Ten years ago I bought my first DSLR and began my journey toward making photographs rather than just taking pictures. Looking back on this body of work a decade and thousands of shutter clicks later, I challenged myself to identify one image from each of the past ten years that serves as a milepost along my photographic journey.
2010: Avalanche Creek
By 2010 I was frustrated with the limitations of my digital point-and-shoot camera. At the top of my frustration list was the inability to stretch time by photographing at long exposures. (You can do this now with a variety of apps on the iPhone, but in 2010 the first reasonably capable iPhone camera was more than a year in the future.) In the summer of 2010 we were in Glacier National Park, where I had the first chance to test my new camera (plus the other requisite tools: tripod, remote release, and neutral density filters). This photograph was my first successful long exposure image, and it confirmed for me the wisdom of investing in photographic tools commensurate with a nascent artistic vision.
2011: The General Store
A research conference in Reno (long before we ever dreamed of moving there) gave me a free day and a brief opportunity to explore the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. We left the hotel in Reno in the dark intending to photograph sunrise at the tufa formations of Mono Lake, but we underestimated the travel time and arrived when the sun was well up. On the return trip we took a side road to Bodie, a mining town in the austere high desert east of the Sierras. Bodie was abandoned almost 80 years ago when the mine closed and is now kept in a state of “arrested decay” as a California state park. It was a cold day with bright, unforgiving light, challenging for photography.
This image of the interior of the general store, shot through the dirty front window, is significant to me for several reasons. First, the harsh light created a wide dynamic range that could only be addressed by shooting a bracketed series of exposures (from a tripod precariously perched to press the lens against the window) for subsequent assembly using HDR techniques. Second, the final image represented the high point for me at that time of digital postprocessing: not only the initial HDR assembly, but also perspective corrections to deal with the distortion caused by a wide angle lens and subsequent local adjustments in color and brightness. Finally, this visit to Bodie, exemplified by this photograph, stimulated my fascination with abandoned buildings and objects as photographic subjects that continues today.
2012: Eye Contact
Another research conference, this time in Rome, gave us the opportunity to explore Venice for a few days, only to discover that our visit coincided with the last week of Carnivale (no wonder the hotels were so expensive!). The streets swarmed with tourists, and people in extravagant costumes were centers of attention. I was fortunate to encounter this lady in red, who was waiting in front of an ancient wooden door while her companion was photographed by the canal. I gestured to my camera, she struck a pose, and I fired off one or two shots. Despite her richly colored and detailed costume, for me the impact of this image lies in her eyes behind the mask — a steady, almost challenging gaze.
This image exemplifies the importance of serendipity in my photography. I had no idea what I might find to photograph that morning, but my camera was ready at hand and I was able to take advantage of this unique moment. This is the first photograph that I printed and exhibited in public. It was also recognized as one of the “Ten Best of 2014” at nikonians.org.
2013: The View from Brooklyn
I was crossing the street in Brooklyn on a bright, cold winter afternoon when I glanced to my right and saw this arresting composition — a sunlit tower of the Manhattan Bridge framed in the deep shadows of the buildings, with the Empire State Building framed in the arch of the tower. Fortunately I had my camera over my shoulder (serendipity again!), so I waited for traffic to clear, dashed out into the middle of the street, and managed to squeeze off a single shot. I discovered only later that this particular composition has been photographed many times.
This photograph marks the beginning of my fascination with black and white digital photography. When I began working with this image I saw the potential for a high-contrast monochrome treatment. I had played with monochrome processing previously, but the result I obtained with this photograph catalyzed my ongoing exploration of “monochrome vision.”
2014: Skogafoss Glow
Iceland was a bucket list location for me almost from the moment I dove into digital photography. Our first visit, in midsummer 2014, exceeded my wildest expectations despite some truly miserable weather for part of the trip. Skogafoss, shown here, is one of Iceland’s many well-known attractions. Located on the Ring Road not far from Reykjavik, it is a regular stop on the “Golden Circle” bus tours. As a result, the parking lot is usually jammed with tour buses and cars, and the stream up to the falls is usually full of crowds of tourists cavorting and taking selfies. Our group chose to photograph here well after sunset, and we were rewarded with a nearly empty parking lot and the chance to experience the power and magic of this place in relative solitude.
This photograph is noteworthy in part for length of time it sat, unprocessed, in my photo catalog. Taken in 2014, the version shown here was completed a six years later when I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it. I am indebted to the work of Jack Curran, a photographer who works exclusively in black and white, for showing me how realize my vision for this shot. This photograph illustrates that in the world of digital photography no image is ever really finished. I find that the growth and development of my vision and technical skill allow me to go back and discover new things in old images such as this.
2015: Skyline Reflection
When I am out with my camera it is always a challenge for me to see not only the obvious but also what else is there. This photograph, taken along the Greenway in Boston, is an example of one time when I was able to see beyond the obvious. This particular afternoon I became captivated with the abstract reflection of the Boston skyline in in the curved glass walls of the Intercontinental Hotel. After a number of tries I found a pleasing composition, although the final image involved a fair amount of pixel pushing to get the true vertical and horizontal lines straight.
This is one of my first photographs that is intentionally abstract. A large format print of this one hangs in our living room, and I never tire of looking at it.
2016: Aurora!
2016 found us in Iceland once again, this time in the fall — hoping to time our visit to see the northern lights. Both aurora activity and the Icelandic weather can be fickle, and many photographers have spent a week in Iceland during “aurora season” without seeing clear skies, let alone auroras. On this trip we were extremely fortunate, with four consecutive nights of clear skies strong aurora activity. This photograph was taken during the most intense of the aurora displays. We spent several hours surrounded by pulsating aurora activity. Of all of my photographs from that night this is my favorite, showing the spectacular and dynamic lights over the stark glacial landscape.
Digital night photography sees things that the eye can’t see due to the high sensitivity of digital sensors and the ability to time-average exposures over many seconds. The live experience of these auroras was amazing, but the colors and patterns revealed by the camera were something else again.
2017: Blue Hour at Notre-Dame
“If you see it, shoot it.” (Tony Sweet)
I have visited Paris many times, and I have always wanted to photograph Notre-Dame at night. Finally in the fall of 2017 I had the opportunity, and the necessary equipment, to wander along the Left Bank seeking engaging compositions. This is my favorite from that evening.
It always seemed to me that this great cathedral would be in the heart of Paris, unchanged, forever. However, six months after this photograph was taken it was ravaged by fire. More than two years later, who knows whether it will be restored to its former glory?
If you see it, shoot it. Don’t assume it will be there when you come back.
2018: Edge of the Forest
We typically think of long exposure as a way to portray the movement of subjects — we put the camera on a tripod, open the shutter for seconds or even minutes, and record the movement of clouds, stars or flowing water. However, holding the shutter open while moving the camera produces different results and leads to new kinds of abstractions.
This photograph is without a doubt my most successful effort in the use of intentional camera movement to create an abstract image. This stand of pine trees, with the sunlit dry grasses in the foreground, seemed to be a perfect subject for creating an abstract by moving the camera vertically during a long exposure.
2019: Afterglow
In landscape photography, magic happens when location and light come together. I experienced this last year during our time at White Pocket, a small area of multicolored sandstone formations in the Paria Wilderness of northern Arizona. We arrived in mid-afternoon when the light was blindingly harsh and the brain rock (as in the foreground here) was bright white. When the sun set, everything changed — the light became soft, and the brain rock picked up the pastel colors in the sunset sky.
Sometimes, as an amateur photographer it’s important to spend the time and money to visit unique locations with experienced photographers as guides. This was one of those times.
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I started working on this blog post more than two months ago thinking it would be pretty straightforward, but I was wrong. Choosing only one image from each of the past ten years proved to be surprisingly difficult. The ten images here are not necessarily my favorites from each year, nor are they necessarily the most successful in terms of public response and recognition, but each marks in its own way my journey as a photographer. Thanks for looking!