As the full moon rose behind the Golden Gate, I quit trying to photograph the moon beneath the bridge. The broader context of the landscape showed the beach at Kirby Cove with a hint of the surf flattened by the time exposure and the skyline of San Francisco in the distance.
This six second exposure was the shortest exposure I made in the sequence of photos I took from the fortifications just behind the beach. The moon itself is still blown out at six seconds, but the general landscape is pleasing.
Related stories: Moon Shines Bright; Towers of the Moon; Rose Moon Rising. To learn more about exposing landscapes that are lit by a bright moon, check out Taming Extravagant Dynamic Range on the O’Reilly Digital Media blog.
texbrandt
3 Jul 2007Your thoughts on Myths, Metaphors, and Digital Photography reminded me of a conversation I had with a photographer displaying his work at a craft show. When I mentioned digital photography and photoshop he launched into a diatribe about all those people who think a camera(digital) makes them a photographer. All the while I was thinking your work is good, “but you ain’t no Ansel Adams either.” As a sculptor I had a similar encounter with a gentleman who thought if you didn’t use a chisel and mallet you were not making legitimate sculpture. This mind set is well captured with a comment I got at an art show a few years ago. I was in my booth playing a Native American Flute made by a friend in his high tech shop. A man stopped and looked and with a sneer said, “looks like he uses power tools.” I picked up my pocket knife and laid it on the counter, and said “there is a very basic power tool, at the moment it is not under power.” Then I picked it up opening the blade and said, “now it is under power.”
The man walked away before I could say more, from his body language I really ticked him off. All of this is to say that the most important part of any tool be it camera or carving tool is the eye and mind of the one who uses it, it doesn’t matter whether it is a box with a pin hole for a lens or a bit of electronics and sensors that can take us to another world. No matter the tool, the artist will always take us to new places if we are willing to open our eyes.
The photographers who we remember and revere are the very ones who stepped beyond myth and convention.
Robert
“The role of the artist is not merely to reproduce the visible, but to make visible.”
Harold Davis
4 Jul 2007Hi Robert I agree with everything you write. Thanks for posting. Here’s a link to my original Myths, Metaphors, and Digital Photography story that you mention.
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