When in the field photographing there's always a limited amount of time to work with. How am I going to spend it? What am I going to photograph?
While in Big Sur, I was so overwhelmed by the whole scene, almost all of my images show the wide view. I barely shot any close-up or detail images. Of the time I had to spend photographing, much of it was spent trying to get my own image of the places that seemed most iconic, judging from images I'd looked at before my trip: McWay Creek Waterfall in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and Pfeiffer Arch at Pfeiffer Beach State Park. I spent a lot of my limited time trying to get images that had already been done.
This became a major dilemma while driving back to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, to have a second go at photographing the McWay Creek Waterfall (on my first visit the waterfall and beach were completely shrouded in fog). As I was headed back, the fog had lifted and late light was saturating the sea cliffs, just north of the park. But I couldn't stop. That "waterfall onto the beach" scene was drawing me in like a tractor beam. Even though I'd now seen at least a dozen images of that scene, all shot from more or less the same position. In my mind that was the quintessential Big Sur scene. But, I was running out of time. The light was fantastic, and I kept driving. As I got closer, it got foggier. Why hadn't I stopped? Should I turn around? I hadn't really scouted any of these other overlooks before. No time to waste, I told myself. Finally, I arrived at the parking area, directly off Highway 1, sprinted the short distance to the waterfall overlook to discover a light fog had muted that intense red light I'd seen earlier. But some light was getting through, and it was clear enough to see detail in the beach, the ocean, the rock, and the waterfall. Best of all, those pink lilies were just glowing in that late diffused light. As a bonus, I had the place to myself.
In the end, I was very happy with the shot I came away with (see blog post Oct 22). I think it's one of the best I've seen of that scene, due in large part to lucky seasonal timing, and calm enough conditions to pull off a 5 second exposure. But, I've been having doubts about my need to rerecord scenes that have all ready become iconic. Is it enough to show the same basic scene, that's been photographed so well by so many others, even in great light and at some seasonal climax. Or should I always seek an image that hasn't been done. Should I only try to create my own icons?
In contrast, my working methods at home have become more relaxed. I've become more interested in finding expressive details than photographing the wider landscape from the road. Instead of racing up and down the road at 50 miles per hour, I walk up the trail and don't worry too much about how far I'm going to get, or the fact that I don't have time to get to the "destination".
While taking photos of leaves certainly isn't anything new, I like the fact that these images don't necessarily remind me of any images I've all ready seen. They represent some of my best "autumn" images of 2009. They come directly from the interaction between my heart and mind and the natural world on an intimate scale and level. Hopefully these images speak to a wider audience than just me.
