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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eighteen: Light and Landscape – combining personal vision with nature’s gifts > Storm over the Merced, Yosemite National Park, California, 2004
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16-OCT-2004

Storm over the Merced, Yosemite National Park, California, 2004

Sun may be wonderful, but a rain soaked Yosemite can be just as productive photographically. I shot this mysterious image only a few minutes before we left Yosemite. We had enjoyed a two-day stretch of beautiful autumn light, which was ended abruptly by this onrushing storm. Flat light gray skies can produce richly saturated fall colors and I emphasize them in this view of the Merced River taken from the Stoneman Bridge. I also used the awesome column of low hanging clouds as an abstracting tool. They partially obscure the powerful diagonal created by the forested hillside in the background, and create a sense of power and mystery. Abstraction can bring mysterious thoughts to mind, and this image is no exception. Many years ago, Albert Einstein said “the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” Weather is science, and art is expressed through landscape photography. This image draws on the mystery of nature at work upon the land, which is what landscape photography should be all about.

Canon PowerShot G6
1/640s f/4.0 at 11.2mm full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis21-Aug-2009 21:49
You are right, Celia -- in this image, light itself is not the subject of the picture, as it is in so many landscapes. The light is utterly flat, but flat light can bring out saturation in colors and that is happening here. There is no interplay of light and shadow here, but there is ample interplay of natural forces and natural setting. Yes, it is about the softness of the season and the mysteries of a forest caught amongst the clouds. It does evoke a sense of grandeur and beauty, but as you say, it is not a Yosemite postcard because it runs counter to viewer expectations. Thank you for your generous thoughts, Celia -- I am delighted that you have pointed out how we can get most out of a situation where the light itself takes a back seat to the abstracting power of nature.
Cecilia Lim21-Aug-2009 20:54
There's a school of photographers who believe that subject matter is irrelevant, it's the light that counts. And then there's me, with no formal photographic training who has from the very beginning believed that it's not the light that counts, it's what the subject is expressing and your viewpoint that matters (because I find there are usually ways to get around light issues.) I think this image is a great example that lighting does not matter. Many photographers may have given up because of flat lighting, but they would have missed a tremendous opportunity to express different view points about nature. There is still a story to be told, and in the absence of light, yours is about the softness of the season, and mysteries of an ever changing forest. It's far from the typical Yosemite postcard, but it's evocatively beautiful!
Phil Douglis14-May-2005 23:50
Your mountain landscapes athttp://www.pbase.com/annapagnacco/a_world_in_black_and_white
are breathtaking, Anna. The clouds in them work in much the same way as these clouds work here. They can bring an energy to an image, a sense of mystery or power, that would be lacking on a cloud free day. I wish you all the best in blowing away just enough clouds to get such a majestic atmosphere on a rainy overcast day. Thanks for your kind words on this image. It is very special to me because it confronts us with the mystery of nature itself.
Anna Pagnacco14-May-2005 23:10
Sometimes when I am in the mountains and it rains day after day I got bored because all rocks are covered by the clouds and I can not take any pics.....This Summer I will try to blow them away only a bit :-) to get such an image full with great atmosphere like this one Well done Phil!. Ciao, Anna
Phil Douglis27-Apr-2005 20:24
Good point, Barri. Nature was indeed misbehaving as I made this shot. Yosemite is a mystical place, rain or shine. It's the contrast between the colorful bottom of this image, against the starkly monochromatic nature of the top half, that helped me express the mysterious nature of nature.
Barri Olson27-Apr-2005 06:30
In my life nature has instilled more awe in me when misbehaving. Beautiful sunsets, and sunny scenes have a place...but we are reminded of nature's power and the balance of dark vs light forces in this photo...and yes it has a very mysterious mood. Glad you were there with your skill to capture it.
Barri
Phil Douglis06-Nov-2004 01:21
Thank you, Ron, for enjoying this image and these galleries. You are right, this was mislabeled as Yellowstone National Park. It was taken in Yosemite, and I have changed the title accordingly. Thanks for catching this error.

Phil
ron 06-Nov-2004 00:42
Phil, thank you so much for sharing. I really enjoy your images and comments. I hope I am learning something from them, since I have just started a new hobby of taking pictures. I have one comment on this one however, as I am distracted by the title, as I feel it may have been mislabled, since Yellowstone is not in California. It is really great that you are willing to share your thoughts and images. Thanks, ron.
Phil Douglis03-Nov-2004 19:41
I am honored by your comment, Anna -- it comes from a woman who in my view, is a remarkable landscape photographer in her own right. Like you, I hate rules. The confine, limit, and restrict our vision. The are, indeed made to be broken.
Anna Yu03-Nov-2004 18:25
A magnificent gallery and this is my personal favorite. The lesson learnt here was in your comment about the rules carved on stone. All made to be broken.
Phil Douglis31-Oct-2004 20:56
Glad you brought up Albert Bierstadt, Maureen. He is one of my favorites as well. His paintings endow nature with highly romantic qualities, and I have a soft spot for such imagery. He is was in my mind when I made this image, as well as this one:http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/35601768. As you can see, both have drawn a lot of comment, and they show you that effective images can come in almost any kind of light, as long as there is something we can use to abstract the image. In this case it is the clouds themselves. As I told Bruce earlier, they seemed almost Wagnerian to me. Look at Bierstadt's clouds in this painting he made in the Sierras:
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/bierstadt/bierstadt_among.jpg.html He uses them to obscure those peaks and suggest the power of nature very much as I tried to use them here. Bierstadt was also an inspiration to Galen Rowell, my favorite landscape photographer, who I mention in the introduction to this gallery. Both Bierstadt and Rowell cherished light and color as subject matter in itself.
Phil Douglis31-Oct-2004 19:32
Thanks, Kasmir, for your comment. I am grateful for your praise, but must give full credit here to nature at work. As for 1/640 of a second shutter speed, I was surprised to see that myself. I allowed the camera's "program" mode to select aperture and shutter speed here, since it was raining and I had only a few seconds to make the shot while keeping the surface of the lens dry. Welcome to my galleries, and feel free to leave more comments and questions.
Guest 31-Oct-2004 19:00
Another one of my very FAVORITE photo's of yours, Phil. This is hauntingly beautiful. It reminds me very much of some works of one of my favorite painters, Albert Bierstadt.
Guest 31-Oct-2004 15:02
Mr Douglis..I cannot adequately convey the appreciation I have for your artistic ability. On the other hand, I feel a great frustration that I can't express myself in such a way. I want to create my "own". Thanks BTW explain how on this picture you were able to shoot at 1/640? I live in Ohio and I don't see those speeds except on bright sunny days. I will continue studying your galleries hoping to glean some wisdom, technique, and self-expression.
Phil Douglis29-Oct-2004 03:44
I wish I could take full credit for using that quote in this context, but I can't. My teacher Galen Rowell used it in his book on Yosemite and the Sierra, and I thought it fit this image perfectly as well.
Phil Douglis29-Oct-2004 03:41
So glad you are taken with this image, Bruce. At first I was uneasy about it, because it is so different from all the others in terms of how it uses light to express its meaning. But this scene moved me deeply as landscape, and in is own way it is just as expressive as any other in this gallery. It is almost Wagnerian in its majestic presence. The clouds have indeed descended upon the river for a lick and taste of rock and tree.
Guest 29-Oct-2004 02:21
You're the only person I know of to quote Albert Einstein in a discussion of landscape photography. And it fits!
Guest 29-Oct-2004 02:20
Such texture and depth. The clouds have come down for a lick and a taste of rock and tree.
Guest 28-Oct-2004 23:14
‘Miserable’ for others maybe ;-)
Phil Douglis28-Oct-2004 20:26
I am glad you agree with my reasoning involving aperture here. Sometimes young photographers such as Vicky in Taiwan learn something from a book or a course such as "always use small apertures to increase depth of focus" and they follow that advice as if it was carved in stone. As you say, not only are we talking about a wideangle lens on a digicam, that is, by its very nature, always in deep focus, but there is nothing in the foreground worth focusing on anyway. Thanks for the comment on the contrast between the warm colors on the river bank and the ominous colors of the clouds on the mountain -- it was one of my favorite pictures from Yosemite yet made under miserable conditions.
Guest 28-Oct-2004 16:38
I agree. The aperture makes no difference as there is no significant foreground detail. If anything, thanks to the larger aperture we don't focus too much on the couple of distracting artefacts poking up from the bottom of the frame. I love the contrast of the strong colours of the bank with the ominous cloud and rock.
Phil Douglis28-Oct-2004 04:20
Thanks, Vicky,

I think this shot would work just as well at any aperture, given the fact that I was using a 24mm wideangle converter lens, which offers enormous depth of field. Even if I wasn't, on a digicam such as the Canon G6, the apertures are so small, that f/4.0 will deliver as much depth of focus as f/11 on a 35 camera. The reason I used 4.0 aperture on this shot was that it was raining and I need to shoot very quickly in order to keep the camera and lens dry. I did not have time to do any manual or aperture priority adjustments, and simply put it on program and let the camera do the exposure work. I did the rest in Photoshop. Hope this explanation will be useful to you.

Phil
Guest 28-Oct-2004 03:03
The compsition is very nice.
But I think small aperture much better. :)

Vicky
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