Fall Color. McClure Pass, Colorado, 2012
My apologies for missing two days in a row (I try to update once a day when I can), but the golden aspen were calling. My wife, María Rosa, and I spent a long weekend caressing the creases and canyons of central Colorado to view the annual fall color show–and to create images, of course!
I actually had a day and a half to myself at the beginning of the trip, before picking up María from a retreat near Snowmass, so I decided to check out two of the most famous and photographed locations in Colorado–the Crystal Mill and the Maroon Bells vista (sort of on opposite sides of the same mountain range from each other). Just about every postcard stand in Colorado will have images of these two places.
Now, let me insert an important note here: You will not see any images from me of either Colorado icon. Why? Well, so many people have created so many incredibly good images of both places, in all seasons of the year, from multiple perspectives, and in just about every weather condition you could imagine, that I can’t really see the value of adding my poor images to the pile. (Oops! Looks like I’ll post that Crystal Mill image tomorrow, anyway!)
This, then, is today’s topic: imitating the iconic landscape images we have all seen done previously by the greats. Should we all be trooping out to, say, Yosemite, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Maroon Bells, or you name it, with the intention of locating a previous great photographer’s tripod holes, set ourselves up there, and proceed to see if we can duplicate his or her famous images? Should we really try to duplicate or compete with Ansel and his view of Half Dome from Glacier Point? I personally think not. Most of us are not likely to improve upon such previous work. BUT…
…Here are some reasons why I think it might be reasonable to do such a thing:
1) It could be part of your growth as a future master photographer–we all go through an imitation phase before finding our own way of seeing things.
2) It is a great excuse to actually visit these places…breathe the air, feel the wind, smell the scent of the vegetation…
3) These places are historically significant to landscape photographers and going there to personally see what conditions they had to deal with is a nice historical “field trip” and a way to pay homage to the greats.
4) You could get lucky and find the light or weather to be truly spectacular and you might actually capture something unique. (Although the other 50 photographers lined up with you may also capture much the same thing!)
5) You want to challenge yourself–maybe you can find a different way of capturing the scene that has never been done before–maybe with star trails, by moonlight, or with some special effect you like.
6) Most photographic icons are in beautiful places, so there may be possibilities for great images in the near vicinity (i.e. camera not pointed directly at the icon, frame filled with Ansel’s exact composition!).
7) You can count on running your tripod into (literally!) other, more experienced, photographers, have fun, enjoy good conversation, make friends–and even learn something new!
In my case, it was certainly a little of all of the above, although I held out little hope for numbers 4 and 5.
I enjoyed the visits to the Crystal Mill and to Maroon Bells, I met some interesting folks (more on that tomorrow), and I also felt like I became just a bit more educated as a photographer.
Oh, and yes, the leaves (above) and reflections (below) were spectacular!
Lizard Lake Reflection #2. Colorado, 2012
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