semillerimages.com - Image of the Week 4/4/05 Sand and Stone
Steve
The greatest gift that photography has given me is the rediscovery of
everything that I can see. The years have gone by and I look at things
I have seen a hundred times before, but I see them differently now. The
examination of the mundane reveals hidden beauty and form time after
time. The world really is a rather incredible place.
In the last couple of weeks I have been shooting pictures around the
guide trailer (the break spot for the tour guides for those of you
unfamiliar with my job at the castle) and I just stuck up (with
magnets) a little exhibition of the including images of raindrops on
the plants and images of the tiny wildflowers on the hillside behind
the trailer. I was pushed to do the small exhibition as many people
asked me what the heck I was taking pictures of in between tours, so I
decided to show them. I will most likely put them up on my website so
you can see them sometime soon... if you're a guide or another staff
member at the castle, you can see the pictures for the next couple of
weeks at work. I printed the images on my HP 8450 inkjet printer, which
is the first printer I have owned that I actually liked the ouput. This
is really the reason why I ended up doing the set of images, it was
relatively easy - but not really cheap considering the ink and paper
costs. If you want a bit more info on the printer, drop me a line.
I thought I was going to show you that set of images this week, but
after work today I drove up to Arroyo something or other, where the
windsurfers windsurf, just north of the castle. I was originally
stopping there to take a few pics of the windsurfers to justify writing
off my mileage to work on my taxes... shhh, don't tell the IRS :) The
windsurfers were interesting and all, but the beach attracted my
attention more. This section of the coast is particularly rocky, but
the sand is smooth in a lot of places only interrupted by a sprinkling
of pebbles here and there. The tide was low and the patterns created by
the water in the sand were very interesting to my eye. The time was
critical though, as it was about two hours before sunset, so even the
smallest of grooves were accented by the low angle of the sun. At noon,
there would have been nothing. One of the biggest reasons for
photographers of the landscape appreciate the sunrise and sunset is not
for the colors primarily, but rather for the angle of light making the
form of the land more emphasized. Strong light angles are good for
almost all photography, with one major exception - the female face.
There are also exceptions here too, but in most cases for myself
personally, I like rather flat light on the face of a woman regardless
of age... why that is, I cannot accurately say, but look at advertising
images of women and you will see what I write of. Angular light on a
woman that makes shadows on their faces is just not flattering to me,
most of the time.
I have digressed and I have told you so even though you know it :)
I flew down to Mexico last year, with a flight from SLO to Phoenix,
then to Puerto Vallarta. I was transfixed on the forms of the land from
twenty thousand feet. In particular, I was fascinated by the obviously
large volumes of water that have swept across the immense deserts of
the southwest US and northern Mexico. Granted, the land has been there
a long time to be sure, but from the height that the airplanes were
flying, the land reminded me of the forms in the dry river beds around
SLO county and the shapes the sand is molded into on the beach. I tried
my best to get some good images from the plane, but the double glass
and plastic just screwed everything up too much. Oh but the patterns
that water can make. If you have ever wondered why the news people tell
you (if you didn't know already) that there was liquid flow on the
moon, Mars or where ever, just go to the beach and see for yourself.
The effect that liquid has on the land is unmistakable. At the San
Simeon campground beach, the tidal flow inland makes a new version of
the Grand Canyon in the sand on a daily basis, I wonder how long it
took for the mountains and plains of Mexico to look as they do.
Centuries and millenia times ten.
The picture that I chose this week is almost arbitrary, I have several
images of equal quality, but this one is the first that I processed
when I got home. This image would look much better as a print at least
a foot in length, but alas, most of your monitors would not support it.
I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
If you're interested in a print of this, or maybe a tryptich of them
... drop me a line, I could use the money to buy some more equipment :)
http://www.semillerimages.com/iow-link/iow-4-4-05-sandandstone.html
Take care,