Five Favourite Photos

AZ - Quartzsite

Storm tossed beach

I believe a photo is created by light, shadow, structure, and story.

The photo above has all four in a perfect balance. We are drawn into the photo by the light in the upper left corner, then cross the sky, curving down and to the left through the water, then back to the right and up over the logs. The light softens in intensity as the eye moves over the photograph. The shadows contrast with the light in the belly of the clouds above the horizon, on the rocks at waters edge, and between the logs. The structure of the composition carries the eye across the clouds and diagonally down to the shore where the rocks of the jutting shoreline direct the eye back across the water to the reflected sunset that pulls the eye down to rocks and logs in the lower left corner. And the logs guide the eye across and up to the sky again. The story of the earlier storm, that tossed the logs violently upon the shore, is contrasted with the calm of the water at sunset. What was once violent is subdued.

Light and Music

This minimalist image is full of shadow, and makes the light of greater value. The diagonal structure focuses the eye like a funnel to the details of line. Did the light call the music or the music call the light?

Athabasca River Valley

Grand vistas change at different heights. If this had been taken from the valley floor the mountains would have greater majesty and the observer would feel more humility. If it had been taken from a higher peak the world would be grand in scope yet feel diminished to the observer in majesty. The viewer would seem more god-like. Here at mid-height we have more of the later and less of the former. An individual walking down alongside the river would look like an insect. Without a human comparison, the trees are more like sprigs of grass. I prefer the humbled viewing from the valley where the trees and mountains are majestic and I feel more a part of nature, rather than superior to it.

A Path to Wander

Above the heavy canopy has muted the light and dulled the shadows. This makes the path more inviting and feels less like a walk in the dark woods. Paths have their own structure and story. Trodden over decades or generations they invite us to wander over their well-worn twists and turns.

Monochrome Butterfly, an Everyday Sublime

Almost all my photography boils down to a “Decisive Moment,” as Henri Cartier Bresson would say. What I have come to call the “Everyday Sublime.” Though I do not normally photograph wildlife, this monochrome butterfly captivated me and was a patient model. I prefer the slower pace of Landscape and Architectural photography to the fast shutters and reflexes needed for Wildlife or Street Photography. My wandering nature also is better suited to walking through a landscape or cityscape rather than sitting in a blind or stalking pedestrians.

I hope you have enjoyed these musing.

What I am Reading and Watching…

• Burke, James Lee (2019) New Iberia Blues - 4

• Blue Eye Samurai (2023) - 4

• Mercy for None (2025) - 2

• Kingdom of Heaven (2005) - 5

Key: 5 loved it, 4 liked it, 3 ok, 2 didn’t like it, 1 waste of time

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