28-SEP-2006
Gibbon Falls, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
Many photographers enjoy photographing waterfalls from tripods at very slow shutter speeds, creating a velvet-like flow of water to express movement. I can’t deny the beauty and appeal of interpreting nature in this way, but this technique, repeated over and over, soon becomes a cliché. I much prefer to shoot hand-held and use a fast shutter speed to stop the action of falling water, allowing the water to take on a variety of contrasting shapes and deliver a wealth of detail to study. This image of Gibbon Falls was made at 1/800th of a second, fast enough to freeze the surges and isolate the gout of water as they make their way down the side of the rocky cliff. I also found vantage point where I could contrast the flowing water to the dry cliff at left, featuring two huge dead trees hanging on to its surface like match sticks. I use my spot meter to expose for the brightest water, allowing the background shadows to turn more of the falls into a deep blue color. I run the image diagonally through the frame, creating a shape like a giant beard.
29-SEP-2006
Lower Falls, Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
The traditional view of this magnificent waterfall is a spectacular vista incorporating the falls into a landscape depicting the Yellowstone River valley itself. (I have made my own version of that image -- you can see it by clicking on the thumbnail at the end of this caption.) This is a more abstract version, emphasizing the sheer force of the sheet of falling water as it plunges past the golden cliffs into the mist shrouded river below. I shoot at 1/250th of second, which replicates what the eye itself would see. It is not a fast enough shutter speed to freeze detail, as in the previous image, nor is it a slow enough speed to blur the fall of the water. I extend the focal length of my lens to over 500mm by reducing the number of megapixels in the image, which crops the image tightly, creating a pressure packed frame that vibrates with energy.
26-SEP-2006
Cascade, Hot Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
A cascade is a small waterfall that falls in stages down a rocky slope. Although at first glance, this image may seem to be a grand view of a vast series of waterfalls, I was actually standing on a boardwalk directly over the cascade, which covers only few feet of space, and using a focal length of about 45mm. It makes a good subject for a “wispy water” interpretation. Using a relatively slow shutter speed of 1/13th of a second, hand-held, I was able to get just enough blur into the fast flowing cascade to evoke a sense of turbulence. It is not quite the silky smooth water one would get with the camera on a tripod and a longer time exposure, but in this case, silkiness would not have expressed the idea I had in mind.
27-SEP-2006
Cone of a geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
Yellowstone has over 300 geysers, two thirds of all the geysers in the world. It is a volcanic area, with superheated magma deep in the earth heating water that seeps into the earth. This forms an underground plumbing system, regularly forcing great gouts of steam through crevices in the rock that erupt as geysers. Castle Geyser has built up a large cone around its crevices, and when it erupts, steam and water gush into view with great force. Using a focal length of almost 400mm, and a relatively slow shutter speed of 1/30th of a second that turns water and steam into a cloudlike curtain, I express the essence of the geyser’s force as an eruption.
27-SEP-2006
Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
Geyser images limited to clouds of steam alone are generally not very expressive. I fell into that trap in Yellowstone – many of my geyser shots, which felt good to make, are actually little more than description. Geyser steam needs color and context to work as expression. In this case, I used a 28mm wideangle lens to create that context and took advantage of the pinkish glow that comes just after sunset to bring a touch of color to the scene. I lead the eye to the geyser by including a good part of the wet terrace that surrounds the geyser. Long fingers of rocky soil on that terrace point to Castle’s distinctive cone in the distance, as a vast column of pink tinged steam explodes into the sky.
26-SEP-2006
White Dome Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
I photographed the eruption of White Dome by back lighting the spout of steam and water against a backdrop of thin clouds. The sun has created a bluish glow that adds an eerie feeling to the eruption. By abstracting the cone of the geyser and the cloud of steam, I show less, and say more, about this unique natural phenomenon. I had the feeling I was photographing a huge whale moving off into the distance, leaving a telltale spout of steam hanging in the air behind it.
27-SEP-2006
Hell along the Firehole, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
The Firehole River meanders through this scene, a ribbon of silver amidst a landscape that appears to be on fire. It is a landscape from Hell. The Firehole is lined by thermal fields emitting heat and moisture. I made this image with my 420mm telephoto at dawn. The cold air and the hot moisture create steam that appears to be golden smoke. The steam shows up best against darkness, and the long lens bring the hill in the background much closer, making it a perfect backdrop.
27-SEP-2006
Steamy chase through Biscuit Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
Half-hidden by clouds of steam from nearby thermal springs, this male elk is chasing another male. It is mating season in Yellowstone, and it is common to see males chasing away the competition. The steam gives the image its energy and its meaning. It abstracts the scene, bringing our imaginations into play. Along with the creek, the steam seems to make the elk work even harder to get where he is going.
26-SEP-2006
Hot Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
Hot Lake, fed by thermal springs, lives up its simple name. When the evening chill arrives, clouds of steam envelope visitors, including this couple, who seem to be trying to figure out how to photograph what they are seeing. For me, this scene was magical, but without the people, it would be meaningless. This image uses moving moisture to throw man and nature into a contrasting relationship. I used a 300mm focal length to reach distance, compressing the steam in the foreground layer, the people in the middleground layer, and the steam and forest in the background layer, into a single perspective.
28-SEP-2006
Palette Spring, Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
As soon as I saw Palette Spring at a distance, its brown limestone terraces caught in this powerful ray of afternoon light, I instinctively knew that I had one my most promising photographic subjects of our visit to Yellowstone. I also knew that I had to shoot from this far away vantage point in order to make the most of the angle of the light. If I moved closer, the effect of the light would vanish. Yet I was a long way from the scene, too long for my 12x, 420mm zoom. Fortunately, my Panasonic FZ-50 camera is able to optically extend my zoom range without picture quality deterioration. To do this, I simply cut the size of my image in half – from ten megapixels to five megapixels, and zoomed my lens out as far as it would go. With my resolution reduced to five megapixels, I now had a 17x zoom lens in my hands – making an image equivalent to almost 600mm. It brings me close enough to take full advantage of the angle of light, yet also lets me show key detail right through the steam rising from the cascade of hot water pouring over Palette Spring’s terraces. This image is all about the nature of light, the translucent steam, the diagonal flow of stone and sun, and the coloration of the terraces. It speaks of heat, moisture, and time -- all part of the magic of nature.
19-OCT-2006
Warm duck, Benton Hot Springs, California, 2006
Not only does Benton Hot Springs live up to its name, but it also has a hot lake of sorts – a collecting pond. A large pipe feeds water from an underground hot spring into the pond. I was able to backlight the pipe, and by shooting at a very fast 1/1250th of a second shutter speed, I can stop the spout of hot water as it gushes into the pond. Using a 420mm telephoto focal length, I reach out to bring a distant duck into the image, cloaking duck, pipe, and pond in a hazy golden veil of steam. Seeing an oblivious duck floating in a steaming hot pond makes for a memorably incongruous moment.
19-OCT-2006
Steamy spring, Benton Hot Springs, California, 2006
We arrived in Benton Hot Springs at the perfect moment to interpret its namesake. The sun was filtering light through the trees and the rising clouds of steam from this hot spring, giving this image a delightfully sylvan atmosphere. To make the most of it, I shoot into the light, giving shape to the steam and stressing the rays of light that enter from the top of the frame. I abstract the spring itself, anchoring the image with deeply shadowed rocks, and letting the water flow connect diagonally to the flow of light through the leaves of the overhead tree. The image seems to move moisture in two directions at once.
