Out of My Comfort Zone . . . Again

I am primarily a landscape photographer.  But every now and then a different opportunity comes along -- like opera performances . . .

                    or jewelry . . .

                                                            or house construction . . .

                                                                                                -- and I'm willing to give it a try.




Back in June of last year, I participated in a photography workshop led by the amazing professional fine art photographer Laurie Klein (pictured below).  You can visit her website by clicking here.

 



















The workshop was intended primarily for infrared photographers (which I am not), but I had taken one of her workshops in 2015 -- see my blog post entitled "Stretching My Comfort Zone" here -- and was ready for another good dose of creative challenges and learning experiences, so I signed up.

Turns out this workshop was all about photographing female models in natural landscapes . . . and it didn't really matter that I wasn't shooting in IR.

After a 90-minute classroom session, we went out to shoot in two locations in the bosque (cottonwood forest) along the Rio Grande a couple of miles from my house.  We had four professional models to work with, each with a different style and vibe, and after some coaching from Laurie we all had the opportunity to direct the models. 

The cool thing about working with models as subjects is that, unlike landscapes, you can pose them any way you want (within the limits of the human body).  The challenge is . . . you have to know what you want, and you have to tell them.  Professional models are great at translating ideas and emotions into physical postures, but they're not mind-readers:  they can't do their best if you're not sure what you're after.  Inevitably there's a process of experimentation and collaboration, supported by good communication, but the photographer has to lead.

First, some behind-the-scenes shots on location . . .

How many photographers does it take to set up a changing tent?

Wardrobe management:

Directing a pose:

Shooting:

 



















And here are some of my results featuring each of the models as noted:


Felicia Davis

Tara Danielle

Colleen Fadgen

Kristenleigh Parrish

If you would like to see these images in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Antelope Canyon Revisited

                                                                                  You are not here to verify,
                                                              Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
                                                              Or carry report.  You are here to kneel
                                                              Where prayer has been valid.

                                                                               -- T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets



The last stop on our Road Scholar photo tour this fall was Lower Antelope Canyon -- one of the most amazing places you will ever experience!  I first visited Antelope Canyon in May of 2014, and again in April of this year, and I have posted stories and images about those visits in this blog; you can find them here and here.

Some things have changed since my first visit two and a half years ago.  In particular, as with Mesa Arch, the crowds have grown, thanks to the unfortunate addition of a second tour company pushing people through the canyon to maximize revenues.  So on the quarter-mile walk to the entrance of the canyon, instead of this . . .

May 2014

it looked like this:

October 2016

And in the first large room inside the canyon, instead of this . . . 

May 2014

it looked like this:

October 2016

So the opportunity to experience the sacred beauty of the canyon has been significantly diminished.


On the happy side, however, once we started making our way through the narrow twists and turns of this slot canyon . . . 

if you lifted your sights (and your camera), the shapes, textures, and colors were still magnificent and awe-inspiring:

(Yes, that's brdsht on the lion head formation.)

To give you a sense of the scale, here's a vertical of the same area in the image above:

And the light was different this time, creating new looks for every part of the canyon (from slightly different camera positions):

October 2016

May 2014

May 2014

October 2016

And speaking of light, I'm sure you've seen those images of a shaft of light coming straight down onto the canyon floor.  I've never been in the canyon at the right time and place, and on this trip we weren't there at the right time for exactly that image, but we did get an opportunity to photograph a similar scene:

We even saw Emperor Palpatine . . .

Eventually, of course, we reached the end of the canyon and had to climb back out to reality.  

However crowded it was, it was still a wonderful visit. 

If you would like to see these images -- and many more -- in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Canyonlands and Monument Valley

The fourth and fifth stops on our Road Scholar photography trip last September were Canyonlands National Park (including the photogenic Mesa Arch) and Monument Valley, location for many a famous Western movie back in the 20th century.

The day began with overcast and rain, so I've converted the Canyonlands images to black-and-white.  Further south and later in the same day the skies cleared, so Monument Valley is in color.

Canyonlands National Park is about 527 square miles (about one quarter the area of the Grand Canyon).  It's filled with rugged and remote canyons, mesas, arches, fins, hoodoos, and rivers in the high desert of southeast Utah.  With limited time and a large tour bus, we could visit only a tiny portion of the park.

We arrived just after sunrise at Mesa Arch (about an hour's drive from Moab, Utah), one of the most photogenic of the Canyonlands features.  As a result, it's usually a mob scene, and getting "the shot" means jockeying for position among 20 to 30 other photographers.  Here's what I mean:

The attraction of Mesa Arch isn't the arch itself, which is rather small compared to the gigantic arches of Arches National Park.  And the "window" of the arch is commensurately small, as you can see.  The "money shot" of Mesa Arch is the framed vista you get when you look through the window:

It's much more beautiful when the sky is clear and the sun is rising behind the mountains, but we were not in luck on this day.

After Mesa Arch, we backtracked to Dead Horse Point, a Utah state park that overlooks the northern end of Canyonlands.  Here the view is terrific and the crowds are minimal:

That's the Colorado River on the right in the image above.

If you would like to see Mesa Arch and Canyonlands in better light and in color, click here for a blog post from a previous visit.



After breakfast at Dead Horse Point, we paused for a group photo, then hopped back on the bus and headed for Monument Valley.

Coming into Monument Valley from the north on US 163, there's a sign by the side of the road:



                   "Forrest Gump ended his cross-country run at this spot." 

For a video clip of the end-of-the-run scene in the film, click here.

Naturally, of course, we stopped for the photo op:

And being among photographers, there's always someone who wants just one more shot!

Monument Valley is a tribal park controlled by the Navajo Nation -- it's not a U.S. national park.  There are lots of massive sandstone monoliths and mesas, the most famous of which are Left Mitten, Right Mitten, and Merrick Butte (seen below).

 
As with Canyonlands, this Road Scholar tour had only enough time to stop for 45 minutes of photography from the Visitor Center, but the view was awesome:

If you'd like to see more (and different) images of Monument Valley from one of my previous trips, click here.

And if you'd like to see images from this post in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!