Sunsets, Art & The Masters of Painting

The Power of Exploring One Area

I found a new vantage point! Lake Tahoe is a HUGE lake (72 miles around)… but only offers a few spots where you can get a great shot. The east side is one of them. I love going back under different lighting and weather conditions – because it’s just never the same from visit to visit.

Sometimes I think that in an effort to always have that NEW experience, a lot of photographers run all over the world trying to one-up each other with even MORE danger, even MORE extreme conditions, MORE exotic locations and… well, you know the drill. But I don’t always see them exploring one area deeply. And I think that’s a shame. Not to say traveling the world isn’t awesome… but a sense of deepening is often underrated, IMHO. I’m trying not to make that same mistake – especially given that I live a mere 30 minutes from one of the most wondrous jewels of the world!

Sunset: That moment when we wave good-bye to the day, and light bathes us with the soft caress of infinite blessings. I love that moment.

I’ve shot this area quite a bit; but hadn’t been to this particular overlook before – and loved the bird’s eye view! It’s so much fun to discover a new angle, a new way to look at things and convey the voice of a place. It takes time. Repeat visits. Paying attention to time and light.

Landscape Photography & The Masters of Painting

There’s a wonderful photographer named Patrick Smith who’s written an equally wonderful book called Learning Landscape Photography from the Masters of Painting: 188 Lessons on How to See Beauty in the World. It’s a Kindle book – and SUCH a deal for only $4.99!

I love recommending it, because if you’re a photographer – or at all interested in how the masters of fine art can help your landscape photography – it’s SUCH a fun read! A ton of pictures, just enough text – and so many tips of a kind that you don’t always hear people talk about these days. This approach to photography is how I was brought up… so it was like going home again. Only this time, with some artists I hadn’t studied before! So inspiring, so regenerative.

I mention that, because this photo has a directed light approach to it that I learned from studying fine art. I set up at the right time of day to catch it… but I also enhanced it some. I wanted the feeling of a final caress from the sun, along with a slightly old-fashioned color palette, to wind up as a timeless moment that felt almost wistful. To some, it may just be a scene. To me, it’s a moment that I want to relive over and again. Just simple and quiet… a point in any sunset which, when it happens, I want to last forever. Aaaahhhhhh.

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My Big Fat Washington Photo Trip! 

In other news: having just said photographers sometimes don’t explore one area enough… I’m planning an “away” Photography trip to Washington state! I leave next week – and I could NOT be more excited!! Hey, I never said NOT to go places – just that being a junkie about it can be wearisome.

I’m doing this one with a great photographer friend of mine, Laurie Rubin.. We’re planning a plethora of content creation – from photographs, to video, to tutorials – even some aerial photography, since she’ll have her drone helicopter “Amelia” with her.
I’ll even be doing an episode of The Chat in Seattle with renowned fine art photographer Art Wolfe! It’s going to be a busy week – and I’m going to do my best to keep posting while I’m gone… but if I’m quiet next week, you’ll know why!