The Glacial Valley
Yesterday afternoon a funny thing happened. I went on a hike up Animas Mountain, which is a large forested open space right in Durango’s backyard, to get out and enjoy the prime weather that late summer and the first few days of fall provide us. Since I’m working nights at the moment, I have had the last few days free to explore the hills around town, hike and climb (bummer right?)
I found a neat vantage point looking north and was taking photos of the clouds roll in from the West, promising rain to the dry Ponderosa forests and the angled red-and-white cliffs that band the valley. I was both savoring being on the top of a cliff, overlooking the Animas River Valley, and taking photographs of this beautiful place. I find photography an amazing practice… the premeditated thought and vision of the image that you want to construct… the lighting, then composing the image, the technicalities of apreture and depth-of-field… then bringing the camera back home (after a slippery hike down the red clay trails in the pooring rain), pulling the images off, and manifesting them on my computer screen – an hour later.
What threw me off, was that I couldn’t find the images on my camera. After playing with it for a minute I realized a new folder had been created and the 1st picture was titled “00001”… Which meant that the odometer had flipped… I had already taken 10,000 pictures on the camera I purchased in December…
They say to become an expert at any skill, profession or task, it must be practiced 10,000 times. I found this interesting because, every time I hold that black body up to my eye and peer through the viewfinder… my imagination is soaring… my mind turning the different technical-cogs required to capture the image… and not to mention, when I pull back from the camera and look around again, I’ve found myself in some of most beautiful and diverse places on the planet… being present… analytical, imaginative and decisive…
And, after this 10,000th, I reflect upon how much I have yet to learn…
This is my favorite image from yesterday…
Angles in the Animas River Valley
Alex
Beautiful!!!!!
Alex, awesome photos. The bottom one is what the field of view looks like when you’re in a small airplane banking left in a turn. I say this from experience as I’ve been a private pilot, but haven’t flown for 25 years; yet the feeling jumped right up in me (although I wouldn’t have been that close to the ground) in a Cessna. But ultralight pilots often do swoop over ridges like that). So, I would label the picture “An imaginary pilot’s view of the valley from a left-banking roll.” Peace, Bro. Root
Hi Alex . . . gorgeous shots. Like your commentary on how your approach the shot. My photography (amateur as it is) gets me outside, into the natural beauty of wherever I am, and keeps me very present. The “sepia” (I think that’s what you used – brown tint? or maybe it’s just how they came up on my computer) is an interesting choice for those shots. I like. 🙂
Hey Georgia,
Thanks for your compliments on the photos. Yes, that was a great day and it seems that you too, love the larger experience photography offers 🙂 About the “Sepia”… Both of those Images are stitched panoramas (consisting of four, 18mm photographs that a I had a program digitally combine together) then I used the Adobe Lightroom, to process and detail, exposures, crops, and a bit of vignetting too… It’s amazing what the technology now can allows us to play with.
What camera are you using right now?
Alex