It was a bad year. A historically bad year.
After arriving in the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado to photograph fall colors for 10 days, we agreed with the general consensus of other photographers.
Read MoreAn Evening at Ibex Dunes
It turns out that January 23, 2012 was a good day to be at Ibex Dunes.
My plans were to photograph that sunset at Badwater, it had been raining off and on all day and I was hoping that there might be some water accumulation on the saltpan. As I drove by, I didn't see any pockets of water glistening from a distance, but I did see a bunch of people and photographers. I had already photographed Badwater on this particular trip, with decent conditions, and didn't want to have to compete with other tripods. So I made an impulse decision to try my luck at Ibex Dunes.
This was a gamble - I had never been to Ibex before and I had no idea what the road conditions were like, nor, perhaps more importantly, what the dunes themselves were like, and I wasn't going to have any time to scout. The weather was overcast with intermittent rain and it didn't look like the sun was going to pop out to light the dunes or clouds. I planned on camping overnight, so even if the conditions were not great at sunset I could do a little scouting prior to sunrise.
Read MoreComing Home to Colorado
The 14,017 Wilson Peak seen from Silver Pick Basin near Telluride, Colorado
The last time I spent much time photographing in Colorado was nearly two years ago during the autumn. It was a spectacular fall, especially in the San Juan Mountains. The aspens seemed especially vibrant, with a rare mix of golds, oranges, and reds in some places. An early storm came at just the right time, leaving the peaks and aspens with a perfect dusting of snow. After so much time exploring so many other places over the last two years, I started to miss Colorado so we added a few trips around here to our list of summer plans.
Spending some time photographing wildflowers in the San Juan Mountains seemed like a good place to start. We planned to start by spending a long weekend in the spectacular American Basin area, located about twenty miles up the Cinnamon Pass road from Lake City. I had a more rugged SUV the last time I visited American Basin but still thought we could make it with Ron’s RAV4. In the last few years, the road has deteriorated quite a bit and we decided to turn around before getting anywhere near the basin. (After hitting a large rock disguised as a sagebrush coming out of Toroweap in the Grand Canyon and getting stuck in the mud out on the Alvord Playa in Oregon, we are trying to make better driving-related choices.)
Read MoreAvoiding the Internet Popularity Trap
Example of an Unpopular Photo
The Internet is great. Photography is great. Together? The results are mixed.
Everyone has their reasons for why they photograph, but I would like to think most photographers start out with noble intentions. That they try to produce photographs that are original, creative, and personal. Somewhere along the way things get confused, and praise and popularity become the goals and the photographs are simply the means to that end. As a result, their photography (and photography as a whole) suffers. I'm not just talking about newbies who just got a DSLR last Christmas, I'm also talking about extremely talented and gifted photographers.
It's easy to fall into this popularity trap. I fell into it and have been slowly clawing my way out ever since. Fortunately (?) for me my natural tendency is to be dissatisfied and unhappy with everything I produce, so I never truly fell that far and was (and still am) naturally skeptical of any praise. Others aren't so fortunate and soak up praise like a wet sponge. The Internet, and social-media specifically, is the most perfect praise-exchange (and photo replication) system that has ever existed.
Read MoreIceland's Iconic Icebergs: Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon & Black Sand Beach
Waves and Ice at Jökulsárlón's black sand beach, southern Iceland
In visiting Iceland for the first time, I most wanted to see and photograph Jökulsárlón (which translates to glacial lagoon in Icelandic) and the nearby black sand beach. With iconic places, the reality is sometimes terribly disappointing compared to the hype and I assumed that Jökulsárlón might be one of these places. I arrived with measured expectations but was instantly surprised at the size of the lagoon (much, much bigger than I expected) and the overall beauty of the area. The lagoon is surrounded on two sides by impressive mountains and the icebergs - the first I had ever seen - were much more interesting in person than in photos. And, the landscape turned out to be surprisingly dynamic, making for challenging photography. After spending about a week over two separate trips photographing the lagoon and its neighboring beach under all kinds of different conditions, I consider it my favorite place in Iceland and a must-visit in a country that is truly a landscape photographer’s paradise.
Read MoreThere’s still time to change the road you’re on…
Seaweed, Iceland
For almost the last two years, I have had the great fortune to travel and photograph extensively with no purpose other than my enjoyment. This opportunity did not spring forth from pure luck but instead from some deliberate decisions I made to change how I was living my life. Luck and timing, of course, played a role but so did hard work, taking advantage of the right opportunities, and consciously deciding to leave a lot of the constraining parts of an old life behind to take a chance at a happier future.
After two years of intense (and sometimes exhausting) travel, my pace has slowed down and I am starting to work through all of the photos I took during this time. Because I need some structure to make my way through two years of unprocessed photographs, I have decided to choose a small selection of my favorite images from each place I have visited and then share them in a blog post. Having an enormous backlog of photos is both a blessing and a curse, and if I am to make any headway in reducing my backlog I need to have a structure and process, rather than the ad-hoc processing I have been doing to date. This post is the introduction to how I ended up here, with an epic backlog of photos and almost two years of wonderful experiences to show for it.
Read MoreThe Joy of Macro Photography
I like to say that there is no such thing as bad light, there are only bad photographers. That statement is usually true but with a macro lens, it's always true. Whether photographing in bright sun or overcast skies, there are always subjects worth photographing with a macro lens.Macro photography also allows you to break the formula so common in typical wide angle landscapes (strong or leading foreground element, dominant background element, and dramatic or colorful skies), and focus on more abstract features like colors, shapes, patterns, and textures. While the compositions may not be as obvious, to me they are usually more personal and more creative, and they can also help develop your eye for all types of natural photography, including wide angle landscapes, intimates, and abstracts.
One other major benefit of macro photography is that there are subjects everywhere, from your backyard, to flowers and foliage in neighborhood parks or trails and wilderness. You do not need to plan an expensive trip to find worthy macro subjects, and while an area might only yield one good wide angle landscape photograph, it could easily yield a dozen good macros.
For example, I took the following photographs on a single visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens, on a hot summer day without any clouds (usually not good conditions for landscapes but perfect for macros!).
SmugMug Interview
I recently did an interview with SmugMug talking about my decision to quit my job two years ago and focus exclusively on travel and photography (and not so much, as is apparent, on this blog). So, please read it if you're interested in what I've been up to the last two years: http://news.smugmug.com/2013/06/07/quit-your-job-and-run-for-the-hills-ron-coscorrosa-speaks-out/
Favorite Images of 2012
Note: Thank you to everyone who left a kind comment on the original version of this post. I lost all of the comments in a transition to this blog format but I appreciated all of them. One of the things I enjoy most about the end of the year is seeing “favorite images” lists from the photographers I follow. I always find it interesting to see where people have traveled and how their work has progressed. For me, 2011 was the first year I thought I had anything to share. I looked back at that group of photos yesterday and, at least from my perspective, saw quite a bit of progress in my own work. For the first time, I am able to look at some of my own photos and actually like what I see.
I attribute a lot of this progress to being able to spend significant time on photography this year, which has been incredibly fulfilling and a lot of fun. For the last few years, I have wanted to spend some extended time traveling with a focus on photography but just could not find a way to make it happen. In early 2012, that opportunity unexpectedly appeared when I started traveling a lot with Ron Coscorrosa. Ron, a very talented landscape photographer, is about a year and a half into a temporary retirement and for most of this year, I have had the good fortune to join him on nearly all of his trips.
Read More2012 - Year in Review (Sort Of)
I haven't written a blog post in over a year - and it's not because I have nothing to say (I do!), but I have been incredibly busy traveling, photographing, and moving from Seattle to Denver to move in with my girlfriend (and gifted nature photographer) Sarah Marino. All great things and all much more important than keeping this dark lonely hole of the Internet universe partially illuminated. Also, and this is the real reason: I'm lazy.So instead of writing about all of the great things that have happened in the last twelve months I'll just briefly recap the year by showing some of my favorite photos that I have processed to date.
Many people are doing their "12 favorites of 2012", so in order to be different, and because I can't edit photos, I'm going to show my 20 favorites of 2012 (20 is in 2012 too, damn it!).
The photos are arranged in chronological order with the location above each photo.
Cannon Beach, Oregon
Mono Lake, Mono County, California
Ibex Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California
Ibex Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California
Marlboro Point, Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Roaring Fork, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
Botany Bay, South Carolina
Jökulsárlón Beach, Iceland
Selfoss Waterfall, Iceland
Toroweap, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Yakima Peak, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Paradise, Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington
Alvord Playa, Harney County, Oregon
Tonquin Valley, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
Groton State Forest, Vermont
Oneida Falls, Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania
White Pocket, Coyote Buttes South, Arizona
Virgin River Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah
The Racetrack, Death Valley National Park, California
Lower Antelope Slot Canyon, Page, Arizona
All You Keep is the Getting There
It's only the second afternoon of my trip and already I have no idea where the hell I am. I'm sure it won't be the last time. I crawl out of the sleeping bag in the back of my car, peek out of the window, and eventually I remember: West Yellowstone!
The previous night I watched Great Fountain Geyser erupt at 11 PM, all by myself, lit only by the light of the stars. It was the sound, not the sight, that alerted me to its presence, and I really hoped that I was outside the spray zone, and I was (but it was in mine, Yellowstone indeed!). The night before that I was racing from Seattle to make sunrise, and did, with five minutes to spare and no speeding tickets.
I'm in Yellowstone, the sixth time in two years, for a single purpose: to photograph fall colors in Colorado. While there aren't a lot of Colorado fall colors in Wyoming (even in peak years) it's only a few hours from Yellowstone to Colorado, and a natural stopping point on the way from Seattle.
All my non-photographer friends told me I should go to New England for fall colors. I told them New England can suck it, I'm going to Colorado. Where in Colorado? I didn't know, but I knew John Denver wasn't full of shit and was going to prove him right.
The colors are late this year, but I don't really care when they peak, I just want to be there when they do. It should only take a few weeks. I have all the time in the world, and while that's still not enough, it's as close as I'm going to get.
Now it's eight weeks and 12,000 miles later and I'm back at home with a handful of photos, a head full of memories and wondering what the hell just happened. I'm hoping it won't be the last time.
From that foggy afternoon in Yellowstone until my return home, I would visit Grand Teton NP, Rocky Mountain NP, Western Colorado (Aspen, Ridgway, Crested Butte, Telluride, and points in between), Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Great Sand Dunes NP, Mesa Verde NP, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Shiprock in New Mexico, The Bisti Badlands Wilderness, White Sands National Monument, Saguaro NP and the Sonoran Desert near Tuscon, Red Rock country in Sedona, Grand Canyon NP (south rim), Havasu Falls, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, House on Fire and Fallen Roof ruins near Cedar Mesa, Monument Valley in Arizona, Lower and Upper Antelope slot canyons near Page, Horseshoe Bend, slot canyons near Escalante (Utah), Death Valley, and the Columbia River Gorge.
I said my main goal was to photograph the fall colors in Colorado. That's actually not true. My main goal was to be flexible and go wherever I felt like going. Colorado was the start, but not the end. There is no end.
I drove on pavement, gravel, dirt, sand (red, brown, and white gypsum), snow, ice, and mud. Well I didn't actually drive on mud, but I slid on it pretty damn good. I didn't get stuck once and I'm going to attribute that to skill even though luck deserves all the credit.
I only got lost when following my GPS.
I was 12,000 feet above sea level in Colorado and almost 300 feet below it in California. I experienced temperatures ranging from 0F to 105F, and dressed so that I would be uncomfortable in any temperature.
I slept in motels (a few nights), a tent (many nights), and my car (most nights). I had no reservations, anywhere.
I showered. Rarely.
I had cold food and hot food but mostly bad food. Except for the free food, free food is always good food.
I met many old friends, made a few new ones, and didn't lose any that I'm aware of.
I had weeks of complete solitude and peace and weeks with friends, laughter, and a different kind of peace.
I made a few jokes, some happened to be funny, most happened to be vulgar.
I saw uncountable crimes against photography and only a few of them were mine.
I had one lens spontaneously break, at Havasu Falls, ten miles down canyon. I had one tripod break. Somewhere. I fucking hate tripods. All of them.
I had bison surround my car when I was 200 feet away from it.
I herded cows with my car, more than once, and I also heard cows in the act, more than once.
I saw geysers, mountains, rivers, sand dunes, ruins, sandstone (rocks, arches, canyons, slot canyons, and hoodoos), forests of aspen and saguaro, salt flats, playas, waterfalls, the milky way, a couple full moons, and not a single ocean. I saw beauty both spectacular and subtle and it was everywhere.
But mostly I realized that experiences are the only possessions worth keeping and time the only price to pay.
Townes Van Zandt said that living on the road will keep you free and clean. He was only half right, but got the part that matters.
Icons and Experiences
Zion Subway, Zion National Park (I do not really like this photo anymore, but it still demonstrates my point.)
Browse any internet photography forum and the majority of the landscape images will be of well-known iconic locations or common subjects. A frequent criticism of landscape photography revolves around this fact, with critics observing that too many photographers pursue the creation of derivative photos of well-known locations, all while calling themselves artists, instead of seeking out more creative work. This viewpoint has come to resonate more with me in recent months and I have been seeking to get beyond standard views of icons in pursuit of more personal work. Still, some iconic locations do represent another increasingly important aspect of my pursuit of photography – placing more emphasis on enjoying the experience of visiting incredible places as an equally important result of a photography trip. Icons have achieved their status for very good reason and experiencing some of those places for myself holds significant value, value that at times exceeds the value of pursuing creativity and originality.
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