Lago Grey, Patagonia 2012
I’ve only just dipped my toes into my images from this years Patagonia photo trip. Here is a backlit shot of Lago Grey with Paine Grande cast in an orange glow from a setting sun.
I was initially attracted to the rock in the mid-ground – with it’s graphic-angular shape and directional lighting. But it was only while setting the camera up on my tripod that I noticed the lower darker rocks. I felt these could be a great foreground detail with their mottled texture. Often black rocks turn to a muddy mess in a scene, but when there is back lit directional light shining on them, it can help lift their tonal values from extreme black, into the lower mid-grey tones. Making it easier for me to record them on Fuji Velvia.
I made this image on my Mamiya 7 camera. I’m aware that I’m a landscape photographer who feels more at home with portrait-orientated compositions. Perhaps it’s the ability to mix a lot of sky in with a lot of foreground that works for my eye. I’m really not sure, but having a mix of aspect ratios to work with has really helped me open up my eyes to the surrounding landscape and consider where each object should be placed.
Lovely image Bruce. What’s the blue thing just above mid frame? Looks like an iceberg but not familiar with the location to know if there’s a glacier there.
I don’t know if you recall on Skye I said I found myself shooting portrait a lot, having done so very little previously. This wasn’t a suggestion from you but wonder if the culmination of the things we talked about led me there.
I’m still feeling much more comfortable in portrait, it seems to fit how I see better and I know if I’ve got some superfluous sky I will be cropping to 4×5 (another Percy habit I’ve developed!).
Reflecting I wonder if it’s because it’s easier to compose vertically? It’s easier to decide when the sky is superfluous rather than where to crop the ground. Width-wise you don’t tend to get an awful lot more in than your foreground when you’re close. Fewer decisions perhaps?
I struggle with landscape now as a strong foreground leads to a mere sliver of sky. I perhaps need to get lower but that can also lead to a bit of a mess with everything piling on top of each other. I’m working to build more confidence in landscape.
Comment by Duncan Fawkes — 23 August, 2012 @ 7:46 am