City - N/A State - WYOMING Country - United States
About
OK.. Here you go Leslie. This one generated an interesting thread when I posted it on another site. I suspect on this site it will generate no converstation at all.
Sorry I was preoccupied. I'll repeat what I may have said elsewhere, that this approach to landscape is, to use an overworked word, *deeper* than your 35mm work. Not that the 4x5 necessarily adds depth, but it does add effort, and I suspect that slowing down the picture-taking procedure makes photographers more reflective. Anyway, I believe I've noticed several stages or (as art-history majors are wont to say)"periods" in your scenic work. The early Elan II photos are of course well seen and well shot, but they tend to look like postcards or calendar shots, with dramatic lighting and wide horizons. Later (EOS 3?) photos have fewer horizons, more attention to detail and composition and adventitious color (stray leaves, highlights in water, etc), and subtler, often flatter, lighting. Then there are the recent 4x5's, usually B&W, where you see nature in a less idealized, less prettified way, its beauty being more the beauty of a grandmother with lined face and glowing smile, less the beauty of a pretty girl who hasn't yet had to deal with kids and in-laws and bad news from the nursing home.
That's what's in this photo, with those "ugly" dead trees laid out like pick-up sticks, no color at all, flat lighting, no drama, the S-curve of the river broken by rocks and sandbanks. It's not idealized at all -- nor is it real, since it's a photograph, an image whose appeal is less obvious yet more firmly rooted than that of a "prettier" picture. Because it's rooted in experience, and assumes that viewers are reflective and already have the level of understanding we expect from adults.
Cleeo, I like this shot. Because of the rich way you printed it, the water looks like oil. I do feel however that it's missing some important visual element. That foreground rock is interesting, but I think that it needs something to kick it up a notch. Perhaps a ray of sunlight, a flower, a bird, something like that. It has the makings of a great shot. Just my oppinion.
Me to, i am sure i saw you or else there where two guys with major camera equipment ! the 4x5 can't be beat for sharp man its unreal. well good to run into you again. I am leaving on Sept 9th for my 7th year in a row. I live in minnesota.
Yup... You're right on. the was taken at the pullout. And I was there in Sept of 2002. (That is also when this shot was taken. I was living in CO at the time. Now this is SOOOO far away I'm afraid it will be a while before I get back.
I don't know about a thread but i will sure comment. This river as it winds through Yellowstone is about as pretty as they come. This shot looks to be taken at the pullout. if so it will hook to the right and head down towards the Madison junction. Is this close ? great shot, i saw a guy shooting a 4x5 a couple years ago at Old Faithful, do you go there regularly ? jimc
0 
