30-SEP-2006
Cowboy and color, Jackson, Wyoming, 2006
I photographed this same statue as an abstraction (click on the small thumbnail below) to make its viewers think it almost real. In this case, however, I use this statue of a rodeo rider, which stands in Jackson’s town square, as context for the brilliant color coming from the tree overhead. The bronze statue acquires a golden tone all of its own as the vivid leaves seem to bow to it in salute. This image is largely about the nature of color and in this case, it provides much of the meaning.
26-SEP-2006
Entrance, the Snow Lodge at Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
The colorful golden lanterns standout against a rich blue evening sky, bringing an oasis of warmth to the chilly open grid of timbers that form their ceiling. The figures of the bear and pine tree on the lanterns are the icons of Yellowstone itself. The low vantage point and the little Leica’s 28mm wideangle lens, allow me to get close to the lanterns for detail, yet still include much of the open log portico roof that supports them.
29-SEP-2006
The lone Aspen, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 2006
A setting sun paints the rich orange colors of the sole Aspen here, as well as turning the green and brown sage a lovely gold. There are three color layers to this vertical photograph: a golden foreground takes up three quarters of the frame, while the orange Aspen and a smaller green tree to its left provide the middleground, and the towering Tetons offer a muted contextual background. I moved my vantage point so that the pointed Aspen tree repeats the point of the largest mountain.
28-SEP-2006
Yellow stone, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
These must be the very rocks that gave Yellowstone its name. We came upon them on the face of a hill near the Golden Gate, just south of Mammoth Hot Springs. I used a 300mm focal length to fill the frame with them. The harsh, overhead noon light creates deep, high key shadows that deepen the relief and give the rocks a three dimensional appearance.
28-SEP-2006
Canary Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
Canary Spring is hot, very hot. Its water is boiling. As hot water flows from hot springs such as this, mats of brilliant color appear –yellow, orange, and green. When shadows of trees move over the surface of this water, it can reflect the sky and appear blue. The color is caused by colonies of photosynthetic bacteria and algae. There are 10,000 thermal features in Yellowstone – hot springs, geysers, mud pots and fumaroles. I built this image around three color layers – the bluish green shadowed foreground with the dead trees jutting in to the spring from the left, the steamy orange middleground, and the brown hills in the background.
20-OCT-2006
Eared Grebe, Mono Lake, California, 2006
This is one of 1.5 million grebes that float on the salty waters of California’s Mono Lake. The red volcanic hills that surround the lake cast their colors upon its waters at dawn, giving this grebe a golden feeding ground. The reflected color gives this image both its visual punch and its story. For more on the Eared Grebe, see:
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Eared_Grebe.html
07-AUG-2006
Soho Sunset, New York City, 2006
A cross section of the Industrial Age serves as the foreground layer for a sunset that illuminates a flow of golden clouds and contrails in the pale blue evening sky. The abstracted foreground layer provides substantive context for these colorful pyrotechnics. The water tank, which blocks the sun, could be as old as the 20th Century itself. The buildings below it, which echo the diagonal flow of the overhead clouds, appeared in the mid 20th Century. A street light, bursting out of the trees to point at the tower, is from the late 20th Century. The streaking contrails, offering a diagonal counter thrust to the huge golden cloud, are trails from 21st Century jets. But it is the color that makes this scene memorable. The intensity of golden sun celebrates the end of another working day in Soho, the industrial heart of Old New York.
10-JUN-2006
Tide pool, Otter Crest Beach, DePoe Bay, Oregon, 2006
Starfish, and anemones, some open and some closed, make for a colorful gathering on the edge of a tide pool. Color plays an essential role in this image. Without it, we would not readily see the striking differences between species of tide pool life. As with flowers, it is color that gives these creatures much of their identity. Seen together, the greens, oranges, and purples in this image create a chromatic palette that resonates with lush theatricality.
13-JUN-2006
Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon, 2006
If Portland can be summed up with a single image, I feel this one can do it. The rich colors of a timeless rose, photographed in the city's Rose Garden, under a softly overcast sky define Portland. Flowers are among the few subjects that are almost always photographed in color, because that is how they usually proclaim their identity. The configuration of the petals may play a big role as well, but we cherish flowers because of their coloration. This image celebrates that color – both in the pink of the rose itself and in the reds of the buds emerging from the dark green leaves behind it.
23-FEB-2006
Hotel colors, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2006
Red and blue are both primary colors, and this hotel has used them to draw attention to its contemporary architecture. I make use of these colors in warm morning light to enrich the image, stimulate the imagination of the viewer, and symbolize energy and modernity. I layer the image with a screen of foliage to create the illusion of depth. The powerful shadows also provide a three-dimensional thrust to the structure. The image is tied together by the glowing reflection of the red wall upon a shadowed wall just across from it, as well as by the linkage of the blue wall at the back with the lighter blue sky overhead.
23-MAR-2006
Children’s Peace Monument, Hiroshima, Japan, 2006
Children from around world have made tiny paper cranes out of colored paper and sent them to this memorial to honor the memory of the thousands of children who perished in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The cranes are displayed in a shadowy showcase. I used my spot metering option to expose for the highlights, saturating the primary colors and bringing the details in both texture and form.
17-MAR-2006
Approach of the guard, Toksugung Palace, Seoul, Korea, 2006
Marching to the beat of drums and gongs, a contingent of new guards, dressed in brilliantly colored costumes, passes through the gates of the palace. They wear brilliant yellow costumes, and led by a man wearing red, blue and yellow. They march behind yellow and red flags. Everything in this image except for the palace gates and the softly focused trees in the distance is a primary color. The bright but flat lighting of a thinly overcast day is ideal for bringing such colors by eliminating variations in light and shadow.