It was a sunny morning today, so with mask & hat in tote, I took my camera for a walk down in to Arroyo Trabuco, which is where the Oso Creek runs through, as it meanders down from the Angeles Forest and eventually into the Pacific Ocean.
My purpose was to take a different photograph that this one, featured above, but in my experiment/play mode, I had already given myself permission to spend just a small bit of time to photograph the winter run off as it cascades over this small rock formation. A throw-back to my earlier natural landscape photography, so something I still enjoy making from time to time for myself.
In days past, I would have wishing I had brought a tripod and a neutral density filter to extend the shutter duration to plasticize the water a bit more. From my recent landscape experiences, instead I really wanted to make the water appear more dynamic, edgier and not so poetically smooth & tranquil. The water flow was cool and robust, so why not portray it that way? Thus I stopped down the lens to about f/11 to bring the exposure into the 1/20 sec realm, okay to hand-hold while capturing the turbulence of the water. I will have to say that when making this photograph, while the colors were very interesting, I had pre-visualized it as a black & white image.
I enjoy the visual ambiguity of this photography, as it is really hard to tell just how big the rocks are, but still apparent that the water is flowing fast enough to create some visually dynamic energy (hint, I was wading a little over ankle deep in the creek to create this exposure) . I also enjoy the contrasting textures of hard rock and the softer quickly flowing water. A fun photograph to make, the resulting image is not meant to be profound (hopefully not too trite), nevertheless a nice memory from the day.
Cheers, stay healthy and safe,
Doug
Featured artwork above: untitled (Oso Creek, April run-off) copyright 2020 Douglas Stockdale
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Gardening For Ordnance solo on-line exhibition, Fabrik Projects on Artsy.net, March 24th – April 30th, 2020.
Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP) Faculty Exhibition, in Los Angeles at the new LACP gallery, located at 566 Washington Blvd. The exhibition opened March 21st and the closing reception is Saturday, April, 18, 2020, from 7-10pm. TBD
Update! Medium Photo 2020 Workshop: Developing a Creative Book workshop that I will be leading, is now rescheduled for September 24 – 27th, 2020, a four-day extended weekend workshop in San Diego.
Medium Photo 2020 Lecture Series, I will be giving a one-evening lecture Artist Books as Art Objects on Friday, March 20th, from 7:30 – 9pm at the You Belong Here artist venue, located at 3619 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, California 92104. TBD
Singular Images 
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