The Print of the Month for October is “Autumn’s Play“, made last fall in Harriman State Park. The title came to me as I thought about how I found this image and what inspired me to try and capture the feel of the scene that particular autumn day.

I had been walking around a large lake for some time, surrounded by vibrant colors in every direction. As a photographer, it is so easy to get distracted by the color, and lose sight of other important elements so important to a successful photograph such as compositional interest, visual depth, texture, and mood. While I had already taken many photographs, I didn’t feel like I had captured anything really special.

Always looking in all directions, I often stop and turn around to see the same area from the opposite perspective. I turned one last time, and my eye was immediately drawn to a section of trees that had a simple dominant color backlit by soft overcast light. In addition, the branches created a strong graphic that I really enjoyed, and just beyond in the background were complimentary colors in a subtle hint of nature’s yearly performance.

It felt like autumn in the most perfect way, and I knew I had a chance to capture that feel in a print that I immediately saw in my mind’s eye. I know that when that happens, I have found something special, and the “craft” part of photography takes over. This is where I use the various tools available, whether a great lens or camera, my software of choice, and a great printer, to render the best possible interpretation of the image. But without the initial spark and inspiration, the rest is just an exercise in technique, all too common in landscape photography, including my own.

It has been an incredibly busy time for me lately with various photography projects (more details later), art shows, and finishing the construction of my new 450 sq ft. studio/workshop. I’ll have some photos soon, as well as info on the setup including the addition of a new Canon 44″ large format printer. Once I get through the long hours of the final finishing details, I hope to return to a more regular schedule here, and even increase the frequency of articles.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working on a new series of articles around the theme of “finding a landscape photograph” with the goal of providing some insights and tips for photographers and those curious about the process involved. With any luck (and lots of coffee), the first should be ready in a few days.

In the meantime, I thought I would share my opinion on a few recent noteworthy announcements in the industry which are quite intriguing.

Adobe has announced the release in October of Creative Suite CS4, which includes an all new version of Photoshop CS4. You can read the specific details on John Nack’s blog (John is the principle product manager for Photoshop). While the biggest feature in CS3 was support for the new Intel Macs, Adobe has really packed new and useful features into CS4, many of which I will start to take advantage of right away. Among the new features I’m looking forward to are major interface enhancements, adjustment panels and presets, and improved printing capabilities (including 16-bit output at last). All in all, a serious consideration for anyone who uses Photoshop on a professional or regular basis. While my current workflow is spent primarily in Lightroom 2, it’s nice to have access to the improvements in processing that CS4 provides.

The other news was that both Nikon and Canon have announced DSLR’s that can also record full HD ()high-definition) 1920×1080 resolution video. There has been lots of talk lately about the convergence of photography and video since both use similar technologies, and it was only a matter of time before a manufacturer combined the two.. While it will not replace a dedicated video camera in terms of quality and features, it certainly provides the photo journalist or wedding photographer some great opportunities in a convenient and familiar package. For any one who is interested, here is a full featured video made with the new Canon EOS 5D MK II by photographer Vincent Laforet.

As the old saying goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” and in my opinion, never more so than in photography. While the technology continues to evolve and provide new and creative possibilities, emotion and feeling remain the goal for me, and these are just more tools to achieve those goals.

This is an image I recently made from the top of Mt Beacon looking south out across the Hudson Highlands. The VERY early morning light is everything in this photograph, bringing out painterly textures and colors that only lasted a few seconds as the fog lingered before moving off into the sky. I barely had enough time to set my tripod and make one exposure.

“The true journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having fresh eyes”. -Marcel Proust

Low tide creates wonderful texture on the Hudson River, and a dramatic sunrise adds color and mood.

It’s been a very busy month with several art shows including Garrison, New Paltz, and Glastonbury, CT. But as I mentioned in a recent post, I did manage to get away to the western Adirondacks with my family for some canoe camping and photography. Here are some of my better images from the trip, and I’ll be printing some of these soon for upcoming shows. I’ll be heading up to this area again in a few weeks for the wonderful colors that make Autumn my favorite time of year.

Capturing light at its magic moment is something I discuss frequently at my workshops and is one of the most important “ingredients” in landscape photography. These two images, both from the same morning, were a revelation for me in terms of how light can transform and create an atmosphere that is both rare and unique.

More images from my recent trip to the Adirondacks soon…I’m off to the New Paltz Art and Crafts Fair for the long Labor Day weekend. Enjoy yours!

The Print of the Month for August is “Millbrook Mtn Sunrise”, from one of my favorite places, the Mohonk Preserve in New York.

This is an older image I made over two years ago, but for some reason I had never paid it much attention until now. On a recent visit to the same trail, the light just was not very favorable, but I enjoyed the hike and wild blueberries just the same. The scenery there has always inspired me, so when I got back home and reviewed the days images, I decided to look back through my archives and remembered a previous visit when the light had been very nice indeed. Reviewing the images later that evening, I selected a few to develop that I felt had potential, but this was not one of them. I didn’t have the trusted gut reaction that I have to images I feel are successful, and filed it away for future reference. This is a completely personal and subjective process, but in my opinion so important for an artist.

Looking at it two years later however, combined with having hiked there several times over the last few months, gave me a new perspective and better understanding of what I want to convey about this place. And that is the ultimate goal for me, to bring across to the viewer a sense of what it feels like to be there. This is not just standing at a particular spot waiting for beautiful light. Often I arrive before dawn when it is dark, and have to find my way with the help of a head lamp. With shadows all around, and just the faint glow of blue light on the eastern horizon, my anticipation grows for the eventual appearance of the sun and its warm, energizing rays of light.

Once I’ve climbed up several hundred feet to get up on the edge of the ridge, the famous “Shawangunk Ridge”, I’m sweating and breathing hard, but the light is now turning towards deep red and I’ve forgotten the time and effort it took to get there, starting with the dreaded alarm clock at 3:30AM. Now the real work begins with my camera, searching for a composition that will translate both the scene before me and how I feel about it together in a flat 2-dimensional print. I get so focused that time and place disappear, and I just concentrate on responding to what is happening at that moment, regardless of what I think about it.

I often refer to this process afterwards as a recipe for frustration as I rarely succeed at what I see in my mind. But it is the process and experience I so enjoy that keeps me trying over and over again. As Eckhart Tolle so well says in his book A New Earth, “…not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny.” The outcome becomes secondary, and I focus on the moment, reacting visually to the environment. Many of my better images have come from this process, and I didn’t realize I had captured something worthwhile until much later.

The trail up onto the “Ridge”

Whether this is the case with “Millbrook Mtn Sunrise” I’m not sure, but for me it conveys what it felt like to be there that morning two years ago. Each viewer responds to images differently however, and so it may not have the same connotation for someone else. That’s not so important for me, what is important is that there is some reaction, similar to the reaction I had when I press the shutter,