I have never received any formal training in photography. I am largely self taught. Everything I have learned is through reading photography books and magazines and taking lots and lots of photographs.
The two photographers having the greatest influences on my
photography are Ansel Adams and Ernst Haas.
I remember purchasing a book titled ‘Yosemite and the Range of Light’ that was published in 1979. I have looked at the photographs over the years and used them as an inspiration. When I started photography, I dabbled with Ansel Adams' Zone system and attempted to take black & white photographs. I soon realized that, while I could take decent black & white photographs, my talent lied with color photography. That is where I excelled. With that realization, I have shot color photographs ever since.
My brief venture into black & white photography
proved to be insightful. I
realized the importance of the lighting and how crucial it was to taking
a good photograph. In
Ansel Adams’ Zone system, he deliberately over exposed or under exposed
his plates and then compensated for this by extending or reducing the
development time. The
purpose of this was to produce the broad black & white tonal range that
his photographs are famous for.
He would visualize a scene and then determine how much over or
underexposure was needed then then what development adjustments were necessary to
produce the visualized tonal range.
What I quickly realized is that this is exactly the opposite of
what is needed for taking color photographs.
Most slide films have a very narrow exposure latitude.
Because of this, it is necessary to make sure that the ambient
light from the scene is within this narrow exposure range.
If the lighting is outside the range, the highlights will be
washed out and/or the shadows will be a plain black.
To assist with using the Zone system principles, most zone system
advocates use a spot meter. A
spot meter is a light meter that takes its readings from a very small
area within the total picture area.
In the Zone system, it is used to measure the tonal range from
the whites and the blacks within the picture area to determine the
ambient light range, which in turn is used to determine how to adjust
the exposure to produce a wide exposure range.
I had purchased a Pentax spot meter for black & white photography but I soon discovered how valuable it was for color photography. I would use it to scan the picture area to determine the exposure range. If the range was too extreme, it was a signal that the photograph would not be a good one. Sometimes it was possible to reduce the range by using a polarizing filter, but it was a good idea to walk away from something that could not produce a good photograph. However, many times I would realize that if I were to come back during a different time of day or wait for some clouds to reduce the amount of light. Even color photography requires pre-visualization to understand how the light affects the photograph.
This is perhaps why the title of Ansel Adams book
has so much meaning for me.
Understanding the range of light has proved to be a critical element to
my photography.
When I was beginning to take photography seriously, I
purchase a book titled “The Creation” by Ernst Haas.
His photographs were all color photographs.
While they are very good photographs, I soon felt that some of my
photographs were almost as good as his.
But what really impressed me about the book is that it begins
with quotations from Genesis in the Bible.
We all know the beginning words; “In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth.”
Haas notes the Introduction to the book that the phrase “And God saw
that it was good” is repeated many times in the opening passages.
It is clear that Haas had a great sense that his photographs
capture all visual beauty that made God see that it was good.
When I gaze upon a really good photograph that I have taken, my
mind always goes back to those words and I can say “Yes God, it is
good.” My only wish for the
world is that it would start to look at the world and its population
with loving eyes so that they would also see that is good.
The Gods may differ among different people, but I think the Gods
would all look at the world and say that it was good.
If people would look upon the world and be able to say that it
was good, there probably would be no war, no poverty, no hatred, no
starvation, no conflict, no……, well, you get the idea.
The first time I visited Zion National Park, I had
this incredible feeling of awe and joy and excitement and wonderment.
I have never been particularly religious, but this was truly an
incredible religious experience.
I have returned to Zion many times and it remains my favorite
National Park. When I
return, I no longer feel the awe as intensely as I did on my first
visit, but I still have vivid memories of that first visit and the
emotional impact it had on me.
I have experienced similar feelings at each of the National Parks
and foreign countries I have visited.