I live not far from the Suisun Marsh in Fairfield, and I must confess that, lately, I have gone there more often than I used to. The Rush Ranch, one of my photography destinations with access to the Marsh, is only 40 min from my home. Nobody else goes there for photography, so I have all the wide-open spaces and rolling hills to myself. And as a bonus, I am guaranteed some unique photos of places nobody else cares about.
Two things, however, affect my photographic enjoyment of the rolling hills and pastures surrounding the Suisun Marsh: first, the grass is only green in the Winter. In mid-spring, it turns brown, making it difficult to obtain contrast in black and white. Second, the sky in California’s Central Valley tends to be very boring from late spring to mid-Autumn.
It is only in the winter, and early spring, that wondering about the pastures surrounding the Suisun Marsh will pay off for the photographer: the light is variable and spotty, clouds can be plenty and interesting, and the wind is bearable.
February 5th was a cold, windy Sunday afternoon. The air was crisp, cold and clean, due to recent rains. I wanted to be out in nature to recharge for the coming week. And since I know that days of good light are few and far in-between, I took my camera with me.
The forecast predicted a partly cloudy day with 20% chance of rain. Despite that, it rained on and off. At the ranch, I walked a few miles on cow trails, in the pasture, among cattle, looking for compositions. As I had written before, it is difficult to add a tri-dimensional feel to the open spaces of the West. Many were the gates, barbwire fences, ground squirrels and crows. Few were the hills. The light was variable and spotty, and I tried to juggle all those elements in and out of my frame.
The FEATURED PHOTOGRAPH (f/16, 1/250s, ISO 320) is another open invitation through the pasture, winding along the nearly dry marsh, into the mountains and towards the light. I took it with a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 52 mm. It was converted to black and white using Photoshop.
Last year I took a similar photo of another gate at the same ranch, and I wrote a blog post about it. Both photos are now displayed in my gallery “Light Matters“.
Question for my readers: my two photographs, Rush Ranch, 2022 and Rush Ranch, 2023, the FEATURED PHOTOGRAPH, are very similar. They are based on the same concept, and employ similar elements. Are they the same, and should I chose one to present in my collections, or are they different photographs that deserve their own spot? (I know that there is no right answer, I just want to read what people think).
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Wall Art landscapes and miscellaneous
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It is all about the light 
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