Daniel Ruf

Finding Your Thrill

"...you can't always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need..."

Rolling Stones (Jaggar/Richards)

Recently I was checking out a favored blog site http://www.ianplant.com/blog/2011/12/21/photographic-quotations/ and came upon a favorite quote by the writer that simply defines the challenges of photography.  I wouldn't have guessed that the Rolling Stones would be the source, since their work is way out of my musical orbit, but then again, maybe the quote is also a reminder about being in such ruts!

The blog image is just one of those situations when the search wasn't yielding anything that was exciting to me until I found myself at a location near us that got my attention.  Yes, it's just a bunch of boats and, yes, it's not a landscape and, yes, there are no flowers, but sometimes one does have to "take the ride that is available or walk home empty handed".  In this case I liked the colors, the lines, the reflections and went with the opportunity.

The image was captured with my Canon 5DII using a neutral density filter on the lens so I could achieve a really long exposure to "smooth out" the ripples in the water and gain a stronger reflection.   It is an HDR capture that was processed with Nik's HDR Efex software in Photoshop CS5. 

If there is just one important lesson that I learn almost everytime the camera comes out is that flexibility is often the best tool that a person has in their arsonal of creative vocabulary.  It's also a pretty good tool for living life!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a marvelous holiday season.

Sic 'em Bears!

My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" and new book "Take What's Given" 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

http://500px.com/pigs4u

 

 

Back Home

  

"While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see."

Dorothea Lange

Continuing education, especially in the arts, is to me one of the fundamental elements of personal creative improvement that any artist should endeavor to do.  It's all well and good to daily pursue our own schedule of creative achievement, but in the long view one is often helpless at falling into conceptual errors that often stagnate our creative movement.  I have just returned from participation in my second Tony Sweet workshop with refreshed brain cells and weary body.  This years location was the Smoky Mountain National Park and it was an area of one photo stop after another.  In order to get myself primed and lubed for a new location I arrived in the Smoky's about 5 days early to get the feel of the area.  It was a good idea since I had the opportunity to work with fog in the landscape, which did not occur after the workshop started.

Tony, and his partner, Susan are not only excellent photographers, but also skillful communicators and mentors, with a good deal of wit thrown in.  While they don't hover over participants they are always within grabbing distance for suggestions and guidance or answers to any questions.  Their knowledge of equipment and software usage is huge which helps in the final output of a photographic image.

The blog image is from a place called Sparks Lane, although a different view from the more iconic view from the opposite end of this location.  As I was setting up for a low viewpoint with my camera and tripod that would include the flowing water covering the pavement, Tony suggested that I get lower, pointing to the wet pavement surface.  I gave him a grimaced look since the thought of getting wet early in the morning wasn't on my priority list, just yet.  He gave me some good natured ribbing and then left the scene.  After finishing "my" capture, I took a peek of the view from the pavement surface and decided that he was correct...as usual...that another foot or so lower was indeed the better shot.  After seeing the results in the LCD screen, I never gave the previous shot another thought.  This WAS the shot.

Like anyone else in the world, I can become stale in my approach to my work and my surroundings.  The sobering thing about ones creativity is that it reveals a stagnant approach which viewers can see a mile away.  Let's face it, a viewpoint from our eyesite of, say, 6 feet, is not always the best!  Flex those knees!

    My new 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=V1

Buried Treasures

Recently I was watching a television program concerning various fossil finds around the country and the thought came to me that the narration treated these bones of unfortunate animals as treasures, hidden in the earth, from a time long ago.  As I reflected on the rendered scenes of the environment of that time I couldn't help wondering what civilizations in the distant future might think of the remains our civilization leaves behind as our historic ledger.

I've noticed a lot of discussion lately about the environmental movement as it relates to endangered species and become really disappointed by those that would take issue with the preservation of some near extinct species which they feel is insignificant, especially when the plant or animal is standing in the way of some huge construction project of human design.  Advocates from both sides of the debate hurl platitudes back and forth in an effort to sell their position to a public that, in most cases, is ill equipped to even render a fair opinion on the subject or even cares about BOTH sides of the argument.

The question that I have for those that see no real reason to yield to an endangered species is when is the time right to grant consideration to the last of a species.  Would it be when just one elephant is left standing?  Or perhaps it would be when clean water is no longer available and lines have begun to form in the streets behind some tanker truck that shows up on the odd dates of the month.  I know to many this might sound like a huge stretch, but I'm not sure it's as far off as people believe.  In fact, I'm not sure many people, other than environmentalists, give a moments thought about any of this as long as such things as lumber and eggs are still readily available at any price.

As a retired farmer I've been involved in many discussions, around a table in the local grain elevator, concerning commodity prices, falling markets, cost of production, etc.  One flag that is always raised in these discussions is that the American public will never understand the value of food and it's production until the shelves at the local super market are bare, such as we saw years ago in film clips from Russia.  Just as today's public is more removed from the farm sector than it was 50 years ago, so are those same individuals more distant from the wilderness experiences of families of the past.

Ansel Adams once discussed the value of the American wilderness as a re-creation experience over recreational experience and I think that's a pretty profound statement for our time.  Until we see the value of the environment as a place to recharge, reflect and contemplate many of us will fail to see or value the wildness that still exists on this planet.  More importantly, until we see the value of open space over office space, many will never stand on the side of endangered ecosystems.

Nature Photographers Unite!

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

Stage Fright

"The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking."  Brooks Atkinson

This past week my good friend Mike Houge (http:/mikehouge.typepad.com) called me from Banning State Park in Minnesota to alert me that the fall color had arrived in spite of what the online "color" websites had been predicting.  It presented a dilemma for me in that I have camping reservations for that same park in about two weeks and now I was realizing that in two weeks it may be "poof" as far as the color goes.  Banning is a strong 5 hour drive north from where I live and this past Sunday was the only opportunity I had to get a peek at the fall changes with my camera.  It didn't take much coaxing for me to decide that I better make preparations for going north (not that going north ever takes a big shove, but for only one day...probably more like 6 hours...of work, the thought of passing did cross my mind.)

Sunday morning arrived and I jumped into the truck and started the long drive in a fairly excited state of mind, but when I hit the turn at I-35 to head north the butterflies started nesting in the pit of my stomach.  All the "what if's" start coming to mind about what was waiting for me.  I had only been to Banning once and did a minimal scouting effort due to rain, so I was really ill prepared mentally for this quick trip.  Of course this doesn't mean that on the best days such trips are always a bountiful explosion of outstanding images, but having some idea about the choice spots helps as well as does being aware of how lighting effects the lay of the land.

After five hours in the pick up I got out, grabbed my gear and began walking when suddenly the thought "Now what?" jumped into my head.  It wasn't much different than looking at that exam paper in college and the "empty" sign goes off in the brain.  Oh, yeah, I know that feeling well and this was no different.  It was then that Plan B was put into effect which is...keep walking and something will turn up.  As it so happens it did and who would have guessed that it involved my old favorite...WATER!  It didn't take long before I was standing in the middle of this stream and thinking "Heck, I'll be here all day and never have to move".  Well, I did have to move, but it was like fishing in a newly stocked trout stream where every cast is rewarded.

I don't know about other photographers, but stage fright is one of my greatest hurdles until the creative switch finds the "on" position.  It certainly helps when Mother Nature is yelling (there's that yelling again) "Look at me!"  From that point it's about settling in to a routine, remembering that there is more than one lens in the bag and don't forget the verticals.

So, ten hours of driving for 6 hours of bliss is not such a bad thing and I can't wait to see Banning State Park in a couple of weeks.  Right now I've got the Artisans Road Trip to get prepared for which opens on Friday, October 1 and goes through October 3 and then another photography workshop. 

Thanks for visiting and slip into some comfortable walking shoes and go enjoy the fall color.

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

Winter Melt Down

"Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness."  Chuang-tzu

Winter is struggling to keep it's grip on our part of the world this week, but the grip is weakening.  Our 5 foot piles of snow have been reduced to 3 feet in a very short week of warmer temps and finally some sunshine.  Rivers and creeks are nearing flood stage in many areas and I'm sure the lakes are groaning against the confining ice layer that is still in place.

Before leaving for Tucson I paid my respects to photography by getting out for one quick session, straining myself to find just one subject calling my name.  While traveling a gravel road near the homestead I was greeted with an opportunity for one more water shot with a spur of ice holding on for one last gasp.  The setting sun was just minutes away from disappearing and I was taken by the specular highlights coming through the ice as well as the lighting underneath the icy ledge.  The creek was swift with snow melt and the assembling of an HDR shot, with incredible lighting, helped to bring out the details in both the ice and the surrounding current.

After running the three different exposures through the Photomatix software I then added some finishing touches with Topaz software which helped enhance the details.  Of course the last thing anyone of us wants to look at is more remembrance's of winter, but the good side is that the thaw is here and Spring is definitely just around the corner. 

Thank you all for taking the time to visit my site and for any comments you might offer.

For more views of my work visit:

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

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

Artisans Road Trip www.artisansroadtrip.com  

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