The Joy is in The Adventure

I began to pursue nature and landscape photography not because I felt compelled to create great works of photographic art, but more because it would give me the opportunity to explore the great outdoors and spend time there with little to no agenda.  I’m under no deadlines and I have no particular expectations.  I’m as surprised as anyone to arrive at a place of great beauty at just the right time of day to record that beauty using my trusty Nikon, or even my iPhone. From the time I started this pursuit I determined that my desire was to record nature and not to over-process it if possible. 

Because of my interest in nature and photography, I began to notice the postings and photos of other photographers.  Some are legends in their own time, and others remain legends despite having left the planet already.  Everyone has their own interests and desires while practicing photography, and I like to compare what others do, to what I do.  At first, I must admit, I felt increasingly more insecure about what I do.  Most of the photographs that are by far the most popular and get lots of “likes” on social media, are quite processed, including stacking images upon one another in photoshop to make everything in the resulting image appear in focus (called focus stacking) and even inserting fake skies and backgrounds into the images.  Now some of the images I’ve seen done like this are super beautiful.  The photographers who do this are no doubt making lots of money selling their images as a form of photo art.  For various reasons, I’ve never gotten into that practice.  I really have no interest in taking 78 photos of the same subject, while incrementally adjusting the focus.  I understand that there are apps you can purchase for your camera that will do this for you automatically.  You just set the camera on a tripod and let it take the pictures, adjusting the focus a little bit with each shot.  Then, when you get back home, you merge the photos in photoshop so that each thing in the resulting image is in focus.  As I said earlier, I can’t argue that these images aren’t beautiful, but it’s not what I want to do.  Maybe I’ll change my mind someday, but so far, I haven’t.  I can admire what others do without any interest in copying it.

I was surprised to learn that there is an app that will tell you when the best time is to capture any image based upon where the sun or moon or milky way is at a particular angle in the sky and so on.  It’s called The Photographer’s Ephemeris.  It’ll tell you where to stand and when the best time of year is to capture an image.  My husband (read: photo roadie) has downloaded this app and has figured out how to use it, but I rarely do.  My joy is more in personal exploration and figuring it out for myself, but when I was doing more night photography, it was helpful in figuring out in advance where the moon would be rising for instance, and I could plan from there where to stand and what to expect from the moonrise. Knowing when the moon will rise and from where on the horizon can indeed be very helpful.

One of the things that I’ve found makes a good photograph, and that I’ve practiced pretty regularly, is being where you want to be at the right time of day.  The so-called golden hours have the best light and create the best images.  This is why I often go out just before sunrise and for the first couple of hours thereafter, as well as the last couple of hours of daylight on the other end of the day and including twilight photos right after the sun has set, when the sky is full of color.  I don’t think you need an app for that. That said, I’ve increasingly found photographic subjects that are better during mid-day, especially if it’s cloudy and I’m shooting close-ups, or so-called intimate scenes (no sky).  Another thing I like about early morning photography, is the solitude I can find, even at my local park here in town.  If I can get out before the dog walkers, I feel I’m way ahead of the game.  

Trying to get a scene without people in mid-day can be a challenge, especially if you’re trying to photograph some iconic location like Delicate Arch at Arches National Park. I used that hike as “just a hike” – no real photography – because it was a fairly difficult hike for me and I didn’t want to do it at any point in the dark.  So, I joined the rest of the tourists and just did the hike.  I got there and back before sunset.  I’m convinced that some things should just be done for the sheer joy of it, and they don’t need to be tied to photography.  I admire those beautiful photos of Delicate Arch at sunset or better yet, with the arch of The Milky Way behind it, but I won’t be making any images like that myself.  As I’ve gotten older, my night vision isn’t as good as it used to be, so anything that requires driving through the desert on a dark, two-lane road is probably not going to happen for me either. I’m OK with that. 

Other than figuring out where I want to go and what time to leave the house to make sunrise or sunset and the golden hours, I do very little preparation in advance.  Some people are most interested in the technology of photography, but I’m most interested in using it as a tool to focus my attention in a mindful way while in natural settings.  I’m more of a naturalist than a technologist. For me, the joy is in the adventure.