...than sunrise on the top of a mountain? That's what I often ask myself when I'm photographing a beautiful sunrise from the top of the world. I'm reminded, too, of how amazing God created this world and everything in it. As a new day begins, so begins new opportunities to give thanks to the Creator of all things.
Looking Glass Falls in the Pisgah Forest is a popular destination for tourist and photographers alike. Ask any photographer in the region and I'm sure they have a picture of this waterfall among their collection.
Went to one of my favorite places to visit - Washington DC. I caught up with a couple photography friends and toured and photographed all the touristy sites that I never get tired of. Using a super wide angle lens I captured this image by laying down on the ground and holding the camera under the tulips pointing upward to include the Capitol in the frame. This was one of my favorite shots of the trip.
It's been pretty cold and rainy, but along with the stormy weather some good photographic conditions abound. I grabbed my camera gear and headed downtown to see what I could find. I wanted the wet streets and buildings to pick up the reflections from the city lights. (Ever notice that night scenes in movies are always photographed in the rain or have wet streets and buildings - same reasoning) In my haste to get downtown while there was a break in the rain I forgot my tripod, so I was only able to use my 50mm, 1.4 lens because of the low lighting. The clouds were pretty low in the sky, covering the tops of the buildings, so that caused the light from the city to reflect back down on everything and made for easier shooting without a tripod. I came away with several images that I was pleased with and will definitely have to get back downtown in the rain again to see what else I can come up with.
I decided I wanted to get out and take some pictures, so I went to a local park to see what I could find. Reedy Creek Park is not too far away from home and a place I often visit in search of photographic subjects. It was a peaceful walk on some of the trails through the woods, but nothing really caught my attention. It's still winter around here, so the plant life is still pretty barren. There is one type of tree that I'm fascinated by every winter that grows in this area whose leaves turn tan in the fall and remain attached to the branches until new growth begins in the spring. In a forest of barren trees they remind me of smaller ghost-like trees scattered throughout the woods. I've yet to come up with a way to photograph them that I've been pleased with. When I was about to leave the park I noticed the sunlight shining through one of these trees, backlighting the leaves. Because the light moves and changes quickly I set up the camera as fast as I could and fired away a few shots hoping to capture some of that light. Lighting is a critical element to photography - in fact, it's the key element - and the type of light that falls on a subject being photographed can make the difference between an average image and a great image. I've heard it said that the word photography means "to paint with light", so when I was taking this picture I guess you could say I was painting with light.
I love to photograph everything, but my favorite subjects to photograph are people and nature/landscape type images. I get more joy from creating a portrait of someone that I think is well done and that they are pleased with, yet somewhere along the way I've begun to shy away from it because I want perfect results every time. Perfect results not from the subjects, but from my photographic skills.I hope my ramblings will be of some benefit to you.
Shawn
