It was a cool, windy and rainy morning and a bit annoying to venture out far from the warmth of the house. I was visiting my friend in Vermont with the intention of doing some mountain biking, but not today. As usual, I also travel to shoot photography. Always up for a challenge, I saw the wind gusts blowing the leaves of the trees and thought, why not show their movement in contrast to the stillness of the tree trunks, branches and forest floor? So, I headed out to the backyard with a camera, tripod and towel in hand. The challenge was waiting between wind gusts and timing the shots to show movement in the leaves and contrast the stillness in the larger tree trunks. Wind gusts were brief, but when they came, they were strong.
I like to think of myself as not so much a "Landscape" photographer as more of a "Nature" photographer. Besides typical landscapes and seascapes, my portfolio includes flora and, at times, detail and patterns from the chaos of shrubs to flat rock walls. I try to limit any cropping to a minimum. I look at the shot through the viewfinder in height and width and move myself or the camera lens to compose. Meanwhile, in post-processing, I worked to create depth with the light I was given with shadows and highlights, followed by mid-tones, color to try to be as I remembered the scene, and a little pop and sharpness. I usually add a vignette custom per shot.
I am currently working on some long-range projects. One I call "Chaos," in trying to understand how plants fill space, and another one on capturing the landscape in weather.