My Hasselblad shoots in this format, but in film. Since I recently purchased my Hasselblad, I will be shooting with it in the near future.

Overlooking the Canyon

Another shot taken at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. This spot was near Mather Point, not far from the visitor center. After observing the sunrise, I walked down the path along the rim, and came upon some very nice views. The walking path is asphalt, and easy to walk on. I thought that the good light had faded, but it was still early, and the light was still good. No direct sunlight. Using my M9 rangefinder camera, I can shoot quite often without a tripod. Since a rangefinder camera has no mirror to flip up, there is no vibration when the shutter is tripped. With the Leica, you only need to slowly press the shutter, and it clicks very softly. I can shoot at shutter speed of 1/15 to 1/30 of a second, hand held, while with a DSLR, one needs to usually incorporate a tripod at such slow shutter speeds. The Leica is also a very small camera, compared to my Nikon. It can fit in my pocket very easily, and it doesn't really look like a serious camera. This is a nice feature, since a bigger camera will draw people's attention to you, if you are doing street  photography, for example. The Leica can be unobtrusive, and it looks like a point and shoot to many people. It really is a great camera.

Sunrise at the South Rim

The morning air was very cold at the Grand Canyon when we arrived to photograph sunrise. Many tourists were already set up to witness the sun rising in the east. The temperature was just above freezing. Snow had fallen the previous week on the Colorado plateau, and the last remnants of the snow had almost disappeared. The Grand Canyon is truly one of the great wonders in America. No photo or painting can do it justice. 

Desaturated image

I decided to desaturate the colors somewhat in this image, and I kind of like it. I also kept the darks a bit darker, and I believe that it helps the overall image. Generally, abstract images like this tend to be a very colorful affair, but some times "less is more". The color scheme tends to give it a mysterious feeling to it. Upper Antelope canyon has a different feeling than nearby Lower Antelope Canyon. There is a bit more space here, it is more open, but both lend themselves to beautiful shapes and colors. No two images taken here will look the same. One of my favorites.

Arizona

I love Arizona. It allows me to fulfill my passion of photography, in particular it enables me to develop my artistic inclinations as a photographic artist. I have always loved color, and the colors of Arizona are unmatched. The state has an endless opportunities to explore one's artistic passions, from the Grand Canyon to Canyon de Chelle. I have by no means seen all of Arizona. But I plan to see as much of it as possible. The remoteness of much of the state gives it an aura of vastness and of the grand landscape. I have been to the American south west five times, taking part in photography workshops with Alain Briot. His workshops are unique, in that Alain teaches about the art of photography, not just how to take "pictures". Cameras take pictures, people make art. My skill as an artist keeps developing and growing, and I attribute this in large measure to Alain.

The Sentinal

Another image from the "Boulders" area north of Page Arizona, across the border in Utah. This is an amazing area to photograph. The boulders are not far from the gravel road, and one can easily walk up to the immense rubble deployed at the base of the mesa. I try to give a feeling of the immensity of these boulders. The pedestal on the right is at least 20 to 30 feet in height. The mind boggles at the scale of the formations. It is quite obvious how most of the rubble came to be; the boulders gave way from the cliff up above, and rolled down the incline. Did this pedestal formation also roll down from above? How does it stand on end like it does? Is it in its original location?  We see a mixture of red sandstone and siltstone underneath. This is one place I will return to.

The Right Angle

This image just came out of nowhere. It was the very first shot I took during the first outing of our workshop. I had only one lens on My Leica, my Zeiss Biogon f2 35 mm. I do not own the Leica 35mm, one reason being the cost, but the Zeiss is a very nice alternative. Most of my shots are with this lens. It is said that most Leica owners shoot predominantly with a 35 mm lens. It just seems the right lens in most situations. I prefer it over my Leica 50 mm f2 Summicron, which is also a terrific lens. The Leica lenses seem to impart a slightly cooler image than the Zeiss lenses. Either way, both are great lenses. Once you own a Leica or a Zeiss lens, you will never switch. The image is nicely balanced, like someone set it up that way, but this was the positioning as I found it. The color scheme is very nice as well. I love the warm tones that one finds in Arizona. Hard to believe that this is in "poor light".

Hoodoos, Page, Arizona

These hoodoos are found 20 minutes from Page, south off highway 89. A very beautiful spot, accessible with four wheel drive only. Taken at sunset, this image shows the warm colors imparted by the setting sun, which are a nice contrast to the cooler shaded areas. Even the shaded areas have nice warm colors, which would not be as prevalent in the mid day sun. Being a fine art landscape photographer demands that one rises very early in the morning for sunrise shots, which for us was about 4:30 in the morning, but thankfully sunset shots and late afternoon shots can be taken at a more bearable time. Our group of photographers rose everyday very early, drove to our chosen location in the dark, hiked to the viewpoint in the dark, and set up before the sun rose. We then had a quick breakfast, went to our next destination by about 11:00, which in our case was a slot canyon, shot there for about 3 hours, and retreated for lunch. The afternoon was spent having discussions about the art of photography and print critiquing for about two hours, and then we would head out for our next shooting location, culminating in the sunset shoot. Then the cycle would repeat itself, for a total of 4 days.

Upper Antelope Canyon

Another beautiful example of the lighting conditions in a slot canyon in Arizona. The location was Upper Antelope canyon, minutes out of Page Arizona. It is located on the Navajo Nation, and to get into  the canyon, one is accompanied by members of the Navajo nation, on the back of an open air 4 x 4, over a soft desert road, (if  one wants to call it that). The trip lasts about 20 minutes, and the entrance to the canyon is easy to navigate. In fact, it is totally accessible, with no encumbrances at all. Inside, one can set up a tripod relatively easily, with the only problem being the many tours that pass through every 10 to 15 minutes. One needs to be careful about wanting to exchange lenses inside the canyon, because very fine sand can end up on the sensor of the camera. Therefore, it is advisable to have you chosen lens attached to the camera body prior to entering the canyon. A tripod is a definite accessory, since the light level is low. While shooting, it is important not to capture the opening at the top of the canyon where the sunlight enters the canyon. This would create a hot spot which is not at all desirable to have in the image. I shot with a wide angle lens, a 17 - 24 zoom on my Nikon D700. To diminish any digital noise, one should shoot at the lowest ISO possible, with a cable release. A right angle viewer attached to the viewfinder is almost a necessity.

Painted Rock at Horseshoe Bend

What caught my eye here was the beautiful rock in the foreground. This image was taken at Horseshoe Bend, 20 minutes south of Page Arizona. It was 6 am in the morning when we arrive at the trail head to the canyon. The snow was coming down hard, it was very cold, and there did not seem to be any possibility that we could get a decent photo. By the time we arrived at the Bend, a 20 minute hike, it was still overcast, but the snow had ceased. Slowly some light filtered through the clouds, and we started shooting. This is a very good example of how seemingly poor lighting conditions can still result in beautifully saturated images. If the sun had been beating down on us, this image would not have been possible to achieve. I love the painterly quality of the colored rocks in the foreground. In fact, almost all the shots I took were of this variety: near:far compositions. It is difficult to conceive of the grand vista that lays behind the foreground rock. Yet, it is still a striking image. The traditional photo of Horseshoe Bend has been seen by thousands, and I wanted to steer away from that familiar image. For me, this is far more memorable.

Boulders Area, Utah

This image was taken in an area north of Page, Arizona, just across the Utah border, in the "Boulders" area of Glen Canyon. This was a wonderful spot to shoot, where boulders, after having rolled down from a high mesa,  are spread out over a wide area. One gets the feeling that another one could come crashing down at any moment, especially right at the base of the high cliff where we were roaming about. The two boulders in the above shot are massive, the larger one being at least 15 feet high.  I especially liked the opening between the two resting boulders, which is the primary focal point in the image. Taken with my Nikon D700.

Cathedral Rock

Cathedral Rock is located near Sedona, Arizona. It is best viewed late afternoon and early evening for that warm glow from the setting sun. This is the more popular setting. The image can be seen in many publications and advertisements for the Red Rock area around Sedona. I tend to shun these "popular" areas, since one finds many other photographers trying to get the same shot, at the same time as you are. In addition, this image is seen every where, and it is hard to get an original version. Be that as it may, I took the shot, with the Leica M9, and here it is. I hope you like it.

Evening shot in poor light

This image was taken with my Leica M9. The lighting conditions seemed poor at first glance. The sky was overcast, and light was beginning to fade in the western sky. However, this kind of light actually can be superior to direct sunlight. Colors are more saturated in partial or open shade than in direct sunlight. The Leica cameras are wonderful to work with. They are very light, compact, and usually one only requires one lens for most shots. I did not have my camera back pack with me at this location. Just the camera hanging from my neck. Since the Leica is a range finder camera, there is no mirror to flap up prior to taking the shot. One just squeezes the shutter, hand held. My favorite lens to use with the Leica is a 35 mm Zeiss. The Zeiss lens is relatively inexpensive compared to the Leica 35 mm lenses, yet the quality of images that result from the Zeiss lenses are excellent.

Lower Antelope Canyon, AZ

There are two Antelope Canyons near Page Arizona, Upper and Lower. Both offer amazing compositions. What we view inside is a "slot canyon", a fairly narrow passage, which is open at the top to sunlight, which streams in onto the sides of the inner walls, producing a beautiful glow on the opposite wall. The amount of sunlight inside the chamber decreases from the top down. As seen here, there is a huge gradient of light, from bright areas to the lower dark areas. It is almost impossible to capture the full range of light in one shot. This image, however, is only one shot, although I bracketed for at least 5 shots. One definitely needs to use a tripod and cable release, or shoot at high ISO, typically 800 or higher. This was taken at 200 ISO, for a 3 second exposure at f22. A very useful accessory is a right angle viewer for your camera, due to the fact that the camera needs to be pointed upward, very close to the ground. Otherwise it is difficult to look through the viewfinder. All of my shots were taken with a wide angle lens.
Both Upper and Lower Antelope have a risk associated with flash flooding, which can occur without notice. Seven people died in 1997 when a flash flood occurred. It does not even need to rain nearby for a flash flood to occur. Rain falling several miles away can funnel into the canyon. Still an awesome place to visit.

Grand Sunset

This was taken at the Grand Canyon, at a location called Desert View, at the entrance to the park at the west end. I used my Nikon D700 for the shot, with a very wide zoom lens, the 17-24 mm. I used this lens for a lot of my images on my trip to Arizona this past week. Zoom lenses generally are not a favorite of mine, since they result in soft images, due to the large amount of glass in the lens itself. Primarily I shoot with "prime" lenses (pun intended). However the 17-24 wide angle zoom is a relatively fast lens, an f2.8, and very sharp, as is my other wide angle prime, the Nikon 20 mm. The down side to the lens is that it is big and heavy. But it sure is a beauty, and produces sharp images. A second camera that I had with me was my Leica M9. It produces stunning images, which have a different "look" than those produced by the D700, being much sharper, and slightly cooler color wise. I will post some M9 images soon. Overall, this is one of my favorite shots from my trip.