I love evolving my style, going out of my comfort zone. Like many photographers, I leave a trail of “old work” behind. For example, I used to, but rarely take “straight landscape” photos anymore, except to license in stock. Been there, done that; plus, everyone else is doing it now, and there are many more everyone elses than there used to be: iPhones in hand, almost anyone can take certain types of photos.
I took the FEATURED PHOTOGRAPH (f/11, 0.5s, ISO 400) at Yosemite National Park, on Dec 9, 2019. It was a very cold day. My friend and I could stay out of the car only for a few minutes at a time before everything began freezing. The camera was functioning precariously (no one tells you that the computer inside of it does not like below-freezing temperatures). The fog above the snow was just right at the base of the naked aspens.
A few seconds after I took this photo, we were greeted by a lone coyote.
Sometimes I consider going back to the basics and start taking intimate landscapes in color again. People seem to like these types of photos better than they like botanicals in black and white, or dreamscapes in black and white. Despite the proliferation of photographers, landscape images still get some traction. Naked aspens in the Yosemite fog is, by no means, my best seller. Furthermore, these days I like to be out more than I like photographing, and landscape photography is a good excuse to go out frequently.
Prints of “Naked aspens in the Yosemite fog, color” are available for purchase at my pixels website.
Question to my readers: is there any type of photography you used to do but don’t engage in anymore?
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Wall Art landscapes and miscellaneous
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It is all about the light 
That band of fog across the aspen trunks is a great touch, the epitome of the mistiness that pervades the image as a whole.
In reply to your question about “photography you used to do but don’t engage in anymore,” my double answer is 3-D and infrared (which I often combined). I also once worked a lot in black and white but only rarely do now, and always as a conversion from color.
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Why did you turn your back to infrared? I have thought about trying, multiple times. Maybe one day I will. It requires gear adjustments and expenses, I guess that’s why I keep putting it off. I also photograph in black and white and then I convert to. color.
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One reason is that Infrared film required special handling. The felt-lined slit on a 35mm film canister is impervious to visible light but not to infrared. As a result, just putting a film canister into a camera and taking it out again later had to be done in the dark. I carried a black changing bag around in my camera bag for that purpose. Aesthetically, I’d had a good run with infrared, and eventually I just stopped working in that medium. In fact I went through a long period In the 1980s and ’90s when I didn’t do much “serious” photography at all, just personal pictures. By the time I resumed, digital photography was beginning to come in and I got used to color. For years I’ve though about getting one of my old digital cameras converted to infrared but so far I haven’t done it.
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Oddly, your question got rephrased in my mind to “Is there any type of writing you used to do but don’t engage in any more?” The answer’s a firm ‘yes,’ and as I’ve thought about it today, it’s become clear to me that, rather than leaving what I used to do behind, I want to reclaim it: for myself, if no one else. I’ve had some great stories sitting in my draft files that I’ve thought would work wonderfully well, but I haven’t gotten after them. Focus is one reason, but a certain laziness is another. Before I took up photography, I would spend hours — days –on a single post, and sometimes turn out things that required three posts: a sort of serializing of a story, if you will.
I think this is the year. After all, time is getting short. If I don’t tell them soon, I’ll not be telling them at all!
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Coincidentally, I had been reading “ The thoughts of Marcus Aurelius “ when I stopped to reply to comments and saw yours. I’d just highlighted this “ We ought to consider not only that our life is daily wasting away and a smaller part of it is left, but another thing also must be taken into the account, that if a man should live longer, it is quite uncertain whether the understanding will still continue sufficient for the comprehension of things, and retain the power of contemplation which strives to acquire the knowledge of the divine and the human…We must make haste, then, not only because we are daily nearer to death, but also because the conception of things and the understanding of them cease first.” I hope you write your stories because, if you don’t, who will?
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Yes, go for it!
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I started photography because of a love of nature, not because of a love of photography. That love began as I spent more time with the camera making images of the subjects I loved but my driving force is and always will be nature. I have no interest in photographing people or buildings or sporting events or products despite the obvious better pay scales. That brings me to respond to what you wrote…”Sometimes I consider going back to the basics and start taking intimate landscapes in color again. People seem to like these types of photos better than they like botanicals in black and white, or dreamscapes in black and white.” While selling our images is certainly rewarding, forcing ourselves to shoot what is not first and foremost a task of love is generally not going to be our best work, at least not in my opinion. In my case I don’t go out and suffer myself Raynaud’s pain for likes or sales but because I enjoy making abstract images of ice. Same goes for flowers, insects, mushrooms, landscapes, sunrises, waterfalls, etc. This is of course just speaking for myself. But…you do beautiful work of what you choose to photograph and I think compromising by shooting what you think will be popular will not be as self-satisfying as following your current path. I usually end saying this sort of thing with “Or not!” 🙂
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It’s cool that your love is of nature before photography. And that I can see in your photos. If I go back to taking landscapes again in color, it’s really to be out more and simplify my post-processing. I really like to be out hiking and conquering challenging places. There’s no real money in any of it ( nature, black and white, landscape. Botanicals). Products an people, that’s another thing…
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It’s beautiful. I would say it’s a shame you don’t do it anymore but this is really about your evolution, not my preferences. You do what you do because it makes sense for you at that moment. We simply grow out of some things.
However, I just want to add that the number of people taking this kind of photos should not be (and certainly is not for me) a reason not to take then anymore. The meaning and story I attach to them is only mine and I frankly don’t care about how many snapshots have been taken of the same place. But I understand this may be different if stock photography is a source of income.
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Thank you. It’s true that we grow out of some things, and for me it’s difficult to go out and take all sorts of pics, each type requires different conditions, equipment, vision, expectations etc. As for the repeated snapshots… here it’s the Golden Gate Bridge I don’t care to see one more photo of or take. And yet, once in a great while I see one that surprises me.
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