Alan Brock Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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When I visited Zion a few months back, I had originally intended to shoot quite a bit of black and white. I thought that the Narrows in particular would offer several compositions. Instead I only took four black and white shots, three of which are shown below. None were from the Narrows...that orange glow is just too good to shoot monochrome! I hope you enjoy. Comments are always welcome.
Image 1: 90mm, f/22, 1s, Ilford Delta 100, #25 red filter I wasn't expecting much when I decided to lug my large format gear to the top of Angel's Landing. I figured it was going to be windy (it was) and compositions were quite limited. I knew if I left early, the rising sun would create some dramatic shadows on the canyon floor. I lucked out with some very interesting clouds here looking up-canyon toward the Narrows. The detail at 100% in this is stunning. There are 2 buses and 3 cars parked at the Temple of Sinawava a mile away, and there are 13 people in the Scout's Lookout area. I took a shot looking down-canyon as well, but the clouds weren't as interesting and I had some depth of field issues.
Image 2: 90mm, f/45, 7s, Ilford Delta 100 I pointed my camera the wrong way at Subway. After taking "the" Subway shot, I took this shot facing the other direction. I love the combination of layers, textures, and reflections. Not my proudest moment as a photographer though. Just as I finished focusing, a group of 4 from a top-down hike started to rappel near the "back" of this image. I proceeded to passive-agressively stare death rays at them as they took THIRTY-SIX MINUTES (I timed it) for a group of 4 to rap down 25 feet. Now, I'm a rock climber so I can do this in my sleep, but it shouldn't take a group of 4 that long, especially when prior canyoneering experience is required to even attempt this route! I later felt bad for how upset I got; I let it completely disturb the Zen-like wilderness experience I try to have while shooting.
Image 3: 90mm, f/45, 1/8s, Ilford Delta 100, #25 red filter One of my favorites from the entire trip. I'm pretty proud of this one as it's a shot I envisioned long before I made the trip. I've always admired Ansel Adams' shot Half Dome, Oak Trees, Autumn for the way he used the trees to frame Half Dome. I knew there had to be some cotton woods that would do the same to Angel's Landing. An hour of scouting found the perfect tree and then it was just a matter of timing it so that most of the tree was in shade while Angel's Landing was in sunlight. It left me with a real sense that this photograph was created and not just taken.
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