Fall Color Along the Buffalo National River

Fall color has arrived. It has a way to go to be at peak, but personally I prefer it early and late when the colors are mixed and there are more textures. This picture was taken yesterday while I was waiting on the elk. Great work if you can get it.

River reflections are great landscape subjects. The Buffalo National River region has many different choices for landscape shots like Hawksbill Crag and Roark Bluff in Steel Creek. I don't prefer either, just one step behind these marquee subjects are river pictures that are amazing. The good news is that they are everywhere on the river, end to end, and the big show is just starting.

Elk often take cover around 8 or 9 AM. About this time, and for another hour or so, river landscapes really light up. They are a perfect complement to your elk shooting.

If you seek elk river crossings, you can get both. Nearly all my landscapes are an afterthought of my wildlife photos. I sit on a game trail waiting for what comes. Occasionally I put a wide angle lens on and shoot the landscape I am given.  The picture below is an example. I would not change much if I was just seeking landscape photos.

Early Fall Color Reflection on the Buffalo National River 10/10/11

Elk Photo of the Week -- River Crossing & Drinking

Sometimes you get real lucky. I hand-held this shot at about 150 yards in mixed light and it came out OK. I believe placing a wild animal in its habitat while exhibiting some of its normal activity tells a story. In fall color it is embellished.

I had pre-visualized this picture, today I got it. I wanted an elk reflection with the animal wading kind of deep. I had to wait an hour on a trail for anything to happen. Patience matters a lot in animal photography. You have to accept the fact that often your best guess is not enough.

5/4/12 Elk Watching Very Good -- Before 7:30AM

Morning Light, Fog & Clouds in Boxley Valley

Elk watching has shifted solidly to a summer viewing pattern. Before 7AM today I saw 4 herds grazing in Boxley Valley fields. By 7:45 they were starting to migrate to their bedding areas. This is the summer elk viewing experience.

Is it worth it to get up so early to see elk?  Absolutely yes. The elk are grazing in foggy fields. You can get photos of elk in the fog, around the edges of it, and fully emerged in the same photo. This makes ordinary field shots special if conditions are right. 

Besides seeing the elk, Boxley Valley on foggy mornings is just stunning.  If you are a photographer it is a great time to take moody landscape photos that exploit the fog as it lifts and animates the fields and buildings. Speaking personally, these are the summer landscapes that interest me besides the pooled-up river. This weather is wall-hanger weather if you can get your exposure correct. Perhaps it is a good time to learn HDR techniques to incorporate in your images. 

Hummingbird Moth at Ponca Elk Education Center

Roadside wildflowers are now blooming heavily. These are great places to get pictures of butterflies too. Make sure you pull off the road and be alert to traffic. There are many places you can prospect for roadside flowers along country roads. This is all day shooting. Butterflies like heat so you can shoot elk and landscapes early, then look for butterflies and roadside wildflowers later.

A great place for butterflies is the grounds of the Ponca Elk Education Center. There you park and be safe out of traffic. Any of the river access points are a good bet too. Remember that butterflies like to "puddle" along the edges of the river and creeks. 

The elk today were in southern pattern. Most of the elk are from the Highway 43/21 intersection and points south. There was one herd near Ponca.  I did see bulls in early velvet in another group. See the  brand new May map below. 

I have edited the wildflower list, although it is possible in some hollers a random specimen might show up of the early species, most are done. 

3/10/12 2012 Wildflower Gallery & Tutorials

Sharp-Lobed Hepatica Lost Valley 3/9

Thought I would share some pictures from this year's wildflower season with commentary. It is still early, but I have a few wildflower images that please me. This blog entry is a brief wildflower tutorial based on my voice. The important thing though is perhaps to copy my approach to composition, even if you arrive in a totally different place.

My takeaway point for you is to THINK, please ask and answer your own questions about wildflower pictures and composition. This blog entry is a glimpse into my thought process. I want you to have one of your own.

This first photo is of a sharp-lobed hepatica that I took yesterday. I like long contrast scales with brights and darks. When wandering looking for compositions, I am drawn to selective lighting and shadow plays. This photo has them both. I believe pulling back to grab the context and grabbing the texture of leaves is essential. Spring wildflowers are about the renewal of life. Dead leaves provide the contrasting backdrop for rebirth. To me at least, the shadow tracing the bloom expresses the cycle of life -- it makes the connection. Note that the two flowers are counterpointed (facing a different direction and at different bloom stages). The photo has a huge negative space to the left that is unified with the flower though the shadow.

Done well, photography is poetry, communicating various inflections of the human experience. If an image does not pull you to take it, that quality of evoking viewer engagement and emotion is not there, after all, at some plane we all resonate as one. 

Emerging Trillium Sessile -- Lost Valley 3/9

The photo on the left is of an emerging trillium sessile. No purple bloom yet, but there is a bud. I was drawn to this because of the light and that magnificent leaf. The moss makes the photo sensuous to me, adding lush texture and color.

There is no need for a bloom. An effective photo can be carried by light, texture, lines and color. This image is rich in contrasting forms and textures.

To get a photo like this one you need to take pictures at the ends of the day. Low angular light is a key ingredient that animates texture and form with subtle shadows and gradients of light. What I often see is a nuanced composition absolutely fried by on-camera flash. Found light is your friend.

Found light and long tonal scales separate an artistic composition from a snap shot. 

Emerging Trillium Sessile 2. Lost Valley 3/9

This image goes to the issue of texture, lines and negative space, meaning here space away from the main subject. Note that the rib on the leaf on the left roughly resonates with the curve created on the right by the three trillium. This photo has a circular flow to it. Note that the light dynamics create their own shapes.

Maybe the biggest lesson here is to give your compositions space, and please, don't just slam your subject in the center of the frame. I call those pictures "splats".  I have taken my share of splats, but I hardly do anymore. Getting past "splats" is the first step to creating your photographic voice. The natural experience is both subject and context. Mine the context.

Now back to my first and most essential takeaway point. If you are to find your voice, you need to think, you need to question, you need to experiment and you need to fail. Be fearless about failure, failure leads you to insight and learning. If you gain a critical insight from coming up short is that really a failure? I don't think so.

I believe it was Einstein who said "insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result". Be thoughtful. Ask questions and experiment -- dig in. Inspired photography is about thoughtful hard work. Try this and that, learn, and bring together all that learning. You will find your voice.