Ascension
San Juan River, Utah
Taken during a rafting trip on the San Juan River, I was hiking near a massive cliff face and noticed a grouping of rocks. At first, I didn’t think much about them but as I backed away I could see the vertical lines of the red sandstone wall rising from behind. I paused and gave my view some time to clarify in my mind. It began to click and I visualized the composition. I set up my camera, made two exposures precisely the same , knowing much additional work in the darkroom would be needed to complete my vision. Like the darkroom produced print, the post-processing required to achieve a similar result digitally was also very difficult and time-consuming.
Ascension has been one of my most popular and well-received photographs, printed at reasonably large sizes it has an even more significant impact. In the darkroom, the largest size I could comfortably make was 20 x 24”. Now digitally 40 x 50” prints can be produced with excellent clarity.
Rock Cut-Out and Stream
Lake Superior Provincial Park, Canada
I made this photograph during a photographic workshop conducted by Howard Bond, one of my early mentors. I focused my vision on a stream with a rock cut-out that had some great lines. The only problem was the fact that it was raining lightly. I wanted a long exposure to insure that the stream would be very smooth and contrast with the solid rock formation. Once I had my f-stop and exposure time calculated I poked my head under the front of the dark-cloth which was now protecting my camera. I double checked my composition, inserted a film holder, then just cleared the lens and made two exposures. Since the rain was not being blown, the front of the lens never got wet.
While I made two good negatives, I was a long way from being finished. Quite a bit of dodging and burning was needed to produce the impact I sought when I had clicked the shutter. My first prints of this day were produced in the darkroom. The image you see here was created from a Hi-Rez scan of my original negative. And, like the needed darkroom work, the digital print required a great deal of time in post-processing to get it just right.
Lake Fog and Trees, Manawa
Lake Manawa State Park, Iowa
Fog presents photographic opportunities.
One foggy morning I headed over to Lake Manawa which is near my home to see if the fog was “on my side”. And it was. I drove around the lake, and I stopped to make several exposures of views that I found interesting. Lake Fog and Trees, Manawa was the last one I made that day. I took quite a bit of time walking around the area using my viewing frame to find my optimum viewpoint. Once that was done, setting up and calculating my exposure, and taking the photo was pretty straightforward. A proper perspective for me is a pretty big deal. I was very excited after making that last photograph. The perfect combination for me that day was my Canon 5DSR camera with the Sigma ART 85mm lens. I use that combination frequently as it is great technically. What’s behind the camera is the most essential factor in producing a moving image, but having excellent equipment never hurts.
Lotus Seed Pod Marsh
Fontenelle Forest, Bellevue NE
Attracting me to the marsh was a field of now dead lotus seed pods. The wetland was frozen, and I could easily walk around within the seed pods. Piquing my interest photographically were the pods against the white ice, and in the distance the treed background. I had difficulty finding a viewpoint that would yield an adequately clean foreground. After walking around a bit, I found a satisfactory spot. I took my Linhof view camera out of its backpack and set it up on my tripod, carefully composing the inverted image to my liking. Using my camera’s movements, I adjusted it to keep everything front to back in focus. Using the zone system, I calculated the exposure and exposed my usual two identical pieces of film.
The original scene at the marsh was very flatly lit. I imagined a much more contrasty print to better express what was in my head. The end result displayed both in print and online clearly shows what I had in mind.
A Walk in the Aspen
Near Buena Vista, Colorado
In the fall of 2017 we took a trip to Colorado to photograph the turning Aspen. The first day after our arrival we spent a good deal of time exploring the area.
The second day we were in the aspen before sun-up photographing. Around mid- day, we took a side trip to nearby Leadville, finding more awesome images along the way. The third day was a rainy, dreary, and cloudy day. Not what you want for fall colors. But this is the day that would produce A Walk in the Aspen. The aspen field was back-lit, the light was very blueish, but graphically this group of aspen invited you to “walk-in.” I set up and made several exposures. Also, I used my view camera with film as well.
A ton of work in Photoshop, and I mean a lot, was needed to produce the final image you now see. I like the three-dimensional quality and the strongly saturated leaves helped by the back-lighting. I hope you enjoy seeing this as much as I did, making it.
Iowa Corn and Clouds (Horizontal)
Near McClelland, Iowa
The time was around 7:30PM, and being a photographer, I am always noticing the light. I saw the cornfield to our right while driving, and it looked to me more like beautifully textured waves, not corn. A photo perhaps? But I didn’t have my camera with me, only my cell phone, so I noted the time and planned to come back the following day. I arrived about 45 minutes earlier than the day before and set up my camera. The light, as the night previously, was beautiful with one crucial difference, now I had some of the most beautiful cirrus clouds slowly making their way east. I exposed several images, waiting each time for the clouds to enhance what I had previously seen, I now had both the beautiful textures and the beautiful sky. The moving clouds were such that I also recomposed my image to take advantage of a vertical view that is rewarding as well.
I was honored in 2019 when The Nebraska Biennial Call For Art selected Iowa Corn and Clouds (Vertical), for display. This can also be viewd on my site.
Marylin’s Hydrangea
Council Bluffs, Iowa
My wife, a gardener, provides me opportunities to photograph the beautiful plants and flowers around me.
I was in the front yard of our home and noticed our beautiful Hydrangea plants. Having large white sunlit cumulus clouds all around added much to the pink glow coming from this particular bloom. I set up my camera and tripod, knowing that I could not achieve the full depth of this image by merely stopping down. I decided to take multiple photographs at different focus points and combine them into one sharp picture. The resulting image you see here firmly expresses the glow that I experienced on that day in mid-summer of 2018.
This photograph is yet another that is striking when printed in larger sizes. Flowers displayed oversized can become something beyond just a beautiful flower. Painters have known this for years.
Marylin’s “Marilyn” Amaryllis
Council Bluffs, Iowa
The potted plant was on an elevated stand in our living room, flooded with light. The background was a mid-value brown, making the blossoms stand out. I decided to photograph it. I put together my tripod-camera combination and adjusted the position of both until I had a viewpoint that took advantage of the light and plant. To maintain the sharpness of the close-up view I chose, I knew that I would need to take several photographs and combine them later, which I did. When viewing the image in post-processing, I noticed that the light on the left side was a bit too strong relative to the front side and thus did a bit of “burning” to get the image to balance correctly. I had a good time going through the process, and the resulting photograph captured the blooms’ elegance to my satisfaction.
This plant was a gift from friends to my wife, Marylin. The plant is also named Marilyn, although the spelling is different.
New Growth Hemlocks and Fence
Camden, Maine
In 2000 I put together a trip to Maine with my photographer friends. My wife and I drove from our home in Iowa while the rest flew ahead, some renting cars upon arrival. As a result, we had several vehicles available to our group which enabled us to travel separately, finding exciting subjects as we saw fit. During our trip, I scheduled a wonderful two full days with the well known black and white photographer, Paul Caponigro.
Photographers, more than likely, will be working during the early and late day hours and not so much during the mid-day. It was during the mid-day however, that I was walking around Camden and saw a unique fence with overhanging branches. Being overcast and near mid-day, there was a wonderfully soft, overhead light upon the branches just above the picket fence. Additionally, the offset in the middle of the fence grabbed my attention as a point of interest. I set up my 4 x 5 view camera and composed the pleasing image that you see here. Getting the right balance of the light on the branches and the fence took some time. I captured Hemlocks on film and printed it in the darkroom but now is printed digitally from a scan of the original negative.
Fortunately for me, as I did not know what the overhanging branches were, the others were nearby and the arborist in the group immediately identified them as Hemlocks.
Manawa Stream
I have mentioned scenes that we often take for granted. Things that we see daily and drive past frequently often get overlooked. Manawa Stream is precisely one of those sights. I likely have passed by this location a hundred times, maybe more. As a cyclist, I’ve ridden past here countless times, and if not riding, walking. It is on the Lake Manawa trail near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Most of the time, it has no water in it, and if most persons saw it, they would not think it incredibly photogenic. But a photographer sees things differently. While riding one day, I passed the stream when it was full of water, and it caught my eye. I had my iPhone along and took a quick picture, then decided to come back later, adequately prepared. The desired image required an in-depth, straight photo. The photo required a very high f-stop to keep everything in focus. Doing that would also render all of the grasses and leaves less clear than I would like. I decided to take multiple photos at different points and combine them to make one very sharp image. Photo stacking is a technique that I frequently use, so doing this was pretty straightforward. I calculated the needed exposure. I then made the required set of frames, which would be combined later in the computer. Once I did that, I spent numerous hours balancing all of the values. It indeed came to life on my monitor.
Marylin’s Coleus
Council Bluffs, Iowa
“It’s amazing what you can see if you just observe.” - Yogi Berra
When shooting flowers, my preference would be for a softer light. The light at that moment this image was captured was somewhat diffused sunlight, not ideal, but worth a photo.
I made this image by combining 21 separate exposures into one to get the three-dimensionality I wanted. After the fact, my wife pointed out a moth in the photograph, entirely missed by me. I went back outside to check, and sure enough, the moth had left. Many people, when viewing Marylin’s Coleus, will see birds and other items in the photograph, not literally but representationally. It is fun to see what others see in my images. Some persons question why I might make a flower black and white, however if they saw Coleus both ways they would understand. If I have time, I try to show my prints to anyone willing to view them, as I enjoy their different viewpoints and thoughts.
Boy Scout Island and Lake Fog, Manawa
Council Bluffs, IA
Our home sits several hundred feet above the surrounding area, foggy conditions can exist at my house and not below, and vice-versa. This particular day I arose to foggy conditions, fog presents opportunities. I ate a quick breakfast and set out to view local areas. The Council Bluffs Depot first, that was not working for me. I then went over to Lake Manawa State Park, which was much better. Many photographers love the area. My mother, too, made several paintings there.
This image was taken shortly after noon. The fog was considerably less at Boy Scout Island than at different positions on the lake. The foreground consisting of the frozen lake, at places, was wet and reflective, at other areas frozen and without reflections. It provided me with a beautiful and complex mix of values. The varied trees stood in the background, sentinel-like.
I exposed several images with different compositions. This is the only one of Boy Scout Island that I printed from that day. The minimal fog at that location worked in my favor on this occasion.
Young Winter Aspens
Near Aspen, Colorado
My wife and I were photographing on Cement Creek Road in Colorado not far from Crested Butte, or Aspen, Colorado. The sun hadn’t come up yet, and there was a sky glow that seemed to be coming from both sides over the mountains. It was lighting this group of aspens providing a nearly electric quality to the trees. I took advantage of the moment because I knew the beautiful light wouldn’t last much longer. I quickly set up my view camera, calculated the exposure, and captured what I saw and felt at that moment.
I was honored in 2017 when The Nebraska Biennial Call For Art selected Young Winter Aspens for display.
Eroded Cliff Face
Zion National Park, Utah
Once, when hiking in Zion, I was drawn to the face of the cliff you see here. Who knows how many years these erosion patterns took to create, hundreds, thousands of years, it’s anyone’s guess. The cliff is red sandstone, and the erosion marks left by calcium are whitish. I needed to emphasize these striking artifacts, so I chose a green (#58) filter to accent nature’s sculpting. It’s the values of light and dark, which make this photograph glow. Most viewers, when first seeing Eroded Cliff Face, can’t tell what it is but know they like it. Once explained, it’s easily understood. The print is incredibly sharp and invites the use of a magnifying glass to see amazing details within the photograph.
Printing this image up to 40 x 50 inches would be very rewarding.
White Sand Dunes, San Andres Mountains
White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
While traveling in the Southwest, my wife and I decided to stop at White Sand Dunes National Monument, a place we previously had not visited. I likely made this photograph in the early 1990s. I say likely because I lost nearly all of my original prints and photo data during a flood we had in our home.
I took this photograph with my Technikardan view camera, creating a composition to show the contrast of the soft roundness of the dunes against the mountainous backdrop. This photo, while taken in color, has never been printed that way. I had a Hi-Rez drum scan made from the transparency and in post-processing, I checked to see what it would look like in B & W. I quickly preferred that. This photograph, like so many others done from scans, takes much work in post-processing but is so rewarding. I have made this print successfully at 40 x 50”.
Rock Formation Sunset, Arches
Arches National Park, Moab, Utah
I had just spent the entire day photographing in Arches National Park. Up to that moment, I had been recording images in black and white only and didn’t feel that I had anything exciting. I decided to pack up and head out.
It had been blueish overcast all day, a good condition for shooting in black and white. Then suddenly, while driving, the sun broke through a slit between the cloud cover and the horizon. I hit the brakes, left the car on the side of the road, and ran out into the field. I had to assemble the camera, and it’s bellows, insert the lens, and get it focused quickly. Once I had the camera together, focused, and composed, I calculated my settings, then put in Fuji Velvia color transparency film and made the exposure. I quickly exposed the second sheet, but the light faded before the shutter had clicked. I got one correctly exposed transparency and one dull one.
That was one of my most exciting moments of photographing.
Light Patterns and Oaks
Highway 128, Northern California
I was on business to Lucasfilm’s THX labs, view camera in hand, driving on highway 128, exploring for something to photograph. An early morning fog had begun to lift, exposing a group of oak trees and allowing sunlight to hit the ground in random patterns. I was winding up a hill when I saw the oaks and a golden field, with rapidly changing light patterns. I quickly stopped, set up my camera and tripod, calculated my lens settings and made several exposures of various designs of the fast-changing light. After processing the film back in my lab, I made contact prints of each. I chose the one I felt best expressed what I saw and the emotion that it invoked on that California day. The photograph you see here is the result of my fortunate timing and efforts in the darkroom. I made this print from a Hi-Rez scan of that original large format negative and spent a good deal of time in post-processing. This image was difficult to achieve in the darkroom and equally challenging in post.
Sunrise Wall, Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon, Arizona
I am fortunate, I’ve been to some of the most beautiful places on earth. I can’t help but get emotional when I am in the presence of such natural beauty, as was true when I took Sunrise Wall, Grand Canyon, taken during a rafting trip. The schedule each day; get up early, photograph until around 9-10AM, get back in the raft, stop to eat, float until about 4PM, photograph ‘til last light, eat, sleep, and repeat.
The view from below the rim of the wall, like on top, is spectacular, but very different. While you know approximately where the sun will come up, you don’t see what you will be presented with until the pre-sunrise glow begins. It was early morning and I could see the light beginning to hit the far wall, so I set up my view camera. At first the light wasn’t quite right, then everything came together and I calculated the exposure using the zone system. My spot meter told me that I would need minus development to optimize my negative for best darkroom printing. Years later, I had this negative drum scanned and used this file after work in post-processing to make this image.
Canyon Cascades
Escalante & Grand Staircase, Utah
On this day I had parked my car, hiked down into an area with a dry creek-bed and basically went exploring. I was hiking in an arroyo when I spotted a slit in the wall to my left. I decided to venture in, and after walking around the narrow passageway for a bit I spotted the scene you see here. The way the right side of the slot canyon had eroded suggested water cascading down its face. I became excited by the elements I was seeing, the rock face, light coming from the opening in front of me, the light and dark values on the wall.
I set up my tripod and camera and chose a moderate wide-angle lens to enhance the perspective of the wall face on the right. The fact that the canyon wall ahead was well lit added to the contrasts. I made my usual two identical exposures on 4 x 5 film. The image you see here was done digitally from a Hi-Rez scan of my negative. Having done this in the darkroom taught me what I needed to see on my monitor. It takes a good deal of time in post-processing to achieve the result shown. I find the composition simple, but strong.
Lotus Seed Pod, Fontenelle Forest
Locally, one of the most popular places to visit nature is Fontenelle Forest. I can access it from my home in about twenty minutes. I decided to go there in the middle of winter in 1993 to photograph. Attracting me to the marsh was a field of dead lotus seed pods. The wetland was frozen, and I could easily walk around within the seed pods. Piquing my interest were the pods against the white ice and in the distance the treed background. Then I concentrated on a single Seed Pod, beautifully covered with ice. I isolated this seed pod, then set my camera, which was already on its tripod to get a side view that showed the ice details. And for a second time there, I calculated my exposure using the zone system and exposed two identical pieces of film. The flat lighting now worked to my advantage, helping me make the macro image of the single seed pod. Close inspection of Lotus Seed Pod reveals many details that I likely didn’t see when I initially exposed the photograph. After developing my negatives and inspecting them, it can be a time for discovery. This time it was.
Hanging Lake Falls
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
I hiked up to Hanging Lake while carrying my 35-pound camera backpack and also my 12-pound tripod in September of 1996. I had made the hike before, but this time I wanted an excellent photograph of the iconic site. I found my vantage point and set up my wooden tripod, then affixed my view camera. I used my 210 mm lens, and the required depth of field dictated that I stop my lens down to f-64. I wanted softness in the water and solidity of the rocks. Then I made my exposures. There was an extensive range of brightness, and I had to do an N-4 compensation development to get a good negative. Everything worked out, OK.
The image you see now is produced from a Hi-Rez Scan of that original negative.
Iowa Corn and Clouds (Vertical)
Near McClelland, Iowa
The time was around 7:30PM, and being a photographer, I am always noticing the light. I saw the cornfield to our right while driving, and it looked to me more like beautifully textured waves, not corn. A photo perhaps? But I didn’t have my camera with me, only my cell phone, so I noted the time and planned to come back the following day. I arrived about 45 minutes earlier than the day before and set up my camera. The light, as the night previously, was beautiful with one crucial difference, now I had some of the most beautiful cirrus clouds slowly making their way east. I exposed several images, waiting each time for the clouds to enhance what I had previously seen, I now had both the beautiful textures and the beautiful sky. The moving clouds were such that I also recomposed my image to take advantage of a horizontal view that is rewarding as well.
I was honored in 2019 when The Nebraska Biennial Call For Art selected Iowa Corn and Clouds (Vertical), for display.
Council Bluffs Depot
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Fog presents photographic opportunities.
I always wanted to photograph the Rock Island Railroad Depot, which is near where I live. Over the years, I looked at it many times to capture it, but the area surrounding the building is, shall we say, messy. Then early one morning, I woke up to a mess concealing fog. It was time to photograph the Council Bluffs Depot, and I did, using my view camera. The building was in great light, soft, even, shadowless. I walked around with my framing card to find the optimum viewpoint. I then set up my tripod and camera, carefully composing the image you see here. Next, I calculated the exposure and click, I captured what I always wanted, an excellent photograph of the Council Bluffs Depot, minus what I didn’t want.
I can see this railroad building from my home. At times open to the public, it is interesting to see that which has been kept much as it was when in service.