by tmoffett | Jun 30, 2010 | Color, Composition, Landscape
Approaching Storm
I love a summer storm. The air is clean and it leaves a very fresh smell. Last night was no different.
I watched the thunderstorm slowly approaching and I decided to cut my cycling workout short so that I would have a chance to shoot in the evening light that generally is very dramatic when a storm passes through. I headed out at about 8:15, giving me just over an hour until sunset. My location was only about 20 minutes away. I never made it. The storm I was watching was in the west. I could see that the sun would shortly drop below the clouds and its light would skim across the surface of the fields where I was heading. However as I drove south I saw another dark cloud quickly approaching, packing lots of lightning. I soon realized that I would never reach my pre-determined location, so as the sun lowered below the clouds I stopped. The only place to pull over was directly under the power lines, a great place to be in a lightning storm! I grabbed my camera, placed it on my tripod (metal, of course), and started shooting. The sunlight lasted about 30 seconds, then the rain descended, by bucketfuls! The lightning was crashing all around me so I thought it best to retreat, which I did.
Just at the moment that the sun peeked under the clouds, it illuminated not only the onion field, which was blowing in the 30 MPH wind, but also sent a warm light onto the dark clouds in the east, causing them to appear red, which complements the green of the onions very nicely. Upon looking at the full sized image, I could see many of the onion tops crisp and sharp, while others were blowing, creating a very nice motion blur due to the half second exposure. It creates a very nice feel that is not as apparent in this web size image.
After retreating to my truck, I spent the next half hour trying to outrun the storm and find dry ground from which to shoot, but I had no luck. I finally retreated to the comfort of my home with the six exposures I was able to make before the storm hit.
by tmoffett | Jun 25, 2010 | Color, Composition, Landscape, Photographic Philosophy
Into the Unknown
Wednesday evening about an hour before sunset I went out to the lake. I am working on a personal project where I am documenting, fine art fashion, Lake Lowell. I am a big believer in photographing your local area. Don’t get me wrong, I love to travel and photograph other locations as well, however I feel that we can create more intimate and meaningful images of areas that we frequent often. Lake Lowell has become my personal, local photographic project.
When I first started this project, it was a challenge. Many of the local don’t regard Lake Lowell as a very attractive place, so I needed to get beyond that and show my vision of what we have in our own backyard. I now get very different reactions when the locals view these images. In fact, just last night, my son looked at an image that I shot Wednesday and asked, “Is that in Oregon?” He was surprised when I told him I had just shot the image out at the lake the night before.
This image, “Into the Unknown,” is an image just created the other night while out at the lake. I had shot this staircase before, but was not happy with what I had done. An advantage to being local is that I can go back until I get what I want. The light was much better this time and the brush was also better. Just enough green in the midst of the drying weeds to create interest. Offsetting the stairs a bit helped as well. Good use of the rule of thirds. Last time I shot it symmetrically, and I didn’t like it at all. It was too predictable and boring. This is much more interesting.
by tmoffett | Jun 24, 2010 | Color, Composition, Landscape, Photographic Philosophy
Payette Lake
Simplicity. It is what I strive for in my photographs. It is how I see. It is also a concept that is very hard to teach young photographers. This is possibly due to the fact that the world today is very complex. We are surrounded by busyness. If we get caught up in it all we don’t take time to slow down and really think, meditate, smell the roses if you will. The internet has bred a generation of shallow thinkers. Those who know much about so very little, and it affects our way of thinking, which in turn affects our vision.
I like to find the simple things in the world. It helps me relax. It heals my soul.
We are surrounded by simple things, we just need to look for them through the complexities of our everyday life. This image of Payette Lake is one such example. I was with my son at his 5th grade campout. We were on the dock with about 20 11 year old kids. there were, just off the dock, 5 canoes filled with more kids, trying to figure out how to maneuver them without hitting another boat. It was chaos. However, as I looked to the south, there was this view. The lake receding and blending into the tree-lined shore, and the trees into the deep blue sky. Soft wispy clouds floated by. I blocked the sounds of chaos from my inner ears and focused on the scene that was unfolding in the viewfinder of my camera. For a moment I was in a world of my own, and now, whenever I view this photograph, I am taken back to that world.
Simplicity in imagery is powerful.
by tmoffett | Jun 22, 2010 | Color, Composition, Landscape, Uncategorized
Sunbathing Allowed
A crisp Saturday morning at sunrise brought calm and empty waters at Lake Lowell. Just an hour later and the lake would be bustling with watercraft and fishermen. And little later than that and this dock would be filled with swimmers and sunbathers of all ages. I just happen to catch the calm before the storm!
While walking along the shoreline near the boat ramp I found this view of the dock. The blue sky at dawn reflecting on the water seemed to give a cool feeling to the whole scene. What really makes the image for me, though are the string of orange buoys leading from the dock to the trees on the left. They provide just enough pattern and complimentary color to break up the smooth cool tones throughout the photograph. I love the feel, the texture and color. It all works together for the good of the image.
by tmoffett | Jun 18, 2010 | Black and White, Composition, Landscape
John Day Fossil Beds, Painted Hills Unit
On our way home from the Oregon Coast last week, one of the reasons we nearly ran out of gas was because we stopped at the fossil beds to photograph and by the time we got back on the road and into a town with a gas station they were all closed. I am working on a panoramic image form here that I will post later, but this one I have grown to like as well. It really looks good as a larger print, so I hope you get the effect here.
The sun was setting and skimming across the surface of the hills causing them to really stand out against the brush around them. The diagonals flowing from left to right, top to bottom and then the lighter hills moving in the opposite direction break up the composition just enough to keep it interesting. This is one of those photographs that I was pulled into and started shooting, although I didn’t know exactly why. It was after I started working on it to get ready to print that I began to fall in love with it. It sort of grows on you. The more I look at it, the more I like it. The light, the line, the repetition, the movement of the brush in the foreground due to wind… I’m not sure what I like most. Maybe it is the whole experience.
Technical info: Canon 5D, Canon 24-70 2.8L @ 35mm, f22, 1.3 sec., ISO 100
More images at MoffettGallery.com.
by tmoffett | Jun 17, 2010 | Color, Composition, Landscape
Aspens, Jackson Hole, WY
Not everything that I photograph is water. I love nature and spend a lot of time in the outdoors. I have learned that wherever you are images can be made. If the light is right then you can find a composition that will be nice.
I was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming a while back for some meetings and found some time to go our photographing. We (Christeena and I) had been out photographing some barns and other old structures when it started raining, I mean really raining. We found shelter in the car and decided to wait out the storm. As the rain slowed, the sun peeked through the clouds and its diffused light fell on this small aspen grove that was right in front of where we had parked the car. I got out, composed and shot. It doesn’t happen that easy very often.
The dappled, soft light falling on the aspens and wet grass create and almost painterly look here that is wonderful. The soft color, the repetition of the trees, and all of the elements in play here add to the beauty in nature that we often find right after a rainstorm. Everything feels and smells so fresh. It was that feeling of freshness that I was trying to capture.
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