Behind The Image Blog #07- Landscape photography | Devil’s Punchbowl, Or.
Devil’s Punchbowl, Or. - Blog #07
Long time no blog…. Seriously, it's been way too long. I apologize, but I will explain a little bit about where I have been and the challenge I recently faced in my landscape photography.
The Challenge I recently faced
As I progress as a landscape photographer I am constantly challenging myself and trying to improve with every image I take. This is far from a bad thing. I am actually quite grateful for it. I have also found it to be destructive in certain ways. No matter what your passion, hobby, or career path is, we can all agree on one thing. We are working towards the same goal and that is to improve and be the best we can be. After almost 7 years of photography, with thousands of hours of video content and learning I have consumed; my work has progressed, quite a lot. I have shot images I never once dreamt of. That is the whole goal of doing what I do. When you try to one-up every image you take, you start getting picky and not always in a good way. Landscape photography is more than an image, it's an experience with an entire story. There are highs, lows, tantrums, and most notable; CRAP images! As I have gotten more stubborn, I have found it hard to share those mediocre images with you all.
I am at the stage in my career where I constantly need images to share. The bottom line is I need content all the time to make this far-fetched goal of mine come to life. In reality, though, this is far from feasible. Not every shoot will result in good light, epic conditions, and a brilliant photograph to go along with it. It’s actually just the opposite. Tough huh? Yeah, tell me about it. I spent the last couple of months in a bit of a slump. After a handful of failed shoots, I struggled to find the inspiration and motivation to keep showing up. It's challenging. One bad image after another sure hurts your self-esteem and makes you question your skills. Being determined, continuing to wake up early, making those long drives, and attempting to turd polish those rubbish images… will eventually pay off, I promise.
ThIs weeks Featured Image
After what felt like an eternity of mediocre photographs, I shot what probably is one of my favorite images of the year. It only takes one to make all the other failures worth it.
This my friends is a shot I will cherish for a long time….
Inside of Devil’s Punchbowl, Or.
Man, what an epic experience shooting this place was. This has been on my shot list for quite some time. In these types of situations where you have to significantly rely on tides, heights and times, things don't always go as planned; but I’m stoked it did.
Low tide was at 5:45 in the morning, which meant I started my day a bit early. After a 3:45AM departure, I was off and on the road. Yes, some may call this the middle of the night, but I’d do anything for the slightest chance of getting a portfolio-worthy image. Just as I arrived and made my way down to this cave of epicness, I was in absolute awe by the brilliance I was in the presence of. It was truly magnificent, and something I’ve never come close to experiencing before. This cave is not an area to mess around in, the tides need to be watched at all times, and you must be careful in adventuring too deep because it does get very slippery.
As I scoped out the surroundings and started the search for a composition, I found exactly what I wanted; in a matter of 2 minutes. 1 large boulder specifically caught my eye. A brushing of vibrant green moss, accompanied by a second boulder, and smaller rocks in between. It provides a detailed view of what the rest of the ocean floor looks like, which is why I used it as my foreground in the composition. Finding a way to capture the entire scene brought a bit of a challenge, but I believe I was able to provide a sense of scale by shooting low and wide, which is something I do often. Also, having a good balance of foreground, and background was vital when framing this image.
Just as I finished shooting this composition, I dialed in my settings and exposed for bracketing and also shot an additional two images for focus stacking; dark, black clouds formed above me, and rain started to fall. This typically wouldn’t be an issue, but when you’re inside of a cave surrounded by crashing waves on all sides, let’s just say bad thoughts start to form in your mind.. so I packed my gear up and got out of there.
Conlusion
Overall I'm thrilled with the image I came away with. Not necessarily because it’s the best photograph I’ve ever taken, or the light was magnificent. Simply because it’s something completely new and different compared to my other work. Though this is a place I will be returning a handful more times to shoot in the ultimate light possible. Picture this; epic orange light rays beaming through the openings of the cave, and the scene is layered by a soft warm golden hour glow. Alright, I’ll quit dreaming, but I won't stop till I get that photo!
Be on the lookout for frequent blog posts, and more images shortly!
Gear used to photograph THIS image:
Feedback is always welcome, the comment section is open!
Happy photographing!
Thanks for reading,
Alec
