Daniel Ruf

Hitting The Gravel Road

 

It would seem that this past month, since my trip to Wisconsin, has been spent mostly in a cushioned chair in front of the computer editing work or downstairs printing prints and greeting cards for gallery display.  My skin is bleaching out to white for lack of sunlight and my "mouse" arm is cranky and tired.  Of course in the film days, you know...back when there were no cell phones and memory cards, I would be complaining about tired legs and wrinkled fingers from processing film and prints in the darkroom.  So, with this technological advancement in photography we've just traded one set of aches and pains for another.  With all of that I freely admit that the digital age has been both rewarding, fun and mind expanding.

That being said, it's time to get the truck out for some running around on some back country gravel roads.  There are prairies to be scouted and flowers to gaze upon with a little day dreaming to be done between shutter clicks.  I feel like I have been sequestered in some tomb and my spirit is in need of some roaming and taking "the road less traveled" and also making a few wrong turns.  In my years in photography and rambling the  back-roads of the U.S. I  have found wrong turns to be quite successful in their photographic results.  Although my wife rarely goes with me on my cross country journeys, when I do manage to find that less traveled bi-way I still can faintly, ever so faintly, hear her question me about consulting a road map.  The nice thing about traveling by ones lonesome is that during the occasional misguided turn, no one knows it has occurred and I'm free to take the journey that my friend Mike so often reminds me to do.

It has also become abundantly clear, as occurred last evening, that trying to plot or plan the next days journey is a complete waste of time.  Such an organized activity rarely results in anything more than a headache and confusion with no results for the effort.  Lately, wanting relief of brain trauma, I pretty much let the truck point its own direction and assume that something, anything, needing photographic testimony will show up.  In all the times that I've chased hither and yon to find fog banks over languid lakes or massive cumulus clouds hanging over some flower laden prairie, all I've really accomplished was fewer gallons in the gas tank and the disappointed feeling that I should have went the other way.  In my retired state of mind I have tried to give up second guessing, and to be more trusting of the hand of the Great Spirit.  Let's face it, It knows and I don't.

  

The job of carrying bags of photo gear, mosquito repellent, tent equipment, etc. is made all the more pleasurable for the opportunity to look down all those gravel roads and around a goodly assortment of bends in the road.  Add to that the blooming road ditches and bright splashes of birches against a backdrop of pines and spruce and it really becomes difficult to make the 180 degree turn to come back home.  This is a quandary whether I'm 10 miles from home or 1,000, because there is always one more corner to peak around or one more hill in the forest trail that needs to be scoped out.

As always, grab the family, the tent and a can of beans and go find a gravel road of memories!

For more views of my work visit:

 

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com

"Art On 16th, Spirit Lake, Iowa

Artisans Road Trip www.artisansroadtrip.com

"CR Gallery", Milford, Iowa

http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

The Words We Use

As with any tragedy now days, the recent passing of Michael Jackson has gotten full, daily coverage for over a week now and at this point I'm tired of hearing about it.  There has been some real casual verbiage that has been bantered about and one of them that has me reeling is the "hero" tag that has been set placed along side his name.  To quote Bob Schiefer, a news commentator for CBS, after making a short. and probably one of the most balanced reports of this "untimely" death, is that being a rock icon does  not make one a hero.  Amen to that!

We've all had hero's in our lives and in many cases we just haven't realized it because they don't make a public spectacle of themselves.  I would have to say that there are millions of parents out there that would easily qualify as hero's because they played important roles in all of our lives with our rearing and education.  They quietly went off to jobs, made a place for their families in a communities and didn't walk away when times were tough.  They nurtured us, put on the band aids and sat with us when the thunderstorms of life rolled by.  I feel pretty sure, as it is with this parent now, that their sole joy, other than seeing grandchildren, was watching each one of us grow up, become productive, choose a mate, and succeed.  They did this all without asking for anything in return except for the memories.

Then there are those among us that grew up without a set of parents or in situation where parenting was pretty dismal and, yet, they managed to put there life together, rise to the top and prevail.  Most of these would probably relate a story of two of hero's in there life that helped them make it beyond the odds that they were dealt.  In some way there was probably a teacher, coach, neighbor or aunt that played some role in their lives that helped keep them buoyant.  I'm sure that each person in this world has such a guardian angel in their lives that served in some capacity when a voice called on them.

And then there would be those that served the causes of freedom for our country and the world.  All those brave men and women that walked away from family and home when duty called to protect their homeland.  In this case the word "hero" hardly seems like enough.  To me such people have the word valor for their actions because these individuals took a road in life that they knew might not have a return route.  They took this up this challenge for themselves, for their family and for us with no regard of rewards, parades or standing.

Like many words in our vocabulary today "hero" has been tarnished through casual references about people that wouldn't recognize its action.  It's been used as a cheap advertising trick to raise someone to a plateau that they would never see just to make some of us feel important that we were in the same time zone as they happen to be.

Micheal Jackson was a person of incredible talent and brilliant imagination, and that's about it.  It's a shame that the media has seen to shadow his brilliant career in the arts with the tragic footnotes of his life, but there aren't many hero's in the media either!

Happy 4th...and God bless America.

For more views of my work visit:

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com

"Art On 16th, Spirit Lake, Iowa

Artisans Road Trip www.artisansroadtrip.com

"CR Gallery", Milford, Iowa

http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

Wake Up Call

It's time to pay attention!  Yesterday afternoon "our" House Of Representatives slipped through an environmental bill that is going to cost us a bunch of money and not only will we be taxed for this, we'll see higher prices on goods and services that we purchase.  Add to this the fact that the bill was somewhere close to 1500 pages (does this sound familiar?) and was introduced hours before the vote, do you really think our representatives had a chance to read the bill in its entirety?

As many of you that have visited this blog site before have probably guessed I'm a bit of a tree hugger...but a well balanced one.  I have come from a city upbringing, worked for the forest service during my college summer vacations and am a retired farmer.  I've either had my hands in the dirt, cleaned it up or studied it.  But when the activist organization Green Peace and others hold up a red flag about environmental bills I tend to take notice.  When other countries around the world try such changes as are inflicted upon us in this new bill and then change directions, my eyes get wide open.  But, like many of you, I'm a bit of a neophyte when it comes to politics, especially since I have a little contempt for politicians as a whole.

Since the last election I've had my face a little closer to the nightly news programs and during the past 5 months the sweat of fear is glistening across my brow.  I have become firmly convinced that we, the people, have got to be better informed about the "smoke and mirrors" in Washington, and our own local and state governments, to have a heads up on where this country is headed and the personal agendas of not only our representatives, but our President.  It has become increasingly clear that what is said on the campaign trail stays on the campaign trail and what is done in Washington is totally different.  

The morality in Washington is not the morality out here in the farm states or homes in suburbia.  The hundreds of thousands of dollars that our representatives receive to run their campaigns all have a significant price tag attached.  If you think lobbyist walk the halls of our capitol just to make nice or drink tea with our reps, you need to spend a little more time becoming acquainted with the slanted news media!  Every single donation has a reason and every single large donation from private or corporate sources has a hidden tag.  After the elections it's payback time. Of course you also have to spend the time in figuring out which way the media slant is in order to make informed decisions.

Just like many of you I have usually felt that I don't have the time to listen to the drivel of the news media and also figured these elected officials have our best interest at heart.  Guess what?  They all don't.  All you have to do is hear a few bars of "someone is sleeping in my bed" or "have I got a deal for you" and we all get a little wiser about what the true meaning of agenda is and trust me it doesn't mean "order of business" at the next church social meeting.

Start reading, listening and writing.  Yep, it all takes time, but in 5 months this government has been bent on putting our financial lives at risk and crippling America.  And just so you don't think I'm a right wing nut...Both parties of this country have had an arm, leg and a finger involved in wrecking the future of this country.

Do you know who your congressmen and senators are?  Get the facts and then write them.  A tall trees health is dependent on its roots.  Good government is dependent on its roots, too.  Guess who we are?

By the way, ask them to support the arts, too.  Like I said, everyone has an agenda! Oh, and take in a local "Tea Party".  Contrary to left wing assertions, it is grass roots.

For more views of my work visit:

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com

"Art On 16th, Spirit Lake, Iowa

Artisans Road Trip www.artisansroadtrip.com

"CR Gallery", Milford, Iowa

http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

Toning Ones Vision

I spent most of the past week up in the northwestern part of Wisconsin near Lake Superior on a photo excursion and am just now going through the digital darkroom processes of editing and finalizing the photographic results.  While digital images are the obvious results of such a trip, educational and emotional stimulation are probably the bigger consequences of such an excursion.  So, what have I learned from the trip???

1) Amnicon State Park is a real find (which is the location of the above image).
2) It takes me at least a day to settle in to a rhythm and become comfortable with the surroundings, which also includes scouting areas that are unfamiliar.
3) There seem to be certain subjects that I am much more comfortable with.  There's a big DUH!
4) Clarity of vision is still a big hurdle and is an ongoing educational process for me.
5) Being away from the comfortable surroundings of my home base is a great task master and mind expander.
6) Pre-trip planning is a real time saver.  Another big DUH!
7) I wouldn't want to work for me!

While the editing process is so important and one of the hardest concepts for many young photographers to deal with, even at my age and experience I still find myself looking at a digital capture and wondering "what the heck was I thinking when I took this shot?".  From my experience in talking with prominent instructors at workshops, I get the impression that this is a life long dragon that shows it's ugly head on many occasions, but as long as one realizes that it's part of the process of improving ones craft it need not keep a person awake at night...although "the ones that got away" usually will.

One of the most important things that I deal with is clarity of vision, or trying to convey a beautiful scene that is in front of me.  Some of this relates to the fact that the camera lens is a two dimensional "eye" while our eye sees in three dimensions, or at least that's what our brains tells us.  But it's more than just a physical, or ocular vision.  To me what makes a nature image really successful is the emotion of place that it conveys.  This is when school is really in session and those that learn to impart the "sense of place" in a photographic image begin to move from the ranks of amateurs with visual statements that we never tire of viewing.

As stated above, the first day, at least, was an exercise in getting my creative processes going, but what really seemed remarkable to me is that once I stepped on the forest floor at Amnicon State Park things began to fall into place.  The smells, sounds and geography combined to make it a place of real  peace and inspiration.  As it turned out I spent 2 mornings and 2 evenings shooting in this area and during each of these periods there was always something new to discover, largely because of changing light and better tuned vision.

Finally, after spending 5 days getting up and on the road by 4am and not getting back to my sleeping bag until 11pm, I found myself thinking "Good Lord, I wouldn't want to work for me!"  It's not that the points of interest  were so far away, but I wanted to be at these places at pre-dawn and also way past sunset so I could  enjoy the absolute prime light.  During two morning sessions I was gifted with some fog to really make life interesting.  During the harsh light of the afternoon I put miles on the pickup scoping out other locations and wildflower areas that I could add to the shooting schedule.

Through all of this wonderful photographic wandering I was blessed with several bear sightings, all of them lumbering across the hi-way, skittering foxes, a coyote, some Piliated Woodpeckers, and the best of best, the howling of a couple of wolves at wake-up early one morning.  While paper plates and canned beans were the cuisine of the day, the ambiance was exquisite.

Here's to the "School Of Hard Knocks"!

Other sites of my work:

A Piece Of Work Gallery, Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com/alcove_3.php

Art On 16th, Spirit Lake, Iowa  712.330.6007

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com/

Artisans Road Trip http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/index.htm

BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

CR Gallery, Milford, Iowa  712.338.4155

Support The Locals

 

Last night was First Friday here in Spirit Lake and a chance for the local community to spend some quality time in the Hill Street stores, listen to "street music", visit with friends and frequent the local galleries.  Hill Street and the shops were full with people celebrating the return of summer which many have felt was long overdue.  First Friday is a time when local business have the opportunity to encourage the public to support their establishments, which also supports the entire local community.

During the past several months my wife and myself have made a bigger effort to shop at our local business establishments rather than at the large chain stores in the community.  I've become a firm believer that the dollar spent with a local merchant touches more local lives than the same dollar that is spent with a chain operation.  I've  been made more aware of this since being involved with a couple of local galleries and becoming personally involved with the owners of each.  The life of each of these galleries, like those through out our country, is dependent on the dollars that are left there with the purchase of fine art by customers.  The owners, in most cases, have put in large amounts of time and personal cash to support an idea that fine art is important to all communities, large or small.  I have made an effort to purchase gifts at these galleries for friends, weddings, birthdays, etc. rather than buying something typical from a larger chain store, because I believe that a gift of fine art will have more meaning and become a part of the recipients life surroundings for years to come and I want to support our local artists.

Local art galleries have changed over the years in response to the public buying styles and offer a wide range of pricing onart items.  In our local galleries you can purchase greeting cards to large art pieces from $3.50 on up and the purchase of such items not only support the local gallery owners, but also the local artists.  The greeting cards rival those by the big production operations and usually have a more local appeal than generic cards.  At the local potter around the corner we have found some fantastic bowls that we use everyday for meals and decor.  And again, the dollars for all these purchases go back into the community through the local gallery owner and artist.   What a better more thoughtful way to say you care for someone than a piece of fine art?  The added feature to all of this is that these gallery owners have given local artists a place to display their work and enrich the community environs.

The simple message here is to get out to enjoy your town and support the local community businesses and artists.  If you like to read there's the local bookstore, if you need groceries there are several choices including the newest...locally grown produce markets.  Our small and large towns offer a wide variety of places for entertainment and shopping and they are probably all owned by someone that lives near you, pays local taxes and serves on a local community board.  Chances are most likely that the money you give them through shopping their store trickles back into your life through another door.

Towns across the country have begun to realize the importance of their roots and have beensprucing up their main streets and town squares.  Through our travels of surrounding states the face lift of downtown areas has been very evident and is refreshing.  Visitingold town squares and main streets is much more enjoyable than shopping in the "shiny steel and plastic" chain stores that seem to be popping up all over our cityscape's.  While these chain operations may have their place in our society, the town stores and galleries are the hearts of our neighborhoods and need of our support.

As with many states, Iowa is punctuated by "dead" zones...those areas where small towns haven't survived and while there's no guarantee that a town business will make it in any town, it'smore devastating when an entire town dies from lack of support from it's local citizens.

Enjoy your main street, and even the local repair shop for that matter.  Your neighbor may be depending on you!

Other sites of my work:

A Piece Of Work Gallery, Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com/alcove_3.php

Art On 16th, Spirit Lake, Iowa  712.330.6007

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com/

Artisans Road Trip http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/index.htm

BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

CR Gallery, Milford, Iowa  712.338.4155

Office Work

  

Ahhh, the tedium of office work.  A couple of years ago, when I was a livestock producer it usually meant catching up with accounting items like paying bills and updating the register or the statistical work of filling out necessary protocol forms for the daily routine of livestock care and maintenance.  Today it involves a little more creativity and occupies the filler time around shooting or inclement weather issues.  While there is a small amount of book work in comparison to operating a large farming business, the bulk of office work now consists of submitting work to galleries, call to entries or publications, post processing images on the computer, or doing the final fitting work of matting and framing of work going to galleries or customers.  No matter the job we do on a daily basis I'm sure that everyone has that "office work" that seems to take us away from the work that we really enjoy doing.  Major league pitchers have to do the conditioning work before they can stand on the mound to perform their athletic ballet and photographers have to do the practice, set ups and scouting before the shutter finally clicks for the final result.

The above image is one of three shots taken, this being the mid range exposure, and was from an excursion at Ft. Defiance State Park.  I had deleted it from my primary work flow area thinking that it hadn't come up to what I was hoping for, but last week, the weather being rainy, windy and cold, I was putzing about on the computer working with Nik Silver Efex Pro software, which converts color images to black and white, when I came upon this Spring Creek capture that I had done a couple of weeks earlier.  It certainly could use some punch and the Nik software permits the operator to render images with a more film like result and with the ability to use some processing methods with results similar to the wet darkroom techniques that I used several years ago.

  

I was happy with what I saw after the process and decided that I should revisit the three captures of this image and run them through the HDR (High Dynamic Range) process which expands the range of recorded detail in the light and dark areas.  Again, this is not much different than the techniques I used with black and white film photography when I would under expose the film and then push process the film when it was in the developer.  Clear as mud, right???

I pulled up the three images and put them through the Photomatix software and then did some final alterations in Elements and got....

 

this!  As you can see it's quite a change from the original, to the black and white, to the final, which is just about ready to go into a frame.  This image more closely represents the quality of light that was going on when I was standing in the swirling water watching the sun sprinkle through the background trees.  Through the HDR process I was able to hold the texture of the boulder, the white rapids and the darker shadow areas and still have the warm, morning sunlight in the background.

Even though it's exciting to see a capture come full circle to what I saw, the office work...standing in this setting with background sounds of flowing water and bird songs...beats sitting in an office with a pile of papers sitting in front of you.

Remember those vacation days you've been thinking about taking?  Well, there's plenty of places like this to roam.  Whether strolling down leaf covered paths by yourself or with family, it's a fine respit from piles of work, cups of coffee and dull lunch hours.  It beats evening television and is one heck of a morning wake up call.  Get your boots, grab your keys and have some fun.

Other sites of my work:

A Piece Of Work Gallery, Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com/alcove_3.php

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com/

Artisans Road Trip http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/index.htm

BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

CR Gallery, Milford, Iowa

Defining Words

 

While listening to a couple of news broadcasts this past week I heard two statements which, for me, seemed to define the path that has led our country to the very precarious economic and philosophical positions that it sees itself in today.  Both of these statements have become "national creeds" that could be said to be one of the markers of change from the societies of our parents to the societies of our children and, quite frankly, are the mirrors to our personalities.

One news show was mounting a fiery discussion concerning the newest "fix" by the new government which concerned the newly proposed fuel efficiency standards that had been released.  Ben Stein, a lawyer/actor with tainted views of the economy, was being interviewed on his opinions of the new proposal, and while he whimpered and whined about having to give up his large Cadillac, he left one telling phrase about his real self..."I don't wanna' ".  The common phrase of most spoiled children that are consumed by their vision of self with little room for the bigger picture of their world.

It's easy to get caught up in this sort of statement considering that many have become accustomed to having what we want when we want it, but such fixed positions narrow the incredible possibilities of our society.  While the first consideration of such a change in standards for new cars may seem limited to only the our overindulgent need for foreign oil, it may also provide the impetus to a new way of life for us and our planet and, oddly enough, may serve the needs of both those that prefer large vehicles and those that have smaller needs.  Our history is lined with innovation that has occurred from an answer to an immediate need and this could very well be the newest case study.  Just as that spoiled child, with proper tutelage by the convening parent, will most likely become a good and caring member of society, we too might see a result that would not be realized with an outlook of selfish, shortsighted opinion.

The second comment, from a commentary on National Public Radio, was simple and yet profound..."just because you can, doesn't make it right".  The first part "just because you can" could be the motto of all the greed that has nearly brought this country to its economical knees, and was a banner used by many of our troubled corporations, banks, car companies, etc.  The second part "...doesn't make it right" is the part that can define who we are, whether a CEO or a parent.  The use of the entire phrase as a life guide can mark the change in our personal growth from selfish to selfless and thereby change our national and global legacy to one of caring.

Our parents taught us lessons from a society that had been raised from the depression, reared in small, close knit neighborhoods or rural communities and survived a frightening world war.  Our children are being raised in a world that has been defined by greed and corrupt values with little respect for the human heart.  The phrases of "I don't wanna" and "just because I can" have become mantras for getting and having everything a person could want, with little thought of the long range price tag.

Guess what?  The drawer of the cash register just popped open and the owner doesn't take credit cards!

Thank you for viewing my site and remember to support your local arts and artists.

Other sites of my work:

A Piece Of Work Gallery, Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com/alcove_3.php

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com/

Artisans Road Trip http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/index.htm

BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

CR Gallery, Milford, Iowa

On The Road

A road trip with my wife to Decorah, Iowa filled this past weekend and  gave us a chance to get away for a visit with my son and also gave us an opportunity to see the cooperative local farm effort that he's been involved with.  He and a group  of friends have taken it upon themselves to start a produce operation to provide locally grown produce to the markets in the area, with the hope that the idea will expand and also provide fresh vegetables to local eateries as well.

A new friend, Maggie, allows this group to use some of her farmland to establish growing plots and we spent some short time (rain issues) to develop and plant one of these plots.  In the background another friend was setting a trellis for growing hops, also for sale to local "home brew" establishments.  The weather was unusually cool, but provided comfort for us more aged members while we raked and hoedthe bedding plot.  The background sounds of the wind flowing through the forest and bird calls added to the "back to the land" experience and was punctuated by many moments of laughter and teasing.

The chance to meet this wonderful woman, Maggie, added to the down home feeling of the weekend.  She opened up her house and her heart to both my wife and myself, and through many hours of talking and tale telling we became good friends.  An extraordinary woman with a background that didn't even elude to her becoming entangled in the "education of dirt", Maggie has a zest for living and discovering the puzzles of life.  Her marketing and development skills from the "big" world of business, which has taken her hither and yon, provides the direction, but "hands off" approach, so that the youthful members of the co-op can develop the skills needed to plan and market their vision.

While the weather was typical of Iowa's unsettled spring seasons, including an un-welcomed hard frost (it is May, right?), we three old duffers piled into the car on Saturday and toured the towns of Lanesboro and Spring Grove, passing wonderful Northeast Iowa scenery and Amish farmsteads on the way.  We browsed outstanding galleries, including the Cornucopia Art Center ( www.lanesboroarts.org ) that was filled with all the styles, concepts and medias of art one could imagine.  The gallery director was both enlightening and humorous and we all enjoyed spending time in such an exquisite venue.

Unfortunately Sunday came to soon, but I was afforded one opportunity to get out into some of the natural areas that surround Decorah for a short photo shoot early in the morning.  The air was crisp and still and while driving the winding bends and twists of the forest roads I couldn't help feeling a real sense of completeness, not only about the weekend, but with myself.  With the soothing strains of Enya playing in the background of the car the myriad of colors and darting sunlight was almost intoxicating until I slammed on the breaks to find myself facing the above scene of a calm rolling trout stream flowing on anendless journey to a sea.  The timelessness of the scene, of seasons turning off and on in front of a liquid Earth Spirit that seems to be never ending was reason enough to gather my equipment and my artistic spirit for a "one and only" image from the trip, and sometimes that's just enough.

Later in the afternoon, as we bid my son and his lovely Amanda farewell and bid adiau to Maggie, my wife was whispering in my ear "you have to get back here to work" and I nodded in complete agreement and felt fortunate to leave with the image that was stored deep in my cameras memory and the fresh memories of new friends and family tucked away deep in my soul.  I have been made more acutely aware that a place is made so much more meaningful by the people that you find in it, and I have been made all the better for the discovery.

Other sites of my work:

A Piece Of Work Gallery, Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com/alcove_3.php

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com/

Artisans Road Trip http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/index.htm

BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

CR Gallery, Milford, Iowa

Anatomy Class

One of the dictionary definitions of the word "anatomy" is analysis and that is precisely what this edition of my blog is going to do.  I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to find animage in a natural scene on Spring Creek in Ft. Defiance State Park near my home.  I had passed these types of setups on several occasions and felt that there was some real interesting play on the horizontal lines of tree roots that clutch the banks along the creek and the horizontal lines created by the rapids that flow by such root masses.  The question was, will I ever find just the right positioning or, if I did, would it really result in a fine art image. 

After many days of tromping down and back up from the valley floor, which, by the way, probably did me more physical good than I imagined, I finally found the right combination of location, elements and possibilities.  In this first result, a four exposure hdr, I was disappointed that the white of the rapids wereblocked out (which I never thought would have happened with hdr) and gave a rather gaudy appearance.  This is a rather long exposure and all the elements seemed to be in the proper place, but there wasn't much of an visual impact, at least to me.  So, I scrapped the shot and decided I had to make another trip down into the abyss.

On my next trip I decided to return before sun rise and take advantage of the really low light of dawn, which would mean I could increase the exposure time (make it longer) and thereby achieve a little more definition in the blocked out areas of the "white water".  The result was an exposure lasting 30 seconds which lessened the blockage of whites, but, in areas of the foreground submerged rocks, came up short and the color was a bit flat.  I still felt that the artistic statement of the roots in relationship with the rapids was pretty limp and decided to give it one more try.

When in doubt...worry the subject until you can figure out an answer.  The night before I made my next decent, I thought about angles, changes and what I could do to make the image pop.  First I decided I was going to get into the valley very, very early...before any light was really available.  I love to shoot water at this time because the times are extremely long giving way to some interesting qualities in the water.  Yes, there is plenty of light at night!

When I got there I decided to put the camera close to the water to compress the distance ever so slightly (without sacrificing my camera to the "aqua gods" which made viewing through the viewfinder rather strained and awkward, while at the same time trying not to slip on the rocks or fall face first into the water.  To the casual observer the scene may seem the same, but it's changed ever so slightly.

After working on the computer I finally realized that this would make a much better black and white image so I use the Silver Efex Pro software, which gives a reasonable appearance of black and white film, and behold...I think I achieved the image that I had in the dark recesses of my mind all the time.

While this all may seem way too analytical to the readers let me point out a couple of things as resulting  highlights of these trips.  1) I got to spend a lot of really great personal time standing in the water, listening to the liquid symphony and watching some really incredible sunrises.  Not only that, but the forest floor seemed to change it's "plumage" for each of my returns with wildflowers changing at a rapid pace.  I spied deer, they spied me, they ran, they came back and they ran again.  I listened to the greatest "cat fight" of all as two, or maybe more, raccoon's decided to settle some territorial dispute and then, in an instant, listened to the morning calls of birds begin to elevate in volume.

Second, the analysis really isn't that important since it's more about the results.  If you like a piece of art, how it got to be a beautiful piece of art is of no real importance.  It's no different than if you sat down to an absolutely sumptuous Italian dinner.  With every single bite, how it got to be so delicious becomes irrelevant and I doubt that anyone would track down the chef to bribe him/her for the recipe.

The real purpose of this discussion concerns the ideas of seeing, visualizing and realizing.  Sometimes it all happens the first time a photographer steps into a scene and sometimes the steps have to be repeated and a sort of "reinventing of the wheel" must take place.  Sometimes a change of many seasons may have to take place before the image is realized.  In this particular case I have to  admit that I had walked by the scene many times with barely a notice on my part.  It took quite some time before I saw the artistic quality of the situation, with the root lines and rapids almost "joining hands".

Enough...let your head relax, grab your camera and go out to have some fun...bring the kids!

Other sites of my work:

A Piece Of Work Gallery, Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com/alcove_3.php

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com/

Artisans Road Trip http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/index.htm

BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

CR Gallery, Milford, Iowa

Camera...Or Paintbrush?

  

Last evening was another "spring kickoff" with the monthly First Friday of 2009 in downtown Spirit Lake, an event when galleries and other business' remain open until 7pm and the public stops in for some art, food, entertainment and conversation.  It's always an enjoyable experience and the galleries, Art On 16th and A Piece Of Work, get to show their colors by unveiling the work of several local artists.  To me it's an experience that is reminiscent of days gone by and has become a regular event when my wife and me look forward to strolling along Hill Avenue and meeting friends.

During one of my discussions a friend was talking about when he takes pictures the outcome is not usually the same as the work that he finds hanging on the gallery walls.  I was reminded of a comment by Ansel Adams that I've seen in print several time and goes "you take a picture, but you make a photograph" and once again, his meaning, from years ago, becomes clearer to me during the past year.  While the purchase of a light catching device is easy, and the instruction is generally simple, the results of that device can be different depending upon who is holding the device.  All camera's have a lens, shutter release, and a method of capturing the scene, but the capture and production of a fine art image is more of a story than a mirror image.

The story may first begin with a concept or even with just a lucky right or left turn in a forest while looking for a subject, but from here forward the tale becomes a detailed accounting of not only concepts, intuition and learning, but the heart.  The photograph becomes, or should become, less about the person behind the camera and more about the vision in front of the lens, including all the mistakes, "almosts", and "never will be" shots of the past that come together to form a piece of artistic interpretation of an idea.  From published memoirs or lectures in workshops by noted photographers it becomes clear that their really great work developed from an "oh, my...." moment, into a resulting piece of inspiration with the step by step process of learned technical skills being put to use without over kill.  The resulting work becomes an orchestrated score of not only the original concept, but of time of day, use of color, shutter speeds, depth of field and so on with each adding to the evolution of the final image.  Despite the popular belief, the process is not much different, whether it was conceptualized in a "wet" darkroom or through the use of a computer...the tools are there for the process of "making a photograph" and their use is the craft of the art of photography.

Since I've been retired my time behind the camera has taught me several things with one of the most important being to release myself from conefines of the camera and just let the story or subject unfold, be it a wildflower on a forest floor caught by beautiful evening light or landscape saturated with dawns light, the end product should be less about my skills ( which seem minimal to me) and more about the marvelous beauty that surrounds all of us.  With this comes the epilogue of peace and love that illuminates the process into fine art.

The second important lesson has been that the image that I capture today is a preparation for the  next one that I take tomorrow which makes this whole photographic process a continuing, self fulfilling process which I only control by the frequency that I entertain myself.  The walks in the prairie, watching the waves crashing the beach at sunset or looking for wildflowers become the research for some future idea that may or may not come to fruition, but I know more about where to look and my skills become more refined.  And the pile of photographic magazines that sits beside my bed also is part of the endeavor of learning and of being prepared.  The images and concepts of other photographers, and writers, inspires me to get out to do the work...which really isn't work at all...just think about the views that I see!

While my explanation may seem cumbersome, the process is as simple as understanding that 2 + 2 = 4.  While in our youth the concept was abstract, but with everyday usage it is a simple fact, and such is the art of photography.  Ones command of it is equal to the usage. The more time spent in the field the closer one gets to the camera becoming and extension of the imagination or a window to the soul.  At this point the camera becomes the paintbrush.            

It's all about the journey, but ohhhhh, my....what a destination!

  

Fine art is a revelation of the heart....It's as simple as that!

Thanks for stopping by.  GOOOOOOOOOO BAYLOR.  Hi to my kids.

Other sites of my work:

A Piece Of Work Gallery, Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com/alcove_3.php

Art Of The Vine Gallery http://www.artofthevinegallery.com/

Artisans Road Trip http://www.artisansroadtrip.com/index.htm

BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V1

CR Gallery, Milford, Iowa