Daniel Ruf

Never Too Late

"Know where to find the sunrise and sunset times and note how the sky looks at those times, at least once."

Marilyn vos Savant

"On a recent trip to the north shore of Lake Superior with my friend Mike Houge we were on our way back from a daylong shoot of fall color when we both took notice of the changing sky color as the sun dipped below the horizon.  We were close to the Split Rock Light House and knew a bay that just might be the place to be at the particular time and rushed to find a spot.  Being good friends we generally stay out of each others hair by heading in our own directions...I happened to plop down in some shallow surf with the water trickling in and out between the rocks beneath my bottom side. 

The required exposure with a Singh-Ray Vari-Neutral density filter was 8 seconds as I wanted to minimize water detail so I could maximize the reflection of sky and scenery on the surface.  In such situations a large number of exposures are necessary since one never knows when the peak of color is reached until the color begins to fade.  The good thing about sitting in such a beautiful setting is that a good deal of thinking and rejoicing takes place...as well as a slight bit of praying, crossing of fingers, throwing salt over the shoulder (if some is available) or rubbing the well used rabbits foot.  Even when one has a good sense of the numbers...shutter speed, aperture, etc...it is possible to get to the computer only to find something less than what was expected.  The one positive thing about such situations of light, color and magic is making a point of being there, front row center with a finger on the cable release.

It really doesn't get better than this and I believe this will be a night that I'll carry with me for years to come.

My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" can be purchased online at-

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

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

Opposites

"A work of art that did not begin in emotion is not art."

Paul Cezanne

Wisking down a road in northern Minnesota brought me to this tempting little eye catcher as I topped a small hill which immediatly caused me to swerve to the shoulder for a better look.  It was horribly windy, which at first seemed to be a real downer, but having a better look and being intriqued by the combination of a rigid steel dump truck that was sporting an antique set of bed frames was a little too much to dismiss.  The solution for the wind situation was to just let the wind do it's thing so as to become a backdrop for the solid subject.  I used a Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter which alowed me to slow the shutter speed to about 6 seconds giving the wind a chance to do a creative blur with the background trees.

The capture was processed in Photoshop CS5 and the further work was done in Nik Color Efex Complete with Tonal Contrast and then Polaroid Transfer.  The gritty nature of the truck against the softness of the background seems to really harmonize well together with the bed ends being the exclimation point. 

As in life opposite combinations that confront us can come together for a fulfilling result...it's just a matter of sitting back and letting "nature" take its course while rejoicing in the unexpected.

Thanks to everyone of you that stop at my blog space and a shout out to all the great Baylor people that are part of this community.  Sic 'em Bears.

My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" can be purchased online at-

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota   www.lanesboroarts.org

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

Idle Time

    The last few weeks have been a hodge podge of recovering from surgery, traveling to and from Texas to visit our grand daughter, and sitting inside watching freezing rain cover the landscape.  My time in the field with a camera has been limited, mainly by a load limit placed on me by my doctors, but it has allowed me time to sit in front of the computer (not exactly like sitting behind the lens) and revisit some work with the colors of black and white in mind.

The blog image is from my trip to the South Dakota Badlands when I was fortunate to be a participant in a Tony Sweet workshop.  While it has been a full 6 months since the trip I do remember thinking that final image was going to end up as black and white composition. Surprisingly I was so taken with the color rendering that I really didn't pursue the "dark side", being perfectly content with the original capture, but that might have been a big mistake on my part. 

The set up included an extremely long 25 second exposure using the Singh Ray Vari ND filter in the beautiful diffuse morning light, camera on tripod, mirror lockup and remote cable release.  It was my first experience using the Singh Ray filter and the results were beyond my wildest imaginations for this situation involving rapidly moving clouds and I wasn't prepared for the great separation that occurred from the motion blur.  The editing process was pretty simple with some touch up with Nik Color Efex and the general contrast and color tweaks.

Yesterday, while watching cars sliding down the street from my office window, I started playing with this capture again using Nik Silver Efex Pro and I believe the results are closer to my original concept adding a little more drama to the sky and highlighting the background peaks.

As can be seen in the works of other photographers, both film based and digital, the first horse out of the chute is not necessarily the final act of the play.  With some maturity of thought or creative process or new technical applications the original capture can almost become a living entity, changing with the whim of the artist.

I hope you are all having a marvelous Thanksgiving and thanks to everyone for connecting with my blog past, present and future.

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

"Art On 16th"  http://www.hankhallarton16th.com

Artisans Road Trip www.artisansroadtrip.com  

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota  www.lanesboroarts.org

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

 

Artisans Road Trip

"My first thought is always of light."  Galen Rowell

Tomorrow, October 1, will be full of preparations for Northwest Iowa's Artisans Road Trip (ART) with the kick off opening for me and others beginning at 4 p.m.  At A Piece Of Work, Inc. in downtown Spirit Lake, Iowa four artist will be participating in this three day event.  They are Anita Plucker, watercolorist extrodinaire, Avis Davis, also an outstanding watercolorist, Mike Houge, gifted photographer and all around good egg, and myself, Daniel Ruf.  Mike and I will be putting the finishing touches on our alcoves so that all is ready for opening night, which goes until 8 p.m.  During the 4 hours A Piece Of Work, Inc. will be having a reception for Ms. Plucker in the special exhibition alcove with gallery talk to follow. 

Thirty five artist in Northwest Iowa will be spending the three day event showing their wares and some will even be demonstrating their artistic skills in their workshops.  Mediums include everything from pottery and sculpture to painting and photography and all points in between and it is a real opportunity for travelers to make the stops, indicated on a provided map (www.artisansroadtrip.com), visit with artisans and purchase outstanding local art of the area while enjoying the fall scenes on the way.

The hours on Saturday and Sunday will be 9am - 5pm which allows travelers ample time during the three day festival to be a part of the sights and sounds of our artistic area.  In past years there have been visitors from as far away as Vermont to the east and California to the west, all taking part in the annual road show.

The above blog image was taken during my recent trip to Banning State Park and is NOT an HDR!  It was captured with a Canon 50D, 17 - 40mm L lens with a Singh-Ray Vari-Neutral Density Filter attached. Some simple work in Adobe Elements 8 ( I hear Element 9 is out) and then some concentrated work in Nik Viveza 2.  I'm headed back to Banning in two weeks or so with the  hopes of catching the tail end of the color show and visiting Jay Cooke State Park during this tour.

Thanks for stopping by and if you're in the area join us for the road trip...otherwise don't you dare miss the opportunity to enjoy the fall color where you are!

 

 

Fog Chaser

 

“My best work is almost unconscious and occurs ahead of my ability to understand it.” – Sam Abell

There's no doubt about it...if there is fog in the air I'm usually racing through the countryside, touching base with favorite locations, and hoping that I'll find something that works before the sun burns the veil away.  Such was the activity for this weeks blog image, which really involved pointing my pickup down a gravel rural road and following it until I hit the brakes.  A group of horses in a field back lit by the rising sun...hit the brakes.  A prairie landscape dripping with spider webs and dew...hit the brakes.  The sun is rising higher and the wind is just starting to become evident...drive faster (but safely).  Layers of hillsides off to the east with fog banks in between...hit the brakes.  Suddenly, at a blacktop crossing, a full stop was applied (in accordance with a legal stop sign) and I'm sitting in front of a grouping of trees that I've always wanted to "capture", but never was excited about the moments I've been here.  I looked at the composition, the direction of the sun, the holes of light and almost...I say almost...decided to turn the corner.  Something shouted in my brain...TAKE THIS ONE, IDIOT!  The word "idiot" was an indication that it was NOT Divine inspiration, just my intuitive way to make a decision.

AND I'M GLAD I DID!

When I got home I loading the image into Adobe Elements 8 and went straight to the Nik Silver Efex Pro plug-in and achieved the black and white image I was hoping for, but I couldn't help doing a little dream chasing in Topaz Adjust, clicked on the "Smooth And Flat" tab and bingo.  My wife was looking over my shoulder when the final came on screen and said "it's too gloomy" to which I responded "too bad".  A few days later she saw it hanging in the gallery and she had a changing of heart and mind.

The more I do this work the more I am reminded of the days when I was farming and had only a couple of hours during the week (if that much)  to chase this passion of photography.  During that time it was more of a trial and error period of re-learning camera functions and composition elements and, before I knew it, class time was up.  Today, I'm convinced that daily exposure to photography, whether leaning on the web or standing behind a camera, the items of f/stops, shutter speeds and composition become almost subliminal to the actual capture of a digital image.  It may sound simple, but it's taken me a long time, a lot of mistakes, a lot of head scratching and a fair amount of on the job prayer, to realize this fact.

So, if the fog machine is on, I'm covering ground while jumping with excitement.  

This past week I've found some really great photography/photographer sites that I'd like to share with you:

http://grafphoto.com/wordpress/

http://bobcornelis.wordpress.com/

http://singhray.blogspot.com/

It's all about filling the mental file!!!

Thanks for joining me here at my site and take time with family and friends.

For more views of my work visit;

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

"Art On 16th"  http://www.hankhallarton16th.com

Artisans Road Trip www.artisansroadtrip.com  

Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota  www.lanesboroarts.org

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

Real Cost

"Though men now possess the power to dominate and exploit every corner of the natural world, nothing in that fact implies that they have the right or the need to do so."    

            Edward Abbey - from "A Voice Crying In The Wilderness"

The work goes on with the editing of images from my journey to the Tony Sweet workshop in the Badlands of South Dakota, though I think the end is in sight.  While it's been time consuming I am so pleased that the time spent in this beautiful space was so rewarding in so many ways.  The blog image is from the Pinnacles area of the park and, during my free time before the official start of the workshop, I spent many hours working this find.

The only real special application for achieving this capture was the use of a Singh-Ray "Vari-ND" filter which is a neutral density filter that is adjustable from 2 to 8 stops of density and allowed for a longer exposure that recorded the movement in the clouds overhead.  By using this effect it I feel a greater sense of depth is achieved.

The dawning of the technology age that we find ourselves immersed in has been cause for a lot of mental turbulence for the last several days, part of which has been spent with a phone in my ear while discussing a faulty download issue for a product that I needed to update.  While I will agree that digital technology has given photography a truck load of artistry tools that have made the medium all the more thrilling to use, I am struggling to find areas where the technological advances of the last 10 years have added quality to our lives overall.

As I traveled the roads of the Badlands I swerved or stopped behind vehicles that had an arm sticking out with a phone device attached to a hand which I assume was in the process of image capture with the camera phone device.  Somehow I just couldn't make myself believe that this process was anything more than a reflex reaction by someone unwilling to invest themselves, their brain, their eyes, or their ears in the geographic area that we were both sitting in at the moment.  There is something about being involved in hiking a trail or gazing into a great abyss that makes for a much more rewarding experience at image capture than the "drive by shoot" that was in progress.  The same is the case for waking up in a tent that one has taken the time to erect and, with the air still and the blackness of night all around, being able to hear a distant call of wolves instead of seeing a stuffed display in some park info station as the alternative.

Another example, and again I'm equally guilty of this infraction, would be the sending of an email to someone, which to me equates the operation of communication to being a chore, instead of sitting down to a handsomely rich piece of paper and actually composing a letter in ones own script, thereby making the process of communication more about caring and the literary process.

Have we gained that much with the advent of computers, ipods, laptops and cell phone?  It would appear that these "toys" have gained us material instruments in our lives, but have they appreciated the quality of our lives?  Those that are in the work force are probably getting more "through put" by the end of the day, but are the number of work hours in the day diminished from years gone by?  How has technology added "quality" to our living experience?

"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa  http://www.apieceofworkinc.com

"Art On 16th"  http://www.hankhallarton16th.com

Artisans Road Trip www.artisansroadtrip.com  

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