A reflection on time, seasons, life, chaos, probab

[Steve J Murray]

This spring I decided to take a camera with me on my daily bike ride with our dog, Lily, as we rode/ran through the beautiful park area near our neighborhood. This park has two small lakes, a marsh, and it borders the Mississippi River to boot. Its two miles from our house to the park and we do about a five mile circuit in the park before returning home. It is a virtual feast for the senses in any season. Now, I do shoot 4x5, but in this “project,” since it is a “run” so both Lily and I get our exercise, I use a DSLR. I look at it like making “sketches” of the things we see each day as we pass through the different parts of the park. If a scene is particularly impressive, I can go back with the view camera and do another shot at a later date. With the small camera I sometimes take 30 to 50 images on a good ride, stopping only briefly for each shot or series of shots.

All very well and good. But the first thing I became aware of in the three weeks since starting this project, is the illusive nature of the ever changing scenery. Going past the same spots on a daily basis, it is quite apparent that each day any given location is different even from the day before. Spring itself is a rapidly changing event. The brown dead grasses and reeds of the marsh dominate only until the new green shoots appear. The glassy perfection of the small lakes on a windless evening later become dappled with emergent lily pads. The trees rapidly grow delicate light green leaves, which multiply daily and become darker as they grow larger. Time and life itself transforms the landscape sometimes within the span of a few days. On a more mundane scale, you can return to the same spot at the same time a day later and find clouds, or no clouds, etc. The wind might be stronger or weaker, the air itself might be more laden with moisture which gives the late evening sunlight a different quality. On weekends we run earlier in the day, and it’s a completely different landscape in the morning or early afternoon from the one we see in the evening.

One evening I returned with the 4x5 to a particularly nice spot on the lakeshore to photograph the dead reeds and brown timbers strewn along the shoreline in the soft red glow of the setting sun. The shot I had captured a few days before with the small camera was perfect, but I wanted a larger, crisper image to print. When I got to the spot everything was about like it was before. I set up the view camera, did a spot meter reading and got the film holder out. The sun was just above the tops of the trees on the other side of the lake. Everything was perfect. Then, suddenly a small cloud appears. A small column that seems glued right in front of the sun. Clear sky to the left, and clear sky to the right. It was like the cloud, or God was giving me the finger! Gone was that magical red glow that had been softly painting the dry yellow fallen reeds. Since the camera was all set up and focused, I re-metered and took the shot anyway. Just out of stubbornness. The Ektachrome turned out well exposed and it scanned well, and the resulting print will be very nice. Just no soft red glow.

I am finding this is pretty much the case each time I return to re-take a photo at virtually any location, no matter which camera I have with me. Nature, serendipity, probability, and maybe even chaos theory all converge on each moment for each specific place, rendering that place at that specific time entirely unique. This is not a lament. Instead it is a realization that there are virtually infinite opportunities to capture different images in the same park at the same locations for as many times that I go to them. Kind of mind boggling!

[Scott Fleming]

Nicely put.

I've got shots around here I've been trying to get just so for three years. Other times I fall into one I never realized was there and it's 'in the bag' in a few minutes.

Photography is the never ending quest. Ain't it grand?!

[Will Strain]

The lesson here, is that you should put down that silly DSLR and just carry the 4x5 wherever you go. :D

[John Cook]

You very beautifully articulate my firm conviction that travel photography is absolutely impossible.

Every time I have spent a week at the seashore, the tide has been out, the fog has rolled in, the sun has been in the wrong place and the weather has been foul. By the time I got everything sorted out, it was time to return home.

I remember two month-long visits to England during the 1980's. Every decent tourist attraction, including several castles (Warwick, Leeds, Windsor) were encircled in modern scaffolding. I didn’t realize there was that much scaffolding in all of Europe.

These days, especially with the difficulty flying with LF, I concentrate my photography solely on my local surroundings, pathetic as they may appear at times. If great pictures happen only five percent of the time, it must require a minimum of twenty visits to each location. I take a folding chair and a sandwich, just in case.

If only I could crop life as I can the scene I am about to shoot...

[Doug Howk]

I'm reminded of the movie SMOKE when William Hurt tells Augie that the pictures all look the same. Augie tells him to slow down & look closer for each day has a different light, etc.. Also its a matter of knowing your subject which I think is why your best pictures are of your known area whether its Yosemite for Adams or South Florida for Clyde Butcher.

[Eric Z. Beard]

Steve, that was a beautiful little essay. You captured what most of us have experienced in a very soulful, artistic way.

I usually just lurk here, but I had to chime in on that one.

[Bruce Watson]

Yep.

What you have to learn (what I've got to learn, and relearn, and relearn) is to take what nature gives you at the time. That beautiful scene, with the beautiful lighting, and the calm winds, the level of the river, might never recur. Or it might. You just can't know. So... make the best of it while you are there.

Like you, I have places that I return to over and over. I've been trying to make a photograph of a particular tree on a rocky cliff for three years now. The first one I made was pretty good, but I screwed up the processing. I haven't been able to recapture the "mood" in that first try - yet.

I have also visitied places that I know I'm not going to be coming back to anytime soon. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes it's cloudy. Sometimes it's windy. Etc. Sometimes you can make a good photograph. Sometimes you can't. Sometimes the photograph you want isn't available, but other photographs are.

An example. I visited the Adirondaks in NY a few years back. It's a full two days drive for me to get there, so I haven't been back since. We got lots of rain and dark low clouds the week I was there. I visited a waterfall only to find that I couldn't make the photograph I wanted because I just didn't have the light. I looked at the fall for a good long time, enjoyed it for what it was, then started looking around. In the opposite direction, I found this. (http://www.achromaticarts.com/adironacks/03.html) I took the photograph as it began to rain, again.

I guess what I'm saying is that the old saw might be right - when the photographic conditions hand you lemons, make lemonaid.

[Ted Harris]

Coming back again and again and again and then again to the same scene never hurts either. I mean scenes that you see in yoiur mind's eye as being wonderful additions to your owrk and coming back to capture and recapture them in different seasons and different light.

I have a piece of secluded fishing stream very near my home that I have photographed literally hundreds of times over many years during all seasons and in all types of light (some of you readingn this have been there with me). I have captured this scene on 4x5, 5x7, 8x10, 6x12 and 6x17. I have even managed to produce one image that I find satisfactory and another that is almost so.

Patience grasshopper.

[Keith Laban]

Steve, you are absolutely right. The natural world is constantly changing, as is the light. I'll often visit a location time and again in pursuit of that "perfect moment". This shot (http://www.keithlaban.co.uk/116_6.html) was the result of visiting the same location many times over a period of years, waiting for the elusive combination of leaf and sky colour, light and still conditions; it's the best I've managed so far but no doubt I'll be drawn back to the location in the future.

One of my obsessions is to capture the bluebells (http://www.keithlaban.co.uk/bluebells.html) here in the UK. Every year is different, dependent on rainfall and temperature, every year the same scene at the same location is different. Some years the flowers develop too quickly in relation to the tree canopy and in other years the reverse happens causing the flowers to bolt and become straggly. The ideal is when the canopy and flowers are in perfect harmony which is a rarity and you can bet when it happens the weather will be unsuitable for photography.

The reality is that the "perfect moment" doesn't really exist, there's always some element that could be improved; I guess it's what keeps us all honest and drives us all on.

[Bill_1856]

I'll bet that while he lived there for many years St. Ansel made hundreds of pictures of Yosemite Valley from the overlook (and published dozens of them). But there's only one "Clearing Winter Storm."
Incidentally, "The shot I captured a few days before with the small camera was perfect...." Why not print it? Unless you're going beyond 16x20 there's no advantage to having a LF negative over DSLR capture.

[Ralph Barker]

Steve - you expressed this "truth" nicely. Whether shooting at f/8 or f/32, the critical part is being there.

[Jeff Corbett]

I certainly understand the experience you so well describe. Happened to me again yesterday. Which is why I end up carrying a heavier pack than I should most of the time. If I stumble upon a potential image where everything seems to fit the image in my mind's eye, I want to capture it on 8x10 (or a least 4x5). I also recommend frequenting a specific (local?) area at different times of day/year/weather/etc. You never know what you will find "today". Be prepared.
Jeff

[Struan Gray]

I went through a similar experience when daily pushing babies round the outskirts of our town. Another photographer had an exhibition of bark closeups of trees from around the county, and I knew I had to be doing something right when I found I could identify every single tree from Lund.

Like the others my wanderings confirmed the now classic photographic notion that beauty can be found close to home and that even the most mundane view is never exactly the same two days running. For me though, the most important lesson was that I should stop trying to make my world fit nineteenth century ideas of what a landscape should look like and instead enjoy it on its own terms. Portraits don't have to be about beauty, and neither do landscapes or travel shots. Even if they are about beauty, they don't have to be about received, conventional beauty.

John: all old buildings are shored up in one way or another: it's part of their charm. I once took a whole series of photos of the scaffolding surrounding the Capodimonte Palace in Naples: The Italians manage these things better than the Brits, and had arranged for jet black scaffold poles to be held together with brass-coloured clasps. The visual effect was considerably more interesting than the tired procession of gloomy brown saints on the interior walls of the gallery.

[Paul Butzi]

John wrote "Every time I have spent a week at the seashore, the tide has been out, the fog has rolled in, the sun has been in the wrong place and the weather has been foul. By the time I got everything sorted out, it was time to return home. "

I finally learned that 'tide out, fog in, weather foul' can be ideal at the beach.

The photos at www.butzi.net/newgalleries/pacific/fog1.htm (http://www.butzi.net/newgalleries/pacific/fog1.htm) and www.butzi.net/newgalleries/pacific/fog2.htm (http://www.butzi.net/newgalleries/pacific/fog2.htm) all were taken in conditions that, a couple of years previously, I would have not bothered to be out photographing. All of them were taken at deep (e.g. -2 foot) low tides.

The few minutes when the fog first starts to either burn off or blow away are particularly exciting, not only at the beach but in general in all locations.

In case it isn't apparent, I have a love affair with fog.

[Frank Bagbey]

Bill, somehow I feel we digressed from what was a really beautiful thread to another digitial argument. Yes, you are right! That is why we are here! Just shoot it with DSLR, photoshop it to death until you get what you want, and then you will never HAVE to go back to that beautiful place you enjoyed in the beginning. In fact, buy a postcard off Ebay and you will not even have to go to most beautiful spots.

[Steve J Murray]

Just a follow-up. I used to just go out and shoot whatever was there. I've also been riding my bike through this park for years. Its when I put the two together and started "seeing" like a photographer while I was riding every day that I really started to appreciate the changes each day.

Keith, thanks for sharing those amazing bluebell photos.

Paul, nice fog shots. That coastline is a natural for black and white large format.

Bill, I have made quite a few prints in the 8x12 and 9x13 size and they are very nice. Sometimes I want to make a 16x20 and for that I need a large neg. You just can't stretch 6mp that far without losing the fine detail.

Struan, I wholeheartedly agree that landscape and portrait photography not stick to conventional forms all the time. Some scenes are just naturally postcard material and you can't help it. Other times the beauty is more textural or abstract.

I know there are some real "heavy hitters" on this forum, so I very humbly submit this folder of some of those shots I've been doing the last few weeks for those who might be curious: http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=488037

I plan on shooting through the Fall until its too cold to ride. Its a mixture of landscapes, nature abstracts (my favorite theme) and documentary shots of people in the park, which there will be more of when more people start coming out. The dog lovers amongst you will understand why I would use my dog as a pictorial element in a landscape!

Tonight we did 9.8 miles in the rain, so no camera today.

[Scott Fleming]

Uh, Steve ... don't take this the wrong way but ... please don't kill your dog.

A man on a bycycle is said to be one of the most effecient machines ever to have been invented by man. Your dog is expending much more energy than you to cover those miles. I'm sure your are going slow and there's no problem and maybe I'm writing this for someone else who knows far less about dogs than you do ... like they cannot cool themselves nearly as effeciently as we do and have a really tough time in the heat which is why canines and most predators hunt in the early morning and at night or that many breeds are kept by people who have little appreciation of how their pet's haircoat suits or does not suit the particular climate they are kept in or that most Americans overfeed their dogs and they are fat ( if we cannot count all our dog's ribs they are overweight ... either by sight on a short haired dog or by palpation on a longer haired dog ) or that a young dog (under one year or even 18 months for large breeds) cannot take near the physical stress that an adult dog can ... or that a dog over six years old has passed his prime and drops off in physical prowess very quickly. ( In Iceland where sled dogs are more common than bicycles in China, every living sled dog must be put to death on it's sixth birthday.) Go figure.

I've lost count but I've had at least twenty dogs so far in my life and I presently raise pedigree Golden Retrievers and Rhodesian ridgebacks.

[ronald lamarsh]

I think we can all relate to the "missed opportunity" syndrome, which is why I always have some sort of camera with me now. Most often it is my 6x9 folder, which is perfect for those quick shots, or my Linhof Tech III w/sports finder and 180mm lens.

[Steve J Murray]

Scott, I appreciate your concern. We ran 9.8 miles yesterday because it was 68 degrees and raining, which kept Lily cool. When the temps are in the 40's and 50's she runs very fast and will sprint up to 25 mph, which is her choice and she leaves me in the proverbial dust. The rest of the time she lopes along at 8-10 mph and stops frequently to sniff around the woods. Of course, I am stopping us to take photos too. I always go strictly at her pace and I never pressure her to keep up with me. In warmer weather her pace is much slower and she is in the river many times to cool off during our run. There are several spots where she automatically runs into the water. On hot summer days we actually drive to and from the park in the air conditioned van. Lily is a 4 year old Border Collie mix, and she is slimmer than a typical Collie. You can see her in some of the photos I posted on pnet. She seems to need a certain amout of running per day. Even after a long run she can get home and then grab a ball and want to play more. As she gets older I will be very careful and watch her for signs of fatigue. She's so smart that during the winter months when I throw the frisbee for her exercise I simply ask her if she's tired and If so, she starts walking towards home. Its usually a good 40 minutes of frisbee catching before that happens.

[Calamity Jane]

Beautifully written Steve!

I live in a rural area on the edge of the Great Plains and I see scenes almost every day that are changing by the minute Sometimes it's the rising sun on the whorefrost, sometimes the setting sun on the clouds of a dying rain storm. Sometimes the most striking beauty lasts for only a dozen seconds, sometimes for a few minutes, seldom for an hour. When I find myself in one of those fleeting moments, I have learned to just be still and quiet and enjoy the blessing instead of letting it slip away while I dash around setting up a shot. With many years living in the same setting, I can sometimes anticipate some of these moments, but usually not.

In this part of the country, nature is so hungry for life that the trees can go from bare to leafy in 48 hours!