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Correspondence XII – Nocturne, 1999
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Condensation II – Prelude, 2001
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Correspondence III – Sonata in Blue, 1999
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Resonance IB – in Red and Gold, 2000
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Resonance IA – in Blue and Gold, 2000
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Enjoy this collection of my twelve best-selling images.
Click on the links to find their current prices.
My most recent study, Antarctica Now & Then combines historical photographs with contemporary exposures made at Whaler’s Bay on Antarctica’s active volcano Deception Island – made and processed entirely on an iPhone.
View more Studies here.
Find out about our next Antarctica digital photography workshop here.
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This is a selection of my top 12 images of 2015. This selection doesn’t reflect sales, publication, or activities on the web. It simply reflects my opinion. Click on the titles to find out more about each image.
Geography
My obsession continued with places defined by water (either an abundance of it or a lack of it) in the polar-regions of Greenland and Iceland and in the deserts (an absence of water, yet often shaped by waters long gone) of Namibia, Argentina, and California.
Process
Half the images I released in 2015 were exposed in other years. Several of the other images were processed on location or the day they were exposed. I date “straight” shots based on the date they were exposed and composites on the date they are completed.
Concepts
There were several new twists on old subjects and themes: amid sensual dunes multiple moments / perspectives became conjoined; levitating stones became ice; below reflective water surfaces instead of closer details full landscapes are seen; seeing through things to what lies behind them shifted from skies to landscapes.
Magnificent Moment
Once again, flying over the 1,500 foot coral dunes of Sossusvlei for more than an hour was simply divine, especially when coupled with the hours spent walking its shifting surfaces in constantly changing light.
It’s challenging to choose so few images from so many – but it’s insightful. Try selecting your own top 12 images. Try selecting the top 12 images of your favorite artist(s).
View more of my Annual Top 12 Selections here.
Learn more about the sharp eye and wit of master photographer Ruth Bernhard in these three short videos.
View more Photographer’s Videos here.
Read more Photographer’s Quotes here.
Antarctica III, The Southern Ocean, Antarctica, 2005
I’d been scanning the iceberg struck horizon for hours when suddenly the clouds grew thin enough to let the sun through for a brief moment. The sun and the light it cast on the surface of the water completed the picture. It was there only for a moment. And then it was gone.
There are so many moments like this in life. In these times, there’s a narrow window of opportunity and only those who stay alert recognize them and are able to take full advantage of them. Of course it helps to have the right tools for the job and solid training, good instincts, and fast reflexes. But none of these will do you any good if you aren’t aware enough to recognize the many opportunities before you.
Photography (and its extension in motion pictures), relies on the power of the moment more than any other medium. Sure music, dance, and theater also require precise timing, but the moments they present can be created and recreated. You can practice until you get the moment right. But with the historical photographic moment, you get one chance and then it’s gone.
To be sure, not all moments are equally fleeting. Some moments last longer than others. And certain events do reoccur more than once and even recur repeatedly. Sometimes you do get more than one chance. Sometimes you don’t. It helps to know how long a window of opportunity you have and if you’ll get another chance. When you do have more than one chance, depending on how much time you have between each recurring event, you may find it time well spent to observe carefully on your first opportunity before acting on your next opportunity. This is perhaps the best preparation of all. When you won’t have another opportunity, you need to think fast and when you don’t have time for that you need to trust your instincts. No matter how many opportunities you have, to succeed you need to stay alert.
Maintenance is key. It’s harder to stay alert if you don’t take care of yourself. Sleep, diet, and exercise all contribute to your being. (And never underestimate the power of motivation.) Start with the basics, but don’t stop there.
Just as you can practice to hone your reflexes, there are things you can do to develop your awareness, such as studies and meditations – and there are many ways to do both (too many to mention here). You can learn to bring yourself into heightened states awareness more consistently, quickly and intensely. This too requires practice. It’s time well spent. Like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it – especially if you stay alert while you do it.
Questions
What can you do to increase your sensitivity?
What can you do to increase your understanding?
What can you do to increase your emotional responses?
What can you do to increase your ability to sustain your awareness for longer periods of time?
Find out more about this image here.
View more related images here.
Read more The Stories Behind The Images here.
Feedback on work produced during a workshop is an important part of each learning experience. Useful feedback usually starts with identifying core strengths before a discussion about how to improve (no matter how successful images are) and identifying possible next steps.
Here’s a collection of participant images from our Antarctica Crossing The Circle 2013 Voyage and a quick note about each image’s core strengths.
Ginette Vachon presents peak action in a way that elicits empathy
Cathrine Spikkerud enlivens an other-worldy stage with quiet understated action
Nancy Leigh animates an already dramatic stage with an energetic gesture
Marilynn Nance uses rhythm and perspective to make an historic building even more interesting
Robert Pettit use repetition to create a play between balance and imbalance
Fusako Hara explores the transitions between realism and abstraction
Benoit Feron uses line and texture to reveal natural processes
Jodie Willard uses opaque layers a strongly felt sense of space through design
Karin Pettit use transparent layers to portray depth
Norm Larson uses abstraction to portray not just an external reality but also to suggest an internal state
Celie Placzek uses number and proximity to suggest community
Jim Brewster uses negative space to highlight important figures amid chaos
Dennis Lenehan uses mass and volume to create dramatic contrasts
Geir Morten Skeie employs a delicate palette to create a transcendant mood for a monolithic structure
Joelle Rokovich expresses contrasts in scale to express size and distance with a minimalist efficiency
Find out about our 2014 Fly Antarctica Sail Across The Circle Voyage here.
Only 9 spaces are left.
Reflection LVIII
Reflection LVII
Illumination VI
Illumination II
Illumination VII
Illumination III
Illumination XVII
Suffusion XV
Suffusion XIX
Suffusion XXVI
Suffusion XXI
Suffusion XX
This is a selection of my top 12 images of all time. This selection doesn’t reflect sales, publication, or activities on the web. It simply reflects my opinion. Click on the titles to find out more about each image.
Geography
These images are drawn from three locations – Bolivia’s Uyuni salt flats, Namibia’s Sossusvlei dune files, and Iceland’s Skogafoss waterfall.
Process
These images were all drawn from three separate hour-long sessions each yielding complete individual portfolios. I used to think I’d be lucky if I got one really good image from a shoot, but after a few experiences where more than one really good image was made from a single subject, I cast aside my limited thinking. Now I ask, “How far can I take this?”
Concepts
All of these images come out of a way of relating to the world (all of it) as parts of a living thing into whose fibers we are deeply woven. In addition to changing organic forms, they all have a strong suggestion of breath.
Magnificent Moment
They’re all nominees for my list of most sublime landscape experiences. While standing silently focused on Iceland’s Skogafoss waterfall was the fulfillment of many years of looking for my own original response to a classic subject, and walking in the clouds reflected on the surface of Bolivia’s Uyuni salt flats was the realization of a long-standing dream, few landscape experiences compare to the hour spent flying over Sossusvlei Namibia’s 1,500 foot high coral dunes after a sustained sandstorm – the experience was so penetrating it took me quite some time to clearly see the new directions and new levels it offered.It’s challenging to choose so few images from so many – but it’s insightful. Try selecting your own top 12 images. Try selecting the top 12 images of your favorite artist(s).
View more of my Annual Top 12 Selections here.
I’ve just completed a new suite of images from Sossusvlei, Namibia.
You can view previous images from Namibia here.
You can find more images here.
My new free screensaver Sacred World contains images and quotes that celebrate nature.
Download it here.
