As time passes, I feel less and less inclined to take these kinds of “grand landscapes”. I find that it is hard to get past the “pretty picture” quality of such images. I mean, they can be very nice for me as mementos but so rarely capture something essential that really speaks to the bones of this wild, north country, which is why I am there with my camera, in the first place. That being said, I think this one does begin to capture the Yin/Yan quality of this wilderness landscape. On the one hand, there is the awesome magenta light that, on the morning of taking this photograph, felt so inviting and gently surprising. On the other, is the sheer ruggedness of this terrain – the tenacious trees and treacherous waters roaring at my feet. In post, I tried to be very judicious with where I added texture and clarity, not wanting to take too much off the rugged elegance of the scene.
I don’t have the “latest and the greatest” camera, by any means. Still hanging in with my Fuji Xt-2. But I am so impressed with the dynamic range that it can embrace. So, this needed only one shot. However, I took a dozen or so with the thought that I might want to blend the standing wave (lrc). I’m glad I did because in the end that gave me the choice for a more elegant wave form than the principle shot provided. I like the way that wave extends to the left of the frame and then circles back, containing the turbulent water.
All feedback is much appreciated.
Kerry, this is for sure not just a pretty picture. It’s an image talking to me about a wild and probably remote place. Mostly because of the waves in front. To me it may be wilder up in the image. I think a place to go back many times and se how it changes.
Beautiful and it feels remote and wild. I think the distressed looking trees add to that feeling as does the sense of space. I like this a lot.
Hi Kerry,
I take your point about a grand landscape potentially not telling as direct as a story as an intimate. Though I do think grand landscapes are great if they have a graphical nature to them. In this shot I like the diagonal flow from bottom right to top left and the transition from dark to light.
I also think that the image has wonderful texture in the water and the foliage. I’d be tempted to increase the exposure.
I hear you Kerry. But this is not just a postcard of a beautiful scene. This has the wonderful movement of the standing wave, implied and actual. The light in his gorgeous, kind of just between dawn and bright daylight, and I especially love how the sky tones are reflected in the water. As someone also noted, those trees leaning into the image really add to the wilderness feeling. Thanks for posting this!
Kerry, I really like this image a lot. I assume you are buildling a portfolio collection of boreal forest images. Then it’s a good thing to have the variety of including some grand landscape images, along with the more intimate tree/forest images that you posted earlier.
And this is not just another rainbows and unicorns grand landscape image where the sunrise colors and clouds are the instant gratification. There are some other really neat things in the image beyond the pink clouds. That wave formation is very intriguing, and it’s nicely complemented by the small waterfalls. And as @Mark_Muller pointed out, the scraggly trees create a feeling of true wilderness. I also like that you have repetition of the scraggly trees on the far shore. There are a lot of other interesting elements to engage the viewer and add to the story of the boreal forest.
In terms of processing, I could see slightly lifting shadow detail along the shoreline, and some dodging of the highlights in the water, both to emphasize the wave, and the reflected color in the water. I would also bump the mid-tone contrast in the sky a bit.Here is a rework with my stab at that.
I will add my two cents to this discussion of the image. It is a beautiful image and to me says wild. The flowing river, trees and big sky speak wilderness. I will disagree a bit on you grand landscape thought. Part of why I love the north is because of the open wild feeling of freedom. I think both the grand and intimate landscape has their places in portraying the north. Just my thoughts.
Wow, gorgeous, in an understated way. This is not in the oversaturated/gaudy camp. The composition is super - the visual weight of the combined shapes and textures on the right are balanced by the strong colors on the left. That’s visually interesting. I like the original exposure, as it feels more like those moments before the sun rises, where details are a bit obscured.
Beautifully conveys peace, motion and harshness, not usually done in one image. To me, even with Ed’s tuneup, I think you could crop half of the sky between the tree tip and the top edge, and keep my eyes more into the story.
@Ben_van_der_Sande - I’m glad you appreciate the wildness that this image is intended to share. My wife and I do try to get back to this part of the world every year (this year being the exception) though it’s not exactly what you’d call accessible. To get to this spot we first took the train with all our gear and canoe from Toronto to Winnipeg (around 1500 km), then we were driven 300km north where we flew in by bush plane another 200 km north. From there we probably paddled another 100 km west along this river before coming across this spot, which, by good luck, served as a fine camp site. As for coming back to see how things have changed - I doubt very much that this part of the world has changed noticeably since the end of the last ice age around 10,000 years ago. When my wife and I are paddling we often play a little mind-game and imagine what it would be like to go back four or five thousand years in time and whether we’d have any way of knowing.
@Harley_Goldman - Thank you kindly, Harley.
@Nathan_Klein - Thanks so much, Nathan. I think that I may have misrepresented myself. I don’t mean to suggest, for a moment, that there is something inherently inferior about grand landscapes over more intimate ones. I’m only speaking for myself and the awareness I have that, when doing grand landscapes, I tend to get kind of lazy and inattentive and fall back into a formulaic relationships with what is going on around me. For me, there is this perverse draw to imagine that there is this picture “out there” that I need simply “capture”, rather than staying connected with the experience, which, at that level, is always intimate.
@Mark_Muller - I’m so pleased that you were taken with this image.
@Ed_McGuirk - Thanks, as always, Ed for your kind words and valuable insight. Both you and Nathan made similar suggestions regarding post processing. I have to confess, that I have about three slightly different versions of this image, all playing with darks and midtone contrast to a degree (I’ve added one of those reworks up top for comparison). These days, the first thing i do is check out my histogram and make sure I’m in the right ballpark. The image, as posted, checked out fine. So, then I played with it, driving myself infinitely crazy - you know - spending an hour putting in a comma and then another hour taking it out again. Where I ended up was more or less with what @Bonnie_Lampley came to - a little softer, more of a whisper than a shout. But, in truth, there is only one way for me to know exactly when I’m done and that will be when I get around to printing it.
@Dick_Knudson - thanks Dick. Though I see your point, I’m not inclined to take anything off the top. That’s partly because I like the the relaxed feel that comes with the breathing space (I think there is sufficient tension elsewhere) and because I like this aspect ratio for this image and I wouldn’t want to take anything off the left side to maintain it.
Thank you for the reply. My sense of breathing space is not very well developed I think. But I did realize that my suggestion would mean tampering with aspect ratio.
@Kerry_Gordon, Thank you so much Kerry for your travel- story. My own photo travels are mostly about 20-50km. If I should go 2000KM I would be in the south of Italy or the border of Turkey. So great story to me and my wife.