Over last weekend I needed to drive down to San Diego and pick-up some family at the airport and in the morning was greeted with some heavy fog, as I discussed in an article yesterday. Hmmm. A potentially interesting photographic opportunity seemed to be in the making.
Where as the Restricted signage at this Vista Point that I discussed in the pervious article is a photograph I pre-visualize in black and white, turning my attention towards the ocean could be a toss-up. At this Vista Point, you can not see the actual beach as there is a narrow swath of Camp Pendleton land and the bluffs in-between. This landscape has a tendency to be rather featureless, so I do my best Henri Cartier-Bresson and look for something interesting for a foreground feature. The foggy conditions for me can be tricky, as it usually creates a low-contrast image as to how to ensure that the grayish ‘fog’ is visible.
I suspect that this photograph for me was more about the challenge to capture a temporary moment, one in which it was nice to just stop and take the view and experience in. I guess some would call that a moment of mediation, which it was for me. To allow the coolness of the morning fog to envelope me.
I have included two versions, the one above is post-processing of the Samsung S21 image tweaking with RAW and Photoshop to tease out some some values, while the image below was created in-camera and posted directly onto Instagram (@douglasstockdale). The top photograph indicates where Photoshop can shine with implementing a Curves Adjustment layer to pick out a slightly lighter and darker area to increase the contrast between the two. The top image for me seems ‘foggy’ than the bottom. I think that the one below is a little bit more ‘factual’, documentary in style (foreground weeds are crisper and in sharper focus), and cropping the image square increases the emphasis on the foreground weed patch. The photo above appears more interpretative and ambiguous as to its location, perhaps a little more dreamy, more about my physical experience. Maybe even a photograph that someone might want to hang in their living room, eh?
Cheers,
Doug
Featured photograph; Coastal Landscape, Summer, San Diego (#084757) 2021 Copyright Douglas Stockdale
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Book workshop:
I will be leading a Creative Photo Book workshop with the Southeast Center of Photography (SEC4P) later in the Fall of this year. This will be a virtual event on Zoom; November 6 & 7th and 13 & 14th, 2021, 10 AM – 1 PM, EDT (3 hour session each day, with a week between the weekend sessions to work your book-dummy). Registration is now open, and there is a SEC4P membership discount. Just advised that it is SOLD OUT & wait-list has been started. Let me know if you have any questions!
Developing a Creative Photo Book, a virtual (Zoom) workshop I will be leading again in conjunction with Medium Photo with New dates: March 5 – 6, 12 – 13, 2022 More details and sign-up available now at Medium Photo.
Singular Images 