When I pause to consider all the time I've spent in the chase for good photographs, I am surprised.  It is not just time behind the camera that is all consuming, it's also the prep work.  Maps have become a close and trusty friend.  I especially like topographical maps.  It gives me  a greater understanding of the area that I'm interested in, and the direction of the light.  These days computers have made map reading a pleasure.  I can zoom in via Google Maps and take a close look around, even at street view if it's available.  Even so there is always the unknown to deal with.  The photographs that Google uses can be a few years old.  There is nothing that can replace being on site and taking a look around.

Over the years I've developed a list of local places that I'll return to over and over.  I enjoy being there and I am able to dig out new and fresh photographs.  This post is not about those places though.  A new location presents challenges.  The first one is light.  Where is the light coming from, and is there anything blocking it.  A growth of tall trees can cast shade just where I do not want it.  While thinking about light, weather is always important.  Local conditions can vary quite a bit from the general area.  Another consideration is human impact.  Even in remote places there is sometimes unfortunate evidence of people being careless.  I'm the crazy guy you might see cleaning up an area to improve my photo.  Then there is what Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said quite accurately;  "There are the things we don't know we don't know".  This means that I'm going to spend time looking around and getting a feel for this location. 

Whenever you are on location and looking for subject matter, there are things that pop out at you.  These are the obvious shots.  I'll make photographs of these areas and keep looking.  One thing I do often is make a wide angle shot of a subject, then I'll keep narrowing my viewfinder image little by little always eliminating something and getting closer and closer.  Digital capture encourages this approach, but even in my film days I used this technique. 

One phenomenon that I can count on from time to time is when someone notices me using a professional SLR.  This not only attracts attention, it produces a conversation that I do not have time for.  I am polite by nature and respect natural curiosity, but light waits for nobody.  Most of the time I use an honest approach and just explain that I need to get my shot before the light changes.  This works most of the time.  There is always someone who is unable to understand the obvious though.  I give them my business card and ask them to call or e mail me and I'd be happy to talk photography with them.  Sometimes, (rarely) this can lead to a photo op. 

As the day winds down I pretty much know if its been productive or not.  I'm not a big fan of viewing my work on the camera LCD screen but I take a quick scan.  If I like a shot, I'll check the histogram, and make sure the exposure for the shadows and highlights are within a good range.   I never pack away my gear while I'm still on site.  To often, I'll see a photograph while on my way back to my car.  This has happened often enough that I've learned to check my settings and make sure my camera is set for a quick photo.  Once in a while  the photo I get under these conditions is the best photo of the day.   When a trip to a location produces a few Portfolio grade photographs, I've had a good day. 

It has been more years than I care to remember now, that I began my obsession with photography.  Early on I grew to love color slide film and as a result most of my color work was with reversal film.  In those days the standard was Kodachrome 25.  It had a reputation for being able to reproduce very accurate color, and was very archival.  I learned early on to expose for the highlights and let the shadows fall where they wanted to.  It had a downside and that was its lack of speed.  A tripod was almost always nearby and ready for use.  If I needed more speed than K25 could give me there was Ektachrome, an E6 process film that came in faster speeds.  Ektachrome had a different color pallet than Kodachrome, but was very attractive.  Then one year Fuji film came out with an E6 process reversal film called Velvia.  I as well as my other photographic friends loved the look.  The color would pop out at you.  Wonderful color that you wanted to look at and admire.  The colors were beautiful, however they were not accurate.  Looking at a side by side comparison of a Kodachrome 25 slide, and a Velvia slide was illuminating.  The K25 slide reproduced life like color that was accurate if properly exposed.  Velvia reproduced colors that were not what my eyes saw, but they were how I wanted to see my subject.  The emotional reaction to the Velvia pallet was what I wanted

As we journey through our day, those of us who are sighted accept that what we are looking at with our eyes is the real world.  We all agree that leaves on trees are green, and the sky is blue.  The colors of our individual world make sense to our brain.  When we talk to someone about a color we can agree for instance that a Fire truck is red.  Science has another opinion.  Each of us sees color in our own unique way.  The biology of our eyes is not identical from person to person.  Added to that, is the fact that our own brain processes the signal that comes from the photoreceptor cells in our eyes, through our optic nerve, and gets filtered by our brain.  Its then that we attach emotional meaning to the colors we are seeing.  Anthropologist study humans, their origins, physical characteristics, institutions, religious beliefs, and social relationships.  There is a growing opinion that our emotional reaction to color is imprinted on us.  Our survival depended upon us having the proper emotional reaction to colors that exist in nature.  Hunger drove early humans to quickly see the color of the animals they were hunting.  We perceive blue as the color of water, that has a positive emotion attached to it.  We are alerted by the color red, that color is the color of blood.  We've developed a strong emotional response to red.  Science now suggests that we are not seeing the exact same shade of color as those around us.  As a point of clarity I am not talking about color blindness in this instance.  People whose eyes are working normally and have no difficulty with color in their daily routine have their own unique color pallet.  Most of the time we are not even aware of the differences.  We refer to colors by the same name, and agree on their identity.  Our own experience in life adds to the way we react to color.  This is our own learned response.  It is very common for people to dislike a color intensely because of a negative emotion being attached to it.  Our brain seeks to attach meaning to what our senses are sending it.  The first step for me in creating a photograph is to really look at what my eyes are seeing, and listen to my emotional response to what I am looking at.  Once I identify an emotional response its time to start thinking about technique and how to get what I want inside a frame.  These days I no longer think in terms of film.  Its all digital capture now.  I have a workflow that gives me all the creative tools I can imagine, and adjustments that allow me to get just the look I want.  The next time you have a small block of quiet time available, take a look at my work and allow yourself to see what you are looking at. 

Its been said that timing is everything.  This is especially true in the field of Photography.  Having my camera ready and in the right spot just when the light is right takes some sacrifice.  I can only speak to my own experience.  I've spent countless hours traveling to a pre-determined location just to be there for the perfect light.  Sometimes, the weather has other plans for me.  The moment will be delayed on this day.  Henri Cartier-Bresson, a legend in the world of photography is credited with this quote.  "Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again." 

Photography is more than simply taking photos, it is a philosophy of life.  As photographers we are observers first.  We live with a compulsion to observe the world around us.  Textures, patterns, composition, tone, color, angles, humor, tragedy, and many other things are all around us.  We capture light in a box.  It seems like magic sometimes.  Many of us love to browse historical photographs.  It becomes very clear after a short time that our world is constantly changing.  Always remaking itself, sometimes at a pace so slow we are unaware of the speed at which things vanish.  We celebrate the temporary, and capture a moment.  If we are successful we can say, "here look at this" and others will look and agree.  I have reached the age where many of my loved ones are no longer around.  On occasion we sit and browse the family photo archive.  There are smiles and tears of course, but always there is a longing to be back in that moment if only for just a short while.  What would I say to them?  Would just a hug and kiss do?  Would I warn them of the future?  Briefly, I am transported back in time.  The photograph has allowed a connection and sparked a memory.  The camera has captured a fraction of a second, preserved it, and in that fraction of a second a powerful emotion to be recalled at some future date, and this is magic. 

When I am in the process of making a creative photograph my first step is to observe how I feel about my subject.  Then with choice of lens, angle of light, and camera controls I attempt to get my emotion into the composition.  When I can do that, a successful photo makes its way into my portfolio.  I am also aware, that this moment is transitory.  Nothing is more dependable than change.  It is relentless.  Often, we allow ourselves to become completely engrossed in our current stage of life.  So engrossed in fact that we imagine it will go on forever, just as it is now.  Realization comes to us often in the form of an old photograph.  We laugh at how we looked, and sometimes envy our youthful appearance.  The more time that passes the more valuable our old photos become.  Very impressive for an exposure that took only a fraction of a second out of our history.

There is an abandoned house that I've photographed on more than one occasion.  I've captured different times of day and angles of light.  I've used different lenses and even a filter or two.  I do not know anything about the history of this building.  It was an ordinary building made special to me by its state of decay.  I have to admit to a bit of complacency, planning future shoots in different seasons of the year.   The day arrived when the light was just how I imagined I wanted it.  A dark blue clear sky, crisp clean air, and good sunlight to bring out some surface texture.  The surrounding vegetation was bright green and lush.  This should make for a successful color shot, especially in late afternoon when the Sunlight warms up a bit.  Upon arrival, what I found was an empty lot, leveled and used for different grades of gravel and mulch.  The previous sessions were all that was allowed me.  I can only imagine the history that disappeared with the house.  I am left with questions.  Who lived there?  When was it built?  Did a farm exist there at one time?  How many hopes and dreams went into the construction of this modest home on the edge of what once must have been a farm?  The images in my archive tell an incomplete story.  The frames I've captured tell part of a story that will remain unknown to me.  Our world continues to remake itself.  New things appear and replace things that are continually vanishing.  I will continue to celebrate the temporary with my camera and place my frame around a small part of my world.