Organic Light Pan

These days I make my living as an Artist and Teacher, which is strange given that all my training has been in science culminating in a doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.  It was during that time as a doctoral student that I became enamored with photography.  I have always loved the outdoors, and quickly discovered the natural and wild areas of the San Francisco Bay Area when I arrived.  My jaunts into the Santa Cruz Mountains were very threraputic in combating the stress associated with graduate study and work.  One day though I picked up a camera out of the necessity to defend my good word against claims that I could not have possibly seen the new crescent moon when it first becomes visible.  The camera was at first a scientific tool that I used to record natural phenomena, much like any other scientific instrument used in an experiment.  However what happened after that was pivotal in my life.

The light was transforming.  It was alive and changed its mood constantly and it brought me along for the ride with it.

I don’t have many photos from those early days any more but the above sunset was one that was hard to just toss away.  It had a quality of light that was just mesmerizing.  Light became my drug and I needed to chase after it often and capture it for my own edification.  For six years as a graduate student I pursued the light.  Capturing it as often as I could, wherever I happened to be.  I was an observer, I was a learner, I was a scientist with a tool in my hand that captured light.  Nearing the end of graduate school I met my future wife, who was an Artist and taught art at a local private elementary school.  It was exciting being around her when she worked.  She put her soul into her paintings and it came through in her work, it was her.  In six years of trying to share the excitement I found while out photographing the landscape, no one I knew shared my excitement until I met her.  She actually pushed me to achieve better results and was genuinely interested in the light I was capturing.

Fast forward to a time after graduate shcool, we are married now and things are different.  My photos were now obstacles that my wife needed out of the way.  Thousands of them, stored in boxes, were in her way as she moved through the house.  She brought an ultimatum – “toss out all these boxes collecting dust or do some thing with them”!  And that was the pivot that changed me from being a scientist concerned with observation into a artist concerned with expression.  For nearly eight years I had been in observation mode internalizing the natural world.  Capturing moments in time that caused my heart to flutter or that stole my breath away.  For eight years Mother Earth was the balm of my aching soul.  Now it was time to express to others what was arguably overflowing in my heart.

I have read many definitions of art.  None seem to hit the very core of what art is or what an artist does.  To me an artist is someone who expresses to others what is contained in his or her heart and art is that expression.  It can be beautiful or ugly, joyous or sad, and constantly changing.  By default the artist is a scientist because simply put a scientist is some one very skilled at observation.  The scientist internalizes observations and formulates theories based on those observations.  For the most part the scientist’s job stops there.  The artist on the other hand is also a skilled observer and internalizes experiences as well.  However the artist is also a skilled communicator and expresses what he or she has internalized through some medium, be it visual or otherwise.  And while formal science is fairly young in the scope of time, the skills of observation and expression used by an artist is as old as humanity itself.

Humans have been expressing their experiences through some moving means for a very long time.  Whether it is through pictures on a wall, or through the words of a story teller or author, or through rhythm and tones, the artist relates what is in his or her heart to others in moving ways.  In some respects art is what completes us as human beings.  It brings us together peacefully.  It lightens our circumstances and allows us to escape, even if for only a short while, the rigors of life itself.  It allows us to relate with our feelings and emotions – it makes us human.

In the world of today, where terror, oppression, tyranny, injustice, and greed dominate the public sphere it is even more important that we double, or even triple our efforts to include art in our lives.  I am afraid for the generations that follow me that are devoid of art.  How cold and lacking of compassion will they be?  Disconnected from their emotions like soulless robots running on automatic or worse yet with the intent on set to kill!  Art is not taught in schools anymore due to budget cuts.  It is seen as extracurricular and placed on the wayside.  If a young student has a special talent for expression it is not fostered in a meaningful way such that he or she might make an honest living at it.  It is truly a sad state of affairs.

In times of financial turmoil it is art that gets amputated and left to rot first – it being seen as not necessary in life.  However it is through art that we find respite from the worries and anxiety that comes from tribulations in life.  Is it any wonder that hospitals and medical clinics are chock full of art on the walls?  Illness brings our mortality center stage and nothing is more stressful and un-nerving than that.  And yet through the art on those walls, a climate of peace and serenity can pervade the heart.  Look at any piece of art you have in your own home, and observe how it makes you feel.  No, art is not only crucial now more than ever before – it is Necessary.

Strange that it has taken me nearly all spring to bring out a photo of the last sunset of winter.  Although not entirely true, as I posted a version of this sunset in The Last of Winter.  It is amazing to me how different a few minutes can make in a photograph not to mention the few months that have transpired since I made this photo. 

Time has a way of sneaking past you very quickly.  From week to week as I moved from show to show, filling orders made for photos of moments long since past, I had little time to work on new material.  When I do get the chance and inspiration to sit down and seriously work on new material, It is like I am looking at the scene for the first time all over again.  And although I can remember all the feeleings of elation and joy that coursed through me at the time I made the photo, seeing it again and now intimately working with it for hours to bring out those feelings I once had makes me realize how important photography is.  Not only is it a record of time, but for the photographer it is also a record of the experience.  So here it is, a recount of my thoughts as they come back to me as I look at this last sunset of the winter of 2009.

Wow, everything is really green this year.  The hills are looking good, wildflowers might be aboundant here this year – its to early now, maybe in a month or so.  I’ll need to come back.  Let me go over to my butterfly hill and see if the wild cucumber is blooming.  Nothing yet, but the hills sure are green.  What about down in the hollow down there, I can check if I see any poppy plants waiting to bloom.  None yet, Hmm.  Lets go back up and around to the trillium patch, wow I need to hike more, I’m getting winded to easily.  Hey what’s that – that tree is just glowing.  That back lighting is unbelieveable!  I only have a few minutes.  I don’t know if I can pull this one off.  Ok quick unload.  Let’s see.  Maybe the 300, yeah the 300 will do fine.  Let me check quickly with the digital, yeah about 100 mm I think the 300 will do fine.  I’ll need the ND – work fast.  Take care, don’t drop anything, but got to work fast.  Ok spin it around, get the dark cloth, Ooh that is nice.  I need the loupe, focus, tilting won’t help so check how much depth will I need, where’s that card….. f32 should do.  Wait let me get this sunset on the digital and zoom in on the sun.  OK got it.  Meter quick, the light is going fast, aaah… the lower right for the foreground, now the the sky, wait hit memory, now the sky – keep it plus one, there, its five stops brighter, no six – five and half, ok one stop up I need 4 stops of ND, good.  That 2 stop filter is bad all scratched up I need to get a new one – like I have $100 right now anyway.  Get the 3 in there, the 1 stop, adjust, oh this is going to be hard to see and adjust that tree is too high in the frame – ….let me see.  To dark, open the apeture, its still hard to see, hurry up the light is going ok there, that is good I hope, I wish it was as easy as it was with 35mm argh.  Ok f32 on foreground gives 1 sec.  Set it, close shutter, test it – good.  Uh! film, hurry…. holder, put film in, load in camera, wait, make sure everything is tight, back, tripod head, swings, good, put film in, pull the slide, cock the shutter, ok go.  Got it! quick, one more, get the film in – careful don’t move the camera, pull slide, shutter, and go.  Got it.  What a day.  That sunset is just awesome.  Let me get this tree on digital.  Get this big guy off, Ok, meter darn the light is gone, its totally different now.  Get it any way.  wow look at those hills , this is really going to be a great photo, that mist is pinking up real nice, zoom in and get that.  Wow its so nice out here.  Amazing tomorrow is the equinox, this was the last sunset of winter.  Its so quiet, so calm.  I hope the 4×5’s come out.  Well keep one behind in case exposeure was off.  It nice out here, alright lets load up.

It all comes screaming back.  Photography – memories & life on a piece of celluloid – amazing.

Enjoy Summer!  Peace.

It was that time of the month again – searching for the new moon.  The conjunction took place on Sunday May 24th and on that evening, even though it was cloudy and overcast in my area, the moon was too small to be seen with the naked eyes.  With Sunday being the 29th day since the last time the moon was seen, the descision of when the next new month, Jamad Ath-Thaani, would start was by default on Tuesday, completing the previous month as a 30 day month.  This made searching for it on Monday not as critical.  But that never stopped me.

This time around I was very excited to try and photograph the new moon using the large format 4×5 camera.  Two weeks ago I found a Nikon 500mm f/11 Telephoto lens.  A lens that I have been trying to find for almost three years.  Nikon of course discontinued making that lens years ago and it rarely turns up on the used market, but two weeks ago chance would have it that I was searching for it and found one in near mint condition, for nearly 50% of what it goes for new!  So I had always wanted this lens to allow me to include the moon, especially the new moon, in my landscape photos.  So this new moon was going to be that lens’ maiden voyage in moon photography.

I decided I would spend the day out with my four kids, aka photo assistants, bumping around the coast giving their mother the day off.  Destination – Point Lobos State Reserve on the Big Sur Coast.  The day was clear and sunny until we reached Monterey and then the skies became overcast and gloomy.  Upon our arrival, I realized that I had forgotten to bring along my photo vest.  No big deal right?  Wrong.  For in it was my light meter, color meter, ND filters, and focusing loupe.  Oops – No large format photography today.  How was I to photograph the moon later?  So I took a deep breath and decided that today was a day off, no serious photography.  Yeah right.

With a small DSLR in hand the kids and I explored Point Lobos.  It is a very intricate piece of the coast.  The rocks are contorted in places, stratified in others, and conglomerate everywhere else.  It is a very difficult place to capture in a photo.  The light needs to be just right, and I still have not been there when it was just right.  To add insult to injury the reserve is in full bloom right now.  California Poppies, Coast Paintbrush, Dudleas, and Seaside Daisies to name just a few.

 It takes time to get a feel for Point Lobos.  It is a slow moving place.  The sea does not churn with great waves rather slow moving turbulent waters sloshing in and out of the rocky cliffs.  Capturing this water action is another matter altogether.  Timing is everything with these conditions.  Clearly a digital camera makes this endeavor less painful to the pocket and much more enjoyable knowing you got the action at its peak. 

At the same time however, when working with the big camera and film, there is a certain connection that is made between you and the ocean.  You spend more time studying the water.  You watch the waves, not one or two, but tens of waves until you start seeing the attributes in the wave that are needed to create the perfect water action.  Such was the case when Controlled Chaos, Rush Hour and Mist-erious Seas were made.  But this time, it was kind of nice having the digital camera to see the results right away.  It allowed me to capture something nice and still keep my attention on my four intrepid explorers.

Theodore Roosevelt, known as the “Rough Rider”, was once quoted as saying “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat“.  Well I think my kids are taking that to heart in a very serious way.  Its as if they don’t know that there are limits to how daring one can be.  Put a camera in their hands and they stop at almost nothing to capture what they see.

 And if I had let her, my three year old would have have followed them out onto that rock.  In time.  Her ambition preceeds her sure footedness for now, and even though she is gung-ho to follow her siblings, she readily accepts a fatherly hand or a ride on the shoulders to get to where she wants.  But once there, she gets into the thick of it in a serious way.  I think that is what makes the magic of childhood so grand.  They don’t know their own limits and so they are willing to try everything.  Sometimes however, it is to their own demise and detrement, especially if the wisdom of the parents is not there to keep their foolhardiness in check, inspite of the dissenting voices insisting that they can do it.  But caution aside, and they find the most amazing places.

We arrive at Hidden Beach.  A small secluded cove beach on the south end of the more popular Weston Beach.  Its a small beach no more than about 50 feet at its widest point and with a narrow opening to the sea.  The beach itself is made up entirely of small rocks and pebbles in a rainbow of colors and hues.  The kids quickly find the most dangerous place on the beach to explore, a small indentation in the rocks on the north side of the beach, a small cave of sorts that they quicky dub “The Cave of Terror”.

With each large wave a rush of water comes in and encircles the large rock on the north side of the beach and rushes around to fill in the “cave”.  The only refuge from the rushing water is a small rise of rocks in the cave directly up against the wall.  But once trapped in there, the sight of onrushing water is enough to elicit the squeals of doom from children who think the end is upon them!  Then in a sudden rush of panic they dart out of the cave as the water subsides, proud in themselves thinking that they had just escaped a catastrophe of monumental proportions.  Once they gleened all the thrill they could from the cave of terror, the fascination of minutia found on the beach quickly overtook them.  For the next two hours, they combed that small beach for anything that did not resemble a rock or a pebble.  And in some cases what they found was indeed fascinating.  Suddenly a thought occured to me.  I remembered a series of photographs made by Georg Popp and his family during their outings at the seashore.  So I looked around the pebbles for some likely Found object to be the base of an image.  I then called my kids and explained what we were to do.  Bring everything you find, everything.  We’ll pick the best and put them together to make a photogrpah of our day at Point Lobos.  So here over the course of two hours is a succession of photos resulting in “Lost and Found”.

The base context of the final image was this piece of kelp that had started to dry out.  I positioned the camera directly over it and made this base photo.  Then the first wave of interesting items started to appear.  I widened the view a bit and started to arrange the items.

At this point, I decided to start in the hunt of things as well.  I brought in more than just the shells my kids found as there was more to be found on the beach than just that.  I found blades of sea grass, other bits of kelp, pieces of coral, crab shells and other colorful pebbles and stones.  Pieces of irridescient mother-of-pearl on the insides of broken scraps of abolone shells and animal’s teeth as well.  We would probably still be there now finding stuff had it not been that high tide was threatening our “canvas”.

With a few more items, like a blade of sea grass, an old sea-bleached crab pincer, a headless crab with legs still attached, a few more shells, and voila.  Lost and Found.

All these items were once alive.  They lost their lives at sea and tossed and turned in the waves, carried for who knows how long and for how far, they managed to be washed ashore on Hidden Beach.  Lost for countless time, unseen by untold numbers of visitors to this beach.  A veritable cornicopia of visual delights found by four children and their child-hearted father and arranged together to give a picture of what diverse life exists under the sea.  It is one of the most enjoyable photographs I have ever made during one of the most memorable days I have ever had.  You can be sure that Lost and Found will be hanging on one of our walls very shortly.

Oh…and whatever happened with sighting the new moon.  The skies in Big Sur stayed overcast the whole time.  With just over one hour before sunset, we set out on the road in search of a place where the skies were clear.  We dashed north along Highway 1 hoping to see some clear skies.  The skies that were clear just a few short hours ago, were now gray and enshrouding.  I began to think that we might not see it at all.  Even as far north as Santa Cruz, the skies were still overcast.  I figured I would need to be above the marine layer to even have a chance, but time was not on our side.  As we neared the Highway 17 interchange that would lead us up into and over the Santa Cruz mountains, I spotted some color on the horizon just north of Santa Cruz.  So we continued north until we reached Wilder Ranch State Park, and we made our stand there.  There we were able to see clear sky and it remained so for about 20 minutes.  Then no more than ten minutes after sunset, fairly high up in the sky, the fine feathery whisp of a crescent appeared.

And so what started out as a day of photography gone bad, turned out to be a day of interesting dichotomies.  Abandon and Wisdom, Life and Death, Lost and Found, and Ending with a Beginning.  But why should that surprise us?  For has not this world been created with everything in it as pairs? From things to events to feelings, everything has its opposite and together they create a balance and harmony that keeps this world and everything in it going. 

Peace to All.

Well it is finally over. The 2009 Open Studio exhibit and sale is closed – for now anyway. It was an exciting couple of months getting ready for this year’s show. I had a somewhat of a slow start, but really ramped up the preparations in the last month.

First I needed to advertise the exhibit beyond what the Silicon Valley Open Studios organization does. I printed 2500 4×6 inch post cards and mailed one to every person who ever bought a photo from me in the past or ever placed their name on my mailing list. This amounted to about 1/5th of the total number of cards printed. The rest were distributed throughout my neighborhood – about 1500 cards. That was a monumental feat – oops I mean feet, that is my feet were hating me for this. In fact every foot in my household hated me for it.

Each card had printed on back the details of the show dates and times as well as a special promotion I was running. Each card also had a unique code number that was randomly generated and randomly assigned a dollar value of $10, $25, $50 or $100! To find out what dollar amount was on that card, the holder of that card would need to come to the show. Then what ever amount came up from the database could be deducted from the purchase price of any photo, note card or calendar the patron wanted. I thought it was a pretty novel idea. In fact it worked very well. More on this below.

This year I dedcided to open my studio two of the three weekends in May when the Silicon Valley Open Studios organization sponsors and advertises this great event. On the first weekend the weather forecast was calling for rain on both days. On Friday evening it did start to rain and so instead of setting my exhibit street-fair style under canopy tents, I did an emergency house re-arrangement and moved everything inside. My living room and dining room were trasformed in to a temporary art gallery.

It worked out well but all was not good. Saturday morning as I was putting the final touches to the gallery, I see a City of San Jose car drive by my house. Ten minutes later its parked in front of my house and the driver is questioning me about my signs and if I want them back! He tells me that it is illegal to post any signs on city property, even on trees! And that if he sees my signs again, I will be fined! Well I had placed 15 signs out and around my neighborhood to help direct people to the exhibit, kind of like a bread trail of sorts. He pulls 6 signs from his back seat of his car, gives them to me, and leaves. Well that left 9 signs out and about and fearing getting in trouble I went out and collected the rest. I then placed two signs on my truck and left it at one end of my block and two more signs on my wifes car and placed it on the other end of my block, it was better than nothing and at least now the signs were not on city prpoerty. However, I felt like this year’s exhibit was going to be a bust – rain and NO SIGNS.

Well it turned out that every sale I made that first weekend came from patrons and neighborhood folks that had one of my promotion cards!

Come the second weekend, I borrowed some cars and parked them in various locations throughout the neighbor hood with those great big yellow signs directing people to the exhibit. Now this time instead of rain, we had temperatures from 94 degrees on Saturday to 102 degrees on Sunday and very little wind! Ouch! And of course this time I did set up the exhibit street-fair style in my driveway. You just can never win sometimes. But again except for one sale, all those who made a purchase did so because they had a promotion card.

All in all, over the two weekends, this year’s Open Studio turned out to be one of my all time highest grossing exhibits. So a BIG Thank You to all those who came by. You truly made this year’s effort worthwhile, and you are definitely appreciated and this will not go un-rewarded in the future. Just wait and see.

This weekend, May 2-3 and two weeks later, May 16-17 I will be opening my studio to visitors and past patrons as part of the Silicon Valley Open Studios. This event takes place every year on the first three weekends in May. This will be the second time my studio is participating.

I am also holding a promotion this year that could earn my visitors upto $100 towards a photograph. I have sent out postcards to all my patrons and anyone who has had an interest in Organic Light. Each postcard has a unique ‘Value Code’ printed on it that was randomly generated. Each random uniqe code has a dollar value assigned to it which could worth $10, $25, $50 or $100!

Now I know it is a bit late for tomorrow, but if you contact me in the coming week via email with your name and mailing address, then I can send you a card for the upcoming Studio show on May 16-17th.

For more information visit the Silicon Valley Open Studios website and check out My Page on the site.

It amazes me how fast time progresses. Another month has gone by since my last post. In that time I tried to catch up on what has been going on photographically on some forums and other websites. I found myself reading some articles written by Joseph Holmes on high end digital and the ins and outs of putting together a medium format digital camera system and dealing with quality control issues as well as the importance of critical focus with such high end imaging equipment. Afterwards I felt like my endeavors in photography were not up to par, lacking, or somehow inferior.

In the past month I also made one trip in search of spring wildflower blooms. I only made two 4×5 photos, and neither was of flowers. I felt like I had missed spring. Then after reading up on high-end medium format digital, I felt like my meager attempts were just that.

And yet in the past month I sold several photos, all of which were made with the 4×5 except for one, which was made using a 10 MP DSLR camera. Each was exceptional in composition: Emerald Pool, Redwood Glow, Rippled Reflection, Autumn Meadow, Before The Heat, and The Test Of Time. Each photo is moving and each moved the patron who purchased them emotionally.

Then this evening, I went out moon sighting, as I do each month, with a 12 MP Nikon D2x digital camera in hand and a prime 400mm f/5.6 manual focus Nikon lens from the late 1980’s era. No thoughts of inadequacy entered my mind once them imagery began to excite my eyes.

Watching the sun go down across the San Francisco Bay among the haze and clouds and sea birds passing by whipped through the sky by a brisk frigid wind, I recalled reading an article years ago written by Galen Rowell who said (I paraphrase), no matter how often you see the same setting sun, something clicks inside and gets one into the business of making photos and nothing else matters. It was not the most exceptional sunset I had ever witnessed, but one that certainly set the mood for what I was to find.

Once the sun did set, the search in the western sky for that thin crescent moon began. After a while, I wondered if I would see it at all this night as the moon was only 23 hours old past conjunction and would only be 1.5% illuminated – a difficult moon to see at best. After about 20 minutes of not seeing it, my attention was diverted downwards to the exposed mud of the Hayward shoreline estuary on the east side of the San Francisco bay.

Visually very exciting with the various textures and cracks, the mud became an interesting subject. What made it even more exciting was that the unusual lighting provided by the remaining blue skylight reflected off the drier more bleached areas of the mud giving a surreal feel to the photograph.

Finally, about half an hour after the sun vanished I looked up and saw a small sliver of light appearing in the sky among the clouds. And again, the subtleties of that light came through and with a camera that pales in comparison to what the highest quality digital equipment can produce. Another moving image of the new moon was made.

This moon was incredibly fine. I lost it in the sky several times after seeing it. I was very happy to have seen it and record its appearance. But I think what impressed me more was that the camera was able to capture subtleties that my eye could not see as I looked on. In this photo, one can just barely make out the entire outline of the moon. The difference in the luminosity of the sky and the disk of the moon is so small that even in Photoshop the luminosity channel of the L*a*b color space only sees a 1% change, and in some spots not even that, as the cursor is moved across the outline of the moon.

Is this a perfect photo technically? No. It suffers from digital noise. It is not as sharp as it could be, although more than acceptable given that the large telephoto lens I was using was shaking quite a bit in that brisk wind. But it leads me to the question of inadequacy. What makes a camera system inadequate? Again, thinking about how I felt after reading those articles on high-end medium format digital camera systems, I began to think that the equipment I had and used was not up to snuff in producing great photos. But no more than 1 year ago, the Nikon D2x was the Nikon flagship camera, and it is a fine camera. Just a little bit over three years ago, nothing in the digital world could even touch the quality of 4×5 film. And according to Joseph Holmes, assembling a top of the line digital medium format camera system is non-trivial. Along with the high resolutions capable of such large sensors and computer designed digital lenses comes what appears to be real issue of quality control. And as outlined in his articles, in some cases, the results are quite poor given what they are capable of. In addition, ones technique behind such cameras becomes ultra-critcal as Micheal Reichmann wrote about on the Luminous-Lanscape article on the Phase One P65+.

This is all fine as it shows that digital equipment is reaching a pinnacle in capturing true to life images. But I have to ask myself, to what end? Do we need all that resolution? Do we need to concern ourselves, as photographers, about focus being one micron (0.000001 meters or 1/1000th of a millimeter) off? Does it matter for the web where unfortunately most of the digital photos end up? I suppose it comes with the advances in technology that we put this technology to the test, but in the end I think it does not amount to a hill of beans when the final photograph produced has little or no emotional value to the patron.

I am not privy to the sales information of other working fine art photographers, but I do wonder how many prints they sell of any given photograph made with such high-end expensive equipment. I know the argument of price vs. value is what gets thrown around when the price tag of such high end systems are brought up, but can they ever recoup the cost of the equipment?

Six years ago during the spring wildflower bloom in Gorman California, I was fortunate enough to have witnessed and photographed that epic bloom. At that time I toted two 35mm cameras, a Nikon F3 and a Nikon F4s, and a barrage of manual focus prime focal length lenses. Digital photography was just making its in-roads and the quality was just about to surpass that of 35mm film. On Easter Sunday morning of 2003 I found myself astounded at that bloom that covered the Gorman Hills. The number of people, photographers and wildflower enthusiasts alike, that had ignored the No Trespassing signs and climbed all over those hills was astounding. I did not however and was very frustrated at not being able to make a photo of just the flowers without having one or more people in the frame. Frustrated, I packed up my gear and proceeded to leave. At the freeway exit there at Gorman, I discovered a dirt road that paralleled Hwy 5 on the west side of the freeway and proceeded down that road. I was now quite a bit away from the hills themselves and had a much wider view. I attached the 400mm telephoto lens to my F4s and started to take intimate photos of the hills. The photo below was one that I came home with.

It has been my number one best selling image from the very first time I showed it. It was not unusual for a large 20×30 inch print to be sold each and every week, and sometimes two per week. Now take a look at a 100% crop of the detail found in a 20×30 enlargement.

It is absolutely nothing to brag about, in fact it is down right ugly. But it has not stopped patrons from marveling at the bloom depicted, amazed by all the color, and moved to unexplainable tears in some cases. But I can’t count the number of times that patrons have compared the 20×30 print to that of the work of Monet. And while I cannot make a claim that even pales next to Monet’s exceptional work, this photograph has been purchased by nearly 250 different patrons over the past six years. This one photo has literally paid off nearly every piece of photographic equipment that I own.

Now if this was not enough, my second best selling photograph, Another Time, again made using 35mm equipment, is poorly focused in the foreground, not by much, but in a 16×24 enlargement it is noticeable to photographers. And yet a framed 16×24 enlargement of that very photograph hangs in the office of the Archbishop William J. Levada in the Vatican in Italy! It was purchased and given to him as a going away gift in 2005 when he moved from San Francisco to the Vatican. He remarked at the time, with tears in his eyes, that it was the most moving photo of Yosemite that he had seen and being a native Californian, Yosemite was his most favorite place and visited there often and that he would be hanging this in his new office. This photo has sold over 120 times since it was made in November of 2001.

Now I am not recounting all of these stories and remarking on the quality of a D2x and old lenses to boast or make anyone believe that my work is anyway exceptional compared to others, in fact I am humbled by the work of many landscape photographers. On the contrary I am trying to point out that photographic equipment will only take a photographer so far. I am not saying that a lowly point and shoot camera can ever take the place of any high-end camera, nor am I saying that a good photo can be made using any camera. But what I want to point out is that as photographers we would not be lost without all of this new cutting edge technology. Yes the technology is remarkable. Yes incredible photos are being made with it. Yes it is stretching the envelope of what is capable. But it has to be in the hands of a capable artist for anything moving to come out of it that will be of any real worth to those who view it. And before you go out and take a second mortgage on your house to finance a top of the line digital medium or large format system, think about the last photo you made and what moved you to make it. Think about the resulting photograph and where it ended up. Was it on paper or did it end up on some web page? Did it move you as an image later the way it moved you when you first saw the scene? Did it move others in the way that it moved you?

Galen Rowell once said “I like to feel that all my best photographs had strong personal visions and that a photograph that doesn’t have a personal vision or doesn’t communicate emotion fails“. That is how I feel about photography as well and it is where I concentrate my energy now, and not on producing lifeless technically perfect images. A camera, no matter how advanced, cannot translate my vision and emotions alone without my artistic ability. And with out that then I would be lost.

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
~ Albert Einstein

Sometimes the heart is moved by the simplest things. Because in those simple, unobtrusive elements of creation the soul finds deep solace and recognition of the creative powers of God.

I can’t think of a way to put it any simpler than that.

The new crescent moon of the 4th month of the Islamic year – Rabi’ Ath-Thani 1430. The new spring moon of 2009, it is as simple as it gets.

Peace – Youssef.

On Wednesday afternoon I decided to take a hike on the very last day of winter. The buzz is that the wildflower bloom this year is early with flowers blooming up and down the state, maybe not as extensive as in years past but definitely blooming. On a good year, Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve, the place where photography first took hold in my heart, is THE wildflower location on the San Francisco Peninsula and I wanted to see if anything had started there.

It was a day where you did not know where you ended and the sky began. The air was so soothing that you could not tell that you were actually outdoors. It was perfect. As I hiked along I realized the flowers were nowhere to be found. But nonetheless, the hike was great and the scenery, as always, was comforting.

At about one mile into my hike I detoured and headed to the ancient oak grove that resides on Russian Ridge. As I approached the grove, the sun was getting close to the horizon and I realized that this was the very last day of winter – March 19th, 2009. It was as perfect a sunset as one could hope for.

I then noticed this live oak basking in the last rays of the winter’s sun. It was backlit and was poised against a distant hill that was in the shadows. It immediately caught my eye and I dropped my pack and pulled out the Large Format camera and began to work. Once I finished I also captured this image digitally as this oak was still waiting to leave. Still in its winter slumber, the early warm temperatures and life giving rains were not enough to coax the leaves to come out – but I am sure they will be out to play in the sun very soon.

I then turned to the sun, that golden warm torch in our sky as it sank lower in the western sky I waited until it was just moments away before it bid us, and winter, a farewell and tripped the shutter once more.

Then I just stood there and watched the sun slowly vanish beneath the horizon – silently and without any fanfare. And suddenly, the last of winter was gone.

The air, laden with moisture, began to chill as the cold wind off the Pacific raced up the canyons and ravines filling it with a delicate mist that began to enshroud the mountains below me in mystery. Mixed with the final rays of the sun, the mountains blushed as Spring began knocking on the door asking to be let in.

Light has always amazed me. It is everywhere in our world as it surrounds us, but at the same time it is invisible until it interacts with the objects in front of us. Then those objects reveal their many shades, tainted if you will, by the light that showers them. Sometimes they glow while other times they come on harshly and force us to look away as if they are trying to tell us to leave them alone. No matter what however, without light they could not manifest themselves for us to see. Without light we would be in perpetual darkness, lost without direction or the courage to step forward. Blinded and bereft of the beauty that appears due to light’s countenance. As spring is now upon us, the days will soon be vibrant with new life basking in the warm light and calling us to come out and play. Let us join the beams of light as they mingle with the Earth and be happy, we all need that.

Peace – Youssef

We are about 10 days away from the vernal equinox.  It is a refreshing time – a time for new beginnings and great hope.  And for about the past 10 days in the midst of rain and turbulent weather, the signs of spring have been present.  We don’t have to go far to find it and enjoy all that it has to offer.  Just a few steps from my studio door, the first signs of this wonderful season in my neighborhood can be seen and enjoyed.

 

These wonderfully vibrant yellow clover blossoms are almost everywhere I look these days.  In front yards, around trees, along the curb line and in garden flower beds, these near fluorescent flowers just glow with new life.  They love the warm sun.  Without the warmth of the sunlight or in the absence of the sun altogether they just close up and hang down.  I decided to get up close and personal with these lovely little flowers yesterday afternoon and was amazed at what I saw.

They glow so brightly that they just bring on a smile.  The slightest breeze can move them and this tried my patience greatly for the time I spent with them.  But looking closer yet, the detail that they hold starts to really astonish the eye.

The closer I looked the more amazed I became.  From fine ridges on their delicate yellow petals to the green spirals that lead into the center to the fine stamen and pistils and the ever important pollen dust lingering in wait for the wind or an insect to come and preserve future generations to come.

Just as I started to ponder on that, I heard a buzz.  I looked up from the camera’s viewfinder to see a lone honeybee had decided to visit the very patch that I had been photographing.  Now you would think that with the great technology of today’s digital cameras that capturing this bee in a photo would be easy.  However, I was using an older manual focus lens – yeah I know call me crazy, but how often does a tree or rock just get up and start running away in a landscape that I would need a fast auto focus lens?  Anyway after burning many pixels I was able to capture this little guest of the clover coming in for a landing and the subsequent meal and pollination that took place.

 

It was a very awe inspiring interaction to witness.  This little bee flying in from who knows how far away to visit these little flowers and to feed on the minute amount of nectar that they produce.  And in the process it secures the existence of future clover plants to come in the coming spring of NEXT year!  These flowers exist, not for the pleasure of the onlooker, or for the sake of the bee, but only for the survival of itself.  It is astonishing to see the contrast between how a plant selfishly secures its future compared to how we greedily attempt to secure ours.

While we rake each other over the coals and throw one another under the bus to accumulate more wealth and leave the rest for dead, the flowers give much more than they receive and sacrifice only themselves once pollination is complete.  From the vibrant colors to the sweet perfumes that lure the bee and us to them, to the honey that results from the bee’s hive which feeds thousands of immature bees to sweetening our foods and drinks, the simple little clover – the unsung hero of the spring flower world – goes nearly unnoticed and regarded as a weed – how sad. 

Would that we could be so giving as the clover.  How many great things could we achieve?  In this wonderfully hopeful season when life renews and Mother Earth is glowing with this new life, I think it would be well worth our time in our human realm to foster growth and prosperity by helping each other get through this difficult time in our lives.

Peace – Youssef Ismail

The 2009 workshop schedule is now online at the Organic Light Photography website.

This years schedule includes

California Desert Wildflowers: April 17 – 19
Redwoods and Seascapes: May 22 – 25
Marin Coast and Headlands: July 17 – 20
Tuolumne Meadows Spring: July 24 – 27
Big Sur Coast: August 21 – 24
Eastern Sierra Fall Color: October 2 – 5
Maples and Redwoods: October 24 – 26
Autumn in Yosemite Valley: October 30 – November 2

For more information on these workshops and to register ONLINE! visit the Organic Light Photography website Workshop Page Today!