Photographic meanderings

Steve Berardi of Photonaturalist.net tweeted a serendipitous link this evening. I’m still waiting for word back from the good folks over at LNT.org to give me permission to use their material here on my blog; In the mean time, I’ll go ahead and find relevant material for the seven principles of Leave No Trace.

The first principle is “Plan Ahead and Prepare“. One of the surfaces they mention is “cryptobiotic soil”. I’d never heard of it before reading their web page, to be honest, then Steve steps up with a link explaining it.

Rather than quote them wholesale, I’m just going to sum it up, and provide the link Steve offered.

Cryptobiotic means “hidden life”. Cryptobiotic soil is a black crust on the desert floor, comprised of all sorts of flora. One footprint will last longer than we will live before it grows back. Don’t walk on it.

Now, here’s the link to the longer explanation: Cryptobiotic Soil in Arches National Park.

Thanks to the good folks at Gorp.com for providing the information, and to Steve for his oddly timely tweet.

Stay tuned for more on Plan Ahead and Prepare!

This <10 minute video provides a lovely overview of the principles of Leave No Trace ethics. Some great videography, too!

Plan Ahead and Prepare
Travel and Camp on Durable Surface
Dispose of waste properly
Leave what you find
Minimize campfire impacts
Respect Wildlife
Be considerate of other visitors

My friend G. Dan Mitchell has an interesting article up on his blog: In a nutshell, he is working through a photographer’s conundrum: How much location information is too much?

Dan is an intelligent and ethical photographer. I’ve had the pleasure of his company over coffee after a bone-rattling ride down Twenty Mule Team Canyon, and listened to his good advice on photography. I know, like me, he enjoys his solitude while shooting. I found his article thoughtful, and thought-provoking. His conclusion seems to be a new-found reluctance to reveal locations. I’m not sure I completely agree with him, though.

Many photographers, I’ve noted, don’t bother revealing their landscape locations. And after talking about this subject with many noted photographers, I’ve heard a lot of reasons why, and come up with a few of my own.

Some images are so iconic (read “Done to Death”) they really don’t need to be revealed. How can you NOT recognize Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park?

Does it really matter *which* little tarn I took it at? There are LOTS of them around the world, with lovely trees lining them. Go find water in front of trees, and take your own version of this shot!

Which brings me to my next point: Tripod Hole Hunters. Dan says he gets requests for hyper-specific directions to exact locations of his shots. I’ve never had that kind of location question asked of me. I’m wondering if my images are that un-interesting, or if Dan has a lot of copy-cat readers. In any case, I’d refuse to give that kind of hyper-specific information. Photography is personal, and you must develop your own style (says the lady who still manages to take images remarkably similar to some of the work by her favorite photogs…)

Gary, one of the commenters on Dan’s article brought up an interesting view: Refusal to provide location details tends to make photographers look “elitist”. He’s got a good point. What about the tripod-hole hunters? Do you really want someone to try to duplicate your photographs? All the hard work getting there in time for the light, and some schmuck comes up the next day and does the same thing? Not. Gonna. Happen. Any photographer worth her salt knows that the light is *constantly* changing, moment to moment, day to day. They *won’t* get the “same” shot.

I’m still trying to come up with my own style. But I’m still influenced by photographers whose work I admire, past and present. Is it a compliment when someone says “It looks like Ansel Adams took that picture!”? I’m not sure. At least it means I’m on the way to understanding what makes his work so special, and maybe others will say of some future photographer “That looks like Edie Howe took that picture!”

Which brings me to the ultimate reason to hold back information location: Internet idiots who have no understanding of the fragility of the environment they are trying to capture. I urge each and every reader to learn “Leave No Trace” ethics. I also urge all photobloggers to sing Leave No Trace loud and long. It should be as much a part of our knowledge base as “Sunny 16″, 90? from the sun for a circular polarizer to work, ƒ/22 is a smaller aperture than ƒ/8, and you’re gonna get noise at ISO 32,000. Over the summer I am going to be highlighting LNT principles here at the LRT. I plan on becoming a member, and I will be adding a link in my sidebar in an effort to help spread the word.

I will also reconsider how much information I am giving out about location, and try instead to provide information on the style of the shot, plus tips that will help you understand how I got the shot. I do think that giving a general area is a good idea; for example, the Ten Lakes area in the John Muir Wilderness, North Fork of Lone Pine Creek is a huge treasure trove of possible images, besides the now iconic Temple Crag above Second Lake. Likewise the area at the far end of Saddlebag Lake in the Hoover Wilderness just on the eastern boundary of Yosemite. Go, wander, find your own elements and compositions.

I make photographs to share the beauty of this land with others. If my work inspires others to discover it for themselves, that’s wonderful. If I inspire budding photographers, that’s good too. But I must also impart practical knowledge about walking the land gently as well as how to get the shot.

You really should put away your camera between 10 am and 3 pm in the Sierra Nevada. It’s just too damn bright to photograph without a 9 stop neutral density filter. No, really. I’m serious. Otherwise your pictures will come out like this after several hours work with the graphic image editing software of your choice.

Just outside Yosemite National Park on the eastern boundary is Hoover Wilderness, Inyo National Forest. As you leave the entry kiosk on Tioga Pass (Elevation 9945′), you’ll eventually come to the turn off for Saddlebag Lake on the left. Take the water taxi from Saddlebag Resort ($11 round trip, $5 for dogs or children, $4 per overnight backpack, $7 one way, no wet dogs allowed on the boat, no exceptions!), and go wander among some of the most dramatic scenery in the Sierra Nevada. Be sure to bring sunscreen, sunglasses and bug spray.

One of the dangers of putting your work online is that eventually, someone, somewhere is going to use your work for their own purposes. I’ve been lucky. I’ve actually collected payment from a publisher for using one of my images on the cover of their book. I’ve also had to tell commercial travel blogs to remove my images from their websites.

It’s hard to decide where to draw the line. What is acceptable use of my work? If there is money involved, I want some. That means if you send a copy of the image file to a professional printer, he’s getting paid, and so should I. If you print it on your own printer, I really don’t mind. If you want to use it in your “free guide to the parks”, you have sponsorship, and I want to be paid. If you want to print it out for educational purposes, fine, with one exception: don’t try to use my images to teach “intelligent design”, or creationism.

But how on earth am I supposed to troll the entire interwebs looking for unauthorized use of my images? There are only so many hours in a day, and I’d rather be taking new pictures than looking for ones I’ve already taken.

Which leads me to the point of this post: There’s a new, free service available to photographers. ImageRights will do the tedious trolling of the internet for you, and present you with a weekly report of up to 10,000 images for free. Further, they will go after copyright infringers and split the compensation amount with you for 50/50.

I’ve signed up. I’ll be reporting on what they find. I am not affiliated with them in any other way.

…and enjoy the view. Summer has truly arrived in the Sierra Nevada, and that means way more time away from my computer. I’ll be posting less frequently over the coming weeks. Not to worry, I won’t stop completely.

Chasing Rainbows, originally uploaded by Tom Lowe @ Timescapes.

Tom Lowe of Timescapes is spending time in the eastern Sierra making a feature-length time lapse movie. Be sure to follow him on Twitter (@timescapes) or at his website, Timescapes.org.

Wishing Tom and his apprentice Nilo the best of luck and light for his shoot.

My friend Dawn Endico asked for a black and white version of the moonbow–and I was doubtful; “Seems counter-intuitive, lunar rainbow=color!” was my twittered reply. I was wrong. Lots of drama, and this is closer to what most of us were seeing last night.

It’s important to remember that the human eye is limited at night; depending on the sensitivity of the cones and rods in our retinas, most of us can’t see color clearly at night.

Moonbows do contain a full spectrum of color. But for me, at best I see only faint hues, and most times I just see a white arc. Last night I actually saw relatively intense colors for the first time!