After The Rain...

 
                               "After The Rain: Tree Leaves One"  
DIGITAL CAPTURE: Highlands, NC., Oct 14th, 2009 4:54pm; f5 @ 1/100th sec., Nikkor 18-135 - focal length  135mm; ISO 400. (no photoshop - straight from camera to computer)

The world is alive with the fresh waters of Autumn. All week on the Highlands Plateau the rain has surrounded the mountain, a holy cloud of softened light and continual watering of all the reds, yellows, oranges, and purples, naturally sanctifying the fall color saturation. This was good as the color this year was weakened by all the rains in September, along with not having enough clear, bright sunny days and cooler temps as we usually do to enhance the pigmentation process. But this is the world in which we live. Rarely predictable, which is a good thing, or can be, depending on one's perspective. The spontaneity that arrives in our lives of comfortable, day-timer scheduling may be a great blessing, if we allow ourselves to view it as opportunity.


When  the rains come during Autumn, aim your camera downward, where a world of thriving color is found at your feet, leaves washed anew to appear fresh and alive. Yet new the are not, but temporarily born again by the baptism of rain all night. They have left their branches finding rest on the ground, apart from the life-giving sustenance that brought them to this season. And light is the life that will decide how long they remain connected to the branch, and how luminous their colors will shine. Light always comes, even during the days of overcast and water, though often when we are not especially looking for it. The light always comes...


The Autumn Workshop this week was indeed a good one, even while water fell for 2 out of 3 days. The learning and sharing of experiences, technical assistance, design and composition, editing, and the learning of light may take place indoors even without one picture-making moment. But thankfully the middle day came when the light was magnificent, allowing us to witness and digitally capture a great extreme of a clear, beautiful morning. 

*A special thanks to friend & photographer Mike Nalley for coming along this year to help instruct and motivate, and create a few laughs when we needed it. And thanks to all who came along as students: Art, Clyde, George, Janelle, Kitty, Linda, Luther, & Sarah. And a big thank you to Mary Sidney, Gen Mgr @ The Skyline Lodge, our partner this year in lodging and providing a great classroom while rains persisted!

Learning takes a lifetime. I hope to continually learn to learn to learn...

Highlands Autumn Digital Photo Workshop Oct. 12 - 14, 2009

"Early will I seek thee..." 

DIGITAL CAPTURE Workshop Student @ Sunset Rocks Highlands, NC., Oct. 2006 Fuji Fine Pix Z-1 Camera (no artificial/software enhancement).

This year represents the 7th year I have been holding Photo Workshops (first with film, and now only digital) on the Highlands Plateau of Western North Carolina. I consider this area to be among the most visually engaging in the entire Southeast in all seasons, but Autumn reigns here! And in my photographic journey it is all about the light, regardless of location. But when you add the stunning Blue Ridge Mountain backdrops, the abundance of waterfalls, rivers, and lakes, and two of the greatest National Forests in America, The Pisgah and The Nantahala, and the quality of light here @ elevations of 4,000 feet and higher, it is easy to see why so many travel here, only to return again and again. And why I refer to this place as my sanctuary. 

As with any special or  sacred place, a fine line must be  walked between  preservation and practicality.  The land truly belongs to us all. As a photographer of course I have selfish motives. There is nothing more heartbreaking than coming across a scene that only a year earlier was free of man-made structures, only to find homes or other structures taking the view away. The beauty that was at once there is gone. With the camera we may have the evidence of what once was there recorded in seconds, or split seconds, and the capture allows for producing prints to testify to what was once there. 

Here on the Highlands Plateau, I have been capturing these special places for 26 years, some now long gone, some still thriving and reflecting the light and the unforced rhythms of the natural environment, ever changing, always adapting,  seen each day anew in the light. Creation sings here, but you have to  listen, you have to see  how it shines in the earliest hour of the day, and last remnants of dusk. And the camera allows me to capryure what one day I shall fondly remember...

What I Am Seeing...

DIGITAL CAPTURE  September 28, 2009 @ 5:45pm  f8 @ 1/100 sec  Highlands, North Carolina (straight from camera to desktop - no crop/no artificial alteration). Image is as I saw it...

                                "In your light we see light..."    - ancient psalm

The colors on the Highlands Plateau are showing a little more promise this week. But with the rain we experienced up here in September, it may be a weak year for strong color as pigmentation in leaves needs much sunshine this time of year to develop to those strains of autumn colors that vibrate and mesmerize.  And especially this year when too many days of rain and overcast skies have been present here over the last month or so. When colors in the fall tend to go on the weaker, prematurely brown stages, I usually focus on the water. Always the water. It reflects what color there is in a more saturated manner, dependent upon time of day and the quality of light apparent. And water shows off the light unspeakable!

...I see light that beckons on the waters. I find true blessings in what that light reveals...selah.

What I Am Seeing...

"Tree Light One"   The Highlands Plateau, North Carolina

DIGITAL CAPTURE  f11 @ 160th sec 

"Environments by reason of their total character are mostly subliminal to ordinary experience."  - Marshall McLuhan 

Light changes everything. A winter's tree, barren and reaching for the sky becomes a thing of great detail and sublime beauty when the light brings out each branch clearly. It is the light which creates us to look, especially something that we pass by daily. The mundane and the casual ordinariness that comes when we take for granted the nature which we grow so accustomed to may surprise us. But paying attention is the only way we can see beyond the norm. It is what makes photography such an amazing art form to practice, more so than any creative medium except filmmaking.
I look up and see the tree and the light and can't help but attempt to sing praises for my eye can see creation in  a magical way that is purely by grace...

Sight and Light

                          
"Late Summer Canoes  (In A Dream)..."   Mirror Lake, Highlands, NC                                                                                  
DIGITAL CAPTURE August 4th, 2009 @ 7:02pm f4.5 @ 1/500 sec ISO 400 Nikon D50 w/Nikkor 18-135mm AF-S

"Time and reflection change the sight little by little til we come to understand..."   - Cezanne                                                      

Seeing takes a lifetime... The length of that lifetime does impact the level of seeing we attain, but simply duration does not guarantee a visual maturity. The conscious habit of paying attention, of sharpening one's perception skills every day, every hour, every moment is an ever-present challenge. I don't believe that we really ever get to a place where a conscious decision to see becomes a lackadaisical or simply reactive thing. It is more often than not a daily decision we make, usually when we have an assignment, or we self-assign ourselves new work, new locations, new subjects, themes, a specific time of day, etc.,


As those who practice the photographic art, we tend to focus automatically. But on those days when we are delightfully surprised by sight and by light, when we didn't plan to work or be active w/camera, we may greatly benefit from a willingness to react spontaneously with no pre-conceived ideas. Sight is not always able to be neatly scheduled into our daily agendas. Sight can be as unpredictable as light. Sight is ever demanding. It is a gift. It is a calling, if you will. And as with any professional or spiritual calling, many are indeed called - but few are chosen! Light is what strengthens sight. And light, unless from an artificial source, can be a most unpredictable thing as well. Try as we may, with persistence, dedication, study, planning, and passionate delivery, sometimes sight, and more often light, seem to be a matter of chance. But I prefer to view chance in the manner that Louis Pasteur observed, that "Chance favors the prepared mind."

We must prepare our minds and hearts to be receptive to sight and discerning of light. Then maybe, hopefully, in the course of the day we might be paying attention when we are visited with an opportunity to capture something sublime, something that most miss in their daily rush to do whatever it is that occupies their heart and soul. It is a most gracious reward then to be gifted with sight, and to be visited by light! 

Perfection

DIGITAL CAPTURE August 4th, 2009 @ 6:50pm:  f4.8 @ 1/50th sec Nikon D50 w/18-135mm Nikkor AF-S lens - (straight from camera to computer with no artificial enhancement before or after exposure).

 

I came upon this image quite by accident, (as many good photographs in nature are "found," as much or possibly more so than the pre-conceived photo planned the day or week beforehand. I have titled this photograph, "Perfection" -  not in reference to my skill, but in having the active perception to see what quite possibly is something of perfection in the natural realm. The ancient philosopher Democritus wrote that "Much is perceptible which is not perceived by us." I find this to be as true in the photographic realm of natural discovery as I do when relating his thought to the spiritual realm, or even the scientific. Perception is a characteristic which can not only be learned, but continually developed over a lifetime of photographic pursuit.

Perfection is not to be achieved within human strivings. There are religions which attempt to promote such, but all in vain, usually relying on some level of repentance and human works to attempt to approach this unattainable throne of ill-perceived perfection, (vanity thinly veiled in the appearance of humility). Perfection belongs to the Author of all Creation. But it can be observed in the natural order of His creation. This is a task that needs continual renewal and practice, this development of our perception and acute awareness.

The late, great Eliot Porter, master and pioneer of 20th century color photography, (primarily of the natural environment) found some measure of greatness not so much in his grand vistas of the landscape, (as his rival in B&W landscape, the great Ansel Adams) but in the minute details he found wanting at his feet. Finding the natural order within the seeming chaos before his camera lens, Eliot brought attention to the incredible beauty of the often-ignored world at our feet. Perfection is an act of the unforced rhythms of grace. And it may be observed ever so often if we are paying attention and passionately focused on discovery more so than achievement.

The Eye Is Never Satisfied With Seeing

Edward Hall said that we learn while we see, and what we learn influences what we see. The camera seems to have been invented because of the never-ending desire for our human mind to discover and to record the power found in an image. Painting and Drawing too allow for such, but they must be created from the memory, the photograph, or the imagination.

But with photography, whether the image made is to create memories of special times, people, or places that we connect with in our lives, the art of seeing those things and attempting to record the emotion felt is part of this never-ending desire to see and experience this incredile life of space, time, and beauty revealed by light and circumstance. And it is immediate. With the digital technology we have been utilizing the last decade in particular, there has beeen greater advancements in shorter periods of time. And this ability to see and record is even more fulfilling now with the incredible technology available.

I love the imagery found with, on, within water. Water reflects light. It draws us to look. As a photographer I am drawn to look at water, waters, in as many variations as I can find. More often I am drawn to the reflections on the surface of the water of the place in which the water is found. I find that seeing within this world of reflected light on the surface of the water provides an endless array of imagery to develop and record. It is a world within a world. The image can be as deep or as shallow as the actual water itself. And it is always changing - changing by and through and in the light...

In Your Light We See Light

DIGITAL CAPTURE August 20th @ 7:27am  f8 @ 250 sec ISO 200 Nikon D50 w/18 - 135 AF-S Nikkor Lens. (straight from camera to computer - as is, in-camera exposure w/no artificial enhancement).

"What a picture means to the viewer is strongly dependent on their past experience and knowledge. In this respect the visual image is not a mere representation of 'reality' but a symbolic system..."

This quote by E.H. Gombrich defines my love for this place. Working again this week on the Highlands Plateau, where my heart and soul, and indeed my true work resides. Even after 27 years of living and working part-time in this area of Western North Carolina, I never fail to see old subjects in a new way, via the light, the season, the natural (and unfortunately man-made) changes, etc., This process of "seeing" is a life-long pursuit for the person who works with cameras & film/video.

This view is probably one the most popular with both the locals, second home vacationers, and of course the tourists! Aptly named, "The Big View" by locals, this incredible scene unfolds often with great drama in the early morning dawn light, and often at dusk, especially after a day's rain or storm. The partial view of mountain in the far right corner is known as "Devil's Courthouse." It accents this panoramic scene in power and always silhouetted in the early dawn hour. Whether I end up making pic tures or not, this scene has become my "little Yosemite" here in the South. I always make time to witness it either first thing in the morning or last at dusk. We are now old friends.

As with all my natural environment subject matter I do not use software (photoshop) to enhance artificially. I was taught "old school" to get it right in-camera by accurate exposures (and the old days of polaroid proofing). Digital photography has far surpassed the film days in many areas. But the most exciting aspect of the digital technology for me is immediate visual gratification, instant editing, and the speed in which I may "chase the light." *This image is straight from my camera to computer without any artificial input.

What I Am Seeing...

"We must form as clear a notion as possible of what we expect to see. Then it will actually appear..." - William James

.
..I have been "seeing" this view since early Spring this year. Working on new book, "FIRST CREATION" for the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust to celebrate their Centennial Anniversary of helping to preserve special places here on the Highlands Plateau of Western North Carolina. The Land Trust has shown me some views I have never seen in all my years photographing this amazing place!

This view from Rhododendron Park, (in which the HCLT has preservation rights) was assigned to me, one of 4 on the park loop drive. As this view is somewhat iconic, very recognizable, my challenge was to capture it in a different way/angle. I have been back to this location probably a dozen times since, always seeking best light, and most effective time of season. On this particular day the fresh mountain rhododendrons were beginning to blossom so I attempted to create an angle that showcased them as much in the foreground as the spectacular Whiteside Mountain in the background.

I am still "seeing" this view in my mind's eye, which means I'll be visiting it every month until I go full circle, returning again until early next Spring, both @ dawn and dusk, when the light is often singing - just waiting for an audience to impress. And I am an audience of one awaiting others to see what I have captured. But it is not mine, regardless of a copyright symbol neatly tacked onto the picture. How vain to believe this view is mine! But it is what I am seeing...

Welcome to the HPW Blog

Most of us 21st century folks understand that "blog" is a rather new internet-age word for a continual cyberspace conversation. Well, I say new, in that it was still a relatively new word a decade ago! "Blog" sounds more like a Japanese Sci-Fi B-movie monster from 1960's. Or perhaps an ancient Norwegian alcoholic drink to be consumed upon pillaging and plundering a neighboring village. And "blogging" sounds more like something you do in the Alps during the winter.

But in truth, we all are blogging every day whenever we share communications via the internet. Frankly I find the word boring, and in some ways, an unpleasant reference to sharing personal expression via the internet. But the purpose is one of ancient beginnings, that of personal expression/communication. The prehistoric cave drawings come to mind. Earliest ancient writings on papyrus. The first printing press. Communication is at the heart of everything technological today. Ironically, we have more methods of immediate comunication than ever before in the history of the world, and yet effective and purposeful communication beyond mere chit-chat, or self-grandizement, ala' facebook ramblings, or often superficial "tweeting" still eludes most of us, even with gads of new technology. In fact, it seems we are conversing more and actually saying less. I hope that my ramblings are not reflective of this current trend. Thus my new "blog" for the Highlands Photo Workshops begins...

"Seeking the Light" - a phrase usually associated with a spiritual context, has always been part of my photographic as well as spiritual vocabulary. Seeking the light is what photography is all about for me, beyond attempting to successfully capture emotional and physical content. It is the nature and quality of light that propells me to actually hunt for it, not unlike a hunter who stalks their prey.

Light can transform even the most mundane of subjects into something sacred, sometimes a glorious but all too temporary transformation. And always fulfilling, even on those days when I "fail" to capture what I saw. The important thing is/was I did "see" the results of light changing something temporarily. This is reflective of light in the spiritual realm in the sense of God changing us, of causing us to refect on that which is at first unseen, then seen. An epiphany that enlightens us. "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all..."

In this digital age the immediate visual record we have available from moment to moment is a continual revelation, allowing for instant editing and and often greater visual/aesthetic progression. This aspect of the digital technology is priceless, as it allows for the physical seeking of light more successfully than ever in the days of film and polaroids. And if we are fortunate, our seeking will lead to a deeper calling beyond the making of mere photography and art! Is it possible to record something deeper? Many believe it is. It is a question of timing, being in the right place at the right time, and as the great early 20th century photographer, Henri-Cartier Bresson originally termed the phrase, capturing "the decisive moment." And the quality of light has very much to do with such.

I recently lost the opportunity to have one of my photographs on the cover of a new book. The photo selection committee said it was "too religious," though there was no man-made religious symbol or facade, nor any person seen in the photograph! It was defined as such because of the dramatic nature of pre-dawn light digitally captured in a magnificent mountain range view. It seemed almost artificial, overly-enhanced, especially now with the advent of photoshop and other software today. *(But I never use the digital darkroom to create that which I didn't see "in-camera" when it comes to photographing the natural environment).

Can spiriuality or the essence of the divine be successfully rendered in a photographic image? I say yes indeed...but it has been a rare experience for me personally to capture. The quality of light is what I seek, in-camera, and in life.
- Mark W. Hutchison