Me? I love this picture.
You? Maybe not.
It’s all ok, because we each see the world differently and our minds interpret what we see differently.
My wife, Mary, and kid, Eimear (rhymes with femur), joined me on this trip to Zion National Park. We rode the shuttle up to the Temple of Sinawava together in a light snowstorm. For me a real treat! The snow gave everything a two-tone look with white on top and natural color on the bottom The leafless trees became Japanese woodblock prints for me. I was able to make a few favorite pictures at the Temple with this look.
The pictures I always love from Zion usually show a tree in front of a red rock wall. Some of my personal favorite photographers all have really nice examples of this trick. So whenever a possibility of this picture shows itself I go for it. In the temple I saw a few cottonwood trees showing this look while walking slowing around the space. The added bonus for me was of course the lines of snow on the branches transforming the trees into Japanese woodblock prints.
Most landscape photographers show the whole tree. As a former photojournalist turned wedding and portrait photographer I don’t feel this need. Those whole tree pictures are cool, but it’s similar to always doing pictures of the entire person standing in front of something. Why not just show the most interesting part of the subject? It’s what we look at first anyway, so the rest might as well be eliminated. Keep it simple and direct.
When doing weddings and portraits I rarely use a 50mm lens. But for landscape photography the 50 is an invaluable tool. I’m planning on doing most of my future landscape work with the Fuji and have the equivalent of the 20mm and 135mm lenses already. The kit won’t be complete without a 50mm lens. Trying to figure out which one will work best now with some being lighter and others being sharper.
I did this picture with a 50mm lens. It filled the frame perfectly. As a prime lens it’s both lighter to carry and sharper of image than a zoom lens. Zooms kill creativity because you just stand in one place and zoom-a-zoom your ideas instead of moving around and seeing in new and potentially exciting ways. As you move, new ideas pop into your mind and it’s fun trying to answer the ideas with pictures.
I worked quickly because the wife and kid don’t have the same patience for photography as me. I talked them into walking the trail to Big Bend. When we arrived we saw a few bird people with their spotting scopes standing around excitedly. They were watching three California Condors sitting on and flying around the cliffs at the backside of Angels Landing. What a sight! One took off and flew next to the cliff but I wasn’t ready for it and missed the shot. That’s ok. Let me say this giant flying creature looked like the Lord Humongous, Ruler of the Wasteland, Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla.*
This picture of the top of a cottonwood in falling snow might be too simple, too austere, too abstract for many people. But these are the exact reasons why I love it and am sharing it on the blog. Would I have this picture hanging in my house? Yes. Do I? Not yet, but it will be in the next batch of prints.
*A line from one of my favorite movies “The Road Warrior” (1981) also known as “Mad Max 2.”