If I were told that I could only concentrate on one genre of photography for the rest of my life, it would probably be landscape photography, as much for the process as the subject. Making landscape photographs transports me to a place of intense focus that usually lead me down one of two paths.
Often, its like composing a complex classical symphony for a full orchestra. One of the ways to strengthen a design is to limit the elements you include and in photography I can do that through the use of light and shadow as well as changing my point of view. Still, there can be dozens of elements that have to be arranged into a harmonious composition, and not all of them seem to fit at first.
On the other hand, after 4o years of making photographs, there is often a kind of grand calculus going on in my head that I’m not always aware of on a conscious level, a kind of instinctual process where I compose and select camera settings in order to achieve my vision of the photograph I wish to make that is much more like playing smooth jazz than composing that symphony.
Both processes can lead to compelling photographs, and in the end, isn’t that all that matters?
Pacific Dogwood Blossoms, Merced River Reflections
When I learned of the historic snowpack and related historic water flows in Yosemite in the spring of 2023 I made the journey to California for a couple of weeks to photograph waterfalls and landscapes impacted by the floods. The Pacific Dogwoods were in bloom and I really wanted to make a photograph inspired by one of my favorite Ansel Adams pictures. The stars aligned on my next to last day when I found this scene as a rain shower was passing out of the valley and the air was clean and still. You can see the remnants of the rain clouds reflected on the left side of the frame, seemingly held in place by the dogwood tree. The warm orange-red color reflected on the river in the right of the frame is the sun reflecting from the valley wall on the other side of the river.