Natural Landscape

I have always thought of landscape as exactly what it says...the scape or beauty of the land. And to me the natural environment is beautiful. The first 3 photos are traditional landscape photos.

I did not alter the color in the 4th photo. This is what came out of my camera the night I was shooting the sky.

I included the 5th photo because it incorporates a human element...something I never considered as part of a landscape...until now.

Any feedback is appreciated. I am looking for ways to improve.

SURREAL LANDSCAPE

I really like Surreal Landscape Photography . I think this allows us as artistic individuals to be extreme creators. You know ,during the Gothic period of time in our world, and for a long while after that, people were not allowed to be creative. You were expected to do as you were told by the Hierarchy and the patron that gave you, your chance to paint or sculpt for them. There were NO individuals just people! Because of Individuals like ,Michaelangelo , Raphael, and Leonardo who began to take chances with their Art During the Renaissance,we can today, make a choice with our own intellectual Artistic side and express how we feel through Art. Photography helped to bring this about as well, with the creation of the Helotype, By Niepce 1827 ? , That was destroyed accidentally, and then a Deguerrotype later on. Hopefully this is right , other wise Wendy will kill me..... The point is ,isn't it awesome to be so fortunate during this time period? We should embrace it and go wild. So here is my contribution to going wild. It's as if someone out there is watching us ..........

Ariel Landscape

I enjoy photographing from unusual perspectives the more difficult the angel of view the better in my opinion. On this particular occasion , the gentlemen in the photo has a knack for throwing his body into the air , the higher the better. Consequently i guess you could say as photographer and sports enthusiasts we are a good match. This photo shoot was a 4 hour period of time when he, (Corbin) spent very little of his time standing still. To me this is a great view of our beautiful sky, we don't often get to enjoy such blues in our sky in the Los Angeles Area . So I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

This is part of a run I used to go on almost every evening for almost a year before I moved. The picture reminds me of the entire run because the entire scenery of my path looked exactly like this. As a photograph, my favorite aspect is the path curving through the bottom of the photograph, leading you to the background. I wish I would've aimed the camera slightly lower to focus less on the sky.

Land/Beauty Scape

A landscape shot taken in Big Sur, CA in the summer of 2010. For the landscape aspect I believe it is literally that, landscape. A photograph that shows some aspect of the land, it can be a completely organic or natural landscape, or a completely man made setting or a combination of both.

Pink winter morning

Before getting into photography more seriously, I always thougt landscape meant scenes from nature - and only nature - but as we know, it can mean a number of things. This one was shot a few weeks ago, when visiting friends & family in my hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, and obviously contains man made structures as well as infrastructure. To me it's important to capture feeling in a landscape photo, since I want to convey my own emotions about the place when shooting an image. I don't know if that's the case, but certainly hope to give the viewer some sort of feeling when looking at the image.

Yosemite - Three Perspectives

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! These three images are of Yosemite during the same trip. I wanted to capture different moods and lighting. It is amazing how the light varied in such a short period of time! I love it when there are clouds in the sky...it makes the image so much more interesting! What do you think?

I am one of those photographers who most of the time, over think my shooting process. Sometimes it works and other times it just fails. Then there times when I walk out of a restaurant and I see the the beautiful landscape we have here and do what I know best, taking a photo. Taking a picture for me is more then just clicking a button and seeing the result on the back of the camera. Taking a picture is about capturing a moment in time and knowing you have the picture. If you breakdown photography it basically means drawing with light, to me this photo shows that. The way the sky was painted with many different colors, the way there is just enough light to make out the foreground. Is this the best landscape no, to me it is actually a boring landscape of suburbia America, what makes this photo interesting is the way the light is interacting with rest of the subject.

More Perspective

The only regret I have is that the foreground foliage isn't more interesting - maybe some colorful flowers? As you may have realized, one of the techniques I enjoy is shallow depth of field. It's not useful in all situations. But I like getting in close and using larger apertures. If you haven't seen it before, check-out some "bokeh" images on Google. This is a Japanese word for controlled blur or the aesthetic quality of blur or out-of-focus. This is can be accomplished quite well using a 50mm 1.4 lens with a large aperture setting with the camera close to the focus point. Here's one example (click on image for a better look):

Reflection

This was taken in Mammoth, CA. My family and I used to take trips to Mammoth every year, and just spend time relaxing. This was taken from our most recent trip. I love the reflection in the water.

Big Cypress Swamp

What's in a Lansdscape ?

I am usually a portraits and Black and white kind of guy, but when I decided to try out some color film and shot this photo I fell in love with it. The owner of Bottle Village in Simi valley had in her madness set up this beautiful scenery that passers by had neglected to see. As much as I personally like this shot I couldn't decide weather or not it could be considered a Landscape. After asking around I got mixed responses, some claimed it was a portrait of the figurine and some thought it was a landscape. So my question to you now is this; whats your opinion? Is this a landscape or a portrait and why?

Composition

In my opinion landscape and documentation are up to the photographer. For most people when they think of landscape pictures they think of Ansel Adams, but for others they may see it differently. I don't have a very specific definition of landscape. I enjoy urban landscapes most though.

Cactus Caps

I really have a thing for the unusual image. I am a sinner big time when it comes to the "C" word (cropping) and this pair of images are an example of the extent of my cropping depravity. While I am not a bullseye shooter by any means, I often find the sweeter image in post production. In addition I lean towards the Darth Vader side of exposures as well, so the image 2 is a bit more to my liking because of the pepper tree in the background all ominous looking. The 1st image is more straight forward in exposure and color but as you can see it is cropped to show a completely different flow. Is this enough babbling to qualify for the test post, Wendy? LOL!

Fire Water

Several things have to be right to get a Fire Water shot. The surf has to be up, it has to hit a rock or something and you have to be low enough (without getting wet) to get the sunset angle low enough to illuminate the splash. Again I checked my Google Earth to find a North and South beach so the setting sun is at the proper location.

Sunsets do they ever get old

Shot while down in Puerto Vallarta from beneath the grass covered shade of the open air villa. saying good bye to another day in paradise

HDR sunset

I used the program Photomatrix Pro3 to do this photo. Using a tripod I set the camera to Auto-Exposure Bracketing (AEB), select the Continuous Shooting mode, make sure the camera was set to Aperture Priority, and select an exposure increment of +/-2 stops.

First I checked my GPS program to see the sunset compass direction and sunset time. Then I checked Google Earth to find a long stretch to photograph the sunset. I’ve found out in the past that I need to be far away from a mountain to allow the sun to set close to the horizon. Too close to a mountain the sun is blocked before it can set far away and show its colors through the atmosphere. This HDR photo was taken just past Piru on the 126 and then left on Torrey Rd. by the bridge.

Sea Biscuit

A cast of hot air thousands during the filming of Sea Biscuit. 12/12/2002

I was the stand in for William H. Macy.

This image, I took up in the Sierras last Fall. It has a lot of meaning to me, it reminds me of that little sense of serenity that truly does exist in such a hectic world we live in. There's something about Nature that really just blows me away. Growing up with parents who love to travel have really made me appreciate Nature, and all of its beauty. Being able to experience the beauty of Nature from not just the state of California, but from every single state on the west coast of the United States; you really begin to appreciate the difference and the individuality every bit Nature has to offer. The impact Nature has on me is greater than any word or group of words could describe. This photo I took just means so much to me.

dear, los angeles.

I love Los Angeles. I love photographing Los Angeles. I love living in Los Angeles. It's my home. It is a part of me.

The DCH is a puzzler of a building. It sits in the middle of Downtown where modern and classic collides; where the business professionals walk alongside the homeless; where the city becomes interesting.

I enjoy photographing LA because it is unlike any other city in the world, for better or worse. Unless you're a native Angeleno, you're oblivious to the luster of a place that can be both ugly and beautiful. Los Angeles has an amazing urban landscape that I choose to spotlight. I don't care to look at its mountains, trees, or streams. Those elements are not unique; they exist in every environment. But the people and culture in this city can exist only in this city. Thats what I want to show.