20-OCT-2006
Lee Vining Falls, Lee Vining, California, 2006
Many of the photographers who were shooting alongside of me when I made this image, preferred to use tripods, filters, and very slow shutter speeds to blur this flow of water, make it silky smooth, creating peaceful, ethereal, almost silent images. I do exactly the opposite here – I take the same waterfall and make it roar with power and energy. I hand hold the camera and use a very fast shutter speed (1/800th of a second) to stop the action of the falls, letting the thunderous flow hang forever in an explosion of frozen threads of water. The image is largely monochromatic, except for the rich golden brown color of the central rock at left. I want to add the hard edge of realism to this image, so I did not convert it to black and white as I did with another waterfall image which you can see by clicking on the link below.
19-OCT-2006
Walker River, Bridgeport, California, 2006
The rapids of the Walker were not particularly beautiful or unique, so I worked instead on juxtaposing the moving water against symbolic context on land. I found a fallen tree lying in deep shadow that seemed to echo the undulations of the flowing water before it. The Walker’s banks are lined with many such trees, caught by its floodwaters and then left strewn along its banks as its waters receded. I devote more space to the shadows that surround the tree, and use the river as context, instead of as subject. The tortured, barren limbs of the abstracted tree attest to the power of the river, and the fury of nature.