Four years is long enough for my “Suburban Growth” photography project. The last step is to make a video slideshow that shows the stages of development in East Dublin, California. (Soon.)
Windemere Trail, San Ramon
Photo Tip: When documenting a subject over time, careful planning and record keeping of focal length, shot position, time of day, f stop, ISO, etc. are necessary for some form of consistency.
(My excuse for not following that rule is I didn’t know what I wanted when I began.) I just jumped in when I liked a shot. Plus, I suffer from “CRS syndrome,”–I can’t remember shit!
For the past three days it’s been gloomy with fog, rain, and dense clouds here in Northern California. The sun briefly appeared after I waited about 40 minutes in a Pleasanton parking lot, so I quickly took a shot of the sun behind some leaves. Pity, with all these clouds, we’ve still only had about 1/2 inch of rain. I didn’t find any puddles with fall leaves. Maybe tomorrow and hopefully with some sun because water often looks best in the middle of the day with the sun shining on it. Landscape photography is very different from urban photography. When I lived in a big city, chance was my best friend, whereas here a lot of patience and probably a tripod is necessary for good landscape photography.
Fall Poem “The Gifts Autumn Brings” by Jyrone Denny: Cool air, bright colors, The sweet smell of dying leaves.
10 am, light behind me on a cloudy day.
Every day feels like a bonus since I’ve been lucky enough to have already lived more than 70 years.
In these bonus days, I hope to find art near my doorstep and share it with you.
For those of you not in an early winter deep freeze, take some time to capture the brilliant colors of fall with your camera. (Remember the best camera is the one you have with you.)
Early morning on a cloudy day. San Ramon, CA 2014
1. Shoot from afar and close-up:
It’s a good idea to let people know where they are by shooting some pictures from afar. The best time is early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
Cloudy Day, Pleasanton, 2013
2. Wet leaves have deeper, richer colors:
Shoot them for close-up detail. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for rain here in Northern California. We’re suffering from a severe drought, but hopefully rain will come tonight. In the meantime, I found some wild turkeys on the lawn at the senior center drinking from the well watered lawn.
Turkeys, San Ramon, CA 2014
3. Shoot toward partial sun coming through the trees:
Unfortunately, cloud cover in my area since Sunday at the right times for shooting has made that impossible. I’m dreaming of rain tonight and sun coming through the trees tomorrow. (Sometimes it takes days to get the light you want.)
The founder of Kodak, George Eastman said, “Light makes Photography–know it for all you are worth and you will know the key to photography.”
Stop back on Friday, Nov. 21st to see if the rain and the sun appeared and I got some shots to illustrate 2 & 3 above.
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