Pulled into a rest stop to look at my map and saw this light. Before I had a camera. This image was made with an iPhone 8
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A very interesting scene with the trees leaning over the bank and the landscape peeking through. Iāve been enjoying your images and glad you have a camera now! 
Iām curious ā are you located in the Bay Area? This may have been from along 101?
Thanks for the kind words. I think by now most of you know I gave up photography for over 40 years. The reasons are a long story. With digital, I am starting from scratch, and I appreciate all the feedback and encouragement NPN is giving me
My home is Woodstock, CT. My job takes me all over the US, Ireland, and the UK. This image was near Sutterās Mill outside of Coloma, CA. I was only using my phone at the time, but I have a collection of all my vintage cameras starting with my first camera a J33 Polaroid( I purchased it with Green Stamps that took me 3 years to collect). At Brooks Institute you were required to only use a 4x5 view camera for the first year. I still have my Toyo View Camera from those days. Have my full Hasselblad kit from my commercial photographer gigs.
I could go on, but my iPhone 8 was my first digital camera. I use Lumix full frame with Leica lens and Sigma L mount telephotos.
Thanks again
Steve
ps a last thought do we put way too much thought into hardware? Thatās why I donāt post my f-stops.
We put too much thought into the craft of an image when critiquing it. Each image is about something and we seldom spend much time on what that is and how well itās conveyed.
@Igor_Doncov
Super observation I totally agree. When I post I often call out an image that goes beyond documentation and moves into what I will call art.
There is nothing wrong with documentation it is just a different area of photography. I love looking at old cowboy photographs of the 1800s American West. They show you a snapshot of time that is so different that what we see in films. My point just like painting photography has many different uses. We will never know what the wild west was like because most folks alive in the 1800s are not with us anymore. We can see what it was like in vintage photos, a very useful purpose. But is it Art? Look at some of Edward Curtis work from the 1800s. As an example, Navajos, Canyon De Chelly c1904, That is one hell of a landscape, That is ART.
Both are beautiful both can have emotions they are just different.
What story are we telling?
your thoughts
Steve
After posting the above I went over to check out Brooks Jensenās AMA currently going on.
He said this much more elegantly:
I prefer photographers who show me why I should look at their landscapes. If all they do is make a copy of the world (particularly if itās a āpretty pictureā), Iām less interested. The fundamental act of photography is presenting an image that is supposed to be meaningful and connect with the viewer. If the photograph essentially presents me with something I would have seen had I been standing next to the photographer at the moment of exposure, I am often left asking the question Why? Why am I supposed to pay attention to this? Why do you find this significant? I often put it this way: of all the trees you drove by or walked by, why did you stop to photograph this one? What makes this tree special? The photographers I admire the most are those who can show me (in their photograph) why that tree caught their eye over all others. Not āa treeā, but this tree. Ditto for any other subject in the landscape.
Brooks Jensen
AHHH ā OK ā South Fork of the American River. (AT the risk of putting way too much thought into locations!! 
The Russian River is a much less touristy area NW of the San Francisco North Bay Area.
Good point on the hardware, and on what we think about with critique. I can never decide where on the scale of art and craft to focus on an image, but I find craft a lot easier to think out loud about. Need to work on that.
Iām not familiar with this photography but it reminds me of a John Ford western. He created scenes like this repeatedly for his work. He was clearly impressed by these cliffs and used them to add a viewpoint to his films. Those backgrounds affected the story his films told.
But this is actually a good example of what I meant. See how the tops of the riders touch the line of shadows above them? That would be the critique one would give here at NPN. In the big picture of things that composition āerrorā is irrelevant.
Well, at least I remembered the river had a country in its name. The image was made during the Paradise fire, which gave it the warm light from the smoke.
Thanks again
Steve