Trees in the Valley of HDR – Newly fallen in Yosemite (plus a little chat about HDR and the image from the field)

“Only by going alone in silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness. All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.” – John Muir from Life and Letters of John Muir (1924)

To each photographer lies his own journey with the lens. While many artisans labor with great passion at this craft photographing weddings, food ads, sporting events, and countless other subjects, I tend to play this game as more of a diversion (for the most part.)

Sure, you will find a few posts coming up this season from a few of the many events we illuminate. In fact, creating unique visual perspectives that seem to last for an eternity of environments of ours that seem to vanish like Cinderella just after midnight have indeed recently given me a sort of “rebirth of interest” in a career that I have already spent 25 years of my life in. (Geez, was that sentence long enough? I think I need a nap!) So what was I saying?……Oh yeah……These images are indeed possibly, the only real evidence that we have created anything of value! It’s nice to have that record. (kinda sad how those environments have to get taken down at the end of the night ya know?)

Here is a link for a few of them by the way! More from HyLite!

So anyway, like I said, for me the journey is more of a getaway. From the time spent wandering the world for the capture, to the time spent processing the image, to the refinement of the creation, to of course the reflective moments when I decide to share it with the world…..my work is never client or customer driven. It’s a place where there are no mistakes, there is no pressure to produce results, and no real deadlines to meet. A much less stressed place to “paint with light!”

It still amazes me to this day what can be captured and created with the iPhone. I have posted the image below that I took from the exact same location. I ramble about it a bit on the video below 🙂

I posted a little video here from the location in case you want to check it out. Once again, its one of those few places that I find real peace…..out in nature 🙂 Here is the video!

I talk a little about why I composed the way I did, discuss HDR a bit, and share an iphone shot from the same location. I’d love your feedback. Too long, too short, just right, really bad, really really bad, really really really bad……haha, u get the idea 🙂

So what is your favorite part about your journey with the art of photography? If you are “in the biz”, how do you balance the art with the business side of things? Do you spend more time in camera, in post, or somewhere in between?